Traffic
Formed 1967 in Midlands, England
Disbanded 1975
Genres Pop/Rock![[Image: 220px-Traffic_%28album%29.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Traffic_%28album%29.jpg/220px-Traffic_%28album%29.jpg)
RockArt RockBlues-RockProg-RockArena
Biographyby William Ruhlmann from ALLMUSIC
Though it ultimately must be considered an interim vehicle for
singer/songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist Steve Winwood, Traffic was a
successful group that followed its own individual course through the
rock music scene of the late '60s and early '70s. Beginning in the
psychedelic year of 1967 and influenced by the Beatles, the band early
on turned out eclectic pop singles in its native Great Britain, though
by the end of its first year of existence it had developed a pop/rock
hybrid tied to its unusual instrumentation: At a time when electric
guitars ruled rock, Traffic emphasized Winwood's organ and the reed
instruments played by Chris Wood, especially flute. After Dave Mason,
who had provided the band with an alternate folk-pop sound, departed
for good, Traffic leaned toward extended songs that gave its players
room to improvise in a jazz-like manner, even as the rhythms maintained
a rock structure. The result was international success that ended only
when Winwood finally decided he was ready to strike out on his own.
Steve Winwood (born May 12, 1948) first attracted attention when, at
the age of 15, he and his older brother Muff formed a band in their
native Birmingham, England, with Spencer Davis and Pete York,
eventually called the Spencer Davis Group. They were signed by record
executive Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, and began
recording in 1964. As the band's vocalist, Winwood received the lion's
share of attention. By the time he and his brother quit the group in
April 1967, the Spencer Davis Group had amassed four Top Ten singles
and three Top Ten albums in the U.K., two of those singles also
reaching the Top Ten in the U.S.
Still not yet 19 years old, Winwood formed Traffic with three
22-year-old friends who had played in lesser-known bands -
drummer/singer Jim Capaldi (August 24, 1944 - January 28, 2005),
singer/guitarist Mason (born May 10, 1944), and Wood (June 24, 1944 -
July 12, 1983). In the spirit of the times (and despite Winwood's
prominence), the group was intended to be a cooperative, with the
members living together in a country cottage in Berkshire and
collaborating on their songs. Blackwell quickly signed them and
released their debut single, "Paper Sun," which peaked in the U.K. Top
Five in July 1967 and also spent several weeks in the lower reaches of
the charts in America, where Blackwell licensed it to United Artists
Records, as he had the Spencer Davis Group's recordings.
Meanwhile, as Traffic recorded material for its debut album during the
summer of 1967, its communal outlook was disrupted by Mason, who,
unlike Winwood (a composer who needed help with lyrics and therefore
tended toward collaboration), was capable of writing songs on his own
and did so. The success of "Paper Sun" encouraged Blackwell to release
a follow-up single quickly, and he chose as the most likely candidate
among the songs Traffic had recorded so far "Hole in My Shoe," written
and sung by Mason. It became an even bigger hit than "Paper Sun,"
almost topping the British charts in October, but that didn't sit well
with Winwood, who felt it was unrepresentative of the sound he wanted
for Traffic. The group's third single was "Here We Go Round the
Mulberry Bush," the title song from a motion picture, which became
their third British Top Ten hit in December, the same month that their
debut album, Mr. Fantasy, was released. It, too, earned a Top Ten
ranking in January 1968, but by then Mason had left Traffic. A fourth
single, "No Face, No Name, No Number," culled from the album, made the
British Top 40 in March, the month that Traffic debuted as a live
attraction in the U.S., where Mr. Fantasy (initially titled Heaven Is
in Your Mind) reached the Top 100.
