David CLAYTON-THOMAS

(1998)

1. Too Many Dirty Dishes 5'18
(Albert Collins)
NEWTON, EYEBALL MUSIC, BMI
2. Suzy Got Her Big Hair On 3'37
(David Clayton-Thomas)
CLAYTON-THOMAS MUSIC Publishing Corp,, BMI
3. Hard Times 2'57
(Ray Charles)
4. Lucretia MacEvil 4'21
(David Clayton-Thomas)
EMI MUSIC Publishing<
5. Drown In My Own Tears 5'42
(Henry Glover)
6. Hoochie Coochie Man 4'06
(Willie Dixon)
WILLIE DIXON, Hoochie Coochie Music, adm. by Bug, BMI
7. Woman Across The River 2'59
(Freddie King - Additional Lyrics: David Clayton-Thomas)
B. KRUTCHEr, A. JONES Jr., EAST/MEMPHIS MUSIc, BMI
8. The Danger Zone 5'13
(Percy Mayfield - Additional Lyrics: David Clayton-Thomas)
TANGERINE MUSIC, BMI
9. We Were The Children 3'51
(David Clayton-ThomAs)
CLAYTON-THOMAS MUSIC Publishing Corp,, BMI
10. Wish The World Would Come To Memphis 3'36
(David Clayton-ThomAs)
CLAYTON-THOMAS MUSIC Publishing Corp,, BMI

Total Time: 41:40

  • David Clayton-Thomas - Vocals, Guitar
  • Larry DeBari, Andy Aledort - Guitars
  • Doug Riley - Keyboards
  • Matt King - Keyboards
  • Glenn 'Mac' McLelland - Keyboards
  • Rob Paparazzi - Harp
  • Mike DuClos - Bass
  • Jonathon Peretz - Drums
  • Mark Quinones - Percussion
  • Steve Guttman -Trumpet
  • Charley Gordon - Trombone
  • Dave Riekenberg - Tenor Sax
  • Craig Johnson - Lead Trumpet
  • Steve Guttman - Horn Arrangements
  • Charley Gordon - Horn Arrangements

    Still drenched in the blues

    Produced by David Clayton-Thomas for Antoinette Music Productions Ltd.
    Executive Producer, Lawrence J. Dorr Recorded live at ORNETTE COLEMAN's
    Harmolodic Studios, New York City Special Thanks, Denardo Coleman
    Recording Engineers, Frank De Gennaro, Chris
    Agovino Mixed and mastered at Beartracks Studios,
    Rockland County, NY Mixing Engineer, Doug Oberkircher Assistant Engineer, Kristin Koerner Digital Mastering, Chris Bubacz
    Cover Artwork, Danny Madagan Cover Computer Graphics, Eric Madagan
    Package Design, Halkier*Dutton Design Manufactured by Stony Plain Records CD Release Coordinator, Hoiger Petersen Accounting. Marvin and Debbie Nyman Legal representation, N. Dennis Kaplan
    Artist Management/Fan Club Info: Lawrence j. Dorr
    Music Avenue 43 Washington Street
    Groveland, MA, USA 01834

