Child Is Father To The Man [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Being a fan of the Beach Boys (among others), I realized that one of the songs from the famously-unreleased SMILE sessions, was called "Child Is Father To The Man". Apparently, the legend of that album was alive and well even in late 1967 when Blood, Sweat & Tears' debut album of the same name was being recorded. Keyboardist Al Kooper (best known as the organist on Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone") must have been one of the few to have heard those unfinished masters at the time, for he must have used the inspiration to create BS&T. Or at least, his vision of what it should be. Everyone knows the Kooper-less version of the band would find the most success with a slightly different shade of the experimental sound on here. And CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN will certainly have listeners wondering if this is the same band that did "Spinning Wheel" or "And When I Die". Clearly, Kooper had more than just jazz in mind when he put together this album, for the end result was one of the most diverse, undefinable musical statements ever released. No band was safe from the psychedelic bug, and BS&T show off their mettle there on songs like their cover of Tim Buckley's "Morning Glory" (which probably floored even fellow experimentalist Buckley), the sound-effects-laden "House In The Country", and the organ-driven jam "Somethin' Goin' On". If the dates in the booklet are accurate for the recording of these songs, it's a wonder that they were done in the space of only one day. Other genre experiments include classical ("Overture", "The Modern Adventures Of Plato, Diogenes & Freud"), straight pop (a cover of Nilsson's "Without Her" along with Randy Newman's "Just One Smile") and gut-wrenching R&B ("I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", "I Can't Quit Her", "My Days Are Numbered"). As enticing as this recipe for a great rock album was, it didn't really make too many waves on the charts. While Kooper may not have had that in mind, the other members apparently did, for by the end of 1968, Kooper had been sacked, and his own band was moving in a totally different direction for their next album. For them, it may have been a blessing in disguise, for that next album would win tons of Grammys and spawn several hits. Even Kooper himself in the liner notes says it may have all worked out for the best. Still, it would have been great to see how Blood, Sweat & Tears would have wound up had they retained Al Kooper's intriguing musical vision. CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN, though, remains one of the best, if criminally underrated, albums from a rather experimentation-heavy period in music history.

Consider the sum total of Al Kooper's recorded music, and "Child Is the Father to the Man" with Blood Sweat and Tears is his boldest and most enduring project. The songs on this album were written while Kooper was still in the Blues Project and he begged lead guitarist Danny Kalb to add a horn section to the Blues Project to acommodate his new compositions. Kalb balked, preferring the quintet format of the band. It was this creative gridlock with Kalb that led Kooper to leave the Blues Project.

Kooper along with second guitarist Steve Katz jumped ship and in the space of two weeks in December of 1967, recorded the first Blood Sweat and Tears album.

"Child Is the Father to the Man" is a song cycle complete with orchestral overture and tongue in cheek "underture." Kooper was right about adding a brass section. Songs like "I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", "I Can't Quit Her" and "My Days are Numbered" in hindsight are unimaginable without the horn arrangements done by alto sax player Fred Lipsius and Kooper. A lot of the horn arrangements are profoundly influenced by the post-beat era big bands like Maynard Ferguson Big Band and the Mingus Big Band.

The music was a fully realized compendium of a lot of Kooper's ideas with the Blues Project: jazz fusion, contemporary rhythm and blues, urban folk and blues. Katz's tasteful use of a fuzz tone on much of his guitar sounded like some of the psychedelic music coming out of San Francisco in that era.

All of the songs were recorded in one take and Kooper sang the songs with passion he rarely summoned for his vocals with the Blues Project. Critics of Kooper frequently comment on his tendency to overreach both on his vocals and the scope of his musical ambitions, but on his Blood Sweat and Tears sessions Kooper succeeds by restraining himself from overindulgence.

It was uber-producer John Simon's brilliant work on the post session work that made "Child Is the Father to the Man" a rare jewel. Simon added orchestral string arrangements to the scratch tapes from the session and gave the album a unique baroque feel. The result unlike any other popular music recorded in that era.

