David Clayton Thomas

Clayton-Thomas revisits the music of his youth on Blue Plate Special, his first all-blues effort; in addition to a pallid remake of the Blood, Sweat and Tears hit "Lucretia MacEvil," he also tackles songs by Willie Dixon, Freddie King and Albert Collins.
David Clayton-Thomas fronted Blood, Sweat & Tears during their popular peak, singing the hits "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "And When I Die," "Hi-De-Ho," and his composition "Spinning Wheel." The latter suggested the musical ambitions he harbored and after the group's hot streak cooled in 1972, he set out on a solo career that he quickly put on ice so he could return to the group in 1975…

Clayton-Thomas’ new album, Mobius is an ambitious work that sees the former Blood, Sweet &Tears' frontman wearing a variety of musical hats. Co-produced with his long-time compadre and musical director George Koller, Mobius takes the listener on a stylistic journey, with Clayton-Thomas’ iconic voice serving as the star around which the songs revolve. Mobius is a stunning collection of songs, with Clayton-Thomas collaborating on writing with each of his four band members. With a lineup that includes drummer Larnell Lewis, keyboardist Lou Pomanti, guitarist Eric St-Laurent, and Koller on bass, the songs are well served by the incredible talent of these musicians.

Blood, Sweat & Tears didn't get around to cutting an official live album until they were well past their prime years - in this case, 1975, long after every original member (and even most of their first-generation successors) except for drummer Bobby Colomby (a true founding member, going back to the Al Kooper lineup) and vocalist David Clayton-Thomas, was gone. But, as Clayton-Thomas was back for the accompanying album, New City, and was with the group on this tour, one supposes that Columbia Records decided to take advantage of its good fortune by taping several shows. For his part, the singer is more mannered and pretentious than ever on most of this album, his singing powerful enough but his instincts pushing him more toward loud, ultimately over-the-top soul strutting, lacking any hint of subtlety…

Essential: a masterpiece of rock music.
History has not been as kind as it might, and arguably should, have been to Blood Sweat and Tears. In their day, they made some of the most exciting progressively influenced jazz rock ever.

From their beginnings as an attempt at bold jazz-rock fusion in 1967 through a run as a high-powered R&B/soul-rock singles act with singer David Clayton-Thomas two years later, Blood, Sweat & Tears were always a kind of fascinating experiment, and a commercially successful one at that. The first album from the Clayton-Thomas-fronted band appeared in 1969, spawned four high chart hits, won a Grammy as Album of the Year, and went on to sell some three million units. The next two albums, Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 and 4, generated a few more hits, but the band was gradually running out of creative steam by this point, and when Clayton-Thomas left the group after the fourth album, well, that was the end of the line commercially for Blood, Sweat & Tears. A jazzier, but definitely not as commercial, version of Blood, Sweat & Tears showed up for two of the albums collected in this set, 1972's New Blood and 1973's No Sweat, with the third album here, 1976's More Than Ever, featuring the return of David Clayton-Thomas to the fold.