Fire And Blood

UK twofer combines the American rock act's 1970 & 1971 albums featuring 20 tracks…

Blood, Sweat & Tears had a hard act to follow in recording their third album. Nevertheless, BS&T constructed a convincing, if not quite as impressive, companion to their previous hit. David Clayton-Thomas remained an enthusiastic blues shouter, and the band still managed to put together lively arrangements, especially on the Top 40 hits "Hi-De-Ho" and "Lucretia Mac Evil." Elsewhere, they re-created the previous album's jazzing up of Laura Nyro ("He's a Runner") and Traffic ("40,000 Headmen"), although their pretentiousness, on the extended "Symphony/Sympathy for the Devil," and their tendency to borrow other artists' better-known material (James Taylor's "Fire and Rain") rather than generating more of their own, were warning signs for the future. In the meantime, BS&T 3 was another chart-topping gold hit.

On 30th November 2010 Steve Hackett and his band returned to the Shepherd's Bush Empire to resounding applause after many stops abroad with the "Around The World In Eighty Trains" tour. While show fell outside in a London blizzard, within the atmosphere was burning. The band on fine form and hot to trot were joined by special guests Steven Wilson and John Wetton.