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PREMESSA: LA SUPERIORITA’ DELLA MUSICA SU VINILE E’ ANCOR OGGI SANCITA, NOTORIA ED EVIDENTE. NON TANTO DA UN PUNTO DI VISTA DI RESA, QUALITA’ E PULIZIA DEL SUONO, TANTOMENO DA QUELLO DEL RIMPIANTO RETROSPETTIVO E NOSTALGICO , MA SOPRATTUTTO DA QUELLO PIU’ PALPABILE ED INOPPUGNABILE DELL’ ESSENZA, DELL’ ANIMA E DELLA SUBLIMAZIONE CREATIVA. IL DISCO IN VINILE HA PULSAZIONE ARTISTICA, PASSIONE ARMONICA E SPLENDORE GRAFICO , E’ PIACEVOLE DA OSSERVARE E DA TENERE IN MANO, RISPLENDE, PROFUMA E VIBRA DI VITA, DI EMOZIONE E  DI SENSIBILITA’. E’ TUTTO QUELLO CHE NON E’ E NON POTRA’ MAI ESSERE IL CD, CHE AL CONTRARIO E’ SOLO UN OGGETTO MERAMENTE COMMERCIALE, POVERO, ARIDO, CINICO, STERILE ED ORWELLIANO,  UNA DEGENERAZIONE INDUSTRIALE SCHIZOFRENICA E NECROFILA, LA DESOLANTE SOLUZIONE FINALE DELL’ AVIDITA’ DEL MERCATO E DELL’ ARROGANZA DEI DISCOGRAFICI .

BLOOD , SWEAT & TEARS
b , s & t 4


Disco LP 33 giri , CBS , S 69008 , 1971 , Italia, first pressing

I Blood, Sweat & Tears (BS&T) sono un gruppo formatosi nel 1967 a New York City. La band fuse rock, blues, pop e jazz, un ibrido che venne poi conosciuto come Jazz-rock. Diversamente dalle altre band “Fusion“, le canzoni dei BS&T mischiano gli stili rock, pop, R&B, soul aggiungendo anche elementi della tradizione dei gruppi musicali jazz. Il nucleo originale della band era formato da Al Kooper, Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Dick Halligan, Steve Katz e Bobby Colomby.

BS&T 4 is the fourth album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in 1971.

David Clayton-Thomas left as lead vocalist to pursue a solo career after the release of BS&T 4, as did founding members Dick Halligan and Fred Lipsius.

Clayton-Thomas would return to the lineup for New City.

.

Etichetta:  Cbs – Sugar
Catalogo: S 69008
Data di pubblicazione: 1971
Matrici: S  CI  69008 1L / S  CI  69008 2L
Data matrici :  9/7/71

• Supporto:vinile 33 giri
• Tipo audio: stereo
• Dimensioni: 30 cm.
• Facciate: 2
• Trifold/copertina apribile in 3 segmenti, red label, original Cbs italian catalogue inner sleeve

Track listing

1. “Go Down Gamblin'” (David Clayton-Thomas) – 4:14
2. “Cowboys and Indians” (Dick Halligan, Terry Kirkman) – 3:07
3. “John The Baptist (Holy John)” (Al Kooper, Phyllis Major) – 3:35
4. “Redemption” (Halligan, Clayton-Thomas) – 5:11
5. “Lisa, Listen To Me” (Halligan, Clayton-Thomas) – 2:58
6. “A Look To My Heart” (Fred Lipsius) – 0:52
7. “High On A Mountain” (Steve Katz) – 3:13
8. “Valentine’s Day” (Katz) – 3:56
9. “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (Holland-Dozier-Holland) – 3:27
10. “For My Lady” (Katz) – 3:23
11. “Mama Gets High” (Dave Bargeron, Katz) – 4:09
12. “A Look To My Heart” (Lipsius) – 2:07

Personnel

• Dave Bargeron – trombone, tuba, bass trombone, baritone horn, acoustic bass
• David Clayton-Thomas – lead vocals except as noted, guitar on “Go Down Gamblin'”
• Bobby Colomby – drums, percussion
• Jim Fielder – bass, guitar on “Redemption”
• Dick Halligan – organ, trombone, piano, flute
• Steve Katz – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, mandolin, lead vocals on “Valentine’s Day”
• Fred Lipsius – alto saxophone, piano, organ, clarinet
• Lew Soloff – trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet
• Chuck Winfield – trumpet, flugelhorn

Additional musicians

• Don Heckman – clarinet, bass clarinet (“Valentine’s Day” and “For My Lady”)
• Michael Smith – congas (“Redemption”)

Chart History:

      Released June of
1971 (Columbia CK-30590), BS&T 4 peaked at #10 on the U.S. Charts two
months later in August.  It was in the top 40 for 11 weeks. 
Two singles were released, “Go Down Gamblin'”/”Valentine’s Day,” (Columbia
45427) which peaked at #32, and “Lisa, Listen To Me”/Cowboy’s and Indians,”
which peaked at #73 on the U.S. Charts.

