I was Al’s drummer in the eighties - early nineties… He discovered Jimmy Vivino and me when we were newbies in Phoebe Snow’s band. Coincidentally, I was living at Lookout Farm at the time (owned by John Simon). That band included just Jimmy Vivino, Harvey Brooks, myself and Al. That same Child is a Father music stripped down and naked. No horns.
The effect was sublime.
People would often say the best part of those Bottom Line shows Al's storytelling - and it's hard to argue that, but for me, the emotional high point of any Al Kooper show was the twelve hits out of the bridge of More Than You’ll Ever Know - with Al pleading, for real, “I just gotta hear you say it, yeah yeah yeah.”
That there is the blues!
Thanks for all your words.
Love,
Gary Gold
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I would have been 14, in January of 1968,. That’s when I found an acetate in an issue of a short lived music magazine called EYE, from Al Kooper’s newest group, Blood Sweat and Tears.
The mix was sublime – whoever put that compilation of snippets together was a genius. As I recall, it began and ended with the start and ending of "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know." No one hearing that acetate would have been able to resist the lure. I had to have that album. And once I had that album, it rarely left my turntable. In the more than 50 years since, I’ve worn out several copies of the LP before switching to a CD format, and eventually, an online version.
I can’t quit it. It’s got a hold on me, it won’t set me free – I can’t quit that album. Every song, from the overture to the underture is a gem, bonding me irrevocably to Al Kooper, and exposing me to the wonderful writing of Harry Nillson, Randy Newman, and Tim Buckley. Every song is indelibly etched on my memory, as alive and as effervescent today as it was then. The CD was, quite simply, magic. And I never forgave the band for unceremoniously and surgically deleting the heart and soul from the band and replacing Kooper with Clayton-Thomas as their vocalist. DCT was and is great – but he’s no Al Kooper.
Roxanne Tellier
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I brought The Child is Father to the Man to Middlebury second semester senior year, early 1968–along with the Electric Flag’s first album and Paul Butterfield’s Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw. They were great records from the first great rock & roll horn bands. All genius. You’ve got to remember that Al Kooper was a soul singer. When I interviewed him in 1970 for Zygote magazine, before my run at Crawdaddy, he told me, “I have a Black soul.” He had a soul singer’s attitude and passion, but an entirely different and personal set of chops. This is a soul song in the Otis Redding/Wilson Pickett/Sam & Dave/Solomon Burke/Chuck Jackson realm, except Al can’t sing it like that. He emotes how he emotes—personal, trebly, Jewish! Glad you’re giving this cut the attention it deserves; it’s been 55 years and it still gets to me.
Peter Knobler
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For some reason I received this post a day or two after receiving the post with everyones’ reaction to it…
I saw BS&T at the Mississippi Coliseum in October of 1971 when I was about 14 years old. I’d heard all the hits on Top 40 radio but I’d never heard a horn section live. Good lord it was amazing. I don’t remember anything else about the concert. I was simply astounded by the sound of those horns.
I’ve been a fan of the ‘horn bands’ (Chicago, Ballinjack, Tower of Power, Chase, Cold Blood, etc…) ever since.
We used to play all of ‘em on on WZZQ-FM. I think it’s a safe bet you can’t find a ‘classic rock’ station playing any of them now.
carry on,
Bill Fitzhugh
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Composer, author, educator, musician, sideman, producer, musicologist, storyteller and honorary doctorate. He’s got it all. Al Kooper is a national treasure and we are fortunate to have him. Thanks for a nice way to enjoy a peaceful Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and a story about one of the greatest songs ever written.
Bob Anderson
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I was 14 when our cousin Peter (the actor Peter Riegert) came to visit his California relatives. He told me and my older brother he wanted to buy us a record. He knew Steve Katz from when he was in the Blues Project, and Peter bought us "Child is Father to the Man". Cliff and I knew Kooper from the Blues Project, because our older sister knew Katz from when she stayed with Peter's folks. We were a bit disappointed with the album choice, our hearts and ears full of Hendrix et al. Long story short: we adored the album, and it felt like it was our secret, because we seemed to be the only kids on the West Coast who knew anything about it, like we'd been with the Blues Project. And I still get a charge listening to it, for the nostalgia, yes, but for the excellence mostly. BTW you didn't mention what I consider to be Kooper's magnum opus: "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes, and Freud". Terrific string arrangement by I assume John Simon.
"The games that people play can only bore you
But only those who know you don't ignore you
And how many times have i come there to restore you
And found you lying on the couch
with Father Time
And the clock on the wall's a bore
While you wander past the door
And find him lying on the floor
While he begs you for some more
You've frozen time" (?)
Now that's writing. Might have that last line wrong.
