Traffic Back On Track

DURING THE PAST couple of years, Traffic's force in commercial music has seemed to slowly dwindle. This was not due to a lack of novel material, as was the case with former member Dave Mason, who released every rehash of old songs possible ranging from live albums to greatest hits collections to half-live, half-studio albums. Traffic's course struck a different vein. Whereas Mason remained stagnant musically, Traffic explored new musical realms whose limits it reached rapidly. With the release of Low Spark, the group's personnel doubled, drummer Jim Capaldi was shifted to tambourine beater, dancer, and all-purpose buffoon, and long bluesy jams became part of the group's repertoire.

The album was well-received, and rightfully so in that it coupled excellent musicianship with highly sophisticated blues compositions. The touring to promote this album, however, was surprisingly staid and unimaginative, unable to compare with the less polished though earthier live efforts following the release of John Barleycorn.

The follow-up to Low Spark, Shootout at the Fantasy Factory, was identical to its predecessor right up to the album design. The one thing missing was imagination--almost every critic had his fun with the title of one cut, "Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired." Even worse, that concert tour was marked by the overshadowing of Stevie Winwood on organ by a part of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and the omnipresent Rebop on bongos, congas, and other assorted skins. With Capaldi prancing about as the meaningless figurehead, one actually wondered if the Traffic known to millions had really existed at all.

Its musical limits seemingly reached, Traffic began its stage of dormancy. Except for the live release of their German tour, they had produced nothing in close to two years. The double album released in Europe from that tour featured high-powered versions of favorites like "Glad" and "Freedom Rider." For American listeners, Traffic's case remained tragic. Only one of the two discs was released in the U.S.--the inferior one, with dragged-out versions of songs taken from Low Spark and Shootout.

FORTUNATELY, it seems as though what has plagued Traffic during its past few efforts has been worked out, and it has made an about face. Its latest effort, When the Eagle Flies, is highly reminiscent at least structurally of the Barleycorn sessions in that essentially it is the three man Traffic performing, with the exception of Roscoe Gee on bass. One final change is that of Jim Capaldi back to his drum set

Musically, the album is a gentle melange between the group's style as represented during the Barleycorn and Low Spark sessions. The disc's first cut, "Something New," is a good time boogie tune in which Chris Wood's horns, instead of wandering aimlessly as in the past, provide the perfect rhythm backdrop to Stevie Winwood's crisp piano playing. "Dream Gerrard" is the piece most indicative of the album's general mood. Winwood seems to place more emphasis on keyboards as opposed to guitar with the piano (both electric and conventional) figuring prominently. In addition, Winwood's experimentation with mellotron and synthesizer is highly successful. The tasteful string arrangement simulated by the mellotron, complements the strong rhythm section quite well, joined by a subtle wah-wah guitar way down in the mix. Wood's sax solo is far moodier than in the past although one cannot help but be immediately reminded of "Glad," when the wah-wah begins. The entire piece, although quite lengthy (11:03) does not drag for a moment because of the constant shifting of melodies and countermelodies among the sax, piano, and synthesizer. This shifting could cause a serious breakdown in the continuity of the composition if not for the solid rhythm section, highlighted by Capaldi's drumming--highly characteristic of Traffic's sound in the past.

"Walking In The Wind" contains probably the disc's most prophetic lyrics which question the validity of societal ideals. Politics are reduced to basics:

While the president is crying, crying in the White House

The prime minister's really got the blues

All the heads of state are busy playing cat and mouse

Cause you can see none of them have ever paid their dues.

The tune is marked instrumentally by the melodic exchange between organ and synthesizer which further on develops into an exchange of several phrases between Wood's flute and Winwood's piano. The piece reaches its climax with several rapid-fire sax glissandos and the re-entering of the synthesizer. There is not only a shift in melody and countermelody among instruments, but a shift in rhythm, too. Finally, in the title cut, Winwood delivers one of his most vocally concentrated efforts with lyrics along the same theme as "Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired."

Whether it be inspiration, creativity, or whatever you want to call it, Traffic seems to have found it again in a style that should be commerically successful and musically novel; a style that can be experienced to the fullest by taking the core of the pre-Barleycorn style and fusing it with the best of what followed. When the Eagle Flies is an impressive result of that fusion and a welcome emergence from its two year abeyance.