Traffic - Every Mother's Son

 #Traffic #Steve Winwood #Dave Mason #Jim Capaldi #psychedelic rock #progressive rock #British psychedelia #blues rock #jazz rock #folk rock #1960s #1970s

At only 22 years old, Steve Winwood sat down in early 1970 to fulfill a contractual commitment by making his first solo album, on which he intended to play all the instruments himself. The record got as far as one backing track produced by Guy Stevens, "Stranger to Himself," before Winwood called his erstwhile partner from Traffic, Jim Capaldi, in to help out. The two completed a second track, "Every Mother's Son," then, with Winwood and Island Records chief Chris Blackwell moving to the production chores, brought in a third Traffic member, Chris Wood, to work on the sessions. Thus, Traffic, dead and buried for more than a year, was reborn. The band's new approach was closer to what it perhaps should have been back in 1967, basically a showcase for Winwood's voice and instrumental work, with Wood adding reed parts and Capaldi drumming and occasionally singing harmony vocals. If the original Traffic bowed to the perceived commercial necessity of crafting hit singles, the new Traffic was more interested in stretching out. Heretofore, no studio recording had run longer than the five-and-a-half minutes of "Dear Mr. Fantasy," but four of the six selections on John Barleycorn Must Die exceeded six minutes. Winwood and company used the time to play extended instrumental variations on compelling folk and jazz-derived riffs. Five of the six songs had lyrics, and their tone of disaffection was typical of earlier Capaldi sentiments. But the vocal sections of the songs merely served as excuses for Winwood to exercise his expressive voice as punctuation to the extended instrumental sections. As such, John Barleycorn Must Die moved beyond the jamming that had characterized some of Traffic's 1968 work to approach the emerging field of jazz-rock.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/john-barleycorn-must-die-mw0000197791

Traffic - Hole In My Shoe

 #Traffic #Steve Winwood #Dave Mason #Jim Capaldi #psychedelic rock #progressive rock #British psychedelia #blues rock #jazz rock #folk rock #1960s #music video

This psychedelic song was written by Traffic's guitarist Dave Mason, who played sitar on the track. Depending on your state of mind, you might find some weighty meaning in the song, but Mason says he was just writing down random thoughts in the style of a nursery rhyme. He also insists that he hadn't tried LSD when he wrote it. In a Songfacts interview with Mason, he explained: "That's the first song I ever wrote. It was my first attempt at songwriting. I mean, that stuff I did back then, when I listen to it, I cringe and realize I need to work on writing. But writing comes out of living. You have to have something." Dave Mason tells us that this song was "the beginning of the end as far as the other three guys were concerned for me." The band's second single (after "Paper Sun"), it was a the biggest UK hit for Traffic, but it wasn't what Mason's bandmates had in mind, since they didn't think it represented their sound. Steve Winwood explained: "We never wanted to be a pop band but we had a hit with 'Shoe,' which was Dave's song. Dave had his own idea about the band, the rest of us had another one - a not-quite-as-sensible one, really, because it wasn't half as commercial." Mason quit the band soon afterwards and Traffic began to develop a less commercial sound, which put an end to their run of hit singles in the UK. However their new material proved popular on American Rock stations and it gave the band a second wind across the Atlantic.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/traffic/hole-in-my-shoe

Traffic was a British rock group of the 1960s and ’70s, known for incorporating lengthy jazzlike improvisation into rock-music structures. Principal members included singer-keyboardist Steve Winwood, flautist-saxophonist Chris Wood, guitarist Dave Mason, and drummer Jim Capaldi. Founded in 1967 and charting one of the most tumultuous careers in rock history, Traffic underwent substantial shifts in both musical style and membership. The group’s first incarnation was a psychedelic pop collective whose members lived together in Berkshire, England, and collaborated on the composition of most songs on their debut album, Mr. Fantasy (1967). Mason departed briefly, returning just long enough to write half of the songs on Traffic (1968) — a hit in both the United Kingdom and the United States — before leaving again. Shortly thereafter, Winwood (who had already experienced fame as a teenager with the Spencer Davis Group) broke up the band and formed Blind Faith with former Cream members Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. In 1970, midway through recording a solo album, Winwood reconvened with Wood and Capaldi, releasing John Barleycorn Must Die as Traffic. The 1970s version of Traffic, built on this core trio, moved away from pop songcraft and forged a sound built on free-form improvisation, earning continued commercial success with The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971), Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory (1973), and When the Eagle Flies (1974). Both on tour and in the studio, the group added and subtracted a number of additional musicians during these years before finally disbanding in 1975.  From: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Traffic-British-rock-group