Traffic

Here is another album introduced to me by my older brother Mike. Released in 1968 it’s the record that introduced me to Steve Winwood and Dave Mason. I would go on to purchase several more traffic albums as well as Winwood and Mason solo efforts (we’ll get to one of those later).

Winwood’s and Mason’s contrasting songwriting styles made for an eclectic mix of tracks on this album. But every track is listenable and I can remember singing along with nearly all of them. Dave Mason’s “You can all join in”, the lead track on side one could probably be a hit pop song today. Conversely, Winwood’s “Pearly Queen” and “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring” show much more blues influence that he undoubtedly brought from his time in the Spencer Davis Group.

My favorite Traffic album would have to be “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys”, but it was Traffic that lead me down that path. I know of somebody else that may have been influenced by this record. Of course he took that influence and turned it in to something much exciting than a 40+ year career in hospitality. Check out this video of Gov’t Mule covering Pearly Queen on 10/29/16.