Blood, Sweat & Tears (Blood, Sweat & Tears album) album chart. Bandleader Al Kooper and two other members, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss, had left Blood, Sweat & Tears after their first album. Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz searched for a replacement singer and selected David Clayton-Thomas. Three more musicians joined to bring the band to nine members. Columbia assigned James William Guercio (who was simultaneously working with new band Chicago) to produce a new album. The song selection was much more pop-oriented than the first album, with more compositions from outside the band. It was recorded at the then state of the art CBS Studios in New York
Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets by Haley himself, as he and his band later went on to Decca Records and recorded "Rock Around the Clock". All the songs on "Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets" were previously released as singles under the Essex banner, including several that were originally released when the band used the name Bill Haley and the Saddlemen. The album does not include any of the tracks Haley and the Comets recorded in 1954 before moving to Decca, nor are any of the tracks from 1951-52 included that Haley recorded for Essex's sister label, Holiday Records (although later releases of Haley's