Traffic (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Traffic | ||
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 Traffic on the cover of their eponymous 1968 album. Clockwise from top left: Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, Dave Mason and Steve Winwood
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Birmingham, England |
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| Genre(s) | Rock psychedelic rock progressive rock |
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| Years active | 1967 — 1974 (Reunions: 1969, 1994) |
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| Label(s) | Island Records Atco |
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| Members | ||
| Steve Winwood Jim Capaldi (deceased) Chris Wood (deceased) Dave Mason |
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Traffic was a rock band from Birmingham, England, formed in early 1967 by Steve Winwood with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason.
The group's distinctive sound, innovative recordings and collaborative songwriting approach influenced many other groups in the progressive rock genre in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like many other groups of the period, Traffic was heavily influenced by the early recordings of The Band, and they also retreated to a country house (in Berkshire, England) at the beginning of their career in order to write and develop their material before making their live debut.
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[edit] History
Winwood had become friends with his future band mates in the latter days of the Spencer Davis Group (which also hailed from Birmingham) and Capaldi, Wood and Mason are reputed to have performed (uncredited) on at least two Spencer Davis Group singles, "I'm A Man" and "Gimme Some Lovin'".
The four musicians often jammed together at a club called The Elbow Room in Aston, Birmingham. With Mason and Capaldi eager to form a new group, Winwood agreed to join the partnership along with Chris Wood and so the four members retreated to a secluded cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire to rehearse. Their first official recordings together were made for the soundtrack of the 1967 British feature film Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush.
Traffic signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records label (of which Steve Winwood's elder brother Muff Winwood later became an executive) and their debut single "Paper Sun" was a UK hit in mid-1967. The second single, Mason's psych-pop classic "Hole in My Shoe," was an even bigger hit, and it became one of their best-known tracks, but it set the stage for increasing friction between Winwood and Mason, the group's principal songwriters. Their debut album was Mr. Fantasy which, like the singles, was a hit in the UK but not in the U.S. or elsewhere.
Friction with Mason led to his departure from the group shortly before the release of Mr. Fantasy. Mason was content to avoid collaboration, a direct contrast with the lyricist/songwriter partnership of Capaldi and Winwood. During the time without Mason, Winwood had to play bass pedals in addition to playing keyboard and singing when the group performed live. The group also had difficulty maintaining a well-rounded repertoire of songs without Mason's strong songwriting ability.
Mason rejoined the band for their second album, Traffic, released in 1968.
The band began touring the U.S. in late 1968, which led to the following year's release of Traffic's next album Last Exit, with one side recorded live. During the tour, Mason was fired and Winwood announced the band's breakup. Winwood formed Blind Faith with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech which lasted only a year. The remaining members of Traffic began a project with Mick Weaver, the short-lived Mason, Capaldi, Wood, and Frog, which played a few live dates and recorded some BBC sessions, but broke up before releasing any formal recordings. During this period Winwood, Wood and Mason also contributed to the sessions for the landmark Jimi Hendrix double-album Electric Ladyland (1968).
After the split of Blind Faith in 1969, Winwood began working on a solo recording which eventually turned into another Traffic album (without Mason), John Barleycorn Must Die, their most successful album yet.
Traffic went on to expand its lineup in 1971 adding Ric Grech on bass, drummer Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominos and percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah. The live album Welcome to the Canteen was released in September and marked the band's break with United Artists Records. It did not bear the "Traffic" name on the cover, but instead was credited to the band's individual members including Dave Mason, returning for his third and final spell with the band. Mason played two songs from his recent solo album, Alone Together, and the album ended with a cover of the Spencer Davis Group song, "Gimme' Some Lovin'."
Following the departure of Mason, Traffic released The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, an American hit that did not chart in the UK. Once again, personnel problems wracked the band as Capaldi began a solo career and Grech and Gordon left the band. Following Winwood's recovery from a long case of peritonitis, Traffic's sixth studio album Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory was another hit, recorded in 1973 with drummer Roger Hawkins and bassist David Hood taking Gordon and Grech's former spots.
When the Eagle Flies (1974) included bassist Rosko Gee. After this Traffic disbanded. Their breakup was followed by two compilations from United Artists (Heavy Traffic and More Heavy Traffic), both of which only drew from the first half of their output.
Capaldi and Winwood reunited as Traffic in 1994 for a one-off tour, and they recorded and released a CD of all-new material Far From Home, but it was made without Chris Wood, who had died in 1983 from alcohol-related causes. The flute/sax role on the tour was played by Randall Bramblett, who had never been a member of Traffic, but had worked extensively with Steve Winwood. The bass player for the tour was Rosko Gee. Michael McEvoy joined the line up playing keyboards, guitar and viola and Walfredo reyes Jr. played drums and percussion.
Traffic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2004.
Tentative plans for another Traffic project were cut short by Jim Capaldi's death aged 60 in January 2005, ending the songwriting partnership with Winwood that had fueled Traffic from its beginning.
Dear Mr Fantasy is a celebration for Jim Capaldi taking place at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London on Sunday 21st January 2007. Guests include Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, and many more. Dear Mr Fantasy features the music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic and all profits go to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal.
[edit] Trivia
- Winwood and Mason were friends of Jimi Hendrix. Winwood played organ on the slower jam version of Voodoo Chile from Hendrix's double-LP Electric Ladyland and Mason played 12-string guitar on Jimi's version of All Along the Watchtower on the same album. Hendrix first heard Bob Dylan's Watchtower at a party he was invited to by Mason and decided to record a version the same night.
- Additionally, Chris Wood provided flute for 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be). Coincidentally, 1983 would be the year of Wood's death.
- Every Traffic album displays the "Traffic symbol" somewhere on the front and/or back cover. On the album cover reproduced above, Chris Wood is pointing to it.
[edit] Discography
- Mr. Fantasy (first U.S. pressing issued with title Heaven Is In Your Mind) – 1967 US #8
- Traffic – 1968 US #17
- Last Exit (side 2 live at The Fillmore West) – 1969 US #19
- Best of Traffic (compilation) – 1969 US #48
- John Barleycorn Must Die – 1970 US #5
- Welcome to the Canteen (live) – 1971 US #26
- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys – 1971 US #7
- Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory – 1973 US #6
- On the Road (live on tour in Germany) – 1973 US #29
- When the Eagle Flies – 1974 US #9
- Heavy Traffic (compilation) – 1975 US #155
- More Heavy Traffic (compilation) – 1975 US #193
- Smiling Phases (compilation) – 1991
- Far From Home (Winwood/Capaldi) – 1994 US #33
- Heaven Is in Your Mind (compilation) – 1998
- Traffic Gold (compilation) – 2005
- Last Great Traffic Jam (live) – 2005
