JSngry Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 http://www.rdrop.com/users/rickert/bst.html and http://www.davidclaytonthomas.com/news.html Proof that beating a dead horse will eventually kill it again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 And I thought they were over about 30 years ago- the horror! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I was browsing some old Downbeats from the late 60s or early 70s. I seem to recall that BST was voted best jazz group at some point. Can that be right? I do know they scored high in the Readers Polls. I can't imagine why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMX Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 What goes up, Must come down, Spinning Wheel, yada yada yada... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 Actually a pretty nifty band during their first run, all things considered, and the vocals of David Clayton-Thomas and the mostly unfortunate BS&T 3 notwithstanding. Much more interesting and musical than Chicago and others of that ilk, to my tastes anyway, with some truly fine players and arrangers at work doing new things to pop music. But c'mon, that was then and this is now. They're just NOW calling it quits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfricaBrass Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I like BST's first album, but didn't get into their other stuff. I guess the group ended for me when Al Kooper left. I remember reading that Joe Henderson played with BST for an album. Is this true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 (edited) Don't know why (maybe a date wanted to go), but I went to a BST concert (over 30 years ago ). Can't remember who was also on the bill. Really more pop than jazz. But, I do like the fact that, at one time, there was a real feeling that rock, jazz, pop could all fit together and attract the same audience. Edited January 12, 2005 by Leeway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I remember reading that Joe Henderson played with BST for an album. Is this true? Yeah, he took came on when the group reformed after the big post-departure-of-Clayton-Thomas overhaul. Larry Willis was in there too, although he stayed on for a while. What I'm not sure about is if Joe ever actually gigged with the band or left during the rehearsal stage. By the time the next album came out, Lou Marini was the saxist. But then-new BS&T guitarist Georg Wadenius (sp?) recorded w/Joe on a Milestone date. I think Joe wasn't involved with the band for more than six months or so overall. I do remember him saying that all of a sudden he was getting endorsement offers and stuff out the wazzoo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 Really more pop than jazz. But, I do like the fact that, at one time, there was a real feeling that rock, jazz, pop could all fit together and attract the same audience. Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed S Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 BS&T has been playing the oldies circuit for years with David Clayton THomas fronting whever they can scrounge up. I guess 35 years of "Spinning Wheel", "Lucretia McEvil", and "Go Down Gamblin'" finally got to him. Judging from his version of "Don't Explain" on his website, he might be singin And When I Die again and sooner than he thinks. Actually this past August - BS&T drew over 12,000 people to a free concert at Artpark in Lewiston NY (at the mouth of the Niagara River). Artpark is one of those summery concert venues with the covered seats and lawn seating in the back that are all over the place. They had this free Tuesdays at Artpark thing going and I guess 12,000 plus people didn't have anything better to do that night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed S Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I guess I must add that I was a fan of the band back in the day as well. I actually went to see DCT and Bllod Sweat and Tears on one of their early reunion tours. It could have been in the late 80s or early 90s. Not bad, actually and kind of fun - you know, one of those memory lane things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed S Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 Really more pop than jazz. But, I do like the fact that, at one time, there was a real feeling that rock, jazz, pop could all fit together and attract the same audience. Exactly. Isn't that what they say about the Pat Metheny Group? Not a dig, BTW. I'm a huge Metheny fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 thanks got. bst is the worst band ever. they make even CHICAGO look like the beatles. even frank zappa used to make fun of them all the time in his shows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed S Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 bst is the worst band ever. What about Three Dog Night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I don't recall what year it was, but down beat gave me an assignment to do a cover story on Bobby Colomby, the BST drummer. It was an unknown group then, its first album was yet to be released. They were playing in a small Village club and when I told Bobby that I was doing a story on him and the band for down beat, he went became more excited than a housewife facing Bob Barker's Plinko board. He told me that he grew up on down beat and just couldn't believe that he was going to be mentioned in it, much less that he and BST would be the cover story. I mentioned that I needed to interview him, to which he replied, "Tell me where to come, I'll go anywhere." He