Traffic encountered two problems as a trio. First, given its unusual
instrumentation, it had difficulty on-stage doing without a player like
Mason, who could handle the bass guitar work. In his absence, Winwood
was forced to fill in the bass sound by playing the organ's bass pedals
with his feet while simultaneously playing the organ keyboards with his
hands and singing. Second, without a prolific writer like Mason, the
group had more difficulty coming up with enough new material to satisfy
its contractual commitments. As a result, Winwood, Capaldi, and Wood
reconciled with Mason, who rejoined Traffic in the spring of 1968 and
contributed heavily to the band's second album, Traffic, writing half
of the songs, among them "Feelin' Alright?," which went on to become a
rock standard, particularly after Joe Cocker's 1969 cover version
became an American Top 40 hit in 1972.
Traffic was released in October 1968, and the band went on tour in the
U.S. to promote it. But just after the start of the tour, Winwood,
Capaldi, and Wood fired Mason. Then, at the conclusion of the tour,
Winwood withdrew, announcing the breakup of Traffic at the beginning of
1969. These events notwithstanding, the album reached the U.K. Top Ten
and the U.S. Top 20. And breakup or no, Winwood was contracted to
Island and United Artists for five albums, of which only two had been
delivered. Thus, in April 1969, the labels released Last Exit, a
collection of non-LP singles sides, outtakes, and live recordings. It
was another Top 20 success in America.
Meanwhile, Capaldi and Wood rejoined Mason along with keyboardist
Wynder K. Frog in the short-lived band Wooden Frog, which never
recorded, and Winwood teamed with former Cream members Eric Clapton and
Ginger Baker as well as former Family member Ric Grech (November 1,
1946 -- March 16, 1990) in Blind Faith. This highly touted supergroup
made one album, Blind Faith, which topped the charts in the U.S. and
U.K., and played one American tour before breaking up. Still owing his
record labels two albums, Winwood began work on a solo record in early
1970, but quickly brought in Capaldi and Wood and turned it into a
Traffic LP. John Barleycorn Must Die was released in June 1970. In the
U.S., it was a gold-selling Top Ten hit; in the U.K. it reached the Top
20.
Embarking on extensive touring, Traffic expanded its lineup, adding Ric
Grech on bass. In the spring of 1971, in anticipation of British and
American touring, drummer Jim Gordon, formerly of Derek and the
Dominos, was brought in, as was percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah. Also
joining for a handful of U.K. dates was Dave Mason, who had in the
meantime become a solo star with his 1970 album Alone Together. The
band was able to work off its contractual commitment with a live album
from this lineup, Welcome to the Canteen, released in September.
Re-signed to Island, which began releasing albums in the U.S. as well
as the U.K., Traffic quickly followed in November with the studio album
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, which reached the American Top Ten
and sold a million copies, though, in an indication of the group's
increasingly international focus, it didn't even chart back home in
Britain.
A winter 1971-1972 tour was aborted by Winwood's poor health (he was
later revealed to be suffering from peritonitis), and Grech and Gordon
left the band, while Capaldi recorded his debut solo album, Oh How We
Danced; it reached the American Top 100. In the fall of 1972, with
Winwood recovered, Traffic convened to record a new album, adding
drummer Roger Hawkins and bassist David Hood, members of the studio
band at the famed Muscle Shoals recording studio. (Keyboardist Barry
Beckett, another Muscle Shoals alumnus, played with the band live.)
Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory, released in January 1973, reached the
American Top Ten and went gold. The world tour that promoted it was
chronicled on Traffic -- on the Road, released in October 1973.
At the end of the tour, the Muscle Shoals musicians returned home and
Kwaku Baah also left Traffic, which recruited bassist Rosko Gee.
Capaldi released a second solo album, Whale Meat Again, in the summer
of 1974; "It's All up to You" from it reached the U.K. Top 40. With
Traffic, he recorded a new album, When the Eagle Flies, released in
September. It was the band's fourth consecutive studio album to reach
the American Top Ten and go gold, and the group toured to support it,
but at the conclusion of the tour Traffic silently disbanded.
