Blood, Sweat & Tears: The hit-making voice of David Clayton-Thomas
Written: Feb 22 '03 (Updated Feb 23 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: Top 10 hits:"You've Made Me So Very Happy,""And When I Die" and "Spinning Wheel."
Cons: None, unless a mixture of musical styles is not to your liking.
The Bottom Line: Three of the songs---"Spinning Wheel,""And When I Die" and "You've Made Me So Very Happy"---were million-selling hits as singles. This album hit # 1 for seven weeks in 1969.
Don_Krider's Full Review: Blood, Sweat & Tears [Remaster] by Blood, Sweat & ...
Once they hooked up with David Clayton-Thomas, there was no stopping Blood, Sweat & Tears from conquering the pop music charts.
On this self-titled release in 1969, Clayton-Thomas and the band scored not only a # 1 album, but three singles from the long player hit the Top 10 that year ("You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Spinning Wheel" and "And When I Die").
Before David Clayton-Thomas:
Blood, Sweat & Tears first album in 1968, "Child Is Father To The Man," rose to # 47 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, but it failed to produce any hit singles for the group, despite the love and attention given the group by Columbia Records President Clive Davis.
The album did, however, sell the 500,000 copies necessary to earn a Gold Record Award and spent 55 weeks on the album chart.
Three members left the group after that debut album, including lead singer, main songwriter and group co-founder Al Kooper among them. The other departures were trumpet players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss.
Personnel changes:
Losing your lead singer would kill most groups, but BS&T, as the band was called by its fans, was not "most groups." After considering Laura Nyro, Steve Stills and others, the New York-based band would find the one voice that would give them both a trademark sound on Top 40 radio and a string of monster hit singles.
That voice belonged to David Clayton-Thomas, a native of Toronto, Canada, who had written some Canadian chart hits and was well-known on the New York music scene for jamming with local musicians.
When band members heard him audition, they knew they had their new lead singer. Clayton-Thomas could also write some great tunes, including a little number called "Spinning Wheel."
That voice would blend with the jazz, rock, blues, soul, pop, big band and classical music mix that was the BS&T sound for some of the biggest hit singles of the 1960s.
This album:
The band's second album, simply called "Blood, Sweat & Tears," was released in 1969. The first three singles from it --- "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Spinning Wheel" and "And When I Die" --- each reached # 2 on the Hot 100 charts. Each single also sold more than one million copies to earn a Gold Record Award (at the time, a single had to sell one million units to earn the award, while an album only had to sell a half-million copies for the same award).
The album itself went straight to # 1 on the Top 200 Albums chart. It spent seven weeks at # 1 during a stunning 109-week stay on the chart (more than two years, folks).
Not bad for a band with an experimental jazz-rock-blues sound mixed with a bit of Big Band orchestration and an incredible pop vocalist.
To call this album a classic would be an understatement. Although the band would score 10 Hot 100 singles from various albums by 1975, the group's only Top 10 hits, all three of them, appear on this single CD.
This CD:
The original 10 tracks appear here. Two "bonus" tracks, both live performances and both previously unreleased, are also included.
All tracks were produced by James Guerico (producer of Chicago, among other acts). This is part of the Columbia "Legacy Recordings" series which is bringing new life to older titles in the label's archives. The sound is crisp and clear --- a joy to listen to.
The CD booklet:
Eight informative and well-illustrated pages with liner notes by Hank Borowitz.
Included are comments from band members about the making of this album. The front and back covers of the original LP are each reproduced as the cover page and back page of this booklet.
The tracks:
From the original album: "Variations On A Theme By Erik Satie (1st and 2nd Movements) Adapted From 'Trois Gymnopedies'," "Smiling Phases," "Someimes In Winter," "More And More," "And When I Die," "God Bless The Child," ""Spinning Wheel," "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Blues - Part II" and "Variations On A Theme By Erik Satie (1st movement only)..."
The bonus tracks: "More And More" (live) and "Smiling Phases" (live), both previously unreleased.
The best tracks:
"You've Made Me So Very Happy":
Brenda Holloway (who wrote the tune with Motown legend Berry Gordy, Jr., Patrice Holloway and Frank Wilson) scored a Top 40 hit with "You've Made Me So Very Happy" in 1967 (her version peaked at # 39).
Blood, Sweat & Tears took to tune # 2 for three straight weeks (out of only 13 weeks in the Hot 100) in early 1969.
With its signature horn and organ intro, the tune starts sweetly with a gentle, sweet Clayton-Thomas vocal, before getting slightly aggressive and Big Band-ish on the chorus. This is what romantic ballads are about: tunes filled with heart, soul and emotion.
You can almost hear Clayton-Thomas' heart beat as he sings:
"I'd lost at love before / got mad and closed the door / but you said, child, 'just once more' / I chose you for the one / now we're having so much fun / you treated me so kind / I'm about to lose my mind / you've made me so very happy / I'm so glad you came into my life..."
