Child Is Father to the Man 2

CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN – Story of the Month (from September 2012)
 
 
 
 
Some of these albums are curiosities for the most part, but that is most definitely not true of this one.  To me, it is positively criminal that there are still some rock music fans out there who do not know about the debut 1968 album by Blood, Sweat and TearsChild Is Father to the Man Despite having zero hit songs and being recorded before lead singer David Clayton-Thomas joined the group, this album is even better than their second album, Blood, Sweat and Tears Finally, this is also the best work by Al Kooperwho founded BST – and that is saying something. 
 
Al Kooper is a New Yorker – he was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Queens.  Early on, as part of a songwriting team in New York, he co-wrote This Diamond Ring, which was a 1960 hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys (he is Jerry Lewis’s son).  He moved to Greenwich Village in 1965 and became part of the backing band for Bob Dylanalong with ace guitarist Mike Bloomfield.  That’s Kooper playing the signature Hammond Organ riffs on Dylan’s monster hit Like a Rolling Stone (and other songs on Highway 61 Revisited); the story is that the people in the studio were trying to put his organ in the background, but that it was Dylan himself who brought it out to the front of the mix.  Al Kooper later became a member of the Blues Projectone of the earliest psychedelic rock bands; and he was also the driving force behind one of the most popular and successful albums of the late 1960’s (in collaboration with Stephen Stills and Mike Bloomfield), Super Session.  As if that were not enough, many years later, he produced the first several albums by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  
 
Al Kooper formed Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1967; one of his bandmates in the Blues Project, Steve Katz became an important member of the group as well.  Besides being one of the first rock bands to have a full brass section (there are also frequent strings plus an Ondioline, a precursor to modern synthesizers), Child Is Father to the Man has a classically based structure, with an “Overture” and an “Underture” and songs that flow from one into another covering rock, country, pop, jazz, blues, folk . . . there is even a fugue section.  The songs are mostly original – “I Can’t Quit Her”, “Meagan’s Gypsy Eyes” and “My Days Are Numbered” are real standouts – but include some real beauties among the cover songs:  Randy Newman’s “Just One Smile”, Harry Nilsson’s “Without Her” and Tim Buckley’s “Morning Glory”.  The Stone Poneys also recorded the latter song, though with the title “Hobo” instead; it is my favorite Poneys song (even beating “Different Drum”) and one of my very favorite Linda Ronstadt songs.  Simply put, Child Is Father to the Man is a joy from beginning to end. 
 
Steve Katz remained with the group, unlike Al Kooper (who left the band or was pushed out after the release of Child Is Father to the Man due to creative differences).  Katz has an excellent lead vocal on one song on Blood, Sweat and Tears, Sometime in Winter”. 
 
(February 2015)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021