Blood Sweat & Tears

Most critics gave up on these horndogs back in '68, when they had the temerity to boot out founder Al Kooper to get someone who could really shhhaaaang! The counterculture gave up on 'em completely when they went on a 1970 State Department-sponsored tour of Eastern Europe and had to be goodwill ambassadors for the Nixon Administration while Kent State was raging back home. By then, brass knuckleheads like The Ides of March, Tower of Power, Lighthouse, and Chicago had already stolen most of their thunder. By 1977, long after David Clayton-Thomas and several replacements had left the group, jazz rock was no longer thought of as a good thing. So why check 'em out now? Maybe to see who'll show up as lead singer. Last year original drummer Bobby Colomby leased the group name to Chuck Negron (formerly of Three Dog Night) and he sang his songs and theirs. This year? We hear David Lee Roth's dance card just got emptied — maybe after his bluegrass debacle, we need to hear "Jump" with trombones.