Blood, Sweat and Tears fans will be pleased to hear that work is progressing on 2 upcoming Blood, Sweat & Tears SACDs. The upcoming SACD releases will be “Blood, Sweat & Tears 3” which is slated for release by Mobile Fidelity as a Hybrid Stereo SACD and “Child Is Father to the Man” which Sony Music’s Columbia/Legacy label is working on for a 5.1 SACD Surround Sound SACD release. Here’s an update on the progress of both of these projects:

Mobile Fidelity’s Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 SACD
Mobile Fidelity tells me that the have received the original analog master tapes for the Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 album from Sony Music and work is underway as we speak to remaster the album for release as a Hybrid Stereo SACD (Mobile Fidelity UDSACD 2013). If all goes according to schedule, Mobile Fidelity hopes to have this SACD on the market in November.

SACD fans know that the group’s self titled album Blood, Sweat & Tears (Columbia CS 63986) is one of the best sounding of the Single Layer Stereo SACDs released by Sony Music in the early days of the SACD format. I asked the Mobile Fidelity staff how they thought their SACD edition of Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 would compare to that release.

I was told that Mobile Fidelity’s Chief Engineer Shawn Britton has been very impressed with the quality of the Blood, Sweat and Tears 3 master tapes as well as the mastering done on the original vinyl LP edition of the album. Even so, they are very excited about the potential of the upcoming SACD edition.

According to Colie Brice, the Marketing Director at Mobile Fidelity,

“The disparity between the commercially available CD and the master tape is absolutely mind shattering. When Blood, Sweat & Tears fans hear the forthcoming Ultradisc UHR SACD with Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s GAIN 2 mastering process, they will tremble with reverence and delight as the full spectrum of Blood, Sweat, and Tear’s sonic universe is finally unveiled!”

Well, nothing like setting expectations high for this upcoming SACD. I’m sure BS&T and SACD fans will be interested in having a listen and seeing if the final product meets the promise.

Al Kooper Works on Two 5.1 Surround Sound SACDs
While work is moving along at Mobile Fidelity on Blood, Sweat and Tears 3, well known musician/producer/engineer Al Kooper has been given the task of creating new 5.1 SACD Surround Sound mixes for another Blood, Sweat & Tears album: Child Is Father to the Man. Kooper is well suited to created the surround mix for the album as he wrote many of the songs on the album as well as contributing vocals and playing Piano and Keyboards on the disc. In addition to his work on Child is Father to the Man, Kooper is also responsible for the 5.1 SACD Surround Sound mix of another classic album that he was involved with: Super Session with Mike Bloomfield, Stephen Stills and Al Kooper.

Work on the 5.1 Surround mixes of both of these albums was recently completed by Kooper. He did the mixes at Magic Shop Studios in New York with engineers Steve Rosenthal and Matt Boynton who were also involved with the recent SACD Remastered Series discs by the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke for the ABKCO label as well as the Alan Lomax Collection SACD on the Rounder Select label.

According to an update on the Al Kooper web site, Kooper used a Neve analog console connected directly to a Sony Sonoma SACD Workstation to create the 5.1 SACD Surround mixes. Kooper also says that both albums (Child is Father to the Man and Super Session) will feature full use of the 360 degree Surround Sound field and “will be great demonstrators of SACD 5.1 Surround systems.”

Current plans are for Kooper to work with well known Mastering Engineer Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios on both 5.1 Surround SACDs in December. If the schedule holds up, that could mean a release of both albums as 5.1 Surround Sound SACDs next March. From Kooper’s comments, the 5.1 Surround Sound SACDs of these two classic albums should be worth the wait.