Superb performance form 1994. Although the full length DVD has insane editing that totally distracts from the performance, clearly they were in top form. Dwarfs almost everything out there today. Wish I'd bothered to go 24 years ago...Recommended if you can get it real cheap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnkHP_v3CYw
I caught that tour when they came through the Bay Area. It was pretty insanely great and a treat for fans of the early 70s jamming side of Traffic. I was really hoping that album and tour was going to kick off a proper return of the band, but it all seemed to have fizzled out not long afterward.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
That reminds me, I need to get a copy of Live At Santa Monica Civic.
Excellent and surprising return after almost 20 years silence on stage (the album was so-so).... And they showed all them kids at Woodstock 94 how to do it.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Huh? the last great traffic jam?
Come to LA, happens EVERYDAY...!
(lol)
Nice clip.. Yeah I missed this tour as well.. friend invited me and unfortunately I already had stuff going on that day. I did a quick search on Amazon a bit pricey..Originally Posted by bfd
Has anyone ever heard Winwood not sound great?
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I saw them that year (1994) opening for Grateful Dead. Pretty much a greatest hits set but very well done. I could see Jerry Garcia applauding some of the songs at the side of the stage.
I never heard the album, but my impression is, it was basically just Capaldi and Winwood, I think with Winwood playing most of the instruments. And without a reedsman (Chris Wood having passed away a decade earlier), you were kinda missing one of the key voices in the band's sound.
I always Traffic On The Road was a phenomenal double live album. I loved Chris Wood's sax and flute work. I think he was the first person I heard playing the sax through effects, specifically a wah wah pedal and I think also an octave divider in a few places.
One thing I really dug about that album was Winwood's guitar playing on (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired. He's another guy who kinda put himself forth has a "vocalist" first, but even besides that, it seems like he's mostly thought of as a keyboardist, and I don't think most people realize how hot a guitarist he is when he wants to be. If I remember correctly he's also a pretty good mandolin player, and played drums well enough to play them on his early 80's solo records.
^^^ I agree with you that Traffic On The Road was a peak album for them. Amazing jams in 1972. 1994 was a perfect time for a reunion with the growing popularity of the jam band scene, but the '94 Traffic just weren't raw enough. Far From home was a decent enough album but way too timid. The mentality behind Winwood's over-polished and over-produced solo albums from the '80s I think was holding them back.
EDIT: Anyone who wants LGTJ, Discogs has several copies for around $10. I just picked one up.
Last edited by arturs; 03-17-2019 at 06:52 PM.
I'm a huge Traffic/Winwood fan (his pop solo stuff not so much), but have you ever heard "Blind Faith @ Hyde Park"?. He sounds flat more than on pitch for most of the set and just terrible.
Every great singer has a shitty gig before they die.
"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
Such performances are the reason why monitors were invented.
Too much coke. 😉
[QUOTE=progeezer;889232]I'm a huge Traffic/Winwood fan (his pop solo stuff not so much)[\QUOTE]
I like his solo stuff as well myself
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah, it didn't really matter in terms of writing as Winwood was always the primary composer and Capaldi the lyricist, but Wood was missed musically- a lot.
Randall Bramblett was killin on the tour though.
Bass player Roscoe Gee from the final 70's/When The Eagle Flies lineup on the tour and DVD as well. As I recall, only one tune from the Far From Home LP on the DVD....not bad by any means but pretty undistinguished. The band is razor sharp but you do lose some of the UK hippy stoner vibe.
He played guitar almost the whole set at that '94 Traffic show I saw.
Yes, Rosko Gee on bass for the show, and as I recall Walfredo Reyes Jr. (who had been the drummer with Santana when I saw them a few years earlier) was on percussion and played drums on some songs while Capaldi was out front singing.
Weeeeelllll.... TBH, I still dislike heavily his early & mid 80's albums... Hated them then, and still do today.
The only track I like from those three albums is the great Freedom Overspill .... and that's partly (mostly) because he returns to the Hammond organ, though the song has power than the rest of those albums don't.
On The Road is a fantastic album (and if I must own only one Traffic album, that will be it), but oddly enough the Live At Santa Monica 1972 video from the same tour is a bit soporific.
As for his three musical gift, (guit/KB and vocals) , it's too difficult to tell which facet is weaker, IMHO.
[QUOTE=Fracktured;889259]TBH, outside his debut in 77 and the fabulous About Time (2003), I can do without the rest of his solo career. His 90's solo albums (I count Roll With it as 90's) are hit & miss, and I certainly don't need them cluttering my shelves.
yup, actually, in term of filmed performances, Last Great Traffic Jam is more powerful than Santa Monica 72, despite Chris Wood's absence.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
And I'm sure we all know this, but Rosco Gee also played on the last three Can albums (not counting reunion efforts, of course), where he played along side fellow Traffic escapee Rebop Kwaku Baah.
That was one thing I remember about the Santa Monica Civic video, was that even on the songs where Capaldi didn't sing, he still didn't play drums. Even something like Glad, he's standing onstage bashing away on a tambourine, while Roger Hawkins is playing drums! I thought that was an intriguing choice to make. Maybe that's how "uninspired" Capaldi was at the time.Walfredo Reyes Jr. (who had been the drummer with Santana when I saw them a few years earlier) was on percussion and played drums on some songs while Capaldi was out front singing
I always had the impression that Live At Santa Monica Civic was shot on the Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys tour, whereas On The Road came from the Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory tour. It's been a long time since I've seen the video, but I remember Glad/Freedom Rider and Dear. Mr Fantasy in particular being really good. I also remember Winwood playing a light green (similar to a Fender Surf Green or Seafoam Green) non-reverse Gibson Firebird on the latter.On The Road is a fantastic album (and if I must own only one Traffic album, that will be it), but oddly enough the Live At Santa Monica 1972 video from the same tour is a bit soporific.
