Rare, Rarer & Rarest

There are releases that will only appeal to fans, and there are releases for strict diehards. Wounded Bird's Rare, Rarer, & Rarest is intended for the latter; it's a compilation of 25 Blood, Sweat & Tears tracks that didn't make their albums; some for good reason. "Blues-Part II" goes from a big-band version of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" to a 12-bar blues jam before ending on a cover of Erik Satie's classical ballad "Gymnopedie no. 1." Also included are mono single versions of the hits "You've Made Me So Very Happy" and "Spinning Wheel," which likely won't excite those who have higher fidelity versions, and 15 tracks of instrumental interludes and outtakes from The Owl and the Pussycat film score. This soundtrack was a departure for the group as they tried their hand, and succeeded for the most part, at playing introverted, steamy jazz numbers or all-purpose, funky jazz-rock. With many songs repeated, or only lasting 20-45 seconds, there isn't much opportunity for a cohesive listen. However, since most of these songs didn't make it onto the actual soundtrack — which favored audio clips of Barbra Streisand's dialog from the movie — this is the best place to find the band performing this specific Taxi Driver/Blaxploitation style of jazz-rock instrumental music, and the only place to hear the previously unreleased easy listening number "M."