New Blood

Blood Sweat & Tears | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 31, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B0009E32N4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,693 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Last Great BS&T Album, June 29, 2005

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Philip A.Cohen (Bay Harbor Islands, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Blood (Audio CD)

Actually,this isn't the worldwide CD debut for the album(I have it on a 1993 Japanese Sony release SRCS 6314).This was the last consistently good Blood Sweat & Tears album.Vocalist David Clayton-Thomas & keyboardist Dick Halligan had left the group to be replaced by Jerry Fisher & Larry Willis.Also,because the group wanted more complex guitar solos,Steve Katz was demoted to rhythm guitar & Swede Georg Wadenius was added.At first,it is incongruous hearing a Louisiana swamp-rock voice like Jerry Fisher's fronting a quintessential New York band,and I don't think the general public accepted him.Still,the album contains some fine songs,fine arangements(especially Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" & Bob Dylan's "Down in The Flood"),and especially superb recording quality(the best since the 2nd album.Dig the superb presence on the horn section on "Down in The Flood")."I Can't Move No Mountains" should have been a hit single,but wasn't,despite lots of airplay.During the making of the follow-up album "No Sweat",the group disintegrated,with Steve Katz,Jim Fielder & Lew Soloff all exiting partway through the making of the album."No Sweat" & "Mirror Image" have occasional interesting moments,but too much of the group's sound was lost,and drummer Bobby Columby was basically keeping a brand name going.It's too bad that "New Blood" is being given the no frills reissue treatment by a reissue label,instead of the deluxe expanded treatment by Sony Music,because there is unreleased material to add.Originally,before Jerry Fisher & Larry Willis were added,a singer/keyboardist named Bobby Doyle was briefly with the group,and participated in intial sessions towards this album at "914 Studios",but Doyle exited,and sessions moved to Columbia Studios,where two of the backing tracks cut at 914 studios were reworked with Doyle's vocals removed and replaced by Jerry Fisher(though Doyle's piano playing remains on the tracks).The CBS sessions reportedly yielded a Steve Katz song known as "M",and a Swedish-language track sung by Georg Wadenius whose title translates to "The Crow's Funeral".Through liner notes for Sony's 2-CD BS&T complation "What Goes Up" says that Bobby Doyle exited because he had difficulty singing over the horn section,reports at the time indicated that there were contractual problems with another label that he was already signed to,and that he was handicapped in some way that would limit his on-stage mobility.I wonder if Sony's vaults has an early mix of "Touch Me" with Doyle's vocals.Now,we may never know,or have the chance to hear the other unreleased tracks from these sessions.Still the CD is worth buying,and this is the first-ever U.S.A CD release.The 2 albums that followed "New Blood"("No Sweat" & "Mirror Image") are for hard-core fans/completists only.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good start for the next era of the group, September 18, 2005

By 

NDBx "NDBx" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: New Blood (Audio CD)

This was a good start to a new era in the group's history. Fisher is a strong vocal, equal in power to Clayton-Thomas with as strong a blues influence without the affectations. Now hearing this years later I would say that Jerry was the best of the Blood, Sweat & Tears vocalists. It was a shame more people didn't know of this edition of the group.

The material is strong save for one throwaway song, which would be "Velvet". The group personnel were stronger for the additions of the ingenious and talented Georg Wadenius as well as Larry Willis. Georg is a gifted and original guitarist who was one of the first to successfully use the simultaneous guitar/vocalization technique. The guitar is now an integral part of the ensemble, in a different way than Steve Katz was. The ensemble passages more embellished by his presence, than the more traditional guitar accompaniments.

Larry Willis is another important addition since he gave them a keyboard player with much stronger jazz sensibilities, while still able to handle the rock material, a much stronger player than either Halligan or Fred Lipsius, who occasionally would take the piano solo's on the previous recordings.

They lend a completely different aesthetic to the group sound. The group had one of several new focal points.

This editions is much more graceful than previous versions of the group, where there approach is much more tailored to the song than the song to the group sound.

There fusion of the jazz and rock elements fuse seamlessly.

"Snow Queen", "Down in the Flood", "Alone", "Maiden Voyage", "I Can't Move No Mountain" and "Over the Hill" are real high points.

The group also introduces a vocal chorus in this recording consisting of group members via Fisher, Wadenius, Katz and Willis.

Lew Soloff, Jim Fielder, Bobby Colomby, Chuck Winfield and Steve Katz are left over from the edition of the band that had so much commercial and critical success.

This is a good start in a different direction. Almost as strong as "No Sweat" which had a stronger personnel line up and had the advantage of having the line-up refine itself. A very good recording.

This edition of the group seems to more gracefully combine the seemingly disparate influence of jazz and rock.

The ensemble passages are strong and the group incorporates the guitar sound into the ensemble passage in a different way. Wadenius' guitar is included in the voicing in a more linear way than in the more conventional way that they had in the past. By that I mean that Steve Katz had been largely in the background much more rhythmically based with the occasional solo line. Wadenius role is much more integral to the group sound. Again, this is refined further in "No Sweat".

Their rendition of "Maiden Voyage" is spellbinding for it's graceful beauty, Wadenius' unique solo and Larry Willis' accompaniment. It was intriguing the way they seamlessly sequed from "Snow Queen" into "Maiden Voyage" making it seem like it was one piece.

Fisher deserved more credit than he got. It's a shame that this edition of the group didn't get the recognition that it should've gotten.

One of the sad parts of the CD era is how the cover art is diminished by the smaller display, the paper it's processed on, since the cover art is stunning.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your Best Friend Now, September 13, 2005

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Blood (Audio CD)

This Wounded Bird re-release of Blood, Sweat & Tears' 1972 LP is stunning. The boys wail on the Bob Dylan song "Down in the Flood." While it was Chris Smither whose recording of this tune first resonated with me, BS&T get way wild, "Who's gonna be your best friend now?" "Alone" is a slow soulful track that lets loose in the second half with BS&T's jazz jam. "I Can't Move No Mountains" is a quick pop nugget with a pretty melody and great energy. "So Long Dixie" penned by the classic writing team Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil has been playing in my changer throughout the Hurricane Katrina era, "Some memories fade & die but Dixie you still shine." Carole King's "Snow Queen" was a favorite of mine with a version by the Association recorded in 1972 for an LP "Waterbeds in Trinidad" being the only one I had for a long time. After Carole's recording on her 1980 "Pearls," this is a great jazz rave-up of this lovely melody. The Herbie Hancock instrumental "Maiden Voyage" that closes the set is also breathtaking. This is a classic CD that was quite underrated & sounds incredibly fresh on this Wounded Bird re-release. Enjoy!