Cheap Child Is Father to the Man (Music) (Blood Sweat & Tears) Price

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Customer Reviews of Child Is Father to the Man

Classic Album
This rock album is one of the masterpieces from 1968. A Child Is Father To The Man combines rock, jazz, blues, folk, classical, and psychedelic music successfully. The results are always inspired and never self-indulgent. In addition,this recording is Al Kooper's only album with Blood, Sweat, and Tears (those of you who enjoy this album will also like Al's first solo record from 1968--its excellent!) Some of the standouts are Morning Glory, I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know, So Much Love, and I Can't Quit Her. The band even does a respectable cover of Harry Nilsson's Without Her. This is no easy feat considering Nilsson's early material and albums are extremely lame, weak,lightweight pop. This album makes Blood, Sweat, and Tears second effort seem dated, pathetic, and less imaginative. David-Clayton Thomas' voice is extremely agitating and Spinning Wheel is one of the silliest tunes ever recorded. The second album also lacks that cool underground rock sound that adorns the bands first album.

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Little-Known, Definitely the Greatest Jazz-Rock Album Ever!
This is not only easily the best jazz-rock album ever made, it is up there with my top 15 albums of all-time. Though Blood,Sweat, and Tears 2 is certainly more well-known than this, and has three of their most famous songs, few people know about this pre-David Clayton-Thomas era. Before even forming Blood, Sweat, and Tears, lead singer Steve Katz, musical genius Al Kooper, and many other horn-players were in a band known as the "Blues Project", who sounded almost exactly like Child is Father To The Man BS&T, and with good reason. Yet as soon as the Blues Project transformed into BS&T, their creativity transformed as well.
There is not a bad song on here, and, being a jazz fan, I am completely please by this album. Like BS&T2, Child is Father to The Man starts off the way it ends: with a wonderful arrangement of a few "Themes By Erik Satie", which is an overview of what is in store with the album to come. Without Her, I Can't Quit Her, and The Adventures of Diagones, Plato, and Freud are all touched on on the leadoff, and last, track. I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know is possibly my favorite psychadelic rock song of all-time. The guitar solo is amazing, and the use of horns and strings is exquisite. Though they didn't write it, Without Her is without contest the greatest jazz-rock song ever. Starting off with simply bass and Steve Katz singing, it slowly delves in to an all-out jazz jam session with amazing solos thrown in by the sax and trumpet players. I Can't Quit Her is pure jazz-ROCK (more rock than jazz), and is definitely one of the best on the album. Just One Smile proves to have an extremely well-written melody and chorus, while My Days Are Numbered uses a great choir, great tempo changes, and great horn riffs. BS&T's take on the Tim Buckley folk song off "Goodbye and Hello" entitled Morning Glory is an exceptional arrangement, adding in horns and harmonies for a pleasant experience. The Adventures of Plato, Diagones, and Freud is simply beautiful, with a purely strings backup to Steve Katz wonderful voice on this song. It is uncontestedly the greatest use of strings in any rock song ever made. The album closer, So Much Love, goes out with a bang, using the choir once again with a powerful and infectious chorus. Truly, there are no weak...let me correct myself, THERE ARE NO LESS THAN PERFECT SONGS HERE.
I cannot say enough about the use of strings and horn on this album. It is the best I have ever heard in any piece of music ever made. I can't stress it enough. The strings on Variations are lush and beautiful. The horns and strings on I'll Love You blend perfectly with the tune, and produce some of the greatest horn and string riffs you will ever hear. My Days Are Numbered uses an exremely catchy horn riff that adds to the rock feel of the song. Without Her proves to contain one of the greatest solos in rock history, up there with Terry Calf's 25 or 6 to 4 solo, and Van Zandt's solo on Free Bird. While, how could we forget, the best string arrangement in the history of music on The Adventures of Plato, Diagones, and Freud. Simply AMAZING. And, though shaky at times, Steve Katz voice fits in surprisingly well with the feel of the album. No flaws here.
ONCE AGAIN, I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THIS ALBUM. A must-buy. The horns, the strings, the solos, the jazz, the rock, the arrangements, the singing, the recurring themes, the choir, the classical tinges, the psychadelia, the jams, the blues, everything is UNBELIEVABLE. I cannot believe that such a relatively little-known band could produce such an all-time masterpiece. I realized that I love this album so much, I can only take it out on special occasions to listen, because it makes the atmosphere so much better. SIMPLY A MASTERPIECE, and is NO DOUBT ONE OF THE GREATEST ALBUMS EVER! Take my word for it, though they stole the title from Socrates, the famous philosopher, even he would give it two thumbs up!!

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One of the GREATEST recordings of all time.
What can possibly be said about this album except that it is, quite simply, one of the greatest recordings of all time? From the beginning, "Overture", featuring the BS&T String Ensemble to the closer, "So Much Love/Underture", this album is a classic!
To give some idea of the esteem in which I hold this recording,
I have this album on record, 8-track tape (!), cassette and compact disc. In fact, it was the first c.d. I purchased after I got a c.d. player.
My favorites pieces are "Overture", "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", "I Can't Quit Her" and "Somethin' Goin' On"; although, really, nothing on it is bad.
I have a question: one of the instruments listed as being played by Al Kooper is an ondioline. Would someone tell me what that is?