Billboard’s July 3, 1971 review wrote:

      Their first album
for the year, two months or so in the making, is worth waiting for. 
Strong new material includes a David Clayton-Thomas special, vocal and
guitar, “Go Down Gamblin’.”  Other heavy cuts include “Cowboys And
Indians,” Steve Katz’s “Valentine’s Day,” Thomas’ “Lisa, Listen To Me,”
and a wild redoing of the Isley Brothers “Take Me In Your Arms. (Rock Me
A Little While.)

William Ruhlmann of the All Music Guide writes:

      Having relied largely
on outside song writing for its last two wildly successful albums, Blood,
Sweat, & Tears decided (as many groups had before) to bring some of
that song publishing income into the family by writing their own material. 
Singer David Clayton-Thomas contributed the Top 40 hit, “Go Down Gamblin,”
and he and keyboard player Dick Halligan collaborated on another chart
entry, “Lisa, Listen To Me.”  Ex-bandleader Al Kooper even contributed
a track, “John The Baptist (Holy John.”  But side two was given over
largely to songs by guitarist Steve Katz that were substandard, and the
band’s cohesion seemed to be disintegrating.  Although the alum scraped
the Top 10 briefly and went gold, it marked the end of BS&T’s period
of wide commercial success on records.  By the next outing, Clayton-Thomas
had quit and the band’s heyday was behind it.

(c) 1996 The All Music Guide.

Rolling Stone’s Al Meitzer wrote:

     “The best…Blood, Sweat,
and Tears album since the first…”

Producer Don Heckman writes:

      Blood,
Sweat & Tears.  Vitality, energy and inspiration.  That’s
what it’s all about–channeling the powers of nine gifted performers into
a dynamic blend of song and spirit, of melody and rhythm.

      We recorded in
San Francisco, with its glorious light, clean air, and brilliantly sparkling
Bay.  A good place to make music.  Some of the guys were already
there.  Fred Lipsius rambling around his house, doing a marathon piano-playing
trip, 24-hours a day, non-stop.  Jim Fielder, lean and laconic, impatiently
waiting for a new place near Muir Wood, and David Clayton-Thomas, writing
new tunes in his ultimate bachelor’s digs–perched like an eagle’s aerie
high in the hills of Marin Country.  Roy Halee, master engineer and
co-producer, was just glad to be living in San Francisco, and enthusiastic
as a cherub about the bright new studios and spaceship recording console
Colombia had built for him.  Dick Halligan commuted from Los Angeles,
flying in through the smog almost daily, usually carrying a new arrangement.

     The rest of us moved West, en
masse, from cold and amp December New York City.  Chuck Winfield and
Dave Bargeron–the quiet ones–came like a gypsy caravan, trailing wives,
children, and assorted pets.  Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz reluctantly
left their houses and basketball courts and pool tables, and Lewie Soloff
somehow managed to convince an airline that his 14 trumpets and flugelhorns
really were part of his hand luggage.

     Two months had been cleared
from our schedules by the most stringent methods–only one or two bookings
for the band, and for me, some midnight hour moonlighting to keep up my
writing commitments.  Two months to produce an album that might match
the electric energies of previous Blood, Sweat, and Tears recordings.

     We decided to go for as many
original pieces as possible.  Given the range of backgrounds and skills
in the band, it seemed to me that the album should be a kind of seed-bed
for the future–a garden of music that would bloom with brightly colored
perennials.  “Lisa, Listen To Me” came first, flowing with such good
vibrations that we knew the Karma was right.  On “Go Down Gamblin’,”
David holstered up his trust guitar (for the first time with BS&T)
and ripped out solo lines raunchy enough to quiver the walls in the adjoining
studio (no mean feat, considering that Santana was recording there).

     “Redemption” came in a sudden,
almost magic rust.  Everything jelled–the rhythm’s furious drive,
a roaring, shouting horn section, and David’s powerful vocal.  There
never was a question of making another take.  Steve’s “For My Lady”
and “Valentine’s Day,” called for particularly sensitive treatment. 
In both cases–Dick’s arrangement of “For My Lady” and Freddie’s chart
on “Valentine’s Day”–the textures are richly impressionistic, filled with
the sounds of woodwinds and fluegelhorns. (And, on “Valentine’s Day,” Lew
finally got his long-awaited chance to play piccolo trumpet.)

