In my youth, I thought of Traffic as "the guys who did Dear Mr. Fantasy," which was basically my go-to jam for a good while in the eighth grade. But there is no individual song that can neatly sum them up, no singular lineup that can fully define them. Their on and off again status provided quite a few different personel combinations, but in the end I suppose the heart of the group was always present. The case the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame made was for the four original members, and that makes sense. Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, Chris Wood, and Jim Capaldi were the first bearers of the name "Traffic." But as good as Dave Mason was, and as integral as Chris Wood was, to me, Traffic is the collaboration of Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi.
Dave Mason quit the group multiple times, and was fully gone by the time this song came out in '71. Winwood was doing the keyboard, organ, and guitar work almost all by himself, Chris Wood continued giving the group it's avant-garde edginess with his flute and saxophone work while Jim Capaldi was relegated to playing percussion (though he sang lead vocals on this song). Jim Gordon was brought in on drums and I mean, how could you not want Jim Gordon on drums. He was quite possibly the most in demand session drummer of his time. Granted, he did kill his mother with a tack hammer a decade later, but hey, the guy was an undiagnosed schizophrenic, lets cut him some slack.
So in 1971 when this song came out on the album, "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys," Traffic did not sound like the same band of "Paper Sun" and "Dear Mr. Fantasy" fame. Yes, "Rock N' Roll Stew" was certainly a more popular, rock styled song, but they had by this time more fully developed their progressive and jazz rock oriented sound. A sound that had crept in at times in the past, but was now becoming much more evident. They had also lost Dave Mason permanently at this point, so that impact cannot go unmentioned. Yet, there's still an amazing amount of style and distinctiveness to it. That's one thing I will say for traffic (i've listened to six of their eight studio albums), there is a style there that is unmistakeable. Their albums may vary in context, arrangement, and personel, but there's still that same flavor to them all which I have to attribute to Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. I personally believe Steve Winwood was the gear that wound the clock given his vast resume and songwriting abilities, but with no factual knowledge to base that on, I'll stick to what I do know.
Steve Winwood is an amazing musician. I saw him live at MSG about five or so years ago with Eric Clapton, and he tore it up on the old black and whites, organ, and he even took a few turns with the six-string. The man has still got it, in my opinion. But what I've really come to notice after listening to him for some time now, is that Steve Winwood is a collaborator. There are musicians who can seclude themselves in a closet with a pen and pad, and come walking out months later with a symphony. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are musicians who do their best work when they have like-minded colleagues to play off of, and push them. Jim Capaldi seemed to fill this role when Winwood wasn't drawn into some other supergroup (like the short lived Blind Faith), or trying to work out how to do it on his own. I believe the 1970 John Barleycorn Must Die album by Traffic, started out as a solo effort for Winwood (as Dave Mason left for the second time in '68, and Winwood joined Blind Faith in '69 before it disbanded six months later), before he wound up bringing in Wood and Capaldi to complete the largely successful album which, I also happen to treasure. (Glad is one of my personal favorites).
Traffic has an ear and pen for a complex but accessible sound. Yes, there's always those tunes that go right over ones head, but on the whole I've found Traffic to be a band that consistently makes my playlists, and in my world, that definitely means a lot. Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi were the songwriting masterminds behind Traffic. I've heard some die hard fans of this group preach to me about the genius of the original lineup, and I get it and agree. Dave Mason's writing and playing should never be discredited, losing him was by no means a gift. But I think that the group still retained a certain chemistry and spark, that made them a relevant and interesting part of the music of their time. There's no reason we shouldn't still be listening to them today heck, everyone knows I do.
No comments:
Post a Comment