Going back to Winwood's solo records, I've never actually any of them, but I kinda like some of the singles off those records. I thought While You See A Chance, Valerie, and Still In The Game were pretty good songs. Come to think of it, I believe Still In The Game might have been the first Winwood thing I ever heard, before I'd heard of Traffic or Blind Faith.
His later solo stuff got a little too MOR for my taste. Nile Rodgers, who produced Higher Love, once said he was walking out of his house with a Telecaster (which he had been playing for the preceding couple years, during which he once claimed he didn't play on a single hit), when he suddenly changed his mind and grabbed his old Strat, the one he played on all the Chic records (which he calls The Hitmaker) instead. When Higher Love took off, he put the Telecaster away for good and switched back to playing The Hitmaker regularly, because apparently that particular guitar has some sort of mojo or whatever that works.
Edit: Wikipedia says Nile didn't produce Higher Love, he only played guitar on it. Funny, the credits listed on Wiki lists two guitarists (Nile and NYC session ace Eddie Martinez, three keyboardists (one of them being Winwood himself), two synthesizer programmers, a drummer, a percussionist, one backup vocalist (Chaka Khan!), two different drum machine programmers (again one of them being Winwood), and a sequencer. And it all adds up to a whole lot of "blah" if you ask me. (shrug)
Last edited by GuitarGeek; 03-18-2019 at 10:25 AM.
Without venturing too far off topic, a buddy of mine recently sent me a clip of Clapton and Winwood jamming at one those guitar charity shows EC does/did in the Carribean for many years. Clapton playing with that warm buzzy mid-range tone he's used for ages-( I suspect that after a couple ear splitting years with Cream in the days before ear protection screaming wailing Bluesbreaker tones would be agony)- Winwood totally schools him, not even close and Eric appears to be loving every second of it. Two totally dedicated musical kindred spirits.And I'm sure we all know this, but Rosco Gee also played on the last three Can albums (not counting reunion efforts, of course), where he played along side fellow Traffic escapee Rebop Kwaku Baah.
That was one thing I remember about the Santa Monica Civic video, was that even on the songs where Capaldi didn't sing, he still didn't play drums. Even something like Glad, he's standing onstage bashing away on a tambourine, while Roger Hawkins is playing drums! I thought that was an intriguing choice to make. Maybe that's how "uninspired" Capaldi was at the time.
I always had the impression that Live At Santa Monica Civic was shot on the Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys tour, whereas On The Road came from the Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory tour. It's been a long time since I've seen the video, but I remember Glad/Freedom Rider and Dear. Mr Fantasy in particular being really good. I also remember Winwood playing a light green (similar to a Fender Surf Green or Seafoam Green) non-reverse Gibson Firebird on the latter.
Going back to Winwood's solo records, I've never actually any of them, but I kinda like some of the singles off those records. I thought While You See A Chance, Valerie, and Still In The Game were pretty good songs. Come to think of it, I believe Still In The Game might have been the first Winwood thing I ever heard, before I'd heard of Traffic or Blind Faith.
His later solo stuff got a little too MOR for my taste. Nile Rodgers, who produced Higher Love, once said he was walking out of his house with a Telecaster (which he had been playing for the preceding couple years, during which he once claimed he didn't play on a single hit), when he suddenly changed his mind and grabbed his old Strat, the one he played on all the Chic records (which he calls The Hitmaker) instead. When Higher Love took off, he put the Telecaster away for good and switched back to playing The Hitmaker regularly, because apparently that particular guitar has some sort of mojo or whatever that works.
Edit: Wikipedia says Nile didn't produce Higher Love, he only played guitar on it. Funny, the credits listed on Wiki lists two guitarists (Nile and NYC session ace Eddie Martinez, three keyboardists (one of them being Winwood himself), two synthesizer programmers, a drummer, a percussionist, one backup vocalist (Chaka Khan!), two different drum machine programmers (again one of them being Winwood), and a sequencer. And it all adds up to a whole lot of "blah" if you ask me. (shrug)
Interesting. To me Winwood shows a LOT of EC influence in his electric guitar playing, especially his soloing. Of the three "musical gifts" (as Trane put it) I feel it's his weakest. Not that he's not talented by a long shot, just that I see the imprint of Clapton all over his playing.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
My bad for Santa Monica >> you're right, it's the Shooutout line-up, but the Low Spark tour (if I judge by the track list), but it is to be the same line-up than On The Road as well/
Not that Clapton is a bad singer, but if he's learned from Winwood's singing the same way that Winwood had learned from Clapton's playing, I think Eric would still be "god" today
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
In the ending of Blind Faith's "Had to Cry Today" where Clapton and Winwood solo together, IMO Winwood more than keeps up and gets a bit more adventurous and jazzy than Clapton cares to.
He didn't play when Jim Gordon and Roger Hawkins were around (I guess in those days you would have needed to be a very confident drummer to ask either of them to step aside). At the 90's show he drummed most of the set and sounded good.
Yeah, the Muscle Shoals guys backed up Winwood, Capaldi and Wood on both tours. It's the only times they've ever gone on tour (being basically studio musicians otherwise).
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks