This is when music was good, so many artists could explore beyond pop music. By comparison, today's music is shameful, aimed at the lowest common denominator...
That steady piano driving the song throughout is simple, yet so effective. And yes, that sax is absolutely nasty, and I mean that in the best way! Great, great track.
Welcome to the world of Traffic. And you couldn’t have picked a better place to start. I can remember first hearing this when I was only 11. Even then I was attracted to it. Such a cool and classy mix of jazz and psychedelics. Not many bands were as good as they were in combining those 2 elements. This song is a winner on practically everyone’s list. Great choice !
1971. Game-Changer. Steve Winwood boy genius. Joined the Spencer Davis Group at just 14. Wasn't even twenty when he co-founded Traffic and co-wrote this masterpiece. Brilliant. All-time classic. "I'm a Man," Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood
@@retroreactions.... And I'm happy for you. These guys from the 60s and 70s are the Titans of rock and roll who helped set the stage for everything that came after in rock and popular music in general. What a shame it would be to go through life never hearing or fully recognizing these guys in their most creative prime.
@@retroreactions.... hey it's not your fault. You don't know what you don't know. It's why channels like these are so important... not just for the proprietor but for many of the hundreds or thousands of subscribers who arrive and receive the same precious benefit. Salute. 🫡
I know EXACTLY (well, pretty much) what you were doing when you first heard this album!!! For me, it was Columbian Gold and shroom tea, while driving into the mountains at Big Bend National Park!!! PEAK moment in time and in my life!🤯😶🌫😲😮💨🤔😎
@@MissAstorDancer Yeah, you were in the same frame of mind. I was smoking a chillum of Lebanese Blonde Hashish in the barracks of Hdqrts of the 8th Inf Div in Bad Krueznach Germany
@@richardanderson3322 Thank you for your service! 😗 I spent time at Ft. Hood, married to a soldier from 1969-1971. Had some kind of hash (I keep thinking I remember "German"??) that was almost a psychedelic experience, and the best tasting stuff I had tasted at that point in my young hippie life!
Traffic are wonderful, and have many different sounds. Favorites: 40,000 Headmen (as mentioned below), Shootout at the Fantasy Factory, Glad/Freedom Rider, Empty Pages, Rainmaker, Evening Blue, Feelin' Alright, Pearly Queen, I can go on and on. Great great stuff!
Freshman year at college (Lehigh University) my roommate had a much higher end stereo system than I did. His turntable was semi-automatic requiring one to turn on the speed of the turntable, hold the record album on the edges so to not put fingerprints on the vinyl, then easily drop the record softly. By pushing the button to drop the stylus the needle would come down onto the spinning turntable. He had a couple of records that I had never heard of, including John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic. The first song was Glad. What a great song to play loudly! Just another suggestion for a terrific group!
Love this crazy tune. You will love this also......I was right! "Slinky feeling" makes great sense. His voice is perfect, but Winwood's organ sounds and piano playing is also quite fine with all the jazzy chords and feel. That Sax! Such a slow burn. Then the piano......don't stop.
TRAFFIC was an amazing band that was very popular but these days don't get enough recognition imo. with steve winwood , jim capaldi and dave mason the songwriting and musicianship was outstanding. if you want to try one more of their relatively few hits the original 'john barleycorn must die' from 1970 is a must.
Nice to hear Traffic for another new artist. This is a great song, and I did get to hear it LIVE! I saw Steve Winwood back in 1986, with Level 42 as the opener! He played this as well as other Traffic songs including "Glad". He also played some from The Spencer Davis Group, including "I'm A Man" and "Gimme Some Lovin'". (Steve was only 15 when he started with The Spencer Davis Group, and just 18 when "Gimme Some Lovin'" was released.) He was also with the band Blind Faith.... all before his solo career!! He's an amazing musician!
Yea, this song's been on my radar for a long time...much different (and better) than I imagined it. Nice! Dang I really had no clue about Steve. Here I thought he was an American solo artist who just made it big in the 80s with his big hits!
