Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
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Free Music Notes for Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
Free Music Review: Original track order restored!
Hit: 5 Stars
Those who own earlier CD issues of this title should note that this disc presents the album's tracks in their original running order, as found on the original vinyl. This differs from previous CD issues (starting with the first in the mid-80s) which were mistakenly produced from the master created for tape releases (cassette or 8-track). Due to the limitations of tape media, tracks were rearranged to fit, and no one associated with CD production noticed until this remastering.Please see my full review below.
Free Music Review: Sparkling reissue of early-70s rock classic
Hit: 5 Stars
It's hard to think of another album so redolent of its era, and yet so completely ageless. Traffic's seamless amalgam of rock, jazz, funk and folk, mixing complex multipart rhythms, extended improvisational odysseys, and topped with Steve Winwood's brilliant voice is every bit as hypnotic as the day it was issued in 1971. It's all the more impressive for having predated similar cross-genre excursions by Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan and others.As a band whose personnel and direction changed with nearly every album, it's difficult to call this the band's high point (though certainly it represents their greatest U.S. commercial success). Having shed the overt psychedelia of their earlier incarnations, the band stretched out their songs to provide more room for improvisation. The preceding studio album, "John Barleycorn Must Die," included several six-minute-plus compositions, but "Low Spark" goes even father, with a pair of seven-minute tracks, and the sublime eleven minutes and forty-one seconds of the title cut. It's an album designed for the underground FM radio of its day (not to mention dorm rooms and other hangouts).
The core of Traffic's sound is formed around Winwood's voice and organ, Chris Wood's flute and sax, and the multilayered rhythm work of Jim Capaldi, Jim Gordon and Reebop Kwaku Baah. It's a surprisingly non-traditional rock sound for the times, with only Capaldi's "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" and Rick Grech & Jim Gordon's "Rock & Roll Stew" featuring Winwood's funky electric guitar playing. Both of these, along with the title track, lay out the physical and mental wear of life on the rock 'n' roll road. Bookending this trio of showbiz songs are nature-themed numbers that open and close the album on acoustic notes.
Island's reissue of this landmark LP provides a crisp new remaster, contemporary liner notes (the original album had none), and a bonus U.S. single version of "Rock & Roll Stew" that adds nearly two-minutes of instrumental jamming to the album track. The sonic upgrade is worth a repurchase for those who bought earlier CD editions, and certainly worth the upgrade from crackly original vinyl. It goes without saying that this is a must-have for those just starting to explore this period of popular music.
Free Music Review: traffic fans take note!
Hit: 4 Stars
Hey... it's back in print - and the sound is much better than the old one, or _Smiling Phases_, or that hideously echo-drenched Winwood box. Plus, reappearing after 30 years is the long-forgotten extended version of "Rock and Roll Stew", which originally appeared in two parts on the single.Free Music Review: masters at work
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is a masterful collection by one of the best ever UK bands.Although very successful in their days,Traffic seem to have eluded iconic status.It's a mystery and injustice.Some may remember them for 'Hole in my Shoe'-this is indeed also a brilliant record, but because there are so many devices and hallmarks of the era on it,it somehow fell into cliched territory,and with it that an aura of being on every [bad] high street 60's compilation.But TRAFFIC were miles above the pop limits of Hole in my Shoe. What you have in their album catalogueis a new music of the highest order,married with intelligent lyrics,and of course Stevie Winwoods OUTRAGEOUSLY good voice!
This album is such QUALITY! Very 'knowing',musically subtle
and drawing on many musical forms,this is a 'must' for devotees of serious music,and rock at its peak.I have heard it said that
the Low Spark was a barbed yet cleverly veiled critique of the upcoming GLAM bands of the era.Well I could see their point, but history has shown that some of the Glam bands were pretty cool too!!Anyhow there are majestic and complex tracks aplenty on this album,and the quality of sound,and writing craftsmanship is fantastic.Yes,I am a fan, but hey, can you imagine many other groups whose fifth,sixth, etc albums are as good as the first?