     “Cowboy’s and Indians” was a
Halligan surprise; he just showed up with it one day. (The unusual sound
at the end, by the way, is made by Dave Bargeron, playing a low note on
his tuba and singing another note at the same time.)  It took at least
two or three metamorphoses before we found the right frame for ‘High On
A Mountain,” and again it was Halligan’s extraordinary scoring–almost
symphonic in character–that created the perfect setting for David’s vocal. 
“Mama Gets High” developed out of a half-joking conversation that Steve,
Dave Bargeron, and I had about the possibilities of a Dixieland-rock tune,
and “A Look To My Heart” celebrates Freddie’s pleasure over the sense of
peace he has discovered since moving to San Francisco.

     Two pieces came from outside
the band.  Al Kooper and Phyllis Major’s “John The Baptist” stimulated
some of Freddie’s finest scoring, and the gutsy rhythm-secion surge on
the Isley Brothers’ “Take Me In Your Arms,” lets David get down to the
basics.

     The old labels–Jazz-rock and
the like–are gone, replaced by the simple straight-forward idea of making
music.  With nine players who share individual and common experiences
that include everything from Ars Nova to Bluegrass how can any other description
be adequate?  (Taken from the sleeve of BS&T 4)

Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as “BS&T“) is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City.
Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous
iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of
musical styles. What the band is most known for, from its start, is the
fusing of rock, blues, pop music, horn arrangements and jazz
improvisation into a hybrid that came to be known as “jazz-rock“. Unlike “jazz fusion”
bands, which tend toward virtuostic displays of instrumental facility
and some experimentation with electric instruments, the songs of Blood,
Sweat & Tears merged the stylings of rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band, while also adding elements of small combo jazz traditions.

The Al Kooper era

Al Kooper, Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Dick Halligan, Steve Katz, and Bobby Colomby formed the original incarnation of the band. The creation of the group was fueled by the “brass-rock” ideas of The Buckinghams and its producer, James William Guercio, as well as the early 1960s Roulette-era Maynard Ferguson Orchestra (according to Kooper’s autobiography).

“Blood, Sweat & Tears” was the name chosen by Al Kooper, inspired by both the 1963 album with this title by Johnny Cash and after a late-night gig in which Kooper played with a bloody hand.  Kooper was the group’s initial bandleader, having insisted on that position based on his experiences with The Blues Project, his previous band with Steve Katz, which had been organized as an egalitarian collective. Jim Fielder was from Frank Zappa‘s Mothers Of Invention and had played briefly with Buffalo Springfield. But undoubtedly, Kooper’s fame as a high-profile contributor to various historic sessions of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, and so forth, was the catalyst for the prominent debut of Blood, Sweat & Tears in the musical counterculture of the mid-sixties.

Al, Bobby, Steve & Jim did a few shows as a quartet at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City in September 1967 opening for Moby Grape . Fred Lipsius then joined the others two months later. A few more shows were played as a quintet, including one at the Fillmore East
in New York. Lipsius then recruited the other three, who were New York
jazz horn players he knew. The final lineup debuted late November ’67
at The Scene in NYC. The band was a hit with the audience, who liked the innovative fusion of jazz with acid rock and psychedelia. After signing to Columbia Records, the group released perhaps one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the late 1960s, Child Is Father to the Man that featured the Harry Nilsson
song, “Without Her”, and perhaps Kooper’s most memorable blues number,
“I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”. The album cover was considered
quite innovative showing the band members sitting and standing with
child-sized versions of themselves. Characterized by Kooper’s penchant
for studio gimmickry, the album slowly picked up in sales amidst
growing artistic differences between the founding members. Colomby and
Katz wanted to move Kooper exclusively to keyboard and composing
duties, while hiring a stronger vocalist for the group. 

As the music of Blood, Sweat & Tears slowly achieved commercial success alongside similarly configured ensembles such as Chicago and the Electric Flag, Kooper left the group to become a record producer
for the Columbia label. The group’s trumpeters, Randy Brecker and Jerry
Weiss, also left after the album was released, and were replaced by Lew Soloff and Chuck Winfield. Brecker joined Horace Silver‘s band with his brother Michael, and together they eventually formed their own horn-dominated musical outfits, Dreams and The Brecker Brothers. Jerry Weiss went on to start the similarly-styled group Ambergris.

