More Heavy Traffic
	previously released material
	Released on September 1975
	US CHART POSITION #193
	Find it at GEMM
UA-LA526-G cover

M ore product. Traffic fans were still stuck in nostalgia mode, so United Artists obliged their rear mirror fancies with a second serving of the band’s bygone wonders (up to the intoxicating Barleycorn). As with the earlier Heavy Traffic, sometimes the songs are themselves harvested from a specious source (the catch-all Last Exit, a Canteen cobbled together from live pieces of worn leather), resulting in second-generation product. Honestly, the labels have made a fair mess of the band’s early work by repackaging it, reswizzling it, renaming it. Time has solved some of the problem by letting compilations like these fall by the wayside, and today they’re discographical signposts that seemingly lead to nowhere. But, in case you’re the curious sort, here’s the More Heavy Traffic report. The album is effectively split between the songs of Dave Mason (side one) and Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi (side two), creating an intentional Mason/Winwood line if you will. The live “Gimme Some Lovin’” featured a returning Mason, and thus the connection (though it’s obviously most closely associated with Winwood). Although Heavy Traffic had the inside lane advantage, plenty remained to pick from: “Hole In My Shoe,” “You Can All Join In,” “John Barleycorn,” “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring.” In these songs, you can hear the incredible range of styles that Traffic drew from in their short span. Shades of Cream, XTC (via The Dukes of Stratosphear), David Bowie, The Who and The Beatles are swirled together; some were inspirational, others inspired by Traffic. As songwriters, Mason and the Winwood/Capaldi axis were growing by leaps and bounds even as they were growing apart. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that the psychedelic “Hole In My Shoe” and the confident “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring” are the same band separated only by a year. As interesting as it all is, there’s no need to go digging through the archives for this album. It doesn’t contain any hard-to-find singles, and most of this can be acquired by picking up their eponymous second album. In fact, that album is now available in remastered form with bonus, hard-to-find tracks, so better to spend your money there.

UA-LA526-G back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. VAGABOND VIRGIN    (Dave Mason)    5:15
2. HOLE IN MY SHOE    (Dave Mason)    2:48
3. CRYIN' TO BE HEARD    (Dave Mason)    5:13
4. YOU CAN ALL JOIN IN    (Dave Mason)    3:12
5. GIMME' SOME LOVIN'    (Steve Winwood/Muff Winwood/Spencer Davis)    8:46
6. JOHN BARLEYCORN    (traditional arr. by Steve Winwood)    6:20
7. PEARLY QUEEN    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    4:17
8. NO FACE, NO NAME AND NO NUMBER    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    3:30
9. WHO KNOWS WHAT TOMORROW MAY BRING    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    3:08
10. MEANS TO AN END    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    2:32

CREDITS

Denny Diante -- album coordinator
Bob Cato -- art director & designer
Kunisada -- artist

return to TRAFFIC discography

For more discographies visit...

© 2004 Connolly & Company. All rights reserved.