Blood Sweat And Tears Greatest Hits

Sometimes, a greatest-hits set is timed perfectly to gather together a group's most successful and familiar performances just at the point when that group has passed the point of their maximum exposure to the public, but before the public memory has had a chance to fade. That was the case when Columbia Records assembled this compilation for release in early 1972. At that point, Blood, Sweat & Tears had released four albums and scored six Top 40 hits, each of which is heard here. But lead singer David Clayton-Thomas had just quit the group, so that the unit that recorded songs like "You've Made Me So Very Happy" was not working together anymore. And even when Clayton-Thomas returned, the band would continue to decline commercially. As such, BS&T's Greatest Hits captures the band's peak in 11 selections–seven singles chart entries, plus two album tracks from the celebrated debut album when Al Kooper helmed the group, and two more from the Grammy-winning multi-platinum second album.

Essential: a masterpiece of rock music
Sometimes, a greatest-hits set is timed perfectly to gather together a group’s most successful and familiar performances just at the point when that group has passed the point of their maximum exposure to the public, but before the public memory has had a chance to fade.

On the eve of the New Year I offer you a small insight into the already so far away, but so cool twentieth century. And remember it will help you to Mario Lanza, Marilyn Monroe, Bill Haley & His Comets, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Louis Armstrong, Pat Boone, Jerry Lee Lewis, Perry Como, Paul Anka, Roy Orbison, Scorpions, Bob Dylan, The Mama's & Papa's, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Shocking Blue, Guess Who, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, Rod Stewart, The Byrds, The Kinks and many many others … The greatest hits of the past millennium. Need I say more? Download and enjoy the great past.

The Buckinghams recorded five Top 40 singles that all charted in 1967. All five of those tunes are included in this collection. Their three biggest singles, "Don't You Care," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," and the number one hit "Kind of a Drag," are pure pop ear candy. Most of the tracks were ably produced by James William Guercio, who would later produce Blood, Sweat & Tears' classic self-titled second album and all of Chicago's earlier albums. Like a lot of '60s groups, the Buckinghams included a song to raise the social conscience of its audience. In this case, the song is "Foreign Policy," an almost unbearable "experimental" tune that includes a snippet of a JFK speech and clocks in at over four minutes! Of course, that's really not very long, but the other ten tracks are all less than three minutes a pop. "Foreign Policy" is truly "kind of a drag." However, the rest of the tracks are tolerable.