The production and engineering on these recordings is the end of an era...It's still analog recording equipment in 71 so it's a much fuller sound... It's nice to see you younger people exposing yourself to it...
I see you're thoroughly enjoying your journey. For myself it's a walk down memory lane. College English lit class was about to start. One of the students had a boombox. The DJ saying he was about to play Low Spark of High Heel boys for the first time. We were all facing the music. A minute in the Bell rang. The student without hesitation shut the Boombox off. We all stared silently while the professor was yelling to turn it back on. We then listened to the song in its entirety. 🤠🏞️🐂
Great band. From "40K Headmen" to "John Barleycorn Must Die" to the one you're listening to tons of great sounds. Winwood and Grech also played with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker from Cream on the solo album Blind Faith, another classic album.
Clear memory of when I first heard this song. Was so different, interesting and a sound that drew me in all the way. Interesting you mention Steely Dan. It has been long time since I heard this song but listening I thought of SD and wondered if this was an influence.
1971. My 13th birthday. My mom took me to a department store and I bought this album and Harvest by Neil Young. The album cover was way modern (king before New Wave) and way cut diagonally. No “eight second rule” in this era. Pink Floyd’s records also had slow fade ins.
When I first heard this tune, I was watching smoke curl up from a stick of sandalwood incense whilst composing poetry to my gal. The composition that went into this tune is par excellence. It's not too complex to where you can't wrap your brain around it. Just get into the mix and roll with it. The distorted organ is like watching heat rising up from a stretch of desert highway -- scorching and wavering - blanching everything it touches. Steve's piano is sultry and jazzed-up sexy without being overdone -- sauntering almost catlike. World-class musicians played on this one. I still play this one on a regular basis. It takes me to a very special place. Oh yeah, my cat (Charlie Ginger Tigger) seems to like this music, as well.
Steve Winwood had an amazing catalog long before his outstanding solo career - The Spencer Davis Group (at 16), Traffic, Blind Faith (with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker from Cream - a one album supergroup), Traffic again, then solo, and session work with dozens of artists. Here's an overlooked side-long track from the Blind Faith album, where everyone gets a long solo (Steve on keys/vocals, Clapton on guitar, Ric Grech on bass, and Ginger with a frenetic drum solo) - "Do What You Like": ruclips.net/video/u2IpqvvlT24/видео.html
I bet someone has already posted about this. Regardless, the crazy sounding instrument featured was just an effect on the organ from what I can discover. I spent quite a bit of time pondering it, and for a while had decided it was a guitar. I just recently looked it up. Not many people really seem to know which surprises me.
☺ Never, I'd never even heard the name Traffic until this channel! Our radio stations would never play an 11 minute song. I did hear Valerie, Higher Love, While You See a Chance, Back in the High Life Again, Roll With It and The Finer Things tons of times on radio though!
Like you, I knew some of Steve Winwood's solo career ("While You See a Chance" is one of the most delightful songs I've ever heard!), but never got into Traffic. My tastes were different and narrower at that time. I loved it, it's very classy! But if you like jazz-rock fusion, I have a few other recommendations. First, *Return to Forever,* Chick Corea's band, which had a lot of lineups over the years, but I'm partial to the title song of the self-titled début album, where the show is often stolen by my compatriots Airto Moreira on percussion and Flora Purim on vocals (husband and wife). Totally unlike anything you've ever heard and awesome! Then the *Mahavishnu Orchestra,* which included monsters like John McLaughlin and (for a time) Jean-Luc Ponty (whom I've had the privilege of seeing live and it was AMAZING!) "Apocalypse" is their best-known album and a definite masterpiece. And last but not least, my other compatriot *Eumir Deodato* (often mentioned as just Deodato), who is a multi-Grammy award-winning record producer (you'll be surprised at how many of your favorite songs were produced by him) but also had a very successful career as a fusion musician in the 1970s. He holds the record for the most sampled song of all time with his funky rendition of Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" ("2001") overture, but the entire "Prelude" album that contains it is a masterpiece from start to finish. (Incidentally, Deodato is also Stephen Baldwin's father-in-law, and his granddaughter is Justin Bieber's wife.)
