"If you like horns, these horns roar. Possibly the best horn band ever. Listen to the beginning of Redemption where the King of all drummers Bobby Colomby let's loose. This is, by far, the best B,S & W album to buy. Period."
Take To The Desert Island
Howard Wexler | White Plains, NY United States | 03/18/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This one goes with me there.
I remember a review of this saying that the band showed how discipline actually means freedom. Such is the case on this one.
Cut after cut is wonderful, not a trace of filler. But my personal favorite is Mama Gets High. Compare it to anything in music, it is so different, a rock song with Dixieland-style horns. Can you imagine the program director of a radio station getting this and listening to it?
Sadly, little of this CD was ever played in any of the BS & T concerts I attended."
An Outstanding New Remaster
MrBadExample | 05/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This 2009, just-released, remaster is stunning.
I always thought that the Columbia/Legacy edition of many years ago could never be beat. But wow...I compared the Legacy to this and this new version is marvelous. The album has even more power than before, the instruments have a clarity unimagined, and it simply roars past the Legacy edition.
This is like hearing the album for the first time.
Even if you already have this, it's worthy of an immediate re-buy. I'm not familiar with this Friday Music label, but the remaster producer, Joe Reagoso has done a spectacular job with this classic album."
My favourite BS&T release.....
A. Pack | Portland, OR | 07/08/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a little late on the draw with this review, but I would have to say that this album is truly my favourite. Yes, I do place it above their Grammy-winning second album, because although many of the track on the 2nd BS&T were hard-hitting, this album shows a more focused, laid-back mature Blood, Sweat and Tears. The 2nd album appeared more as an experiment in where they would travel with their jazz-rock idea and on this album it seems the know the answer.
Go Down Gamblin' is indeed the hardest rocking song on the album, but it's songs, for example, like Cowboys and Indians, the Al Kooper tune, John The Baptist and smooth, romantic, yet introspective, Valentine's Day that make this album a true classic...
True enough, the 2nd Blood Sweat and Tears album is indeed a classic and a good buy, but this album shows Blood Sweat and Tears in a more mature light. This album I would recommend as a 2nd buy for first time listeners, after having bought the 2nd simply called, Blood Sweat and Tears."
Realy their best?
Richard Moore | Hastings, MI USA | 01/02/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album takes a lot of really hard knocks. I can understand that, for it is not a good commercial album. I hear this as probably their best album from a a jazz standpoint. The standard of performance is also the highest of any of their efforts (except for, of course, giving in to a Clayton-Thomas guitar solo). But... as a pop group, the people that dislike it are right in their criticism. Bubblegum it ain't."