Name: T50 – Marcello
Rating: 5

Description

Offered for sale is an original pressing of Blood, Sweat & Tears, the 1969 second album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, on the original Columbia 360° Sound label.

About this copy: This copy is a U.S. pressing on the Columbia 360° label, which was discontinued just a few months after the album’s release.

The gatefold cover is VG++, with slight fading on the right hand edge. The cover still has the original shrink wrap. There is a hype sticker on the wrap that says, “FEATURING YOU’VE MADE ME SO VERY HAPPY”

The original Columbia inner sleeve, which had a coupon to send away for giant posters of Columbia artists, is included and has no splits.

The disc is VG++ and close to M- with a couple of faint marks on each side.

Matrix numbers are:

XSM 137878-1AD
XSM 137879-1AA

A gorgeous and great-sounding copy of one of the best sounding rock albums ever recorded.

Background: Blood, Sweat & Tears’ first album, with Al Kooper, got a bit of airplay and strong reviews but didn’t sell all that well. After Kooper left the band and was replaced by David Clayton-Thomas, the band became superstars, particularly due to their second album, which included the hits “Spinning Wheel”, “God Bless the Child” and “And When I Die.” This album has also been a favorite with audiophiles, and both Direct Disk Labs and Mobile Fidelity have released half speed mastered versions of the album over the years.

The album reached #1 on the U.S. album chart.

Allmusic.com gave Blood, Sweat & Tears a 4 1/2 star review:

The difference between Blood, Sweat & Tears and the group’s preceding long-player, Child Is Father to the Man, is the difference between a monumental seller and a record that was “merely” a huge critical success. Arguably, the Blood, Sweat & Tears that made this self-titled second album — consisting of five of the eight original members and four newcomers, including singer David Clayton-Thomas — was really a different group from the one that made Child Is Father to the Man, which was done largely under the direction of singer/songwriter/keyboard player/arranger Al Kooper. …Not only did the album contain three songs that neared the top of the charts as singles — “Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” and “And When I Die” — but the whole album, including an arrangement of “God Bless the Child” and the radical rewrite of Traffic’s “Smiling Phases,” was wonderfully accessible. It was a repertoire to build a career on, and Blood, Sweat & Tears did exactly that, although they never came close to equaling this album.