    Everyone knows the voice of David Clayton-Thomas, the unique instrument that propelled all those amazing Blood Sweat & Tears hits. It's a voice that's soaked in the blues—which is why it's amazing that it's taken so long for him to emerge with a full-scale, full-tilt, get-down blues album. Better a little late than never, that's for sure. This is not a BS&T album in the mold of those hit-filled multi-million selling records—although it must be said that anyone who loves that classic music will be just as comfortable with the music here. The reason, of course, is that David has always been singing the blues; this music has always been the touchstone that has influenced every vocal he's ever poured into a microphone, from the days of club gigs on Toronto's tough Yonge Street strip to international smash hits like Spinning Wheel. You have to go back to his early teens—Toronto, mid '50s— to understand this continuing, ongoing story. Boy, was this guy ever a rough diamond in his early days—a street kid, a brawler, and, eventually, a boy in a reformatory with every chance that he'd "graduate" to a full-time life on the wrong side of the law. By the time he was 21, though, he'd figured out that playing the guitar and singing in a band offered a far more promising path. By 1967, he had certainly figured out how the blues needed to be sung; he learned sitting knee-to-knee with Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters , Willie Dixon, and John Lee Hooker.
    And it was John Lee who asked David to come to New York; when he arrived, he had a single afternoon to rehearse a band to cover a one-night club gig in Greenwich Village. Thus began an international career that continues to this day. The story of Blood Sweat & Tears' success is still the stuff of music business legend. Introduced to bandleader Bobby Colomby by folk singer Judy Collins, David joined what was, in fact, a rapidly disintegrating situation. The first BS&T album had been released, most of the players weren't talking to each other, and several members— including singer Al Kooper—had quit. With the new singer on board, the band's second album sold 10 million copies, had three stone smash singles (You've Made Me So Very Happy, And When I Die, Spinning Wheel), and won an unprecedented five Grammy awards. The Clayton-Thomas version of Billie Holiday's God Bless the Child became a classic, five more successive gold albums hit the charts, hit followed hit (Lucretia MacEvil, Hi De Ho, Go Down Gambling, and the band juggled a fierce performance schedule, playing the Metropolitan Opera, the Fillmores, Carnegie Hall, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, Woodstock... David was fronting the band that was, without question, the hottest ticket in America. If there was any band that played
    "American music" it was BS&T, armed with the strains of the blues, the instrumental wizardry of jazz, and the sheer power of rock and roll. Blood Sweat & Tears is very much a going concern. The band performs with North America's most prestigious symphony orchestras, headlines major jazz festivals around the world, and
    sold-out audiences pack the group's concerts; BS&T still takes American music—which inevitably includes the blues— everywhere it goes. Which brings us to Blue Plate Special—a whole album of blues-drenched material. It was something David always wanted to do, and the songs he chose will resonate with a new generation of blues fans as well as the people who remember the BS&T hit years. This album actually began as a late-night jam session at Ornette Coleman's studio in Harlem, and the first runthroughs sounded so good that David called up an old friend and collaborator from Toronto, Doug Riley, who is probably one of the best Hammond B3 players on the planet. The repertoire came from David's own musical heroes— men like Albert Collins, Ray Charles, Willie Dixon, and Freddie King provided downhome blues; Henry Glover and Percy Mayfield (two of the best songwriters in the history of black American music) are also represented here. And David himself provided four of his own tunes, including a revised version of Lucretia MacEvil and a new song, Wish the World Would Come to Memphis, that deserves to become a classic. The Clayton-Thomas voice is as rich and powerful as it ever was; the musicians (many from the current edition of BS&T) are as tough and direct and on the case as are the songs themselves. This is no period piece, no exercise in nostalgia. This is one tasty exploration of the blue colors of the American music palette. And it would be hard to imagine any other pop music singer in the last 40 years who could deliver these songs with the authority, passion and power that David Clayton-Thomas brings to a very special blues session.

    — Richard Flohil

    Richard Flohil is a Toronto writer, editor and publicist who remembers David Clayton-Thomas from bis early days—and is delighted to tell you that the man "nails" the blues today even better now than he did back then.

    David Clayton-Thomas — the powerful voice that propelled all those multi-million selling smash records by Blood Sweat & Tears—has always been steeped in the blues. Now, for the first time, he has emerged with a full-scale, full-tilt, get-down blues album, with four original tunes and classics from the songbooks of Ray Charles, Albert Collins, Percy Mayfield, Freddie King and Willie Dixon. This is no period piece, no exercise in nostalgia; this is one tasty exploration of the blue colors of the American music palette.




    1. Too Many Dirty Dishes

      There's too many dirty dishes
      In the sink for just us two
      I say there's too many dirty dishes
      Baby in the sink for just us two
      Well, you got me wonderin' baby
      Who's makin' dirty dishes with you?

      I go to work in the mornin'
      I come right home every night
      When I leave the sink is empty
      And when I come back home
      My baby got 'em stacked up out of sight

      There's too many dirty dishes
      Baby in the sink for just us two
      Well, you got me wonderin'
      Got me wonderin' baby
      Who's making dirty dishes with you?

      I cleaned your dirty dishes
      How much more am I supposed to take?
      When I left I had fruit loops for breakfast
      Now, there's a bone from a T-bone steak, y'all

      And there's too many dirty dishes
      Baby in the sink for just us two
      Well, you got me wonderin'
      You got me wonderin' baby
      Who's makin' dirty dishes with you?

      Well you got me wonderin'
      You got me wonderin' baby
      Who's makin' dirty dishes with you?

    2. Suzy Got Her Big Hair On


    3. Hard Times Lyrics

      My mother told me
      Before she passed away
      She said: son when I'm gone
      Don't forget to pray

      There will be hard times
      Lord those hard times
      Who knows better than I?