All the best,
Berton Averre
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Folks rightfully remember Al Kooper for an unparalleled career in the music biz but let us not forget that fellow BS&T member (also Blues Project co-founder) Steve Katz literally saved Lou Reed’s career after the dismal failure of “Berlin” (only much later recognised as the masterpiece it is) by producing one of the greatest live albums of all time "Rock & Roll Animal.” Although Lou often dismissed his Steve Katz produced album "Sally Can’t Dance” (Lou's highest US charted album ever) I’m here to tell you that Lou himself took me into the studio to listen to the final mixes of that unfairly derided album (“Ennui" is still stunning in my humble opinion) and he was totally enamoured with the results and couldn’t have been happier with the production. Don’t know why he changed his mind.
From Paris,
Elliott Murphy
PS: Just to be totally transparent I should mention that Steve Katz also produced my third album "Night Lights” (rated 4**** on All Music Guide) which featured the vastly underrated Velvet Underground member Doug Yule on guitar and vocals as well as Billy Joel on piano. Just saying ...
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As for Kooper's masterpiece, I bought it new at Karl Graf's in Lafayette Plaza where I worked in high school. I used to get classmates albums at my employee discount until Lia Vigorito called the store to see if her album came in that I special ordered for her. It was an oddball title that outed my racket and left me out of a job.
Did you know Karl Graf played clarinet in a band that played for the Big Three in Yalta? Just a bit of Bridgeport musical trivia.
I used to make regular bus trips downtown when his store was on the corner of Main and Fairfield (where the 'new' courthouse is) and Rudy Frank's, the soul music shop in town, that was just across Main down Fairfield a half block. They had listening rooms! Artists would do in-stores there!
Lots of musical history in that town.
Be well,
Ken Shain
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For years and years after that album, I believed Melba and Valerie were just about the best of the best backup singers. I still hold them in the highest regard.
And this particular song stuck out to me like it did to you, from listening to the original album when it first came out.
And Fred Lipsius's sax solo, I can still hear it in my mind all these years later.
R. Lowenstein
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And al kooper produced and arranged the first appaloosa album---what a gem---john parker compton had IT for a wee slice if time---recall seeing him on Sundays at the Cambridge Common (moments before seeing Wild Thing....and boy are they a different story for another time)
Frank
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Bob, Thanks for giving this song, and album, perspective and kudos. Funny thing about “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”. Just to focus on the lyrics for a moment, Kooper goes for it…he's a blob on the floor at the foot of his lover: Total surrender….totally committed to capturing THAT feeling, the vulnerability and magesty that so many of us songwriters have poked at but rarely delivered with out falling into soft or sappy. As much as I love the singer/songwriters of that era, there seemed to be a lot of metaphoric waxing on that we as the listening public undinable loved….but this is a bullet straight to the heart of that emotion. Not easy to be so direct, and that is where Kooper's delivery comes in. Can't find many singers better than, or should I say more emotive than the late Donnie Hathaway, but Kooper's version comes from deep inside. A true gem. Thanks again Bob.
Brad Cole
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“Everything but the cape.” Nice.
Growing up in New England and living in Boston after I graduated college in 1094, I knew Al Kooper to be a Boston legend.
I ran into him at a comedy club - a Robert Schimmel show. I’m not one to approach “stars” but I couldn’t resist. It was Al F*cking Cooper. No story here - just a bit of hero worship.
Al used to have a great website/email, “new music for old people.” That was so damn good.
Judd Marcello
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OMG! Your take on “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” brought tears to my eyes. At 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Thanks for your great thoughts.
Bob Askey
Longmont, CO
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Also a huge fan of Child Is The Father. But this track which I have on a vinyl promo of
“Easy Does It” still gives me goosebumps. If I can’t get Springsteen to sing “Jungleland” at my funeral this will have to do. EE
youtu.be/X2LTiBwGNvo
Eron Epstein
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Like you I have listened to this song and album since it came out and still do to this day. I read your earlier writing about the albums after the first one with Clayton Thomas and disagree with you and others as I loved the songs and the way he sang them especially the hits. I do agree the first album over all was not matched again. I am probably skewed a bit as during my high school years from 72-75 our high school Friday night dance band included horns and played both rock n roll like James Gang, Steppenwolf, BTO, etc but also played several songs from BS&T, Chicago, Tower of Power, and Chase after our basketball and football games in the gym as we danced. Probably because of that Forbush High band I still revisit many of these bands albums and always will. Not sure why Clayton Thomas gets such a bad rap but then everyone can have an opinion about music and that is just fine. Anyway thank you for giving us the heads up about this upcoming doc as I can’t wait to see it. Aloha Bob!
Van Fletcher
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FM radio in NYC loved "Child Is Father To The Man" upon its release in 1968; not because BS&T were a local band, but because the songs were that good. WNEW-FM played "I Can't Quit Her", "House in the Country", "Something Going On", and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know". The djs at the station picked their own music, and knew that this album was special since they played so many different cuts. I never owned the album, but I know these songs like I know every song by the Beatles - it was that memorable.
Stuart Taubel
MC Mentholyptus Productions
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Years ago I saw Al in the aisle at a NAMM show. I introduced myself and told him he’d been a major influence on my career in the music biz. He shook my hand, half-smiled, and deadpanned, “don’t blame me, man.”
First BS&T album is still among my most influential. The opening riff to that song has been my wife’s ringtone on my phone for 20+ years.
Daniel Liston Keller
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Bob---Since you mentioned James Brown: Al's call-and response schtick with sax player Fred Lipsius five minutes into "Somethin' Goin' On" is lifted almost verbatim from James' 1964 track "Oh Baby Don't You Weep" www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXEzCWZsfE It's at 4:20. Paul Lanning
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I Love You More Than You?ll Ever Know˛ was literally Al's homage to "It's
A Man's, Man's, Man's World.˛
William Nollman
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Still love the first BS&T album and have had the pleasure of working with Al Kooper on a few occasions
Around 1995 I was working on a project called “Woodstock Diaries” a more accurate telling of the weekend in 69. The three part doc included many acts that were not in the original movie and although BS&T played at Woodstock, they were not part of our project because they could not agree how to share the advance every artist was offered from the film company (I think it was around $8000) , so their performance got left on the cutting room floor. Seems to fit the narrative you say is in the upcoming doc on the band, and I am looking forward to seeing it.
Mark Linett
P.S. Paul Schafer turned the song into a great James Brown moment……Check it out….. it starts around 13:30 in this clip
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICTOHHZWq4
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Here is an impressive lineup of ‘Al Kooper & Friends’ from 1994 on YouTube that includes both Al Kooper and Steve Katz. First is ‘Something Going On’ featuring Al. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOSOtiaS_xY …and here’s ‘Morning Glory’ with Steve from the same performance www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5Y9FVMxmM This band is made up of some of the same guys from the first BS&T album as well as players like Will Lee on bass. You’ll see how good they were.
Somebody mentioned that Jim Guercio had been left out of the upcoming documentary. I’ve read Al Kooper’s and Steve Katz’s books and they mention that they had been impressed with the songs of The Buckinghams like ‘Kind of a Drag’. These songs were produced by James William Guercio and planted the seed for the direction that BS&T would take. Also Kooper said that ‘I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know’ was written due to his fondness for James Brown’s ‘This Is A Man’s World’. Great band, great songs.
John Nixon
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Growing up in my Brooklyn neighborhood the teenage music cognoscenti were in one of two camps, that of The Blues Project or that of the Butterfield Blues Band. I was in the former.
My dad knew someone who got me in to see them backstage at the Café Au Go Go and a starstruck me got to ask Al Kooper for his autograph. He was as kind and friendly as anyone could be.
I saw them there for multiple shows as well as at their "final" Town Hall performance, and saw Blood, Sweat and Tears first performance at the Café Au Go Go after that. Frank Zappa and The Mothers were playing upstairs at The Garrick Theater at that time and they came down to see the show as well.
I later fought through a huge snowstorm to see Al's career retrospective at The Bottom Line celebrating the 25th anniversary of Child is The Father To The Man. The horn section at that show was the best I've ever seen.
Can't wait to see the film.
Paul Burstyn
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Home run, Bob.
It’s been many months since I listened to CIFTTMN but I’ve listened to it so many times I could hear every note and nuance of the song as I read your words.
The emotion and feeling Al puts into the song is so genuine …you believe every word of it!
It’s in my Top 5 list of greatest albums…maybe #1.
Every single song is unique and special and so artfully produced and performed.
It’s late in the evening as I write this but you can be sure come tomorrow morning I’ll be listening…volume up…and singing my heart out.
Alan Crane
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I saw Al Kooper and BST in 67 or 68 at La Cave in Cleveland and purchased the album around the same time. Really liked the cover. Saw BST without Kooper in 68 or 69 when they opened for Janis J. Nowhere near as good. I actually forgot all about the album until Spotify came on the scene and now it’s part of my playlist. It’s still a great LP.
Don Calkin
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You should listen to their great version of Carole King’s “Snow Queen” on 1972’s “New Blood” which is a really good album. The song morphs into a cover of Herbie Hancock’s incredible composition “Maiden Voyage”. The album is perfectly played throughout and covers a wide range of genres which was the original DNA of the band.
It’s a shame that BST which were a really tight outfit from the very first album could not keep it together.
