Friday, September 26, 2008

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Blood Sweat & Tears f/Al Kooper

Artist:Blood Sweat & Tears f/Al Kooper
Song:I Can't Quit Her
Album:Greatest Hits




Blood Sweat & Tears were a hugely popular jazz rock band of the late 60s. But there were actually two different versions of the band. I Can't Quit Her is from the first version but the second version was more popular. BS&T was started by former member of The Blues Project Al Kooper (born Feb. 5, 1944 in Brooklyn, NY) in July 1967. He admired trumpeter and big band leader Maynard Ferguson and got the idea of adding horns to a standard rock band. He got together with Blues Project guitarist Steve Katz (born May 9, 1945 in Brooklyn), his buddy drummer Bobby Colomby (born Dec. 20, 1944 in New York City) and former Buffalo Springfield bassist Jim Fielder (born Oct. 4, 1947 in Denton, TX). Kooper agreed to start the band as long as he was in charge musically. Blues Project was not a pleasant experience. Colomby brought in sax player Fred Lipsius and then trumpeters Randy Brecker & Jerry Weiss and trombonist Dick Halligan were brought in. They signed with Columbia and their first album The Child Is The Father To The Man did well but was missing a hit single. I Can't Quit Her should have been a hit but just wasn't. Colomby & Katz blamed Kooper's vocal skills and they wanted to bring in a new singer. Kooper left and signed a solo contract with Columbia. Brecker left and eventually formed his own band called Dreams and of course The Brecker Brothers. Colomby & Katz hired David Clayton-Thomas as lead singer and they had a lot of success. This comp has some early material along with the hits. I'll look at the second BS&T at another time. Here's a video for I Can't Quit Her by Blood Sweat & Tears.

No comments:

Post a Comment