came to my apartment a few days later and I eventually got to know the whole band, because I was producing records for Columbia (i.e. in the same building) when they made their second album. These were a bunch of jazz fans--I recall that they loved Bill Evans, for example, and Colomby's interest in jazz was by no means coincidental--his brother, Jules, was Monk's manager. I must admit that it bothered me to see Miles opening for BST at Madison Square Garden, but I understand that it was the group's idea to share the bill with him and--they having by then soared to popularity--they felt it might, ironically, give him a boost. He was, after all aiming at a younger audience. BTW, I had no idea that BST still existed, I thought they disappeared decades ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 bst is the worst band ever. What about Three Dog Night? Many FAR worse bands than either one of those! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrJ Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 (edited) Apropos of very little here - but chalk me up as a closet early-ish Chicago fan. Not great players overall (although Terry Kath wasn't too bad, even kind of distinctive) but an undeniable knack for catchy pop horn arrangements and hooks in those earlier years. First five or so LPs were consistently pretty good - and kind of charmingly overambitious and "junior league BS&T goes big time" way. Main downside was wearying mega-over-exposure on the radio, but you can't really blame them for that. After that, the next few albums were each collections of 2 or 3 very strong singles jury-rigged together with lots of filler and the occasional cool LP track (Kath again was the wild card..."Oh Thank You Great Spirit" on VIII was pretty groovy). And after his death, things were never quite the same...let's just say etCETERA, etCETERA, etCETERA...yeccchhh. Edited January 12, 2005 by DrJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 BS&T has been doing gigs with local symphonies for some time -- or at least they've been here with the Kansas City Symphony, on their pops concert series, at least twice within the last 10 years. I've never been to one of their shows, so I don't know how much of a full band there is with these symphonic gigs. Nor do I know if these symphony gigs have been their primary thing in recent years, or if they were simply a series of one-offs, two of which happened to be here in KC. Always seemed kinda weird to me, that they'd be much of a draw to those interested in pops symphony concerts (or that any of it would even lend itself to symphonic treatment), but then again - I much confess to barely knowning any of BS&T's music. But from what I recall, those BS&T and KC Symphony concerts were for near sell-out crowds both times they were here. (Hell, that's probably why they came back so soon.) The Moody Blues, or Yes -- plus a symphony, makes sense to me. BS&T with orchestra, makes less sense, at least on the face of it. "Spinning Wheel" and "What Goes Up" might be the only two tunes of theirs that I can bring to mind. Heck, maybe those two are really one in the same song, now that I think of it. Call it a generational thing -- I'm 35, and there are some huge gaping holes in my knowledge of "pop" music from the early 70's, especially of the variety that now gets played on "goldie oldie" AM stations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 3 DOG IS BETTER THAN BST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 ...IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN CHUCK NEGRON 'BROKE' HIS PENIS BECAUSE HE DID SO MANY CHICKS ON THE ROAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I grew up w/BS&T so it's hard for me to say anything negative. Besides them, Chicago, Tower of Power and The Crusaders directed me from pop towards the world of jazz. Plus, those were the days when you actually might hear some trombone on the radio! I played in a horn band in high school and we played a lot of those tunes. Dave Bargeron played some wacked-out shit on trombone and tuba, and then I heard Bruce Fowler w/Zappa on "Roxy and Elsewhere" (Bebop Tango, Village of the Sun et al), and that totally f*cked me up. Then I discovered JJ and Carl and Frank etc. and ultimately chose the road less reimbursed....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 bst is the worst band ever. What about Three Dog Night? No, Blue Cheer, or The Troggs ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 (edited) BS&T were too perfectionist to these ears, except for the first album - Al Kooper created that band, but he made fun of it all. He still does. But that ending of Spinning Wheel was just plain corny compared to Al's deep sense of humor. They did a one hour live show during their time with Larry Willis (who also recorded with Joe Henderson at the time) which is nice, because it is a little more spontaneous than their studio albums. How's that live album? Is Willis on it? AFAIK Joe Henderson left before they hit the studio for the next album. No recordings with him, not even bootlegs. Edited January 12, 2005 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 thanks got. bst is the worst band ever. they make even CHICAGO look like the beatles. even frank zappa used to make fun of them all the time in his shows who didn't Frank make fun of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveronfriday Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 they make even CHICAGO look like the beatles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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