We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
Outside of heart-throbs like David Cassidy and Leif Garrett, how many teenage rock stars have their been? Well, some. Stevie Wonder of course….Steve Marriot…and Peter Frampton was just 16 when he joined The Herd and 18 when he played with Marriot in Humble Pie. Alex Chilton was just 16 when he sang “The Letter” for the Box Tops. But one of the most talented of the teenage prodigys was Steve Winwood. He was just 14 when he sang for the Spencer Davis Group and still a teen when he hooked up with Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason to form Traffic in 1967. They recorded a few albums in the late 60’s with some success. Mason left the band and at one point the band splintered when Winwood joined up with Eric Clapton for the short-lived venture Blind Faith. Traffic re-formed in 1970 and released “John Barleycorn Must Die” which started out as a Winwood solo project. The group, which included Chris Wood on sax & flute, also added percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah at this point which added a richness to the sound. They also brought in drummer Jim Gordon and bassist Ric Grech who had played in Blind Faith.
And in 1971, the band released their “magnum opus” entitled “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys”. It went Top Ten in America but oddly didn’t even chart in England. It really is a gem of an LP and features some excellent performances from all of the band members.
And Winwood drives it. He writes and sings. He plays piano and Hammond organ. He delivers some stinging guitar work. He really is the total package of an early 70’s rock star although certainly not pin-up material. I doubt many girls had a Winwood poster in their bedrooms. I’m sure he didn’t care…he was a musician first and foremost.
You have all heard the title track that moves in and out with a graceful groove that features Winwood on keys and Wood on sax. But the LP is much more than that. Capaldi gives us “Rock & Roll Stew” (a tune written by Grech and Gordon) and the rockin “Light Up Or Leave Me Alone” which has been an earworm for me since I listened to this a few days ago. Also check out the harmonizing of Winwood’s guitar and Wood’s flute on “Many A Mile To Freedom”. Wood’s flute is also highlighted in the entrancing track “Rainmaker”.
Gordon and Grech didnt last long because of their heavy drug use and the band brought in Muscle Shoals session cats Roger Hawkins and David Hood, who stayed with the band for a few years.
This version went on tour in 1972 after a bout of illness for Winwood and were filmed at a gig in Santa Monica. Here it is…
They also recorded a highly popular live Lp of their German tour in 1973 which I have worn out the grooves on after picking it up back then.
This is a band, that in my opinion, was at the height of their powers…and Winwood, who had grown up on stage and in the studio, had matured to a high level. He and Capaldi co-wrote much of this and it’s really good. As they sang in the title track “Spirit is something, that no-one destroys”.
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