Columbia 30090
Producers: Bobby Colomby, Roy Halee
Track listing: Hi-De-Ho / The Battle / Lucretia Mac Evil / Lucretia’s Reprise / Fire and Rain / Lonesome Suzie / Symphony for the Devil/Sympathy for the Devil 1. Emergence — A. Fanfare /II. Devil’s Game — A. Labyrinth; B. Satan’s Dance; C. The Demand Ill. Submergence — A. Contemplation; B. Return / He’s a Runner / Somethin’ Comin’ On / 40,000 Headmen
August 8, 1970
2 weeks
Just as the commercial failure of The Child Is Father to the Man brought on the departure of Al Kooper, the success of Blood, Sweat & Tears also brought about changes in the band. And, those changes were reflected on Blood, Sweat & Tears 3.
“Instead of keeping the same spirit we had on the first two albums — ‘Music is not brain surgery and let’s have fun’ — we thought everything out to the maximum degree,” says drummer Bobby Colomby. Part of the problem was that the group’s incredible success had led it to go out on the road to bask in its newfound fame. “We weren’t a band that could write arrangements and rehearse on the road,” says Colomby. “When all expectations for a third album were highest, we had not even begun to assemble an album. And by the time we did, it was, in a sense, too late.”
Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 was released in June 1970, more than 16 months after the release of the band’s self-titled breakthrough album. “In 1970, there was a different sentiment,” Colomby says. “The public was used to seeing a new album by their favorite artists every eight months.”
While BS&T toured and worked on 3, Chicago, another rock group that employed horns, also began to increase in popularity. The two groups were often compared to each other; a pairing that Colomby says was off the mark. “The whole nature of the music was different. We were much more jazz-oriented. They had a lot of lead singers and harmonies. We had one lead singer, David [Clayton Thomas], who had an unmistakable voice.”
Yet there was a disadvantage to that voice, Colomby admits. “When you hear that kind of voice, with a horn section, with such repetition on radio, it tends to wear on you.” A backlash against BS&T had begun. The group lost favor with critics, who had initially embraced the group’s original Al Kooper fronted lineup. “The same critic who wrote that ‘Spinning Wheel’ was ‘a pop gem’ was now writing it was ‘pop drivel,'” Colomby says.
On Blood, Sweat & Tears 3, the group once again kept the song selection diverse with material from Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Steve Winwood, James Taylor, Laura Nyro, and Joe Cocker. There were also some originals, including an ambitious concept piece, “Symphony for the Devil,” which was combined with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.”
“[Keyboardist] Dick Halligan wrote ‘Symphony for the Devil,’ which was based on the devil’s interval. In medieval times priests did not allow composers to use that particular interval of music, because it sounded way to devilish. He took that concept and wrote an arrangement around ‘Sympathy for the Devil.’ It was a lofty and ambitious piece of work, but looking back, it was a big mistake. People didn’t like the fact that we covered ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ since it was so elite. They were like, ‘How dare you fuck with the Stones?'”
Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 featured two top 30 hits “Hi-De-Ho”” and “Lucreita Mac Evil” and the album hit Number One in its fourth week on the chart. Yet it was evident that the group’s better days had already passed.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of August 8, 1970
1. Blood, Sweat & Tears 3, Blood, Sweat & Tears
2. Cosmo’s Factory, Creedence Clearwater Rival
3. Woodstock, Soundtrack
4, Let It Be, The Beatles
5. McCartney, Paul McCartney