J-Man While the debut effort from American jazz rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears did experience moderate commercial success, it wasn't until this self-titled sophomore effort that the band finally experienced the mainstream recognition that they truly deserved. Although the band's popularity would soon sharply decline, this well-known 1968 gem showcases Blood, Sweat & Tears at the absolute top of their game. On this LP, the listener will be treated to a fascinating marriage between jazz, psychedelic rock, blues, and pop that was unique for the time period, and still remains remarkably original to this day.

Keeping in mind that this observation was released before 'jazz rock' was truly solidified as a genre by innovators like Miles Davis, Chicago, and Frank Zappa (all of whom released some of their biggest contributions to the style in 1969), it's quite surprising how innovative Blood, Sweat & Tears is. Although the album rarely deviates into extended jams that characterized jazz-rock classics like In a Silent Way or Hot Rats, Blood, Sweat & Tears does exhibit a unique mix of brass and electric instrumentation, the raw power of rock music, and the instrumental prowess of jazz. Whereas Frank Zappa approached jazz rock from the 'rock' side of things and Miles Davis approached the genre from the 'jazz' side, Blood, Sweat & Tears approaches the genre from a more pop-oriented perspective. Whilst the band's style is not very commercial by today's standards, this is an album characterized by memorable hooks and unforgettable melodies - although there's much more to Blood, Sweat & Tears than simple pop choruses, the band manages to brilliantly incorporate melodic hooks into their style without sounding forced.

Although a very small amount of the music here was actually composed by the band (which is a minor turn-off for me), the song selection is top-notch and the performances are flawless. The brass arrangements complement the music perfectly, and the 'main' band is exceptional as well - lead singer David Clayton-Thomas especially deserves a shout out, as his warm tone and exciting delivery is a big part of what makes this album so enjoyable. The album is also quite diverse, sporting everything from the excellent ballad "You've Made Me So Very Happy" to extended jam sections in "Blues - Part II". While it does work really well for the most part, there is a bit of inconsistency in the quality of the songs ("And When I Die" is nowhere on par with the best the album has to offer), and the observation's high points can leave the listener a bit unsatisfied by its less impressive portions.

That said, however, Blood, Sweat & Tears is an excellent album in nearly every sense of the word, and a true joy to listen to. This is one of those records that always manages to put me in a good mood - whether it be the emotional melodies, funky instrumentation, or brilliant jamming sections, listening to this album is just a hell of a lot of fun in virtually any scenario. While it may not be entirely without its faults, Blood, Sweat & Tears is still an invigorating classic that deserves to be heard by every music lover.

seyo While their connection with jazz-rock or classic fusion community will always be debatable, BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS were surely an interesting band. Even before the term "jazz-rock" was introduced, they played an interesting amalgam of rock, blues, jazz and soul, spiced with the late 1960s psychedelia. Due to a prominent role of the brass section in their sound, someone coined the name of the style - "brass-rock".

Alas, that was in the late 1960s, while in 1977 the band was far away from their inspiring roots. "Brand New Day" is actually a decent soul/funk effort that fans of Stevie Wonder or Joe Cocker would probably like a lot. Not everything functions here in the best possible way and songs like "Dreaming as One" (with Chaka Khan), "Blue Street" and "Rock'n'Roll Queen" are extremely corny pop/soul ballads that a convinced fusion fan usually skips without remorse.

On the other hand, there are several quite good moments, like two funkiest pieces "Somebody I Trusted" and "Gimme That Wine" that recall James Brown or Sly Stone. Clayton-Thomas' "black" vocal is brilliant in these moments as well as in "Don't Explain", although the latter suffers from unavoidable comparison with the angelic voice of Billie Holiday's original interpretation. J.J. Cale is famed for being credited for providing original songs only to see other people cashing in on his authorship. But, BS&T did not manage to follow suit although their rendition of "Same Old Blues" is fairly good interpretation of infectious Cale's laid-back, lazy country-blues groove.