So, I do love the musicality of "Low Spark..." but others are commenting well on that. So...how about those lyrics?!? The idea of having "succeeded" to the point of loosing childhood toys and being duped by the man in the suit making a prophet on your dreams. This ain't success after all, this is close to suicidal disconnect from what the dreams were. Heavy. Emotive. And the music underpins the theme perfectly.
What an amazing unexpected journey!! Thanks for watching! 🥰
This is when music was good, so many artists could explore beyond pop music. By comparison, today's music is shameful, aimed at the lowest common denominator...
I don't know what is going on with you, but i do hope your ok.🥰
And if your out on a big date, well that's ok. 🕺💃🎶🎶
@@reneelyons6836 **you're
And who are you talking to?
@@MissAstorDancer Brandon
I'm not a huge fan of Traffic but this song is on my top 10 songs of all time. Just a masterpiece.
Wow nice! Wonder what your #1 is?
My sentiments precisely..... top 10 of ALL TIME!
The whole catalog is superb...you'll find a mix of genres, not just jazz-rock. Steve Winwood ensures excellence
Ah, so another diverse band? SIGN ME UP!
Winwood on vocals and the amazing piano. And that sax is so loose and "dirty".
That steady piano driving the song throughout is simple, yet so effective. And yes, that sax is absolutely nasty, and I mean that in the best way! Great, great track.
Winwood amazing! Nothing like a filthy sax haha...thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching! COOL user name!
AGAIN..... Welcome to the 70's... And real music 🎵🎶!!!!
Thanks so much for watching!
One of my favorite songs listen to the drummer.
Yes, super cool song!
I have seen Steve perform this 3 times. Never the same but always captivating.
The lyrics get a chef's kiss. 🧑🍳💋
May us ALL do that. Except the jerk i'm living with. 🤣🤣 ☮💟🎶🎶
@@JEFFREYJERDON Awe!!!! Thank you! 💖
I myself have already seen the light. And I am at peace now.☮💟
The whole thing is really wonderful!! Sorry for the late replies!
Love the jazzy progressions, smooth & flowing. Steve Winwood can sing anything well. Fabulous sound!
Yes!! Was a huge surprise for me!
The best song in the best year for music, 1971
That ending is visceral and creates shivers down your spine; amazing sound and inspired musicianship to use it like that.
Oh yeah
Thanks William!
I read where someone in the comment section of another reaction to this song, said Traffic is what we listened to before Steely Dan came along.
🤣🤣
Makes sense, I heard some Steely in there!
"Slinky" what the perfect word.
😁 Thanks for watching Robert!
Welcome to the world of Traffic. And you couldn’t have picked a better place to start. I can remember first hearing this when I was only 11. Even then I was attracted to it. Such a cool and classy mix of jazz and psychedelics. Not many bands were as good as they were in combining those 2 elements. This song is a winner on practically everyone’s list. Great choice !
Why thanks! 11? WOW! Thanks for tuning in Steve!
1971. Game-Changer. Steve Winwood boy genius. Joined the Spencer Davis Group at just 14. Wasn't even twenty when he co-founded Traffic and co-wrote this masterpiece. Brilliant. All-time classic.
"I'm a Man," Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood
I'm loving finally learning more about this legend!
@@retroreactions.... And I'm happy for you. These guys from the 60s and 70s are the Titans of rock and roll who helped set the stage for everything that came after in rock and popular music in general. What a shame it would be to go through life never hearing or fully recognizing these guys in their most creative prime.
Yea, a bit bizarre that I waited 48 years for much of this....but it was destiny...otherwise I'd have to settle for a rap reaction channel! 🤣🤣
@@retroreactions.... hey it's not your fault. You don't know what you don't know. It's why channels like these are so important... not just for the proprietor but for many of the hundreds or thousands of subscribers who arrive and receive the same precious benefit. Salute. 🫡
💙
I wont say what I was doing when I first heard this song in 1972, but boy did this make a strong impression.
