The problem with Blood, Sweat and Tears was that many rock fans didn’t consider them to be a real rock band. Their guitarist, Steve Katz, never reeled off the flaming, red hot, twelve-minute, guitar jams that were so popular at the time. Eric Clapton, he was not. Jazz purists didn’t believe the band was the genuine article either.
The rest of us, the people who actually bought their records, didn’t much care either way.
Nevertheless, most people were surprised when singer David Clayton-Thomas picked up his electric guitar for “Go Down Gamblin,'” way back in 1971. The Clayton-Thomas/Fred Lipsius (alto sax and piano) composition was definitely the loudest rock track the group ever put on vinyl. With their singer rocking out at full throttle, and playing some heavy guitar riffage, the song sounded more like something from Chicago Transit Authority than anything Blood Sweat and Tears ever recorded.
The song is about a gambler who never wins at any game he plays, yet he doesn’t feel like a loser because even though the “cards are ‘bound to break me I’ve been called a natural lover by that lady over there.” So, in the protagonist’s world, all is well.
Unfortunately, “Go Down Gamblin” didn’t do a thing for the band’s reputation. It still wasn’t hard enough for the rockers — and it was an additional excuse for the jazzers to write them off completely.
The LP version (4:14) of the tune was the lead track on Blood Sweat and Tears 4. The shorter, single version (2:45) climbed to No. 32 on the pop chart. The hitmaking lineup of the group began disintegrating right after this record was released — and Blood Sweat and Tears, despite hanging around for years, was never a viable commercial force again.
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I have trouble listening to anything from the DCT era of the band. I prefer the debut with Al Kooper and the 3 albums with Jerry Fisher on vocals. DCT had a tendency to oversing just about everything. I can handle “Spinning Wheel” or “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” every once in awhile but any more than that is a DCT overdose.