The David Clayton-Thomas era

Colomby and Katz then started looking for singers, considering Stephen Stills and Laura Nyro before deciding upon David Clayton-Thomas, a Canadian singer, born in Surrey, England. Reportedly, folk singer Judy Collins
had seen him perform at a New York City club and was so taken and moved
by his performance that she told her friends Bobby Colomby and Steve
Katz about him (knowing that they were looking for a new lead singer to
front the band).
With her prodding, they came to see him perform and were so impressed
with him that Clayton-Thomas was offered to be lead singer of a
re-constituted Blood Sweat & Tears. Halligan took up the organ
chores and Jerry Hyman joined on trombone. New trumpeters Lew Soloff and Chuck Winfield brought the band up to nine total members.

Eponymous 1969 album Blood, Sweat & Tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears, the group’s self-titled second album, was produced by James William Guercio
and released in 1969. The album was much more pop-oriented, featuring
decidedly fewer compositions from within the band. The record quickly
hit the top of the charts, winning Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. Blood, Sweat & Tears spawned three major hit singles: a cover of Berry Gordy and Brenda Holloway‘s “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” (US #2), Clayton-Thomas’ “Spinning Wheel” (US #2), and a version of Laura Nyro‘s “And When I Die” (US #2). The commercial and critical acclaim enjoyed by the band in 1969 culminated in an appearance at the Woodstock Festival, in which the band enjoyed headliner status.

Arguably, as a result of Al Kooper’s departure, Blood, Sweat &
Tears had difficulty maintaining its status as a counterculture icon at
a time when record company executives deemed this characteristic
important as a tool to lure young consumers. This was compounded by a United States Department of State-sponsored
tour of Eastern Europe in 1970. Any voluntary association with the
government was highly unpopular at the time and the band was ridiculed
for it. In retrospect, it is now known that the State Department subtly
requested the tour in exchange for more amicability on the issuance of
a visa to Clayton-Thomas.

After returning to the U.S., the group released Blood, Sweat & Tears 3; which was another popular success, spawning hit singles with a cover of Carole King‘s
“Hi-De-Ho” and another Clayton-Thomas composition, “Lucretia MacEvil”.
While this was a successful attempt to re-create the amalgam of styles
found on the previous album, the band once again depended almost
exclusively on cover material. Album reviews sometimes focused solely
upon the band’s willingness to work with the U.S. State Department,
without bothering to discuss the actual music. Compounding the image problems of the band was a decision to play at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip,
widely seen at the time as a mainstream venue for acts that did not
engage in radical politics. In 1970, the band provided music for the
soundtrack of the film comedy The Owl and the Pussycat , further damaging the group’s underground reputation.

Following this period of controversy, the group reconvened with jazz writer Don Heckman serving as their producer and, with Dave Bargeron replacing Jerry Hyman, recorded material that would comprise their fourth album, BS&T 4.
For the first time since the first album, Blood, Sweat & Tears
presented a repertoire of songs composed almost entirely from within
the group. Included on the album is a cover of former member Al
Kooper’s “Holy John (John The Baptist)”. Loaded with hooks and a wide
variety of moods (featuring such songs as “Go Down Gamblin'”, “Lisa
Listen To Me”, “High on a Mountain”, “Redemption”), Blood, Sweat & Tears 4
broke into the album charts, resulting in a gold record for the group.
Unfortunately, none of the singles from the album managed to land in
the Top 30 on any of the singles charts, and the period after the
release of the fourth album began the group’s commercial decline.

The Jerry Fisher era

Difficulties arose inside the group between its pop-rock and jazz
factions, with Clayton-Thomas refusing to pick sides and eventually
choosing to leave to pursue a solo career in early January 1972. He was
briefly replaced by Bobby Doyle, and then Jerry Fisher who went on to front the next generation of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Fred Lipsius left and was replaced by jazz legend Joe Henderson (who did not stay long enough to record), before Lou Marini settled into the new lineup. Another founding member, Dick Halligan, also departed, replaced by jazz pianist Larry Willis, and Swedish guitarist Georg Wadenius joined as lead guitarist around the same time. Amidst the personnel changes, a Greatest Hits album was released, which hit the top 20 and eventually went gold. This record would be the band’s final gold album.

Cover of 1972 album Greatest Hits

During this period of time, a proliferation of bands employing the
jazz-rock stylings of the group began to compete in the popular music
marketplace. Among these groups were Chase, Ides of March and Lighthouse, offering testimony to the legacy of Blood, Sweat & Tears.

The new edition of Blood, Sweat & Tears released New Blood,
which found the group moving into a more overtly jazz-fusion
repertoire. The album broke through the top-40 charts (the last
BS&T LP to do so) and spawned a single (“So Long Dixie”, chart
peak: 44) that received some airplay. Also included on the record was a
cover version of Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,” featuring the
voice/guitar soloing of Georg Wadenius.

In mid-1973, Katz, who was growing increasingly uncomfortable with
the group’s leaning towards jazz fusion, decided to leave. Winfield
departed as well and was replaced by Tom Malone. Blood, Sweat & Tears’ next album, No Sweat (1973), continued in a jazz-fusion vein and featured intricate horn work. The 1974 release Mirror Image saw the addition of vocalist/saxophonist Jerry LaCroix (formerly of Edgar Winter‘s White Trash), sax player Bill Tillman, bassist Ron McClure and the exodus of Tom Malone and longtime members Lew Soloff and Jim Fielder. This recording features the adoption of a sound pitched between Philly Soul and the mid-1970s albums by Herbie Hancock‘s Headhunters, along with aspirations to Chick Corea‘s jazz-fusion group Return to Forever.

Re-formations

Personnel changes continued (see roster below), capped by the return
of David Clayton-Thomas at the close of 1974 and the release of the
comeback album New City in 1975. This album charted higher than any of their previous albums since New Blood. This was chiefly the result of an entry in the singles charts with a cover of the Beatles‘ “Got To Get You Into My Life“.
But it still did not sell as well as albums from the group’s 1969-71
commercial peak period. They released a final album for Columbia
Records, More Than Ever, before the last original band member, Bobby Colomby, left in 1976. The band then signed a new contract with ABC Records,
with Colomby serving as the next album’s executive producer and
retaining sole ownership of the group’s name, despite his no longer
appearing on stage with them. Their sole album for ABC, Brand New Day,
did not fare well in the charts and the group undertook a European tour
in early 1978 to promote the album that ended abruptly after
saxophonist Gregory Herbert died of a drug overdose in Amsterdam on
January 31st, 1978. Rocked by this shocking turn of events, the group
returned home and temporarily ceased activity.

In 1979, David Clayton-Thomas decided to continue Blood, Sweat & Tears with an entirely new lineup that consisted of Canadian musicians. The group signed to Avenue Records subsidiary label LAX (MCA Records), and with producer and arranger Jerry Goldstein, recorded the album Nuclear Blues. The album was yet another attempt to reinvent the group, showcasing the band in a funk sound environment that recalled such acts as Tower of Power and LAX labelmates War
(whom BS&T did several shows with in 1980). The album,
unfortunately, was regarded by many Blood, Sweat & Tears fans as
uncharacteristic of the group’s best work. Following more touring,
including Australia, this incarnation of the group disbanded in 1981.

Since he did not own the rights to the Blood Sweat & Tears name,
Clayton-Thomas attempted to restart his solo career in 1983 after
taking some time off. This caused complications during his initial
months on the road when promoters would book his group and instead use
the Blood, Sweat & Tears name on the marquee. Consequently, his
manager at the time, Larry Dorr, negotiated a licensing deal with Bobby Colomby in 1984 for rights to tour using the band’s name. 
For 20 years afterwards, Clayton-Thomas toured the concert circuit with
a constantly changing roster of players as “Blood, Sweat & Tears”
until his final departure in 2004. Clayton-Thomas now does occasional
shows using only his name in promotional efforts. At last count, the
overall number of BS&T members since the beginning is up around 130
total people — roster below.

Current status

Blood, Sweat & Tears continues its heavy touring schedule
throughout the world with its current line-up of members, some of whom
have been with the band previously during the past two decades. Under
the direction of Larry Dorr and founding member Bobby Colomby, the band
has enjoyed something of a resurgence. Blood, Sweat & Tears donates
money through its “Elsie Monica Colomby” music scholarship fund to
deserving schools and students who need help in prolonging their
musical education, such as the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The year 2007 witnessed the band’s first world tour in a decade. Since
late 2005, the band often does shows backing up former Three Dog Night
singer Chuck Negron, where the group will play its own set and then another set that includes Chuck’s Three Dog Night hits.
2008 brings with it the anticipated return of founding member Steve
Katz. The year is also the 40th touring anniversary, and surprise
alumni are expected to be joining the band throughout the year. 

All of the band’s albums, with the exception of Brand New Day, are currently available on compact disc. BS&T’s first four albums were reissued by Sony Records in remastered editions (typically with bonus material), except for its third album, which has been reissued by Mobile Fidelity. The later Columbia albums have been reissued by Wounded Bird Records, and Rhino Records has reissued Nuclear Blues. Brand New Day was issued on CD in Russia in 2002, although the disc may not have received authorization from copyright holders.