I know EXACTLY (well, pretty much) what you were doing when you first heard this album!!! For me, it was Columbian Gold and shroom tea, while driving into the mountains at Big Bend National Park!!! PEAK moment in time and in my life!🤯😶🌫😲😮💨🤔😎
@@MissAstorDancer Yeah, you were in the same frame of mind. I was smoking a chillum of Lebanese Blonde Hashish in the barracks of Hdqrts of the 8th Inf Div in Bad Krueznach Germany
@@richardanderson3322 Thank you for your service! 😗
I spent time at Ft. Hood, married to a soldier from 1969-1971. Had some kind of hash (I keep thinking I remember "German"??) that was almost a psychedelic experience, and the best tasting stuff I had tasted at that point in my young hippie life!
Reading some Shakespeare? 😏
@@retroreactions.... LOL!!!!
Traffic are wonderful, and have many different sounds. Favorites: 40,000 Headmen (as mentioned below), Shootout at the Fantasy Factory, Glad/Freedom Rider, Empty Pages, Rainmaker, Evening Blue, Feelin' Alright, Pearly Queen, I can go on and on. Great great stuff!
Freshman year at college (Lehigh University) my roommate had a much higher end stereo system than I did. His turntable was semi-automatic requiring one to turn on the speed of the turntable, hold the record album on the edges so to not put fingerprints on the vinyl, then easily drop the record softly. By pushing the button to drop the stylus the needle would come down onto the spinning turntable. He had a couple of records that I had never heard of, including John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic. The first song was Glad. What a great song to play loudly! Just another suggestion for a terrific group!
Thanks so much for sharing and for the suggestions Bob!
On a roll! What a classic in jazz-rock grooviness. Let's go see...
Saxes made much of the weirdness you witness.
Yea, this is an exciting week with all these great new artists I'm discovering and still 5 more to go! Thanks for being first today!! 🥇
Classic biggest Traffic hit ! 😋
Amazing stuff, thanks for watching!!
👍🎸🤘
✌
Always loved this song !
Me too! For 24 hours now 😂
Syncopation iis everything
Yes...thanks so much for watching!
Love this crazy tune. You will love this also......I was right! "Slinky feeling" makes great sense. His voice is perfect, but Winwood's organ sounds and piano playing is also quite fine with all the jazzy chords and feel. That Sax! Such a slow burn. Then the piano......don't stop.
Yup, you know my taste! Oh good, I'm not the only one that was Slinkyfied lol.....so much greatness here, excited for more!
:) nice! More anything with Steve Winwood !!
Haha, affirmative!
TRAFFIC was an amazing band that was very popular but these days don't get enough recognition imo. with steve winwood , jim capaldi and dave mason the songwriting and musicianship was outstanding. if you want to try one more of their relatively few hits the original 'john barleycorn must die' from 1970 is a must.
Do you mean the 5:05 version on disc 2?
@@retroreactions.... i listen to the remastered version from 2010 on you tube. it it the original recording cleaned up
BANGER!!!!! Like the best jam session EVER!! ✨👠👦👦.........🤣. YES!!!!!! 🎶🎶💗
Totally! And you win the trophy for "Best Emoji Sentence of the Year"!! 🏆
The amount of different feelings and moods in this masterpiece is almost indescribable. Thank you for reacting to this.
The drum performance is ... amazing. Free, dancing blissfully, like a small child stomping every puddle with glee. Incredible.
Nice! Thanks for watching
Nice to hear Traffic for another new artist. This is a great song, and I did get to hear it LIVE! I saw Steve Winwood back in 1986, with Level 42 as the opener! He played this as well as other Traffic songs including "Glad". He also played some from The Spencer Davis Group, including "I'm A Man" and "Gimme Some Lovin'". (Steve was only 15 when he started with The Spencer Davis Group, and just 18 when "Gimme Some Lovin'" was released.) He was also with the band Blind Faith.... all before his solo career!! He's an amazing musician!
