Mention the music group ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’ to any old timer and you might be surprised by the reaction you get. The original group, led by Al Kooper, was very popular with the college crowd and fans that loved jazz and the blues. To some it seemed like a natural progression from the material found on the “Supersession” album by Al Kooper and friends. Many fans of the first album were not all that happy to find that Al Kooper had left the band and was replaced by Canadian singer-songwriter David Clayton-Thomas for future releases. Although this change brought the group more mainstream airplay and chart success it clearly changed the direction of the music from jazz-blues to pop-rock with a jazz/blues flavor.
The second wave of BS&T fans who discovered the group after Al Kooper left will probably only recognize the 2 songs from this first album that were eventually included on the later Columbia Records release “Blood Sweat & Tears Greatest Hits”. For those DC-T/BS&T fans, this album will be a new listen, and a different one at that.
We are fortunate that Audio Fidelity has “rescued” this early 2000’s 5.1 mix by the group’s founder Al Kooper. It was originally commissioned for release as a Sony SACD, only to be shelved when Sony decided that SACD was not going to be a big financial success in the retail marketplace. Despite many articles in various print and internet web pages detailing the creation of this mix (and the “Supersession” 5.1 mix), these mixes were relegated to the storage shelves of Sony until the recent Surround SACD reissue series from Audio Fidelity.
I recently had the chance to get an early listen to this disc and I am happy to report that Al Kooper has done a wonderful job on the surround mix, and that this disc sounds fantastic from both audio AND surround perspectives.
The disc starts off with “Overture”, which is a classic overture in that it’s instrumental passages from some of the upcoming tracks in the “show”. The surround here is excellent and the audio pristine. For the surround junkies, there’s the moving laughing man rounding through the audio soundstage. There is no doubt that you are now listening to a surround recording!
“
I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” and “
I Can’t Quit Her” are the two tunes that most every BS&T fan will recognize, as these were the two Al Kooper tracks included on the original “Blood Sweat and Tears Greatest Hits” album from 1972 (also released in SQ and Q8!)
This 5.1 mix is very discrete, vocals in the center (with some bleed into the other 4 channels at times), horns and strings in the back, but not totally solo, so you get a nice FULL surround presentation that sounds modern and not like a ‘70s quad pinpoint mix. At times a solo sax may come at you from virtual center, and on some songs like “
Morning Glory”, the harmony vocals can he heard in the rears – but not overpowering the lead at all. Harry Nilsson’s “
Without You” makes you feel like you’re in a cocktail lounge somewhere. On this one, there are no vocal echos in the rear, just the calypso band and trumpet. Once thing Al has done with this surround mix is blend it intelligently, making it comfortable for those who enjoy surround music without alienating those that claim surround is a gimmick with odd instruments popping up out of nowhere at time.
For those of you who were not enthusiastic about the first couple of Audio Fidelity 5.1 SACDs for whatever reason, here is the disc for you. This is a classic album that has not been played to death on radio or in supermarkets/elevators, it’s a surround mix created BY THE ARTIST, and it’s clean, uncompressed, and begs to be played loud. The songs range from ballads to blues, jazz to classical interludes, and there is no chance that you will not think you are listening to a surround mix when you hear any of the tracks.
Top it all off with a high resolution Steve Hoffman mastered stereo track for those with only two ears, and you have a winner of a disc. More 5.1 titles may be on the horizon from Audio Fidelity. Until then, if you are a fan of BS&T or of late 60’s music, give this disc a shot. I am sure you will be glad you did.
Can’t help but give this one a 10.