Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man

Limited Edition

BS&T began as an Al Kooper project in 1968, as a part of a move toward "bigger" rock sounds. The album introduced the idea of the big band to rock and roll and paved the way for such groups as Chicago. Child, the only album made under Kooper's direction, is important not only because its jazz and art-song aspects expanded the scope of the rock for both audience and musicians, but also because it was one of the most perfectly listenable pop albums of its era.

The Al Kooper-helmed Blood, Sweat and Tears created the 60's big horn, big city rock sound, earning this inventive, soulful record a place on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums list.

Mastered by Kevin Gray from meticulously captured hi resolution digital files transferred from the original master tapes, and including four bonus tracks, this is as close as you'll ever get to Kooper and Co's singular vision.

"This is one of the great albums of the eclectic post-Sgt. Pepper era of the late '60s, a time when you could borrow styles from Greenwich Village contemporary folk to San Francisco acid rock and mix them into what seemed to have the potential to become a new American musical form... This is the sound of a group of virtuosos enjoying itself in the newly open possibilities of pop music." - William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com

"The music on this album is less the pop-rock-jazz melding of the subsequent group’s musical leanings and more of the time in which it was recorded. Ergo, it’s a rock album, but it had one very unique element, especially for the time, that helped it stand out as not just another rock album: a full-fledged horn section... The music shows influences as diverse as straight-ahead rock, Donovan-inspired folk-rock and electrified blues -- all supported and enhanced by that wonderful horn section... The tone and timbre seem pretty close to right (always hard to tell completely when electronic instruments are involved), and the excellent separation of the instruments makes each one pop out of the mix with startling clarity. Dynamics are also excellent for the period... The version to buy, for both the music and sound." - John Crossett, theaudiobeat.com

Musicians:
Al Kooper, vocals, organ, piano, ondioline
Fred Lipsius, piano, alto saxophone
Jerry Weiss, vocals, trumpet, flugelhorn
Steve Katz, vocals, guitar, lute
Dick Halligan, trombone
Jim Fielder, bass guitar, freless bass guitar
Bobby Colomby, vocals, drums, percussion
Randy Brecker, trumpet, flugelhorn