Yea, this song's been on my radar for a long time...much different (and better) than I imagined it. Nice! Dang I really had no clue about Steve. Here I thought he was an American solo artist who just made it big in the 80s with his big hits!
@@retroreactions.... Don't you LOVE learning about this stuff!?!😊
For sure!
Amazing band. Everything in their catalog is worth hearing.
I bet! Excited for more..
I am here for this. Awesome.
I appreciate that!!
Excellent choice!!
Thanks! I definitely loved it and now can't wait for more Traffic!
This is the only Traffic that's great to "sit in" LOL
The production and engineering on these recordings is the end of an era...It's still analog recording equipment in 71 so it's a much fuller sound... It's nice to see you younger people exposing yourself to it...
It's my honor to discover this kind of music. Thanks so much for watching!
Ah, the early days of (my experience of) FM (AOR) radio.
Nice....what a song!
I see you're thoroughly enjoying your journey.
For myself it's a walk down memory lane.
College English lit class was about to start. One of the students had a boombox. The DJ saying he was about to play Low Spark of High Heel boys for the first time. We were all facing the music. A minute in the Bell rang.
The student without hesitation shut the Boombox off. We all stared silently while the professor was yelling to turn it back on. We then listened to the song in its entirety.
🤠🏞️🐂
Great band. From "40K Headmen" to "John Barleycorn Must Die" to the one you're listening to tons of great sounds. Winwood and Grech also played with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker from Cream on the solo album Blind Faith, another classic album.
Nice, thanks for the info Eric
Really enjoy John Barleycorn by Traffic, but Steve Winwood solo acoustic version is absolutely fantastic
You absolutely must listen to the teenage Steve Winwood sing with the Spencer Davis Group. I'm a Man and Gimme Some Lovin'
Adding those to my list, thanks!
Oh are those both from the 60s?
Lovely music.
My own favourite track, was a single, actually from as early as 1967, called, ‘Hole in my Shoe’.
🎶❤️🎶
It differ from the rest of Traffic's music. More psycedelic mystic...
Thanks Eddie
Nice...
Clear memory of when I first heard this song. Was so different, interesting and a sound that drew me in all the way. Interesting you mention Steely Dan. It has been long time since I heard this song but listening I thought of SD and wondered if this was an influence.
Glad you could enjoy this brilliant song again!
Love it, love everything about it. The whole album is great.
Great to know, and not surprised!
FYI...the odd sounds were Steve using a Hammond organ with a fuzz box.
Ah, that explains it! Thanks
1971. My 13th birthday. My mom took me to a department store and I bought this album and Harvest by Neil Young. The album cover was way modern (king before New Wave) and way cut diagonally. No “eight second rule” in this era. Pink Floyd’s records also had slow fade ins.
Thanks for sharing. Epic memories no doubt!
Great track, Brandon - one of my favorites! Best listened to while driving on a lonely highway in the middle of the night.
Nice...that can't happen any time soon, but laying in bed in the dark might work 🙂
Try "Dear Mr.Fantasy " :)
Just added your vote for that one, thanks Dominick!
When I first heard this tune, I was watching smoke curl up from a stick of sandalwood incense whilst composing poetry to my gal. The composition that went into this tune is par excellence. It's not too complex to where you can't wrap your brain around it. Just get into the mix and roll with it. The distorted organ is like watching heat rising up from a stretch of desert highway -- scorching and wavering - blanching everything it touches. Steve's piano is sultry and jazzed-up sexy without being overdone -- sauntering almost catlike. World-class musicians played on this one. I still play this one on a regular basis. It takes me to a very special place. Oh yeah, my cat (Charlie Ginger Tigger) seems to like this music, as well.
One of my all time favorite songs. You should definitely check out more from this band. Thanks for the great reaction!
