David Clayton-Thomas - A Blues For The New World

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:31
Size: 127,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:49)  1. A Blues For The New World
(5:18)  2. Second Chance
(4:01)  3. Calico Girl
(3:39)  4. Common Ground
(4:43)  5. Itr's All So L.A.
(3:28)  6. Politics
(4:58)  7. Sounds So Sweet
(4:43)  8. Holy Moses
(4:16)  9. Frank And Margie
(3:43) 10. It Ain't Free
(4:25) 11. What If I Told You
(4:15) 12. The Sky's The Limit
(3:08) 13. The Lights On Broadway

David Clayton’s new album A Blues For The New World is an album steeped in superior musicianship, solid material and of course great vocals.? However, in today’s world of the quick fix will it take hold at radio?? Does he need it to DCT authored some superb songs with Blood Sweat & Tears. Mega hits in fact. ?This cd sounds like an album he and his killer band made for the sheer musicality of it all.? Believe me it shows.? With the recent success of Boz Scagg’s Memphis album and unknown veteran soul singer Charles Bradley hitting the charts is David Clayton-Thomas poised for more radio airplay??With songs as good as the gospel “Holy Moses”, the adventurous and most bluesy track, “Sounds So Sweet” and the excellent tracks “Second Chance”, “Politics” and the superb arrangement to “The Sky’s The Limit”, who knows? 

Fans should know this cd is not a 12 bar blues album or even a mainstream hybrid R&B cd in the vein of Bonnie Raitt.?It instead draws on DCT’s extensive blues and gospel background from the sixties heyday with the Shays all the way through Blood Sweat & Tears?What it is and what it does show is that David Clayton-Thomas is still making vital original music.~ John Emms is a veteran music journalist, radio host and songwriter. http://www.davidclaytonthomas.com/david-clayton-thomas-a-blues-for-the-new-world/

A Blues For The New World

---

David Clayton-Thomas - 2 albums: Soul Ballads / Combo

Album: Soul Ballads
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:46
Size: 104.8 MB
Styles: Jazz/Soul/Blues
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[4:52] 1. Midnight Train To Georgia
[3:50] 2. A Change Is Gonna Come
[3:44] 3. People Get Ready
[3:20] 4. If You Don't Know Me By Now
[5:06] 5. Sunny
[2:56] 6. I've Been Loving You Too Long
[3:32] 7. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
[4:26] 8. Ruby
[3:35] 9. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby
[3:17] 10. You Don't Know Me
[3:57] 11. You Really Got A Hold On Me
[3:06] 12. When A Man Loves A Woman

After nearly two years of devoting himself to the writing of his autobiography “Blood Sweat and Tears” David decided to take a break from writing and record an album of songs honoring the great soul artists that formed the foundation of that unmistakable Clayton-Thomas vocal style. The results are spectacular! Soul Ballads, a twelve song set of tunes by Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Gladys Knight and other iconic R&B artists.

David and producer/arranger Lou Pomanti weren’t looking for obscure tunes that no-one had heard before, rather they were looking for songs that everyone knows and loves and set out to give them a fresh new sound. When A Man Loves A Woman, Dock Of The Bay, You Don’t Know Me, Midnight Train to Georgia, all recorded with full orchestra and innovative new arrangements. This is a labor of love for David and it shows, these are the songs he sang in the bars of Toronto as a young singer. The Clayton-Thomas pipes are in fine form and the charts are beautifully conceived. This is a joyous album, a renowned singer at the peak his powers singing songs that he loves.

Soul Ballads mc
Soul Ballads zippy

---

Album: Combo
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:54
Size: 114.2 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[4:42] 1. As Time Goes By
[4:22] 2. Nature Boy
[5:24] 3. Summertime
[5:13] 4. Stormy Monday Blues
[3:15] 5. The Glory Of Love
[4:20] 6. Freedom For The Stallion
[5:50] 7. God Bless The Child
[3:27] 8. September Song
[5:37] 9. Stardust
[3:46] 10. When I Fall Ln Love
[3:54] 11. Smile

