![]() ![]() Wikipedia says their “distinctive sound, innovative recordings and collaborative songwriting approach influenced many other groups of the period”. One of the least “hip” parts of England, Birmingham, slap in the middle of the country, was where this group was formed in early 1967 by those four guys. For was it not he that injected the flutes and saxophones into the Traffic sound which was such a vital part of the overall package?Ĭlassified as purveyors of psychedelic and progressive rock, the band was active from 1967 till 1974, arguably the pivotal years for music in the “revolution” I’m attempting to discuss. Perusing my first Wikipedia download – sans pictures since it requires less space to store the info that way – I was immediately reminded of my key omission in the introductory remarks above. When you were as obsessed with music as we were, it is therefore not surprising we imbibed these sounds gluttonously. But I suppose there are sixty minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day – and you can fit a helluva lot of music into even 12 hours. But it was Winwood’s vocals, and several key acoustic-guitar-based songs which really put Traffic up their with some of the world’s best in the early 1970s, my high school years, when I seemed to ingest more music than I probably ever had time for. Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason are the two other names of Traffic band members which stand out, particularly as they were almost as prodigious song-writers as Winwood. Having just given it a fresh listen, I was struck by the crisply played lead guitar on innovative blues-rock songs. In fairly good nick, it is just titled Traffic, and features that incredibly evocative song, Forty Thousand Headmen, which is also on Welcome to the Canteen. I recently picked up a copy of an early Traffic album at my favourite second-hand vinyl shop. But we also got into the live album, Welcome to the Canteen in a big way, as well as several of their later albums, including The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys. And the quintessential Traffic album was John Barleycorn Must Die. STEVE Winwood, who was born in Birmingham in 1948, for me, was the key to the sound of Traffic. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |