On the Road
5 March 2010
5 Comments
4.0
Product Description
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: TRAFFIC
Title: ON THE ROAD
Street Release Date: 05/20/2003
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4.0
Product Description
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: TRAFFIC
Title: ON THE ROAD
Street Release Date: 05/20/2003
… More >>
Any fan of live music should really dig this one
Rating: 5 / 5
There isn’t a thing wrong with the musicianship on this account of mid seventies Traffic. It is a bit tedious though, and likely set the pattern for supergroup live albums for quite some time. Traffic was running out of gas by this stage in their career. Chris Wood was not in the best of health, nor was Jim Gordon. Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood would spend quite a few years recovering from the final crash before venturing into their very strong solo careers.
These were the long songs, and while both Capaldi and Winwood could extrapolate brilliantly on a theme, this CD has the sense of having gone on too long. It tends to circle around for a while and then end. The defining track seems to be “Uninspired”. {Perhaps Winwood and Capaldi had had enough and this is contractual obligation stuff. It is by no means bad, but this is definitely a band at the end of the road.
Rating: 3 / 5
THIS TRAFFIC LIVE OFFERING IS ONE OF THOSE “WELL IT IS TIME TO RELEASE SOMETHING FROM TRAFFIC TO KEEP FAN INTEREST”….THE SOUND IS MEDIOCRE AND THE MATERIAL PRESENTATION IS POOR.IF YOU WANT TO BUY TRAFFIC,BUY LAST EXIT,LOW SPARK,JOHN BARLEYCORN!DO NOT WASTE YOUR DOLLARS ON THIS CD!!!
Rating: 1 / 5
Not a bad album at all – it would be foolish to say so with the presense of Muscle Shoals’ own Roger Hawkins and David Hood (awesome, AWESOME rhythm section, those two guys; they’re equalled ONLY by Al Jackson/Duck Dunn or Bill Wyman/Charlie Watts) and keyboardist Barry Beckett, whose presense freed Steve Winwood to “focus” on piano and guitar. Despite their presense, and despite the fact that the “musicanship” on this album is nothing short of exemplarly, still – one can pick up the same “vibe” here as the Stones’ “Still Life.” In short – TRYING TOO HARD. But Traffic was Traffic, and given the absolute dearth of anything special the seventies – the decade that inflicted “punk,” the Eagles, and (God help us) “disco” on us – had to offer, complaining is but quibbling. HOWEVER -there IS one more “factor” that, in all honesty, can’t be ignored: the presence of…drugs. If you’ve “been there,” you can detect its presense in a couple of the performances. “Light Up Or Leave Me Alone” seems to be trying too hard, and a couple of the other song titles all but give it away, dig, “Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired” and/or “Tragic Magic.” But my one most memorable…”interpretataion” is that of my (then – in 1976) 17 y/o guitarist’s comment on the album’s “graphics,” I guess. As our band liked to occasionally incorporate keyboards into our set, Jeff would have to switch off on bass to allow me to attempt the keys. Jeff and I were earnestly trying to get the rhythm to “Low Spark” correct, and, during a “smoke break,” Jeff picked up “On The Road,” gazed pensively at the album cover, and then appraised the inside picture of Winwood clutching the Strat: “Hey, man, d’you think somebody was doin’ a little acid here?” Yes indeed – as, evidentally, were all the band. Still: Traffic on acid is SO very infinitely preferable to J Garcia and his Dreadful Grate. Deal with it.
Rating: 4 / 5
This album features some excellent live performances from the 1973 Traffic line-up. From the groovy instrumental “Glad”, to the extended verson of “Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys”, these musicians cook out some of the tastiest rock & jazz tunes I’ve ever heard! This LP will blow your mind!
Rating: 5 / 5