Maiden voyage (Blood Sweat and Tears) (LP 725 - 727)

Blood Sweat and Tears  New Blood (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1972) ****

Blood Sweat and Tears  No Sweat (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1973) ** 

Blood Sweat and Tears  Mirror Image (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1974) ***

Genre: Jazz rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Slow Boat Records, Chaldon Books and Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Snow Queen (New Blood)

Gear costume: Over The Hill (New Blood), Inner Crisis (No Sweat)

Active compensatory factors: These three albums are grouped together as they were the three records produced after their lead vocalist David Clayton-Thomas left and then rejoined the band.

He was replaced by Jerry Fisher. Consequently that and a number of other personnel changes initially meant the accent went on the music rather than vocals. The band takes the opportunity to move into more jazz rock (a.k.a. jazz fusion) areas on New Blood.

New Blood is a spirited set - tight playing, tight song structures, great swinging horns! Lou Marini Jnr (who went on to the Blues Brothers) joins the band.

No Sweat sees another future Blues Brother Tom Malone on the album but it's a weaker album for me as the jazz rock quotient tilts towards more pop oriented stuff without making up it's mind what it wants to be.  

Mirror Image completes the trilogy and the move pop-wards. This version of BS&T has more changes in group members and is produced by Motown vet Henry Cosby. He adds a funky gloss to the production that feels very different to their back catalogue. Once you get used to the idea of a funkier/popier BS&T the album becomes a lot easier to like.

 
Where do they all belong? Next up is the return of David Clayton-Thomas in a bid to recapture past glories.