Gen Z Talks Rock Music is back with another blog about the latest headlines about your favorite rock n’ roll bands and more commentary from someone, who is too young to know this much about this ancient music. A few blogs ago, I did a concert review on the 1960’s and 1970’s smash hit band, Three Dog Night. Today, I will review my second rock concert that I went to since the pandemic. I will discuss my disappointment about how it was only one original member, and he didn’t play the whole set. I will go over the pros and cons of their performance and how they interacted with the crowd. Finally, there will be a bio section about the original band. This band was most popular around the same time Three Dog Night was a sensation in rock music. They were an eight-piece band from New York from 1967 to 1981. They won 3 Grammys, which one was Album Of The Year and they were a Woodstock act. The band’s sound was heavily influenced by jazz, rock, pop, and soul, which they mixed into one unique sound. They were known for creating jazzy covers of other artist’s songs, while also writing original pieces of music. These covers would range from Laura Nyro, James Taylor, The Band, Rolling Stones, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, and Sergei Prokofiev. The band contained many virtuoso musicians and had vocalists with strong deep singing voices. I am talking about jazz fusion band, Blood Sweat and Tears.
Blood Sweat And Tears Bio:
Before I talk about how the new Blood Sweat And Tear show was, here is a background about the original band. Blood Sweat And Tear’s story starts with an idea in July of 1967. Al Kooper, who was a founding member, keyboardist and lead vocalist of Blood Sweat Tears, would leave a popular 1960’s band called The Blues Project in 1967 as their keyboardist. After his departure, he was inspired by jazz bandleader Maynard Ferguson, and he wanted to form his very own electric rock band with a jazz background and a horn section. He would pursue his goal by going to London to recruit musicians to join his band. Kooper would play shows with his famous friends in New York to raise money to get him to London. However, this plan backfired as he couldn’t raise enough money to go to London. He was approached by three musicians that wanted to work with him, and he agreed if he had full control of the music direction of the band. Keyboardist Al Kooper would be joined by bassist Jim Fielder, guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby, saxophonist Fred Lipsius, trombonist Dick Halligan, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss to form Blood Sweat And Tears. They would release their debut album called “Child Is Father to the Man” in February 1968 featuring Kooper’s masterpieces titled “I Can’t Quit Her” and “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.” Kooper would leave the band after the first album, but the band would continue with vocalist David Clayton-Thomas. If you want to learn more about the history of Blood Sweat And Tears, check out the link below. Blood, Sweat & Tears Biography, Songs, & Albums | AllMusic
Concert Review:
On October 16, 2021 at Harrah’s Casino Resort in Atlantic City, I saw Blood Sweat And Tears or what they put together to call themselves Blood Sweat And Tears. When buying the tickets in beginning of 2020, there was nothing that said it was a brand-new lineup with no original member performing under the name. Maybe the tour name gave it away, which was called Past, Present, Future tour, but it is still very vague and could mean anything. What happen was the music director bought the rights of the Blood Sweat And Tears’ songs, and his band is able to play those songs under the name, Blood Sweat And Tears. The new lineup was led by Keith Paluso, season 15 runner-up vocalist on the NBC’s show “The Voice." Then, Brad Mason and Jonathan Powell were on trumpet, Ken Gioffre on saxophone, Mike Boscarino on trombone, Dylan Elise on drums, Ric Fierabracci on bass, Julian Coryell on guitar and Glen McLelland on keyboards.
The night of the show, I slowly went to my seat as it was only 7 P.M. and the show doesn’t start until 8 P.M. I intently looked at the screen on my left next to the stage. The screen was flashing picture of future shows in the venue, but one picture caught my eye. The Blood Sweat and Tears promo showed the words, Past Present Future featuring “The Voice’s” Keith Paluso. My eyes widened and I had a puzzled look on my face. I became impatient because I wanted to know what was going on. Then the clock hit 8:15 P.M. and finally the announcer came on. The announcer’s voice echoed in the venue, and he said, “Now introducing to the stage is original member of Blood Sweat And Tears, Jim Fielder.” Jim Fielder with a bass in his hands came behind the blue curtain. He talked for 10 minutes about the band’s connection with Atlantic City and the history of the band. After he was finished speaking, he introduced the band to the stage. The blue curtain went up and the band was playing the first song of the set, which was “More And More.” There was something funny about the musicians playing the classic Blood Sweat And Tears songs like “Spinning Wheels,” “Hi-De-Ho,” “Go Down Gambling,” “I Love You More Than You Ever Know,” “And When I Die,” and “You Make Me So Very Happy.” These guys were extremely young to be Blood Sweat And Tears.