With a headstart on a solo career, Capaldi scored a Top Five hit in the
U.K. in 1975 with a cover of "Love Hurts" from his third album, Short
Cut Draw Blood. (The single charted in the U.S., but lost out to a
competing version by Nazareth.) Along with former Santana drummer
Michael Shrieve, Winwood participated prominently in Japanese
percussionist Stomu Yamashta's concept album Go, which made the Top 100
in the U.S. in 1976. In 1977, he finally made his solo bow, releasing
the modestly successful album Steve Winwood. A three-and-a-half year
silence ensued, broken by the 1980 release of Arc of a Diver, which hit
the American Top Five and went platinum, paced by the Top Ten single
"While You See a Chance." 1982's Talking Back to the Night was a
commercial disappointment, but Winwood had the greatest success of his
career with 1986's Back in the High Life, a multi-million seller that
threw off four Top 20 singles, among them the chart-topping "Higher
Love." In 1987, "Valerie," a remixed version of a song from Talking
Back to the Night, hit the Top Ten. 1988's Roll With It was another
multi-platinum seller for Winwood, with both the album and the title
song topping the charts. But Refugees of the Heart (1990) was less
successful. In 1994, Winwood announced a reunion with Capaldi (Wood had
died of liver failure), who had continued to record solo albums with
diminishing success. The two made a new album, Far From Home, and
toured as Traffic during the summer. The album quickly reached the U.S.
and U.K. Top 40, but did not sell well, and the tour also performed
disappointingly, signaling another retirement of the Traffic name.
Nevertheless, the 1967-1974-era band continued to enjoy significant
status as a classic rock act, its albums earning CD reissues along with
the release of compilations like Smiling Phases (1991) and Feelin'
Alright: The Very Best of Traffic (2000). Capaldi's death on January
28, 2005, appeared to put an end to the band.
STUDIO ALBUMS
Mr. Fantasy (1967)
Traffic (1968)
Last Exit (1969)
John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971)
Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (1973)
When The Eagle Flies (1974)
Far From Home (1994)
Formed 1967 in Midlands, England
Disbanded 1975
Genres Pop/Rock
![[Image: 220px-Traffic_%28album%29.jpg]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Traffic_(album).jpg)
RockArt RockBlues-RockProg-RockArena
Biographyby William Ruhlmann from ALLMUSIC
Though it ultimately must be considered an interim vehicle for
singer/songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist Steve Winwood, Traffic was a
successful group that followed its own individual course through the
rock music scene of the late '60s and early '70s. Beginning in the
psychedelic year of 1967 and influenced by the Beatles, the band early
on turned out eclectic pop singles in its native Great Britain, though
by the end of its first year of existence it had developed a pop/rock
hybrid tied to its unusual instrumentation: At a time when electric
guitars ruled rock, Traffic emphasized Winwood's organ and the reed
instruments played by Chris Wood, especially flute. After Dave Mason,
who had provided the band with an alternate folk-pop sound, departed
for good, Traffic leaned toward extended songs that gave its players
room to improvise in a jazz-like manner, even as the rhythms maintained
a rock structure. The result was international success that ended only
when Winwood finally decided he was ready to strike out on his own.
Steve Winwood (born May 12, 1948) first attracted attention when, at
the age of 15, he and his older brother Muff formed a band in their
native Birmingham, England, with Spencer Davis and Pete York,
eventually called the Spencer Davis Group. They were signed by record
executive Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, and began
recording in 1964. As the band's vocalist, Winwood received the lion's
share of attention. By the time he and his brother quit the group in
April 1967, the Spencer Davis Group had amassed four Top Ten singles
and three Top Ten albums in the U.K., two of those singles also
reaching the Top Ten in the U.S.
