Smiling phases (Blood Sweat and Tears) (LP 636 - 638)

Blood Sweat & Tears  Blood Sweat & Tears (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1968) *****

Blood Sweat & Tears  3 (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1970) ***

Blood Sweat & Tears  B S & T 4 (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1971) *** 

Genre: American pop/ rock 

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records; Second hand record stores in Greenwich, London.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: God Bless The Child (woh Nelly - that organ sound!!)

Gear costume:  Lisa, Listen To Me , Smiling Phases, And When I Die

Active compensatory factors: For many fans of the band, this was where it really took off - with their second album called Blood Sweat and Tears (cunning that) and the introduction of David Clayton-Thomas on vocals. 

The cross-over pop hits came along and they were set. Cross-over? Well, I say that because my jazz fan father was the one who bought the album after hearing a CBS sampler which cunningly included snips from the opening four songs. It sounded like jazz!

It appealed to him from that jazz connection and from the hi-fi aspect - the album sounds huge, with fantastic production that just explodes out of the speakers.

In the end it was a bit too rock oriented for him (and then my ears pricked up - especially after they appeared at the Woodstock music festival).

Their third and fourth albums continued the pop-ward trend with more Spinning Wheel style hits: Hi-De-Ho; Lucretia MacEvil - both on 3; Go Down Gamblin': Lisa, Listen To Me (covered in brilliant fashion by Headband) - both on 4.

Both of these albums suffer a little from the band being in something of a transition from that second album. The pop hits sit alongside more progressive jazz rock moments and covers of others' songs. The third album's choice of the Stone's Sympathy For The Devil is an odd one and doing Fire And Rain is unnecessary really.

Where do they all belong? Much more to come as I morphed into a BS&T completist. It snuck up on me!