Welcome to the Canteen
5 March 2010
5 Comments
4.0
Amazon.com
To call Traffic “mercurial” might be an understatement. After a promising debut, the band (whose core consisted of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Stevie Winwood, vocalist-percussionist Jim Capaldi, and winds player-keyboardist Chris Wood) variously broke up, saw Winwood’s participation in the supergroup Blind Faith, reformed, and struggled with lineup expansions and contractions. Indeed, this 1971 live album recorded in London followed an unreleased Fillmore East effort … More >>
Some of the material is great, but this live disc also features the most tired version of “Gimme Some Lovin’” imaginable–it should not have been released. I cannot think of any album in any genre in which bongo drums are so prominent in the sound.
Rating: 3 / 5
‘Welcome to the Canteen’ is a live album with all the important original members of Traffic in attendance, especially Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Dave Mason, plus visiting firemen Chris wood, Rick Grech, reebop Kwaku Baah and Jim Gordon. There are but five Traffic songs performed, ending on the sixth track with that great old Spenser Davis chestnut, ‘Gimme Some Lovin’.
If this were a performance by any ordinary band, or even s superior band such as Spooky Tooth of The Zombies, I may be inclined to give it five stars, but this is TRAFFIC, one of the two or three premier bands of the second British invasion, along with Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Jeff Beck.
So how am I to rate this disk, as every number appears on an earlier Traffic or Spenser Davis disk.
The bottom line is that I enjoy listening to this album over and over again, dragging it out at least once a year when my cycle of listening comes around again to Traffic. And that’s all you really need to be concerned about. So, I give it a hearty four stars, since, if you have CD’s with all the numbers on other releases, this disk can be passed over with little loss.
Recommended for Traffic fans.
Rating: 4 / 5
First off, the eleven-minute Dear Mr. Fantasy is great listening, not at all indulgent like the Allmans, Zep, and Cream could get sometimes. And then there’s 40,000 Headman, a dark, unforgettable tune and one of Traffic’s Best. Also worthy are Medicated Goo and Gimme Some Lovin’. Though there are a couple uninspired monents (Sad & Deep, Shouldn’t Have Took etc.), it’s a must-hear for Traffic fans, along with the hits.
Rating: 4 / 5
Just bought my 5th copy of WTTC — 3 LPs and 2 CDs. As a country dj, I discovered Traffic via the rhythmic Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’. Then found 40,000 Headmen on the flipside. Pure magic! A supergroup of prodigies infuse white man’s music with African voodoo soul. Original, yet as old as Time. Musos usually give their best at such charity concerts — here they carry the audience away with a generous display of virtuosity unhindered by the desire to show off. This is as close as one can get to the mesmerising power of an Osibisa live concert. Enjoy. This is the ultimate Desert Island Disc, and all the better for remastering.
Rating: 5 / 5
What made Traffic such a top-flight band was the musical prowess of its members. They got caught up in musical trends on their first couple of albums (i.e. the psychedelic nature of their debut), but in concert, their true greatness came through. Welcome To The Canteen has the most expansive Traffic line-up bridging the gap between the original band and the last edition by having Winwood, Mason, Capaldi, Wood, Grech & Reebop. The musical interplay between the members is on target especially on the Spencer Davis Group classic, “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “Medicated Goo”. They are a great jam band and they do it without getting bogged down with long & boring guitar solos like some other groups do. It would have been nice to have fleshed out the album to a double-set to include some additional tracks, but Welcome To The Canteen is still a solid live album.
Rating: 4 / 5