What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?

As "What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?" (2023 release; 112 min.) opens, we are in "Bucharest, Romania 1970", and BS&T is performing, reportedly the first rock band to perform behind the Iron Curtain. BS&T is touring Romania, Yugoslavia, and Poland as part of the US State Department's cultural exchange program, notwithstanding that most of the 9 member group are anti-Vietnam and anti-Nixon... At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from director John Scheinfeld ("The U. S. v. Lennon"). Here he examines what happened to a band that was at the peak of their critical and commercial success, and ends up being 'canceled" (as we know that term today) after touring behind the Iron Curtain. The film makers have interviewed all the primary characters involved. Amazingly, the State Department had hired a large film crew (including 5 camera men) to document the whole thing, with the intent of releasing a film to the public at large. This documentary does an excellent job in showcasing both the political aspects of this entire episode, and the musical aspects (the concert footage shows BS&T in peak form, and the music is MILES better than what I recall of them).

"What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears" was released in early 2023, but I only recently became aware of it when browsing Amazon Prime for something good to watch and Prime recommended it to me. :What the Hell Happened" is currently rated 81% Certified Fresh, which sounds about right to me. If you are in the mood for a slice of rock music history that you probably never even know existed, or simply are a fan of Blood, Sweat & Tears, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.