tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post7475835043484492180..comments2024-03-02T07:40:22.786+03:00Comments on Only Solitaire blog: Blood, Sweat & Tears: Blood, Sweat & TearsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-12648461639523366722013-09-12T21:50:58.998+04:002013-09-12T21:50:58.998+04:00BST's second is one of those amazing, zeitgeis...BST's second is one of those amazing, zeitgeist-defining, "right place, right time" moments. Throwing Kooper out and hiring Thomas put them right in the sweet spot between "art" and "pop" for a brief moment. The main bone of contention that people argue over is whether Kooper could have kept them in that spot over the course of an at least decade long career. My opinion is simply that they would have descended straight into mainstream AM pop just as quickly as they did with Thomas at the helm. I really don't see all that much difference between the banal vulgarity of BST3 and anything Kooper was putting out at the time (except Kooper was covering slightly more obscure sources, or ripping them off without credit). But BST's second album will always be their classic, and it's one for the history books (partly as art, partly as cultural-historical debate fodder). Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10744782653983961041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-19291204003606999402013-09-11T03:19:13.442+04:002013-09-11T03:19:13.442+04:00Who knew BS&T would be the source of such live...Who knew BS&T would be the source of such lively debate? I'm glad somebody is standing up for the Clayton-Thomas lineup. I mean, I can't put them ahead of Al, because Al is his own subcategory. But they made decent, radio-friendly pop, which is nothing to be ashamed of, as long as its done well. I will have to admit that the coda of Spinning Wheel is cute on the first listen, then gets annoying. YMMSVH is a sweet romantic song, and sugar like that is so subjective it's hard to critique it unless you absolutely despise it. Then you just like kicking bunnies in the head.JimmADerbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13331334978761537408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-70273507891076206082013-09-10T03:33:40.988+04:002013-09-10T03:33:40.988+04:00Sure they were. They were promoting the songwriter...Sure they were. They were promoting the songwriters whom they assumed would soon be dominating the Top 40. As stated above, they guessed correctly about Harry Nilsson. On their second album, they were right about Steve Winwood. On their third, they featured Robbie Robertson and James Taylor, among others. I assume they continued to do the same thing on succeeding albums. I say "assume" since, after discovering that the third album sucked horrifically, I quickly gave up on the entire enterprise. Malxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17260547693221778146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-39109384968354340842013-09-10T02:19:16.707+04:002013-09-10T02:19:16.707+04:00I've heard "Man's World" plenty ...I've heard "Man's World" plenty times, and that doesn't really affect my opinion of "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know". <br /><br />But you agree with me that on CIFTTM Kooper & gang was (amongst other things) promoting up-and-coming American songwriters (quite succesfully in Nilsson's case), but not so much on this one?Anton Jnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-13736183548328101912013-09-09T23:21:16.527+04:002013-09-09T23:21:16.527+04:00Tim Buckley, Laura Nyro, and Harry Nilsson may not...Tim Buckley, Laura Nyro, and Harry Nilsson may not have been Top 40 in 1968 (although Nilsson shortly would be), but they were all up and coming songwriters who presumably had every chance of breaking huge. Brenda Holloway and Steve Winwood were already well known on the scene at that point, and Billie Holiday had passed into legend already. <br /><br />"I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" is a pretty good song, err, until you play it back to back with James Brown's "Man's World", at which point...wow, Al, lucky for you music industry lawyers weren't paying attention. "Spinning Wheel" ain't going to go down as anyone's idea of a perfect song, but it at least doesn't sound like a wholesale xerox of someone else's creation. <br /><br />So, yeah, I'm sticking with my opinions on this one. Not that it matters much, since BST 3 is just around the corner, at which point my defense of this whole BST franchise begins to break down. Malxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17260547693221778146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-73453017954124244372013-09-09T15:48:44.911+04:002013-09-09T15:48:44.911+04:00"fully dependent on the current Top 40 for th..."fully dependent on the current Top 40 for their source of covers"<br /><br />First off, neither Tim Buckley nor Harry Nilsson were typical Top 40 material in 1968.<br /><br />Second, how about those non-covers Malx? "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"?<br />Or is this "Spinning Wheel" an adequate substitute in your book?<br />Anton Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07396490154328373513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-61156056100411141182013-09-09T00:28:25.125+04:002013-09-09T00:28:25.125+04:00I wrote "and the like", meaning the aggr...I wrote "and the like", meaning the aggregate of critics who tend to over-value Kooper at the expense of the rest of the group. Even the liner notes of the BST comp "What Goes Up" repeat the same old party line that "it was all downhill after AK left". What's swept under the rug is that BST would have gone downhill just as quickly with Kooper at the helm. BST was always a commercial proposition, as fully dependent on the current Top 40 for their source of covers as Weird Al Yankovic is for his source of parodies. During the early 70's when commercial AM radio fodder was at an all time low in quality, BST sucked accordingly. Having Al Kooper on board wouldn't have helped as much as his fan boys think. <br />Malxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17260547693221778146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-81016673223845051712013-09-08T14:01:56.930+04:002013-09-08T14:01:56.930+04:00Christgau?! When did he ever show support for anyt...Christgau?! When did he ever show support for anything Al Kooper did? Anton Jnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-32202182261537187222013-09-08T00:31:35.601+04:002013-09-08T00:31:35.601+04:00This is, by far, BST's best album. Take away K...This is, by far, BST's best album. Take away Kooper's egotistical pretensions, and you have a group of Julliard-trained jazzbos riffing on commercial music of the day. No more, no less. The listener can take it or leave it as the mood strikes them, instead of having to sit through a set of self-important "major statements" backed up in print by a sea of sycophantic critics (Christgau and the like). Malxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17260547693221778146noreply@blogger.com