Olivier Chastan
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I was a big BS&T fan, saw them at my first Fillmore East visit. Loved the first 2 albums, but 3 & 4 lost me. I got back into the fold with later albums: New Blood, No Sweat, Mirror Image. Introduced me to jazz like Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage.” Looking forward to the film.
-Hank Stone
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I became a huge BS&T fan in my youth compliments of my older brother. Any music Bill listened to HAD to be cool! But I must respectfully disagree with you on the subject of David Clayton Thomas. As good as Al Kooper is, his vocal talents are not in the same class as DCT. DCT has one of the most powerful & compelling voices in Rock...ever IMO.
I agree with you on the song "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" being a masterpiece...however, my favorite rendition features not Al Kooper on vocals, but a version with DCT & BS&T I saw on "The Midnight Special" on NBC TV sometime in the Mid-Late 70s. I have never been able to find it on YouTube, or anywhere else, which is a shame because it is AWESOME. I actually recorded all those music TV Shows on my little cassette recorder (long before anyone had home VCRs!) & played that tape until I literally wore it out!
The TV performance of that song was similar to the version on the 1975 Album "Blood Sweat & Tears in Concert Featuring David Clayton Thomas" . This live version is slower, more pared down & less "produced" than the one with Al Kooper on "The Child Is The Father To The Man". But great music all the same!
Love your podcast & your emails...thanks for bringing it!
Andy Allen
Houston, TX
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When BS&T played The Psychedelic Supermarket in Boston on Feb 1968, they played You Made Me So Very Happy, Smiling Phases and More and More with Al singing them. Arrangements were all in place when DCT came in. A bootleg exists and here is but one clip of Smiling Phases :
m.youtube.com/watch?v=EYlC4knnUNI
Paul Bronstein
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My Child is a Father to Man’s cover had a white circle from wear and tear from the vinyl
inside.
Remember going to the Fillmore East to see Al Kooper and his Super Session band,
where they introduced this guitarist named Johnny Winter.
Drove home in an epic blizzard on the Palisades Parkway and despite not being able to see five feet in front
of us, it didn’t matter. Because that’s what you did when you were a young punk
with your whole life ahead of you, a car full of your best friends in the seats next to you, and fueled from experiencing
an evening of ridiculously amazing live music.
Janie Hoffman
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I have the first three BS&T vinyls, which still permeate my South Florida home with great music and fond memories.
I attended Kent State University from 1965 to 1970. In the fall, 1969, BS&T performed at Kent State in one of their smaller gymnasiums. Of course, we were truly engrossed with the exciting music and the intimate setting. My date for this concert was my girlfriend, Sandy Scheuer.
As a side note, Sandy Scheuer and I attended the Kent State May 4th, 1970, rally.
Unfortunately, Sandy was one of the four students killed that day. James Michener's book, "Kent State: What Happened and Why" gives an accurate detailed account of this calamity.
Whenever any of the Kent State tragedy comes to my mind, I always have a great memory of Sandy at the BS&T concert, "I Can't Quit Her."
Joel Schackne
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I saw Blood Sweat and Tears perform many times from their beginnings through about 1974. I never saw a bad show by them. I remember hearing about them having a new singer and in September of 1968 I saw them perform at the Fillmore East for the first time opening up for the Chambers Brothers. They were freaking off the hook. The band was incredibly tight and David Clayton Thomas say what you Will about him had the audience mesmerized with his version of God Bless The Child.. I saw them a few more times at the Fillmore after that when they were headlining and they basically always sold out the place.
I also agree with you on BST 3 but the next record BST 4 was very underrated with some really great and some very crisp playing.. when the album came out …in the summer of 1971 my girlfriend and I were staying with my parents in Florida over the summer selling carpeting before the fall semester started. There was a place near Fort Lauderdale called Pirates World ‘s, and when we saw they were going to be there I bought the album got familiar with the material and went and saw an absolutely spectacular concert by them there.. it just wasn’t the Columbian gold that was kicking in but the band was really tight and playing great material again..
Greetings from Lisbon
Peace,Jason Miles
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Bob - I coincidentally listened that track yesterday. Well, maybe not so coincidentally, as you & my fellow readers have been waxing poetic about pre vs. post-Al Kooper BS&T, of late...
That first BS&T record was the first LP I bought with my own pre-teen hard earned money! Remind sometime to tell you how, a few decades later, Al Kooper himself was responsible for me asking my wife (of near 28 years now, thank you very much) to marry me. He may not even realize how that happened...maybe you'll print this and he'll read it here. It's been years since we've seen each other, but as you know - not only is Al a brilliant musician and genius, but he's a good cat & my wife Vickie & I are glad to have called him a friend way back when.
Bob Reeves
Nashville, TN
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Shouldn't Al Kooper be in the Rock Hall of Fame. Voters, please! He has never even been nominated!
Larry Mollin
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