The pros of the show were first the whole band tried to take their own spin on each Blood Sweat And Tears’ song. What I mean is it didn’t sound like the recordings, and it was the new lineup’s version of these classic songs. Starting with the vocalist, Keith Paluso, he had a difficult task in performing as the lead singer of band, because Al Kooper and David Clayton-Thomas had deep manly testosterone singing voices. I think he nailed the performance, because he didn’t mimic the previous vocalists and brought his own southern twang to the songs. Then the rest of the band was very entertaining as they were the best virtuoso players in the music business. These musicians went off script and improv a lot of solos and instrumental parts. The drummer had two amazing solos, where he was drum rolling, while he was flipping the drums sticks in the air. The keyboardist and guitarist were playing fast complicated solos, but it looked too easy for them. Also, horns section had incredible solos, especially the part of the show, when the two trumpets were trading bar measures in their solos. This means the trumpet players went back and forth playing their instrumental part. All in all, this new lineup was jazzier, than the original band. A jazzier band with a southern style vocalist put together invented a southern jazz sound. It was like if Greg Allman from the Allman Brother was the lead vocalist of the jazz fusion band, Chicago.
The cons of the show were that the original bass player, who introduced the band in the beginning only joined the band for three songs. The rest of the show was finished by their new bass player and Jim Fielder wasn’t seen after he did the three songs. Why did they have the original bass player with them to only play three songs? Most people like me would love an original member on stage playing a complete set with the new generation. What happened, was his game plan to play three songs and then go home to take his nap? This leads me to my next issue. A completely new lineup with no original members. So basically, I paid money to see a cover band, when I paid money to see a somewhat original Blood Sweat And Tears show. The band was good, but I found it a rip off to call yourself Blood Sweat And Tears and not be the actual Blood Sweat Tears. Since the music director bought the rights to the songs, he can get away with this. I wished it wasn’t as confusing as new band made it, because nowhere on the ticket said the New Blood Sweat And Tears or something to set them apart from the original band. If they made it clear, then I know what I was paying for. Third, this Blood Sweat And Tears played as many covers than Blood Sweat And Tears songs. There were so many songs that they didn’t play like “House In The Country,” “Lisa, Listen To Me,” and “Somewhere In Winter” Instead they played unusual covers like “Midnight Rider” by The Allman Brothers, and I wished they stick to the Blood Sweat And Tears songs. Now, Blood Sweat And Tear are known for covering popular songs like “Sympathy Of The Devil” by The Rolling Stones, and “Got To Get You In To My Life” by The Beatles. If they were going to do some covers, I would like to them do popular songs that they are known for covering. Last thing is they came on late at 8:30 P.M. and only played for one hour. I was shocked that the ended so early, because these guys are young enough to give a two-hour show. When I saw Three Dog Night, which I discuss in my last concert review, they put on a two hour show until 10pm. If guys that looked like they were mummified by Egyptians can play for two hours, then it shouldn’t be no problem for the young guys, who said they were Blood Sweat And Tears. Blood Sweat And Tears was an iconic jazz fusion band from the 1960’s and !970’s, but they were kidnapped on the night of my show. The replacements were good, but nothing could have been better if some of the original members came and played a two-hour set for my show. If you want to see a great cover band that should be called, the New Blood Sweat And Tears, then it is worth it to spend your money. If you want to see the originals Blood Sweat And Tears, I do not recommend this show. I have listed below songs by Blood Sweat And Tears of what I expected my show in Atlantic City to be. Let me know in the comments below, if you like what hear from Blood Sweat And Tears. Also, put in the comments if you were ever disappointed by a concert that you went to. This is the end of the story, come back next time to Gen Z Talks Rock Music for more rock n’ roll.
You've Made Me So Very Happy - YouTube
Lisa, Listen to Me - YouTube
Go Down Gamblin' - YouTube
And When I Die - YouTube
More and More - YouTube
Spinning Wheel - YouTube
Hi-De-Ho That Old Sweet Roll - YouTube
I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know - YouTube
House In the Country - YouTube
Sometimes in Winter - YouTube
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