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A stone classic from Blood Sweat & Tears – and a record that went onto have a tremendous impact in jazz, rock, funk, and soul! The group's format is plenty darn famous – adding a lot of horns to hip riffing grooves – but despite countless plays on oldies stations over the years, this initial album still has a power that's undeniable – a way of putting the whole thing together that really uses the best elements of the late 60s studio – handled with sweet production from James William Guerico that rivals his best work for Chicago! Even the lead vocals by David Clayton Thomas hold up nicely – and the set includes the classics "Variations On A Theme By Eric Satie", "And When I Die", "Smiling Phases", "More & More", "Spinning Wheel", and "You've Made Me So Very Happy". CD features bonus live tracks – "More & More" and "Smiling Phases".

A wild debut from Blood Sweat & Tears – one of those records that forever changed the face of popular music! The set's noteworthy not just for early vocals from Al Kooper – who was a key part of the group at their start – but also for key production work from a young John Simon – who helped arrange a bit, threw in a few musical touches, and really gave the group some focus on record – of the sort that would continue over the course of man albums. The set's got some added strings at points, and there's even some backup vocals from the duo of Valerie Simpson and Melba Moore. Titles include "Overture", "I Can't Quit Her", "Just One Smile", "Without Her", "My Days Are Numbered", "Morning Glory", and "So Much Love/Underture". CD features bonus tracks – "Refugee From Yuhupitz", plus demo versions of "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" and "The Modern Adventures Of Plato Diogenes & Freud".

A sweet sweet selection of work from Blood Sweat & Tears – and one we love especially because it features their incredible instrumental work for the film The Owl & The Pussycat! The CD offers up a whopping 15 tracks from the film, all instrumentals that have this totally great sound that's unlike anything the group ever did vocally – much more laidback, jazzy, and with lots of sweet Hammond in the mix – often bubbling next to some funky backings, and topped with some great solos on trumpet or tenor too! These cuts are really wonderful – often hidden in the scenes in the film, and later buried next to dialogue bits on the soundtrack album – but presented here for the first time in all their instrumental glory – and showing a real blacksploitation funk side of the group. CD also features some rare mono singles – "Blues Part 2", "More & More", "And When I Die", and "Spinning Wheel" – plus the unreleased track "M", and the very cool "Krakbergravningen".

Blood Sweat & Tears are really stretching out here – working their already-famous magic through a range of great tunes, both originals and covers – and coming up with some great longer-form expressions of their sound in the process! David Clayton-Thomas is firmly in the lead on vocals – but at points, the instrumentation almost takes over even more – especially on some of the jazz-heavy jam numbers that would go onto shape generations of high school and college music ensembles! Side two features the excellent "Symphony For The Devil/Sympathy For The Devil" suite – and other cuts include "He's A Runner", "The Battle", "Lucretia MacEvil", "Lonesome Suzie", "Fire & Rain", "40,000 Headmen", and "Hi De Ho".

An obscure bit of soulful rock from the early 70s – produced and arranged by Chi-soul maestro Willie Henderson – whose efforts really give the record a groove! At some level, Even Stevens are sort of a jazz/rock combo – with traces of Chicago or Blood Sweat & Tears – mixing blue-eyed vocals with a nice sense of rhythms and horn-heavy arrangements over the top. But there's also a more stripped-down sound to their music too – more of a small combo mode, especially in the way that congas and basslines really take over some of the tunes – and push more of a Henderson funky agenda. Titles include Willie's original "Music I Can Feel" – plus "Three Is A Crowd", "French Toast", "MLG", "She's A Friend", "Do What You Got To Do", and "The Woman She Say", which has some great funky flute!

The second album by Three Dog Night – issued hot on the heels of the first, and with a similar heavy-rock trippy-pop kind of approach! The album's surprisingly nice – and with soulful overtones that you wouldn't expect, sounding a bit like parts of early work by Chicago or Blood Sweat & Tears. Titles include "Eli's Coming", "Feelin Alright", "Dreaming Isn't Good For You", "Easy To Be Hard", "Ain't That A Lotta Love", "Circle For A Landing", and "King Solomon's Mines".

A trio of albums from Chase – one of the hippest jazz rock combos of the 70s! The self-titled Chase album first burned onto the market in 1971 – and it's a great distillation of a groove that was bubbling around in various other segments at the time – some of the tighter big band rhythms of the late 60s, as you might find in the work of Maynard Ferguson or Woody Herman – mixed with the hipper rhythms from the rockish underground, particularly in the work of Blood Sweat & Tears or Chicago. Chase is a fair bit jazzier than both of those groups – as they often put the horns more upfront than the vocals – although most numbers do have some sort of vocals as well. Instrumentation is heavy on trumpets – which come together in blasting, blaring groove, even despite the smaller size of the combo – and Phil Porter lays down some great keyboard lines that really help some of the best tracks cook nicely. Titles include "Handbags & Gladrags", "Livin In Heat", "Open Up Wide", "Hello Groceries", "Boys & Girls Together", and "Invitation To A River". Ennea is a jazz rock classic that still sounds pretty darn tasty today – forged on the heels of Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears, but with a sound that's leaner and meaner! The group's led by trumpeter Bill Chase – hence their name – and features lead vocals by GG Shinn and Terry Richards, both in a style that's got the same blue-eyed jazz soul overtones as that used by the groups mentioned above. The real strength of the tracks, though, is their jazzy backings – horn-heavy, as you'd expect, and hitting some great riffs and licks on the album's side-long title "suite", which features many instrumental passages. Titles include "Hades", "Aphrodite (parts 1 & 2)", "Zeus", "Poseidon", "Cronus", "It Won't Be Long", "I Can Feel It", and "Night". Pure Music is the third album from the mighty Chase – and proof that the group was still going strong even after their groundbreaking debut! The grooves here are almost tighter than before – a bit more complicated instrumentally, with some of the trumpets backed off a bit, to leave more room for great lines on guitar and keyboards. There's still some vocals on the record, but they seem a bit more on the backburner than before – and titles include "Close Up Tight", "Twinkles", "Weird Song #1", "Run Back To Mama", and "Bochawa".

One of the stranger chapters of the Holland-Dozier-Holland story of the early 70s – and one of the coolest, too! Warlock are a jazzy rock combo with plenty of soul – a bit like a twisted version of Blood Sweat & Tears, but with all the sinister energy you'd guess from the image on the cover! Most of the numbers have a nasty scratchy sort of vocal – almost Alice Cooper-ish, in keeping with the Warlock name of the group – but a few others get a bit more soulful and funky, belying the HDH connection of the group – sometimes even showing a righteous jazzy vibe, as kind of an odd echo of the Detroit Tribe Records scene. The best tracks have some jazzy phrasing in the mix, and let the guitars go off to the side – and titles include "Love Girl", "You've Been My Rock", "So Can Woman", "Thrills Of Love", and the 14 minute jammer "As You Die/Music Box", which almost has a Colosseum build to it! CD features the bonus track "The Judgement Day".