Still not yet 19 years old, Winwood formed Traffic with three
22-year-old friends who had played in lesser-known bands -
drummer/singer Jim Capaldi (August 24, 1944 - January 28, 2005),
singer/guitarist Mason (born May 10, 1944), and Wood (June 24, 1944 -
July 12, 1983). In the spirit of the times (and despite Winwood's
prominence), the group was intended to be a cooperative, with the
members living together in a country cottage in Berkshire and
collaborating on their songs. Blackwell quickly signed them and
released their debut single, "Paper Sun," which peaked in the U.K. Top
Five in July 1967 and also spent several weeks in the lower reaches of
the charts in America, where Blackwell licensed it to United Artists
Records, as he had the Spencer Davis Group's recordings.
Meanwhile, as Traffic recorded material for its debut album during the
summer of 1967, its communal outlook was disrupted by Mason, who,
unlike Winwood (a composer who needed help with lyrics and therefore
tended toward collaboration), was capable of writing songs on his own
and did so. The success of "Paper Sun" encouraged Blackwell to release
a follow-up single quickly, and he chose as the most likely candidate
among the songs Traffic had recorded so far "Hole in My Shoe," written
and sung by Mason. It became an even bigger hit than "Paper Sun,"
almost topping the British charts in October, but that didn't sit well
with Winwood, who felt it was unrepresentative of the sound he wanted
for Traffic. The group's third single was "Here We Go Round the
Mulberry Bush," the title song from a motion picture, which became
their third British Top Ten hit in December, the same month that their
debut album, Mr. Fantasy, was released. It, too, earned a Top Ten
ranking in January 1968, but by then Mason had left Traffic. A fourth
single, "No Face, No Name, No Number," culled from the album, made the
British Top 40 in March, the month that Traffic debuted as a live
attraction in the U.S., where Mr. Fantasy (initially titled Heaven Is
in Your Mind) reached the Top 100.
Traffic encountered two problems as a trio. First, given its unusual
instrumentation, it had difficulty on-stage doing without a player like
Mason, who could handle the bass guitar work. In his absence, Winwood
was forced to fill in the bass sound by playing the organ's bass pedals
with his feet while simultaneously playing the organ keyboards with his
hands and singing. Second, without a prolific writer like Mason, the
group had more difficulty coming up with enough new material to satisfy
its contractual commitments. As a result, Winwood, Capaldi, and Wood
reconciled with Mason, who rejoined Traffic in the spring of 1968 and
contributed heavily to the band's second album, Traffic, writing half
of the songs, among them "Feelin' Alright?," which went on to become a
rock standard, particularly after Joe Cocker's 1969 cover version
became an American Top 40 hit in 1972.
Traffic was released in October 1968, and the band went on tour in the
U.S. to promote it. But just after the start of the tour, Winwood,
Capaldi, and Wood fired Mason. Then, at the conclusion of the tour,
Winwood withdrew, announcing the breakup of Traffic at the beginning of
1969. These events notwithstanding, the album reached the U.K. Top Ten
and the U.S. Top 20. And breakup or no, Winwood was contracted to
Island and United Artists for five albums, of which only two had been
delivered. Thus, in April 1969, the labels released Last Exit, a
collection of non-LP singles sides, outtakes, and live recordings. It
was another Top 20 success in America.
Meanwhile, Capaldi and Wood rejoined Mason along with keyboardist
Wynder K. Frog in the short-lived band Wooden Frog, which never
recorded, and Winwood teamed with former Cream members Eric Clapton and
Ginger Baker as well as former Family member Ric Grech (November 1,
1946 -- March 16, 1990) in Blind Faith. This highly touted supergroup
made one album, Blind Faith, which topped the charts in the U.S. and
U.K., and played one American tour before breaking up. Still owing his
record labels two albums, Winwood began work on a solo record in early
1970, but quickly brought in Capaldi and Wood and turned it into a
Traffic LP. John Barleycorn Must Die was released in June 1970. In the
U.S., it was a gold-selling Top Ten hit; in the U.K. it reached the Top
20.
