First time except for "Dear Mr. Fantasy" which has been covered a million times. I heard "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" on Youtube yesterday. Never bothered to hear this band up to now. I especially liked the title track. It immediately reminded me of "Nine Feet Underground" by Caravan. Would anyone else agree with me on that if you are familiar with both? I was quite impressed with this album. What other Traffic would some of you recommend?
Last edited by llanwydd; 06-21-2016 at 03:07 AM.
For any fan of Traffic, I would have these in my collection.Originally Posted by llanwydd
John Barleycorn Must Die
Shoot-out At The Fantasy Factory
Last Exit
Just heard Low Spark on Sirius Radio this morning while I was at the Gym.
Several great albums, but my favorite is John Barleycorn Must Die.
Low Spark is one of my most favorites. Everything from Barleycorn to the end is good. Stay away from the reunion album from the early 90s. So bad.
The live album On The Road is awesome! If you're looking for it on vinyl, be sure to get a double LP copy.
John Barleycorn and Low Spark, two of my favorite albums.
"And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."
Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/
The albums prior to "Barleycorn" are more psychedelic pop-rock, but still contain some great stuff. I'd recommend a compilation to get the best early stuff, then buy the individual albums mentioned already.
Traffic
JBMD
Last Exit
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
IMO everything except the 90s reunion album has redeeming social value.
While there's lots of love for the Low/Shoot era here (and I own both), the debut Dear Mr. Fantasy (so skip the title track if you must), 2nd album (s/t) and JBMD would be my top 3.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Any time this tune pops up I keep it on. Love it.
I'd definitely recommend 'John Barleycorn Must Die'. Classic.
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
All of the recommendations so far are good but my favorite Traffic album remains "When The Eagle Flies" (1974). I happen to think it's also their most Caravan-like, if that helps.
John Barleycorn is a must. It's as good as Low Spark.
If you can find it, the 2-CD set "Smiling Phases" has all the best tracks from all their albums. And singles.
Last edited by rcarlberg; 06-21-2016 at 12:19 AM.
My problem with "Smiling Phases" was the sound quality. Kind of muddy and thuddy. I ended up getting another 2-CD compilation called "Gold", and the sound is much better.
The self-titled second album was one of the best LP's of the Sixties, and it includes some or Dave Mason's best songs,including Vagabond Virgin, Feelin' Alright (later covered by Joe Cocker) and the wonderful; Cryin' to Be Heard. Winwood's melodic and jazzy songs -40,000 Headmen, Pearly Queen, Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring, No Time to Live- are also great, sounding a bit like Jack Bruce's compositions from the same era. In all, It's the album in which Mason came into his own as a songwriter, producing songs of the same quality as Winwood's but with a different more melodic style. Having left after this record, Traffic just became a Winwood vehicle from then on, albeit at a time when Winwood was at his best. in all, I think it's their most varied and consistent effort.
Last edited by yoyiceu; 06-21-2016 at 01:42 AM.
It's that distorted keyboard sound which is indeed akin to that Canterbury, fuzz organ sound. But there was someone here who claimed it wasn't a keyboard!
Last Exit was something of a record company concoction, put out after the band had split the first time around. I've never bothered with it.
About Time is a contender for his best solo album. Lots of Hammond, and a great vibe throughout.
Got to admit I never personally found Chris Wood particularly dissonant or even Coltrane-influenced. Isn't that a baritone saxophone on things like 'Freedom Rider'?
Last edited by JJ88; 04-16-2017 at 11:49 AM.
Yep. Most definitely get the live album. I prefer live albums to studio albums anyway.
Last edited by BaldFriede; 06-21-2016 at 03:53 AM.
Ditto to all the comments already made above. Love the 60's and early '70's LP's. John Barleycorn and Low Spark and classic!! Of note, BS&T did wonderful covers of "Smiling Phases" and "40,000 Headmen".
So far nobody's mentioned the earlier live LP "Welcome to the Canteen" from 1971 when Dave Mason was still in the band. Very rare to find back in the day. It's a wonderful companion piece to "On The Road."
Well, that album signalled Mason's brief return to the band, for that tour, and includes two of his songs from his first solo, Alone Together. It's certainly more energetic than On The Road, which tends to meander a bit. I disagree it was rare at all, and in fact was quite sucessful, although it really wasn't credited to Traffic: the cover just features the names of all musicians involved.
On the other hand, there's a 1971 live album, including Rick Grech on bass with the three core musicians. The release was stopped at the last moment, but there are 'bootleg' copies available. If features conscise, punchy versions of most of the band's discography. Additionally, the second side of Last Exit -an album made of old singles and the like, released after the band broke up for the first time when Winwood went onto Blind Faith- is also live.
Traffic: Live in Santa Monica, is a full concert that came out first on VHS in the early Seventies, while Traffic Jam is a DVD-CD release about the 1994 tour for the mediocre Far From Home return, which sounds really like another Winwood solo album, and the new band -Winwood, Capaldi and new members- aquits itself fine, running through its back catalogue.
Their debut album is excellent soul-infected pop-psych/rock with odd jazz-flavours. A great compilation of their early work is Best of Traffic, released Spring 1970 and never OOP for the entire vinyl tenure (i.e. until the early 90s). I can't remember if this was ever issued on CD, though.
John Barleycorn Must Die (1970) came after the short breakup and essentially introduces their more 'progressive' affiliation. I personally think this their strongest release overall.
Low Spark is a bit uneven (outside of the marvellous title track), and even more so is Shoot Out, marred by some rather uninspired and long-winded trappings.
When the Eagle Flies is worth it for the impressively atmospheric "Dream Gerrard" alone. Still the only true stinker on there is (IMO) the unusually cheezy "Memories of a Rock'n'Rolla".
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Really disagree about Last Exit... it's one for completionists, really
Absofuckinglutely... though the Santa Monica 72 DVD is almost the same set list, but not as "jumpy" as On The Road
Well, there are three of the five best Traffic tracks on JBMD (t/t, Glad, Freedom Rider), there are also a few weaker ones (the rest of the album, IMHO), while Low Spark & Shootout are near-perfect throughout
I really like Welcome To The Canteen as well. And The Last Great traffic Jam is quite good too, FTM....
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
The live part is beyond mediocre, but the studio side isn't all too bad. "Medicated Goo" and "Shanghai Noodle Factory" (the most worthwhile tracks, IMO) were both released on that Best of album, though - so Last Exit as suxh isn't all necessary.
As for "Love" and the general tendency of side two on Eagle (except for the title closing track, which is decent), this seems to point very much in the direction of Winwood's give-or-take solo career. There are often certain fine ideas at play, but they are seldom elaborated on and sometimes even ruined by equally bad ones.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I quite like the live cuts... It's amazing what they do jamming as a three piece, basically organ, drums and sax-flute, and Winwood's amazing singing. Besides Medicated Goo and Shangai Noodle Factory, the studio side includes Withering Tree, one of my all time favorite Winwood songs.
posted elsewhere: "Ok guys let's get this straight. It wasn't a woodwind playing that solo it was a Winwood. Sorry couldn't resist. "It's that distorted keyboard sound which is indeed akin to that Canterbury, fuzz organ sound. But there was someone here who claimed it wasn't a keyboard!
I have Barleycorn and Spark. Both are good. I like Spark a bit more. Love Rock and Roll Stew. I found a cheap copy of Far From Home a few years ago. It's crap.
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