BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS — Definitive Collection (review)

BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS — Definitive Collection album cover Boxset / Compilation · 1995 · Pop/Art Song/Folk Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
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.
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