Blood, Sweat & Tears - Collections (1998)

Tracklist

01. Spinning Wheel (Album Version)
02. You've Made Me So Very Happy (Album Version)
03. More And More (Album Version)
04. And When I Die (Album Version)
05. I Can't Quit Her (Album Version)
06. Somethin' Goin' On (Album Version)
07. Just One Smile
08. I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know (Album Version)
09. Roller Coaster (Album Version)
10. John The Baptist (Holy John) (Album Version)

This imported double-CD set is a bit difficult to evaluate because it is so strange (and, at times, cheesy) in its design. The 72-minute first disc is devoted to David Clayton-Thomas' tenure with the group, containing 17 songs covering the best-known tracks from their second album, Blood, Sweat & Tears, right up through their 1976 rendition of "Got to Get You Into My Life" and beyond, up as far as "Katie Bell" and "Sweet Sadie the Savior," several membership changes later. As with the domestic greatest-hits compilation, the songs are all the album edits; the producers were obviously working within the confines of a restricted budget, because apart from "Got to Get You Into My Life" -- which, one assumes, is a no-brainer in terms of an investment -- the later tracks are all drawn from old 16-bit masters, a fact declared in the packaging, which otherwise has no information or annotation whatsoever. The 26-minute second ("bonus") disc offers four tracks by the original, Al Kooper-led band, and "More and More" and "Symphony for the Devil/Sympathy for the Devil," featuring David Clayton-Thomas. The whole thing is a bit of a mess, though in the European market (where What Goes Up: The Best of Blood, Sweat & Tears is not available), it probably makes sense -- for the rest of the world, it's nothing but an attractively packaged, not too well-devised compilation.

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