Traffic [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Traffic
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Traffic: Dave Mason (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica); Steve Winwood (vocals, guitar, piano, harpsichord, organ, bass); Jim Capldi (vocals, drums, percussion); Chris Wood (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass, percussion, bells). Engineers: Glyn Johns, Eddie Kramer, Brian Humphries. Originally released on Island (9081). Personnel: Dave Mason (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, organ, bass guitar, drums); Steve Winwood (vocals, guitar, piano, harpsichord, organ, bass guitar); Jim Capaldi (vocals, drums, percussion); Chris Wood (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, drums, percussion). Liner Note Author: Jimmy Miller . Photographer: Richard Polak. On their second album, the cottage dwellers from Berkshire refined their hippie pop into a looser and vastly more mature work: evocative tales of nonsense in the beautiful "40,000 Headmen," joyful malarkey with Mason's "You Can All Join In," and one of his finest songs, "Feelin Alright," which was a signpost to his imminent departure. Throughout the record Jim Capaldi's understated yet steady drums demonstrate just what a great rock drummer should do, and Chris Wood's sound is everywhere, with trills on flute and blasts on saxophone. TRAFFIC is a record that will always be meant for glorious sunny days. After dispensing with his services in December 1967, the remaining members of Traffic reinstated Dave Mason in the group in the spring of 1968 as they struggled to write enough material for their impending second album. The result was a disc evenly divided between Mason's catchy folk-rock compositions and Steve Winwood's compelling rock jams. Mason's material was the most appealing both initially and eventually: the lead-off track, a jaunty effort called "You Can All Join In," became a European hit, and "Feelin' Alright?" turned out to be the only real standard to emerge from the album after it started earning cover versions from Joe Cocker and others in the 1970s. Winwood's efforts, with their haunting keyboard-based melodies augmented by Chris Wood's reed work and Jim Capaldi's exotic rhythms, work better as musical efforts than lyrical ones. Primary lyricist Capaldi's words tend to be impressionistic reveries or vague psychological reflections; the most satisfying is the shaggy-dog story "Forty Thousand Headmen," which doesn't really make any sense as anything other than a dream. But the lyrics to Winwood/Capaldi compositions take a back seat to the playing and Winwood's soulful voice. As Mason's simpler, more direct performances alternate with the more complex Winwood tunes, the album is well-balanced. It's too bad that the musicians were not able to maintain that balance in person; for the second time in two albums, Mason found himself dismissed from the group just as an LP to which he'd made a major contribution hit the stores. Only a few months after that, the band itself split up, but not before scoring their second consecutive Top Ten ranking in the U.K.; the album also reached the Top 20 in the U.S., breaking the temporarily defunct group stateside. [The 2001 reissue includes three bonus tracks: the "Mono Single Mixes" of "You Can All Join In" and "Feelin' Alright" and also the "Stereo Single Mix" of "Withering Tree."] ~ William Ruhlmann

Rolling Stone (3/4/04, p.68) - 4 stars out of 5 - "TRAFFIC is a triumph of earthy cohesion, a sparkling British twist on the rural-basement R&B of the Band's MUSIC FROM THE BIG PINK....[T]his is the best album [any Traffic] lineup ever made..." Rolling Stone (1/4/69, p.28) - "...Dave Mason is a top-notch rock and roll composer and the Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi team is equally good...coming up with material on a level with the Young Rascals' best work..." Q (2/00, p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...lolloping funkiness - smeared all over 'Feelin' Alright' and 'Pearly Queen' - could only have come from such chilled-out environs [a rented cottage in Aston Tirrold, Bershire]..." Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.106) - "...a sweet parade of soulful prog that no one else could muster....shows that Traffic were capable of thoughtful, inventive and occasionally very beautiful music."

Traffic appeared amidst the late-1960s psychedelic scene, and at its height the band was one of the most adventurous outfits around, although Traffic's unstable lineup made it an on-again, off-again affair by the '70s. Teenage wunderkind Stevie Winwood was the main man, but all the members made significant contributions. With a sound that combined influences from folk, rock, jazz, and soul, Traffic created something wonderfully of its time on classic albums such as THE LOW SPARK OF HIGH-HEELED BOYS.

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