Embarking on extensive touring, Traffic expanded its lineup, adding Ric
Grech on bass. In the spring of 1971, in anticipation of British and
American touring, drummer Jim Gordon, formerly of Derek and the
Dominos, was brought in, as was percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah. Also
joining for a handful of U.K. dates was Dave Mason, who had in the
meantime become a solo star with his 1970 album Alone Together. The
band was able to work off its contractual commitment with a live album
from this lineup, Welcome to the Canteen, released in September.
Re-signed to Island, which began releasing albums in the U.S. as well
as the U.K., Traffic quickly followed in November with the studio album
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, which reached the American Top Ten
and sold a million copies, though, in an indication of the group's
increasingly international focus, it didn't even chart back home in
Britain.
A winter 1971-1972 tour was aborted by Winwood's poor health (he was
later revealed to be suffering from peritonitis), and Grech and Gordon
left the band, while Capaldi recorded his debut solo album, Oh How We
Danced; it reached the American Top 100. In the fall of 1972, with
Winwood recovered, Traffic convened to record a new album, adding
drummer Roger Hawkins and bassist David Hood, members of the studio
band at the famed Muscle Shoals recording studio. (Keyboardist Barry
Beckett, another Muscle Shoals alumnus, played with the band live.)
Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory, released in January 1973, reached the
American Top Ten and went gold. The world tour that promoted it was
chronicled on Traffic -- on the Road, released in October 1973.
At the end of the tour, the Muscle Shoals musicians returned home and
Kwaku Baah also left Traffic, which recruited bassist Rosko Gee.
Capaldi released a second solo album, Whale Meat Again, in the summer
of 1974; "It's All up to You" from it reached the U.K. Top 40. With
Traffic, he recorded a new album, When the Eagle Flies, released in
September. It was the band's fourth consecutive studio album to reach
the American Top Ten and go gold, and the group toured to support it,
but at the conclusion of the tour Traffic silently disbanded.
With a headstart on a solo career, Capaldi scored a Top Five hit in the
U.K. in 1975 with a cover of "Love Hurts" from his third album, Short
Cut Draw Blood. (The single charted in the U.S., but lost out to a
competing version by Nazareth.) Along with former Santana drummer
Michael Shrieve, Winwood participated prominently in Japanese
percussionist Stomu Yamashta's concept album Go, which made the Top 100
in the U.S. in 1976. In 1977, he finally made his solo bow, releasing
the modestly successful album Steve Winwood. A three-and-a-half year
silence ensued, broken by the 1980 release of Arc of a Diver, which hit
the American Top Five and went platinum, paced by the Top Ten single
"While You See a Chance." 1982's Talking Back to the Night was a
commercial disappointment, but Winwood had the greatest success of his
career with 1986's Back in the High Life, a multi-million seller that
threw off four Top 20 singles, among them the chart-topping "Higher
Love." In 1987, "Valerie," a remixed version of a song from Talking
Back to the Night, hit the Top Ten. 1988's Roll With It was another
multi-platinum seller for Winwood, with both the album and the title
song topping the charts. But Refugees of the Heart (1990) was less
successful. In 1994, Winwood announced a reunion with Capaldi (Wood had
died of liver failure), who had continued to record solo albums with
diminishing success. The two made a new album, Far From Home, and
toured as Traffic during the summer. The album quickly reached the U.S.
and U.K. Top 40, but did not sell well, and the tour also performed
disappointingly, signaling another retirement of the Traffic name.
Nevertheless, the 1967-1974-era band continued to enjoy significant
status as a classic rock act, its albums earning CD reissues along with
the release of compilations like Smiling Phases (1991) and Feelin'
Alright: The Very Best of Traffic (2000). Capaldi's death on January
28, 2005, appeared to put an end to the band.
STUDIO ALBUMS
Mr. Fantasy (1967)
Traffic (1968)
Last Exit (1969)
John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971)
Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (1973)
When The Eagle Flies (1974)
Far From Home (1994)
The ultimate connection is between a performer and its' audience!
