Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears

The MARK’S VINTAGE VINYL page features something from Mark’s collection of recordings from over the years. Most of it is on vinyl – hence the name – though there will be a few entries from his CDs (remember those?).

Blood, Sweat & Tears, by Blood, Sweat & Tears

• Released in 1968, their second album.
• Singles from the album were You’ve Made Me So Very Happy, And When I Die, and Spinning Wheel. Each of these songs reached #2 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 1969.
• The album was their most successful, with sales exceeding 4 million units. It received the Grammy Award in 1970 for Album of the Year.
• Their signature sound is two-fold, and is prevalent on this album. First – The vocals of David Clayton-Thomas. One of my musical loves is for powerful and distinctive lead vocals. Clayton-Thomas’ raspy jazzy blues vocal is powerful and full of emotion. I love it – one of my 10 all time favorites. Second – The horn section:  trumpet, trombone, sax, flugelhorn. BS&T was pioneering in using horns in their rock and roll songs. It’s reflective of the influence of jazz and blues in their music. The strength of the horns is reminiscent of the early albums by Chicago – no surprise, as BS&T was produced by James William Guercio, who also produced Chicago albums for the first 10 years of their long history.
• Here’s And When I Die, a great track that highlights both the tremendous vocals and horns from this album.