Customer Reviews

Blue Plate Special

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Blood, Sweat & Tears frontman David Clatyon-Thomas' first solo release in 20 years takes a decidedly different turn. With "Blue Plate Special", DCT gets back to the music of his youth, his musical roots - straight ahead blues.

On the opening cut, "Too Many Dirty Dishes", David shows right away how comfortable he is with this material. There are some other excellent covers as well, "Hoochie Koochie Man" and "Hard Times" Some of the best material, though is David's own rocker "Wish the World Would Come To Memphis" and "Suzy Got Her Big Hair On".

Two cuts, "Drown in My Own Tears" and "Lucretia MacEvil", both have been recorded before by Clayton-Thomas and should have been left alone.

Let me be clear on this, this is not a Blood, Sweat & Tears album. You won't find the rich horns on most cuts or the pop hooks. If you are looking for BS&T sound, then by BS&T's collection "What Goes Up". But for David Clayton-Thomas singing the blues, then this is the CD to get.

David Clayton-Thomas, the legendary frontman of Blood, Sweat,and Tears, releases his first album of new material since about 1980,and his first solo release since 1977's "Clayton." The tracks consist of blues standards and some original blues tunes that grew out of a jam session. My favorite track is the new original tune "We Were The Children" an upbeat tune about social upheaval. His recordings of Blues Standards are excellent, especiailly on "Hoochie Coochie Man," and "Woman Across The River," There are a couple of weaker tracks, especially rehashes of his BS&T tune "Lucretia MacEvil" and the oft recorded (four times?) "Drown in My Own Tears." I still think the album is a must for BS&T fans.

Okay, David Clayton-Thomas. Toronto bad-boy who joined Blood, Sweat and Tears and helped usher in an era of "big-band rock (BS&T, Chicago, If, Ides of March, etc.) that today deserves the obscurity it's been awarded. End of story....NOT. Thing is, Clayton-Thomas was and is one helluva singer with a healthy respect for the blues tradition, and finally there's an album, this one, that shows that to the fullest.

Backed by a POWERFUL group of musicians, Clayton-Thomas offers up 10 passionate, meaty performances of songs from the likes of Albert King, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Percy Mayfield and himself as well. He sets himself a mighty task--it takes guts to cover "Drown In My Own Tears," which BELONGS to Ray Charles, but ol' Dave comes darn close to making it HIS as well. But the overall impression you get from this album is that Clayton-Thomas was just getting together to sing songs that he loves, not trying to out-do the original artists, and he sounds as at home with the material as he can be. This is as good a blues disc as you'll ever hear and if you're willing to get over any preconceptions you have before you hear it, David Clayton-Thomas singin' the blues might just make your day!

David Clayton-Thomas is a great artist. I saw his performance here in Kansas with Blood-Sweat & Tears and his new group and they were fantastic. Davis is an icon in the world of music having been performing since the 70's with BST and then out on his own in 80's up to now. I would recommend this cd.

As vocal for soul, is seemless.