“Clayton-Thomas is a legendary blues/r&b performer in his own right yet stripping away the big brass BS&T sound for a rudimentary jazz combo only serves to enhance his vocal talents. To hear him tackle nuggets such as “As Time Goes By”, “Smile”, “When I Fall in Love”, Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” and “Summertime” is to tune into a class artist giving his own distinctive vocal talents to a set list of memorable songs.” ~Keith Sharp

Combo mc
Combo zippy

---

David Clayton-Thomas - The Evergreens

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 59:31

Size: 136.2 MB

Styles: Pop-rock

Year: 2016

Art: Front

[5:06] 1. Mornin' Blues

[3:45] 2. Last Chance

[4:37] 3. The Evergreens

[4:07] 4. Blackberry Wine

[4:30] 5. Dancin' To Labelle

[5:28] 6. Surely You Know

[4:36] 7. A Blues For Doc

[2:47] 8. Donnybrook

[4:58] 9. Fifteen Minute

[4:27] 10. I Can't Complain

[5:51] 11. Hell Or High Water

[4:11] 12. Doubletalk

[5:01] 13. It's Only A Song

David Clayton-Thomas: Vocals; Keyboards and Arrangements – Doug Riley; Trumpet, Flugelhorn & EVI – Bruce Cassidy
Drums – Paul Delong; Electric Bass – Howard Ayee; Acoustic Bass – George Koller; Guitar – Bernie LaBarge; 1st Trumpet – Jason Logue; Saxophones – Michael Stuart; Saxophones & Flute – Vernon Dorge; Trombone – Russ Little; Bass Trombone – Larry Sheilds; Percussion – Rosendo “Chendy” Leon; Piano; Lou Pomanti “A Blues For Doc” & “Blackberry Wine”; Trumpet – Kevin Turcotte “A Blues For Doc”; Singers – Dione Taylor, Sharon Lee Williams, Cal Dodd; Duet on “Surely You Know” – Dione Taylor. Recorded and Mixed at Metalworks Studios, 
March 15 to March 29 and May 3 to May 11 2007.

David Clayton-Thomas began his amazing journey as a homeless street kid and developed into one of the most recognizable voices in music, to date selling over 40 million records. In 1996 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and in 2007 his jazz/rock composition “Spinning Wheel” was enshrined in the Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame. In 2010 David received his star on Canada’s Walk Of Fame. His 1968 debut album with Blood Sweat & Tears sold 10 million copies worldwide. The self-titled record topped the Billboard album chart for seven weeks, and charted for a staggering 109 weeks. It won an unprecedented five Grammy awards, including Album Of The Year and Best Performance By A Male Vocalist. It featured three hit singles, “You Made Me So Very Happy” “And When I Die”,” and “Spinning Wheel” as well as an irresistible rendition of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child” that became a signature song for David. A 1969 summary in the Los Angeles Times proclaimed that “Blood Sweat & Tears just may be the most important pop music group of the decade”.

He was born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, on Sept, 13, 1941. His father Fred Thomsett, was a Canadian soldier, his mother Freda, a British music student. After the war, the family settled in Willowdale, a suburb of Toronto. From the beginning David and his father had a troubled relationship. By the time David was fourteen he left home, sleeping in parked cars and abandoned buildings, stealing food and clothing to survive. A tough, angry street kid with a hair-trigger temper, it wasn’t long before he ran afoul of the law and was arrested several times for vagrancy, petty theft and street brawls. He spent his teen years bouncing in and out of various jails and reformatories. David inheirited a love for music from his mother and when a battered old guitar came into his possession, left behind by an outgoing inmate, he began to teach himself to play. Before long he was singing and playing at jailhouse concerts and for the first time in his life, he found acceptance. Now he had a dream and his life had direction… he put the reformatory years behind him and he never looked back.

