Some of the finest jazz artists of the 1960s and early '70s could do good "sell out" albums with mass pop appeal without actually selling out. Wes Montgomery, Grover Washington, Jr., and Herbie Mann come to mind. But these diverse musicians had a funky, groove-driven side to them that Chet Baker just doesn't possess. Blood, Chet & Tears is legendary for being one of the most shameful releases in his catalog, but the reality of the album isn't quite as bad as the legend behind it. Yes, the title is a groaner and, yes, this is an easy listening album of late-'60s soft rock hits, but to be fair -- the album isn't that bad. It's actually better than some of the Herb Alpert releases of the same era that inspired it. But the difference is that Alpert was just being himself, while Blood, Chet & Tears finds Baker trying to sound like somebody else and that's the worst thing about the album. It literally sounds like Baker is hiding his true musical personality rather than expanding upon that personality. And when you come right down to it, that really is selling out as opposed to what George Benson and others were doing during this same period. That said, except for a bizarre version of "You've Made Me So Very Happy," the album stands up as kitschy easy listening. Interestingly enough, the same version of "Come Saturday Morning" that appears here was the theme song to The Sterile Cuckoo, a coming-of-age teen romance. "Come Saturday Morning" ended up being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. That fact, along with the one that Baker sang over the credits to a major Hollywood movie at this stage in his career, seems to have been expunged from the Chet Baker story entirely.