Their distinctive sound during their hitmaking years came from their punchy, brass-heavy arrangements as well as David Clayton-Thomas' intense, soulful lead vocals. Perhaps this wasĬolumbia/CBS's ironic way of saying goodbye to a band they had been associated with since their earliest days.Blood, Sweat & Tears is a veteran jazz-rock fusion band that became famous beginning in the late 1960s. The sleeve design is a very dull affair, simply showing the front and back labels of the LP version. It has a welcome diversity, the strong song selection being enhanced by some great If we establish straight away that this is not the Blood Sweat and Tears of the early 1970's, and put that to one side, this isĪctually a highly accomplished album. Once again, not a traditional BS&T songīy any means, although it does have a certain similarity with "Hi-de-ho" from the third album. Strong spiritual feel, the opening female chorus sounding decidedly heavenly.
The closing "Saved by the grace of your love" is co-written by William D. Song writing contribution "Heavy blue" is the only instrumental on the album, the track moving through several moods including Slushy ballad, it is one of Clayton-Thomas's finest compositions which he delivers with consummate perfection. Teamed up with him for his solo work, and Smith effectively becoming an unaccredited member of BS&T.
("Smitty") had covered BS&T's "And when I die" a few years earlier, impressing Clayton-Thomas to the extent that he later "You're the one" is the third and last DC-T composition on the album, all of which are co-written with William D. "Hollywood" is a funky R&B based song written by Clayton-Thomas, with strong female vocal Patti Austin's "Sweet Sadie the savior" is another downbeat number with a female vocalĬhorus accompaniment. "Katy Bell", co-written by Bob James is a simple pop rock song with overtones which are almost children's song like. The concluding multi-part a-cappella harmonies It's not exactly the bands most adventurous piece, but it is well crafted. The song swims in string orchestration and features a brief muted trumpet The song is a straightforward love ballad with Clayton-ThomasĮffectively duetting with the female backing vocalists. Know" from the first album, but it is the source of this album's title. "I love you more than ever" is not a rerun of the similarly titled "I love you more than you'll ever "They" may come as something of a surprise to the BS&T faithful, but it is actually a highlyĬredible starter for the album. Production is sharp, emphasising the message of the lyrics, while the arrangement is more complex than we have becomeĪccustomed to on recent BS&T songs. Voice is multi-tracked when first we hear it, the song settling into a Stevie Wonder "Superstition" live funky rhythm. The opening "They" turns out to be the longest track on the album at 6½ minutes. The album is dominated by the production of Bob James, who also plays keyboards, Larry Willis's role being reduced to justĮlectric piano. Only Clayton-Thomas (two tracks) and Larry Willis (one track) receiving name checks. The band are even squeezed out of the song-writing, with Of greatly suppressing the contributions of everyone except DC-T.
The band members play, with the exception of drums, is duplicated by the guest musicians used. Interestingly, the list of guest musicians on this album is longer than the 10 man line up of the band. Sole surviving original band member Bobby Colomby (DC-T did not appear on the band's first album). The line up changes would continue unabated, this proving to be the last album to include Singer David Clayton-Thomas returned to the fold for the previous album "New city", to find a radically different line up to the The budget ran out just before the sleeve was designed David Nadien, Seymour Barab, Max Ellen, Harry Lookofsky, Harry Glickman, Max Pollikoff, Matthew Raimondi, Emanuel Vardi, Charles McCracken, Harry Cykman, Richard Sortomme, Theodore Israel / stringsĬD Wounded Bird Records - WOU 4233 (2006, US) Vivian Cherry, Lani Groves, Gwendonlyn Guthrie, Yolanda McCullough, Frank Floyd, William Eaton, Zachary Sanders / vocals Dave Friedman / xylophone, marimba, & vibes (1) Bob James / acoustic & electric pianos, celesta, clavinet, ARP synth, arranger (3) & producer Hugh McCracken / electric & acoustic (6) guitars David Bargeron / trombone, tuba, horn arrangements (8) Larry Willis / electric piano, horn arrangements (7)
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