When The Eagle Flies

Performer: Traffic
Engineer: Brian Humphries; Nobby Clarke
Producer: Chris Blackwell; Traffic
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Traffic: Steve Winwood (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, Mellotron); Jim Capaldi (vocals, drums, percussion); Chris Wood (flute, saxophone); Rosko Gee (bass instrument); Rebop Kwaku Baah (percussion). Traffic's last album before their 1974 split, WHEN THE EAGLE FLIES takes the jazz-rock textures of THE LOW SPARK OF HIGH HEELED BOYS and SHOOT OUT AT THE FANTASY FACTORY to a logical conclusion. The songs here are more tightly structured than they had been on previous records, with only three of the seven tracks creeping over the six-minute mark. However, the band's interplay is more rhythmically loose than ever before. It's not surprising that bassist Rosko Gee and percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah went on to join German art-rockers Can. In fact, the 11-minute workout "Dream Gerrard," with its fluid groove, surreal lyrics, Chris Wood's lyrical saxophone interjections, and Steve Winwood's idiosyncratic sound-over-meaning vocal style, would fit quite nicely on one of Can's albums from this period. Elsewhere, more concise R&B-influenced tunes ("Something New" and "Walking in the Wind") foreshadow the mature elegance of Winwood's later solo work, and the soaring, keyboard-led title track ends the album--and the key phase of Traffic's career--on a suitably strong, communal note.

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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