"Spinning Wheel":
Clayton-Thomas himself penned the band's next Top 10 hit, "Spinning Wheel," which also rose to # 2 for three weeks during its 13-week chart run.
According to Clayton-Thomas, his inspiration for the tune was The Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper" album because "psychedlic imagery was all over lyrics." He took the line "ride a painted pony" from Judy Collins' hit "Both Sides Now" (which hit # 8 in 1968).
With a crescendo of horns as its intro, the tune progresses via keyboards and horns to a near "A Day In The Life" psychedlia (with percussion beat on a cowbell before the complete drum set comes into play).
The performance is almost gospel-like in its message as "reverand" Clayton-Thomas advises the progressive jazz-rock music congregation:
"What goes up must come down / spinnin' wheel got to go 'round / talkin' 'bout your troubles, it's a cryin' sin / ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel spin / you got no money and you got no home / spinnin' wheel all alone / talkin' 'bout your troubles and you never learn / ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel turn..."
"And When I Die":
The late Laura Nyro ("booed off the stage at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967," according to The New York Times, "by a stoner audience that couldn't follow her meandering lyricism," she passed away in 1997) composed some of the 1960s best-loved tunes, including songs recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary, Barbra Streisand and The Fifth Dimension (who scored million-selling Top 10 hits with her "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoned Soul Picnic").
Nyro had originally sold "And When I Die" to Peter, Paul & Mary ("Puff The Magic Dragon," "Leaving On A Jet Plane") when she was 17 years of age, but it was Blood, Sweat & Tears that would take the tune to the Top 10.
BS&T opens the tune with some sweet harmonica, then moves into a country-and-western beat (complete with a "yee-haw" yelled in the middle of the song above some hoof beats) before progressing to a faster rock tempo, then tossing in honky-tonk piano, bits of progressive jazz and Clayton-Thomas' multi-range lead vocal (one moment sweet, the next gritty and rough).
Nyro's lyrics are an introspective assessment of a person's life as they look into the face of death:
"...now troubles are many, they're as deep as a well / I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell / ... / but I'll never know by living, only my dying will tell / yes only my dying will tell / ... / and when I die / when I'm dead and gone / there'll be one child born in our world to carry on / to carry on..."
BS&T's success continued::
The band continued recording right into the 1970s.
Their third album, "Blood, Sweat & Tears 3," went to # 1 for two weeks in 1970. That album and two further realeases earned Gold Record Awards ("B, S & T 4" in 1971 and "Blood, Sweat & Tears Greatest Hits" in 1972).
The band placed 10 albums in the Top 200 by 1976, but their final chart album, "More Than Ever," peaked at # 165 in 1976.
BS&T placed 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart also. In addition to the three Top 10 tunes on this CD, the band's later hits included "Hi-De-Ho" (which hit # 14 in 1970), "Lucretia Mac Evil" (which hit # 29 in 1970) and "Go Down Gamblin'" (which hit # 32 in 1971).
The band's final chart hit was a cover of The Beatles' "Got To Get You Into My Life," which peaked at # 62 in 1975.
The band excelled as a live unit, playing a wide variety of concert settings via Woodstock, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, Caesar's Palace, the Metropolitan Opera, the Fillmore, the Newport Jazz Festival and other venues --- including a 1970 tour of Eastern Europe dubbed "The Iron Curtain Tour" at a time when Western bands didn't tour in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.
David Clayton-Thomas:
Clayton-Thomas enjoyed some success as a solo act in the U. S., as well, when he charted as a solo album artist in 1969 with the LP "David Clayton-Thomas!," a collection of his pre-BS&T recordings released after his success with BS&T, which hit # 159.
A second solo album in 1972, "David Clayton-Thomas" (without the exclamation point in the title), peaked at # 184.
BS&T today:
The band's personnel have changed over the years, but David Clayton-Thomas still tours with the band. Their 2003 tour schedule is at David's official website: http://www.davidclaytonthomas.com.
I haven't seen the band perform in recent years, but I did catch them live with the Louisville Orchestra in the late 1970s (their performance of "Blue Street," a tune they recorded with Raspberries' producer Jimmy Ienner, was a standout) and two more times in the 1980s.
Each time Clayton-Thomas left no doubt about who was the band leader --- he was totally in control of the group's performances and the audiences loved the shows each time.
On the web:
Official David Clayton-Thomas website: http://www.davidclaytonthomas.com . The site features a biography, downloadable music, photos, tour information, news, reviews, a discography (complete with track listings and personnel on each recording) and a message board (David Clayton-Thomas himself responds to posted messages as "DCT" --- got a question, go ask him; other band members are known to read and post on the board as well).
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