The Evergreens  

---

David Clayton-Thomas - Canadiana

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:01
Size: 123.7 MB
Styles: Roots, Jazz vocals
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[3:03] 1. Ophelia
[5:07] 2. Angel
[4:05] 3. Sonny's Dream
[4:39] 4. Early Mornin' Rain
[4:01] 5. Far Away Places
[6:05] 6. Both Sides Now
[4:06] 7. Heart Of Gold
[4:49] 8. Up Where We Belong
[4:02] 9. Suzanne
[3:38] 10. I'll Never Smile Again
[3:55] 11. Spinning Wheel
[2:48] 12. Closer To The Heart
[3:38] 13. Something To Talk About

In this fresh collection of interpretations, David’s grasp of pop, jazz, and blues is second to none, with sparkling interpretations of songs Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and more. Working again with producer George Koller, David sings some of Canada’s best-loved songs, carving out the melodies and the memories of the decades, with his soulful voice at the helm. “George’s musicality and his gentle leadership, his organizational skills and his incredible bass playing were essential to the success of this very complex project,” David says. “To pay tribute to the songs of Canada’s most well-loved songwriters was a task I did not take lightly. To give each song its own identity while honouring the intent of the writer would be challenging. The contributions of Canadian writers to popular music is enormous. We began with a list of over 100 songs. Our hardest job was determining which of the great songs on this long list NOT to record.”

The star-studded guests on ‘Canadiana’ include Grammy Award winning drummer Larnell Lewis of Snarky Puppy, and includes duets with Laila Biali and Genevieve Marentette, alongside the brilliant jazz playing by Guido Basso and Russ Little. One highlight of many are the cutting edge string arrangements by Aaron Davis framing Shauna Rolston’s moving cello obligato on Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel’ and Laila’s pure angelic voice on Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now.’ David is perhaps one of the best-suited singers to record “Ophelia” by The Band as he considers the group one of his contemporaries. David states, “I’ve known The Band since we played the same bars when they were The Hawks. I consider them to be the greatest rock and roll band ever. I wanted to pay tribute to my old friend, Levon Helm. I knew him well and he was a helluva nice guy.” David didn’t want to simply cover these tunes. He took daring and satisfying liberties when it served the song, giving it a fresh new sound, and was thrilled with the in-the-moment contemporary takes in the studio. “Who knew how a Neil Young song would sound as a reggae? A Lightfoot song with a funky Memphis groove or a Rush anthem played Afro-Cuban? We had a ball recording this album and I hope that comes through in the music. I hope it brings a smile to the faces of all the songwriters represented here. It was a joy to pay homage to these gifted songwriters who have given so much to music lovers around the world.”

Canadiana

---

David Clayton-Thomas - Aurora

Styles: Vocal, Jazz Funk
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:11
Size: 126,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:29)  1. Mercy Lord Above
(4:20)  2. Lucky Old Son
(4:50)  3. Lazy Bones
(5:16)  4. Night Be Kind
(4:44)  5. Don't Explain
(4:53)  6. Parchman Farm
(3:43)  7. This Bitter Earth
(4:49)  8. Gimme Me That Wine
(4:07)  9. A Visit From The Blues
(3:24) 10. Moonlight In Vermont
(5:02) 11. Wild Women & Po' Boy
(5:27) 12. River

The lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears' most popular incarnation was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, in 1941, the son of a Canadian soldier who served in World War II. David Clayton-Thomas grew up in a suburb of Toronto; living in a difficult family environment, he left home as a teenager and began his musical career at age 23 in the Shays. They became the Bossmen in 1965 and released "Brainwashed" in 1966. After Al Kooper left Blood, Sweat & Tears following the release of Child Is Father to the Man in early 1968, Clayton-Thomas was added to the BS&T lineup as the new frontman/singer, and the group scored a major hit with the Blood, Sweat & Tears album released in January of the following year. The band's hit-filled eponymous sophomore album won the 1969 Grammy for Album of the Year. While singing in BS&T during the late '60s and early '70s, Clayton-Thomas began a solo career, releasing self-titled albums for Decca (1969), Columbia (1972), and RCA (1973). A re-formed version of Blood, Sweat & Tears featuring Clayton-Thomas appeared in 1980, signed to MCA, and released Nuclear Blues. Bio ~ https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/david-clayton-thomas/id14463236

Personnel: Vocals, Guitar, Producer – David Clayton-Thomas; Bass Guitar – George Koller; Drums – Terry Clarke; Guitar – Jake Langley, Rob Piltch; Harp – Rob Paparozzi; Keyboards – Doug Riley, Glenn McClelland; Mastered By – Chad Irschick, Michael Haas; Percussion – Brian Barlowe

Aurora

---