Unfortunately, shortly after the 1968 release of "Child Is the Father to the Man" guitarist Katz and drummer Bobby Colomby engineered a coup resulting in Al Kooper's departure from Blood Sweat and Tears. Colomby and Katz added vocalist David Clayton Thomas and achieved a phenomenal mainstream breakthrough on their second album. Beneath the sheen of the brassy arrangements the "new" BS&T began to sound like a "by-the-numbers" collection of studio players working from a template.

BS&T floundered for lack of direction, without the passionately opinionated Kooper at the helm. By the early 1970s, BS&T had evolved into just another Middle-Of- Road formula band with Thomas as a front-man. "Child Is the Father to the Man" stands as a stark counterpoint to the post-Kooper, direction of BS&T. One wonders what BS&T could have accomplished, had the band remained under the leadership of Al Kooper's bold, experimental and often eccentric vision.

..but I was there, a musically precocious 11 yr old. Thanks to cousins, I was already "hip" to Coltrane, Jobim, Wes Montgomery,well great musics in general. I remember this recording quite well, it really captured my fascination then.

I've read the various reviews here on Amazon, so I put alittle of my own "spice" to add the conversation.

This recording is the trunk of the tree jazz rock grew from(the "non-fusion" jazzrock). Al Kooper's vision was "right on it", as he had the notion to utilize horns in rockmusics with a "big band" concept in mind, wonderful expansive chords voiced by the section, not just the usual R&B riffing that was the state of things in pop musics until then.

The "tragedy" lies right in this recording, Al Kooper's compositions, the arrangements, the humor in the music itself, and presentation(Laughter, animal noises,et al.)--MAN , this guy was really ahead of the trends, BUT--

1) Mr Kooper's limited vocal range, and generally affected singing(He sounds best on the wonderful bossa nova version of Nillson's "Without Her", where his vocal range is not taxed), and the Anglo Soul Brother frasing is amusingly dated and corny now--.

2) Steve Katz, while a very good vocalist, is not much of a guitar soloist, and is a weak link in this manner(though if it is him, the bossa style comping on the aforementioned Nillson tune is quite capable).

3) The wonderful altered blues instrumental only released on this cd should have been on the original lp release, it is a fine blend of New Orleans-inspired 2nd line groove with a swing release, and includes a fine alto solo by Fred Lipscius(his Bird inspired alto burns on every track he solos on on this cd), and Randy Brecker(Horace Silver bound soon after this recording) and Jerry Weiss play some nice horn too!

So what I mean is, in an alternate universe, if Kooper could "sing", Katz could "blow", I think that this band would have been "untouchable", they would have been "it", the high water mark of jazzrock musics. Instead, the band mutinies and dumps Kooper, gets DC Thomas, and has a string of CORNY LAs Vegas style "hits".
(even drafting more jazz pedigreed players later -Larry Willis, for example- couldnt get this aggregate "de-Wayne Newtonized".)
*Funny , as I write this , I realize how many rock acts are in Las Vegas nowadays, Uffa! Is pop music in a pathetic state or what?? It SURE is, but this is another story..

Anyway,

"AK" is not a jazzman, not a blues man, nor pop Bob Dylan folkboy. He is one of the few American proponents of what in Brasil is called "antropofagia"-- Kooper is canniblizing ALL different styles of musics and mixing it all up into the KOOPERSOUND.
He gives jazz legitimacy to rock, a rocking edge to jazz, etc etc..Bad vocalizing aside, the group seems inspired totally with Kooper's concept.

BIG credit goes to John Simon's production, and Fred Lipscius/Kooper's horn and strings arrangements.
The delicious grooves are a treat too, from bossa to gutbucket blues, 2nd line to pure pop!
Bassplayers check the understated but incredibly tastey basswork alla way through this recording, Jim Fielder is an unsung hero in this regard.

All in all, Al Kooper shoudnt be a footnote, but a major innovator in the history of pop musics,and this recording is only ONE example--KOOPER also wrote many tin pan alley pop hits, most memorably "This Diamond Ring".
His ability to find rock "talent" is legendary(Michael Bloomfield, Steve Stills, even this Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kooper was there!)

Finally,dont disregard the humor in this recording, music without humor , I cant imagine this at all! There's alotta joy in these songs.

Hats off, Al Kooper!