Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
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Free Music Notes for Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
Free Music Review: +1/2 stars...One of Their Best
Hit: 4 Stars
Following the success of 1970's JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE, Traffic's 1972 follow-up LOW SPARK OF HIGH HEELED BOYS became the band's second gold disc, peaking at No. 7. But aside from the opening track "Hidden Treasure" and the original closing track "Rainmaker" this release abandons the folk music nuances of their previous release and broadens their palette. "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone" is a full out rocker, "Rock & Roll Stew" shows the band at its funkiest, and "Many a Mile to Freedom" is classic blue-eyed soul. But the centerpiece of this album is the nearly 12-minute majestic title track with it's jazz-influenced rhythms. The bonus track is the 6:07 single version of "Rock & Roll Stew," which peaked at No. 93. [Note: The biggest U.S. single of Traffic's career was a live remake of "Gimme Some Lovin'" from 1971's WELCOME TO THE CANTEEN, which stalled at No. 68.] But Traffic was an album band, and this is one of their best. More than thirty years after its original release, this music still inspires. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Free Music Review: utopian flashback/flashforward
Hit: 5 Stars
LOW SPARK was Traffic's best album, and one of the best of the whole great '65-'75 period. I know there are those partial to JOHN BARLEYCORN, but it's not as consistent. What you have here is perhaps the most purely realized expression of the counterculture's dream -- a glimpse of utopia, through the haze, at twilight, or late at night...
"Hidden Treasure" is the gateway, complete with mystical flute from Chris Wood. The brilliant title track is the first vision, and it ruled the underground airwaves for months with piano and spacey organ! There's an element of tension with the mainstream -- "the man in the suit has just bought a new car with the profit he's made on your dreams" -- but the Man loses! He's done in by "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys," the power of the dreamers, who are building a new world in the ruins of the old. The other two visionary tracks are "Many a Mile to Freedom," with ringing guitar ("together we flow like the river -- and together we melt like the snow") and "Rainmaker" with a long instrumental coda, and all four are by the Winwood/Capaldi songwriting team. The drummer and bass player actually team up for a fine funky number, "Rock & Roll Stew," with Winwood on wicked guitar and the refrain "I'm gone, gone, gone!" Capaldi's "Light Up" got lots of airplay, and it's a great song, but it doesn't really fit in the album -- I often program it first, or out, so as not to disrupt the flow.
I find it hard to imagine exactly what a young person hears in LOW SPARK nowadays, hearing it for the first time. For me, it takes me back to 1971/72, and through that door to an alternative and much better future! "Spirit is something that no one destroys..." The dream lives on...
REST IN PEACE, JIM CAPALDI! YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED!
Free Music Review: In my opinion, their best album
Hit: 5 Stars
By 1971, Traffic witness an expanded lineup. Dave Mason so much as temporarily rejoin for the album Welcome to the Canteen only to leave once again (and for good). The lineup of Winwood, Wood, and Capaldi were now augmented by Nigerian-born Reebop Kwaku Baah for percussion, Jim Gordon on drums, and Ric Grech on bass. Grech had already been a member of Blind Faith, which of course, Winwood was a member of. Grech was also previously a member of a band called Family (whose 1968 Music in a Doll's House is a great, overlooked gem of British psychedelia, which Dave Mason produced, by the way). Jim Gordon had been in bands like Derek & the Dominoes, and strangely even with the Byrds filling in for the cuts Mike Clark didn't appear on for the album The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Adding all these members to Traffic sure didn't hurt the band any and they proceeded to produce one of their finest albums ever. The album opens up with "Hidden Treasure". It's no doubt the band wanted to record another folk-influenced song in the vein of "John Barleycorn" from their previous album, except this isn't a traditional folk song, as it was a Traffic original. Great, acoustic-dominated song with Chris Wood giving us some nice flute work to go with it. Listening to this song, it's a total shame that Steve Winwood would be lowering himself to recording stuff like "Roll With It" some 17 years later. Then you got the title track, the longest song on the album. This song has became a progressive FM staple, and its length sure didn't scare off radio DJs. Still, a nice, pleasany, laid-back jazzy piece, although I never could understand what the lyrics meant. Jim Capaldi gives us "Light Up or Leave Me Alone". It's obvious that Winwood isn't singing this song. It's a more rocking number, with a lengthy jam at the end. Jim Gordon gave us "Rock and Roll Stew", with lyrics about life on the road, more or less. "Many a Mile to Freedom", once again is Winwood providing vocals. Another laid-back number, with flute. The album then ends with another folky number with "Rainmaker". Nice use of flute. The song ends up rather jazzy, complete with sax. Great stuff, and if you want to get in to Traffic, this is a great album to start, if you don't mind the fact some of the songs are rather long. Free Music Review: bears repeated listening
Hit: 5 Stars
Although not actually a piano/drum duet cd, perhaps it should have been: Winwood at his peak, with, possibly the world's best drummer, Jim Gordon, doing a stint with the band. Free Music Review: The pinnacle of 70s progressive rock
Hit: 5 Stars
If you're over 30, you may remember the term "progressive rock". It was the term preferred by cool FM stations in the early days of FM radio as way of stating they were NOT interested in mainstream Top 40 songs. Radio stations that take chances, of course, are harder to find these days as radio becomes more corporate. This album, perhaps as much as any other, typifies the old FM progressive rock playlist, and always takes me back to that simpler time. The 12-minute title track of "Low Spark" may be a fairly standard tune heard now on classic rock stations, but was truly a progressive classic back then. Steve Winwood, of course, is about as talanted a musician as they come, and his keyboards on this album and particularly on the title track are astounding. Add the sax and flute of Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi's percussion, and there you go. It's a quiet album; won't wreck your speakers, but very listenable. And if you're tired of people being on your case all the time, "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" is your track on this album. Worth every penny.