In this phase the band was playing almost only the covers and lack of their original tracks just proves that they were long time now a past sensation. "Brand New Day" is not in the scope of even the average albums of the jazz rock era, but if you like brass instruments, soul and funk, occasional spin won't hurt.

seyo Far from being "definitive", this compilation is focused on the two most commercial and most successful albums, the second and the third. Totaling 9 tracks out of 17, this makes the bulk of the disc and for me this was a good reason to buy it. The remaining space of the release is filled up by 3 tracks from the fourth album, one from "New Blood", one from "New City" and 3 from "More Than Ever". And this is really problematic selection of songs.

The compilation is obviously targeted to mainstream pop buying audience so it includes several awful and sleazy pop soul ballads. While omission of the tracks from poor mid-1970s albums is a reasonable move, a serious flaw of this disc is that it completely ignored arguably the best album - debut with Al Kooper, "Father Is Child To The Man" as well as the last two funk and jazz influenced albums, "Brand New Day" and "Nuclear Blues".

Most of the songs were mastered using 20-bit technology "high definition remastering", so the tech nerds might want to check it out. Apart from that, "Definitive Collection" is for completists and for those who don't mind having a collection of hits bearing the band's name for occasional listening. Jazz rock experts will want to stick to the original first 3 studio albums, not bothering with largely wasted compilations as this one.

seyo Recorded with totally different musicians, "Nuclear Blues" is the final studio album that bears the name of the band.

Led by singer Clayton-Thomas, this is a worthy swan song of the famous brass-rock band. It is very much in the jazz-rock style with firm funk elements, so that way it deviates from the earlier albums. I personally like this album better than the previous "Brand New Day" because it contains more jazz improvisations, good brass sections and excellent bass solo parts by D. Piltch. The only throwaway is a slow blues "I'll Drown In My Own Tears" which is a rather boring track despite soulful and convincing vocal by Thomas. "Suite: Spanish Wine" is a 15-minutes pure jazz improvisation with Spanish-like melodies and it is generally successful, even if somewhat too extended. In "Fantasy Stage" the author is mistakenly singing about "habla espanyol" while the story takes places in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (!) Maybe he forgot to consult the tourist guide...

Overall, this is a fine last album by BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS and can be recommended to the jazz-rock and jazz listeners in the first place.

js On this greatest hits collection BS&T displays a broad knowledge of pop-jazz over several decades and seems to be influenced more by Hart/Rogers than Lennon/McCartney. Their strong point is their inventive use of a small brass/woodwind section that is cleverly arranged and thouroughly integrated into every tune. As a sort of lounge pop jazz band BS&T may work OK, but they were marketed at that time as part of the growing jazz-rock movement. Unfortunately, to a lot of rockers they have always sounded like your parent's rock band. There is something about their flashy slick horn arrangements that conjures up images of swingin cats who work the Vegas scene when they aren't with Doc Severinson on Carson's Tonight Show. For example, dig this lyric; 'you always showed me that, lovin you is where it's at' ... groovy. In contrast, other rock bands with horn sections, such as early Chicago or Edgar Winter's White Trash, had just as much rock edge as the more guitar dominated bands of their era. I think the other problem with BS&T is vocalist David Clayton-Thomas. David is obviously a way better singer than your average bluesy shouter, but his style has more in common with Tom Jones than most rock singers.

There are two excellent tunes on this album that stand out from the others. 'Go Down Gamblin' really rocks and is reminiscent of some of Buddy Miles' better material. The other song worth mentioning is 'Sometimes in Winter', a beautiful ballad with a very original melody and arrangement. BS&T's small orchestra approach really works well on this one.

This isn't a bad album, but if you want to hear some better rock with horns try Chicago's first album, Earth Wind and Fire's futuristic jazz/RnB on 'Gratitude', or almost any of Billy Cobham's early albums (ironically enough, many of Cobham's records feature ex-BS&T trumpeter Randy Breacker) now that's where it's at.