      Well I soon found out
      What my mother meant
      When I had to pawn my clothes
      Just to pay my rent

      Talkin' 'bout hard times
      Lord those hard times
      Who knows better than I?

      I had a woman
      Who was always around
      But when I lost my money
      She put me down

      Talkin' 'bout hard times
      Hard times
      Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?

      Lord, one of these days
      There'll be no more sorrow
      When I pass away

      And no more hard times
      No more hard times
      Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?

    4. Lucretia MacEvil Lyrics

      Lucretia MacEvil
      Little girl what's your game?
      Hard luck and trouble
      Bound to be your claim to fame

      Tail-shakin' home-breakin' truckin' through town
      Each and every country-mother's son, hangin' 'round
      Drive a young man insane
      Evil that's your name

      Lucretia MacEvil
      That's the thing you're doin' fine
      Back seat Delilah
      Got your six-foot jug o'wine, woman

      I hear your mother was the talk of the sticks
      Nothin' that your daddy wouldn't do for kicks
      Never done a thing worth-while
      Evil woman-child.

      (spoken) ooh, Lucy, you just so damn bad
      (Instrumental Interlude)

      (Bridge) Devil got you lucy
      Under lock and key
      Ain't about to set you free
      Sign sealed and witnessed
      Since the day you were born

      No use tryin' to fake him out
      No use tryin' to make him out
      Soon, he'll be takin' out his due
      What-cha goin' to do?

      Ooh, Lucy MacEvil
      Honey, where ya been all night?
      Your hair's all messed up babe
      And the clothes you're wearin'
      Just don't fit ya right

      Big Daddy Joe's, payin' your monthly rent
      Tells his wife he can't imagine where the money went
      Dressin' you up in style, evil woman-child
      (spoken) Ooh, Lucy, you just so damn bad
      (Instrumental Interlude)

      (spoken) Awe, here she comes, trouble
      Well Lucy, walkin' down main street, lookin'
      Well, tell me about it
      Where you been girl?!
      Stop lookin', stop lookin', stop lookin', Lucy!
      Ooooh, tell the truth girl!
      (Instrumental Interlude)

    5. Drown In My Own Tears


    6. Hoochie Coochie Man

      Gypsy woman told my mama "while "fore I was born
      Got a boy child comin" mama he'll be a bad one, now
      I'll make all you little girls turn your heads around
      Then I'm gonna take you little girls
      Gonna take you right on down with me, yeah

      Ho, you just wait and see
      I'll be your hoochie coochie man, I'll set you free

      On the seventh hour of the seventh day
      On the seventh month, seven doctors they say
      I've got lots of good luck, you know they all agree
      But nowifya, if you're lookin' for trouble babe
      You better not mess with me

      Hey, 'cause you know I'll getcha one by one, ain't no fun
      I'm that old hoochie coochie man, I'm a bad son of a gun

      Got a John the conqueroot and got some mojo too
      We got a black cat born, we're gonna slip it to you
      Hey, move over people just as fast as you can
      Said I know you're waitin' for me 'cause I'm the hoochie coochie man

      I'm gonna get you, one by one
      I got set on that old hoochie coochie man
      And I'm yo' son of a gun

      Now the gypsy woman told mama, oh 'while 'fore I was born
      She said you know he's comin' mama and he'll be a bad, very bad one
      Make all the ladies, turn their heads around
      You said. I can just see all those women, chasin' him all down
      I'm your hoochie coochie man, everybody knows it

    7. Woman Across The River

      Across the river a good woman cried
      All because a foolish man lied
      She gave up everything
      Everything that money could buy

      But the man told so many lies
      There's another man over there
      That woman across the river
      Sweet woman across the river, she was mine

      Word got around that he had jilted her
      Men came running from near and far
      Should've never been so foolish
      Guess I'll never

      But the man that's got her now
      He's a lucky so and so
      That woman across the river
      Sweet woman across the river, she was mine

      I remember the other day, about a week ago
      She said, "I don't even want to talk to you
      'Cause I don't love you anymore"
      That woman across the river
      Sweet woman across the river, she was mine

      Across the river a good woman cried
      All because a foolish man lied
      She gave up everything, tried to keep him satisfied
      But the man told so many lies
      There's another man over there

      That woman across the river
      That woman across the river
      That woman across the river
      Sweet woman across the river, she was mine

    8. The Danger Zone


    9. We Were The Children


    10. Wish The World Would Come To Memphis