Greatest Hits - BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS*****

You've Made Me So Very Happy/I Can't Quit Her/Go Down Gamblin'/Hi-De-Ho/Sometimes In Winter/And When I Die/Spinning Wheel/Lisa Listen To Me/I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know/Lucretia Macevil/God Bless The Child

An excellent compilation of the best songs from the jazz-rock ensemble Blood Sweat & Tears in their most creative period. These are single edits thus avoiding the lengthy more jazzy interludes. (US:19)

“Although not a perfect rendition of the band’s broad scope of artistic instincts, as it omits many of the secondary roads the band has travelled. It consists only of single edits instead of the more developed, and much more interesting, album versions, This is nevertheless a great appetizer which stimulates the curiosity to instigate a more detailed exploration of the incredible catalogue of the initial years of the god-fathers of jazz-rock.”

“What you get when you mix a soulful blues voice and pop horns is a good sounding band with power and finesse and heart. Someday I'll dive deeper into their catalogue, but for now this is an excellent collection.”

“The crisp songs on this collection are a good sample of jazzy rock blues. Along with the gravelly vocals, the tunes have those signature sounds of BS&T, a wicked brass section which blues and grooves its way through the album accompanied by some great keyboard and guitar work.”

“BS&T hits are best heard in their shorter radio edit versions as here that expurgate the jazzy interludes which sound nothing like the rest of the songs.”

“My favourite on this collection is the gentle soulful ballad Sometimes In Winter, a song that perfectly captures a mood of loneliness and regret that I believe is universal. It is atypical of the rest of their output, and very beautiful. This is an interesting collection of a rare jazz-rock experiment that seems to have died at the end of the 1960s.”

“This amazing group with the most incredibly soulful lead singer I've ever heard. So much passion in his vocals, and one amazing song after another.”

“Two of the band's signature hits, And When I Die and Spinning Wheel are the shorter versions, missing the outstanding jazz breaks. Not that this is bad, as BS&T's songs are so good that they defy editing.”