I shall, thank you so much for watching!!
Yeah. So very fine. Do listen to more, it's so worth it. Try "Walking In The Wind" from the When The Eagle Flies album. Crazy good! 🌠
Thanks for watching and for the suggestion!
Steve Winwood had an amazing catalog long before his outstanding solo career - The Spencer Davis Group (at 16), Traffic, Blind Faith (with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker from Cream - a one album supergroup), Traffic again, then solo, and session work with dozens of artists. Here's an overlooked side-long track from the Blind Faith album, where everyone gets a long solo (Steve on keys/vocals, Clapton on guitar, Ric Grech on bass, and Ginger with a frenetic drum solo) - "Do What You Like": ruclips.net/video/u2IpqvvlT24/видео.html
Thanks, was so surprised to learn the extent of Steve's career!
I bet someone has already posted about this. Regardless, the crazy sounding instrument featured was just an effect on the organ from what I can discover. I spent quite a bit of time pondering it, and for a while had decided it was a guitar. I just recently looked it up. Not many people really seem to know which surprises me.
Yes, someone clarified it..I believe it was organ with effect added! Thanks
Oh, you picked a good one here. YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THIS BEFORE?????? How could you avoid it? But hey…I believe ya, Brandon. 🤗
☺ Never, I'd never even heard the name Traffic until this channel! Our radio stations would never play an 11 minute song. I did hear Valerie, Higher Love, While You See a Chance, Back in the High Life Again, Roll With It and The Finer Things tons of times on radio though!
Suggestion for Pink Floyd; what Do You Want From Me. Deep cut off of Division Bell Beautiful.
Thanks!
@@retroreactions.... wow…can’t believe no one at all has upvoted it! It’s a great track! 🙁😯
Hey, it's my freshman year at college.....
Nice! Always fun to time travel with music! Thanks so much for watching...
Loved Traffic... for more psychedelic/jazz/sax music check out Audience "House on the Hill"
Like you, I knew some of Steve Winwood's solo career ("While You See a Chance" is one of the most delightful songs I've ever heard!), but never got into Traffic. My tastes were different and narrower at that time. I loved it, it's very classy! But if you like jazz-rock fusion, I have a few other recommendations. First, *Return to Forever,* Chick Corea's band, which had a lot of lineups over the years, but I'm partial to the title song of the self-titled début album, where the show is often stolen by my compatriots Airto Moreira on percussion and Flora Purim on vocals (husband and wife). Totally unlike anything you've ever heard and awesome!
Then the *Mahavishnu Orchestra,* which included monsters like John McLaughlin and (for a time) Jean-Luc Ponty (whom I've had the privilege of seeing live and it was AMAZING!) "Apocalypse" is their best-known album and a definite masterpiece. And last but not least, my other compatriot *Eumir Deodato* (often mentioned as just Deodato), who is a multi-Grammy award-winning record producer (you'll be surprised at how many of your favorite songs were produced by him) but also had a very successful career as a fusion musician in the 1970s. He holds the record for the most sampled song of all time with his funky rendition of Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" ("2001") overture, but the entire "Prelude" album that contains it is a masterpiece from start to finish. (Incidentally, Deodato is also Stephen Baldwin's father-in-law, and his granddaughter is Justin Bieber's wife.)
Thank you!
The song is about the unfairness of the music industry.
I'm trying but I can't think of another song with better hand-clap solos.
So, I do love the musicality of "Low Spark..." but others are commenting well on that. So...how about those lyrics?!?
The idea of having "succeeded" to the point of loosing childhood toys and being duped by the man in the suit making a prophet on your dreams. This ain't success after all, this is close to suicidal disconnect from what the dreams were. Heavy. Emotive. And the music underpins the theme perfectly.
There is live wolfgang version..much better
Sorry, I never did like this song and I still don't. You should try "Dear Mr Fantasy" which is much better.
Interesting...does that mean DMF is way different?
@@retroreactions.... DMF is very different.
“ dream Gerard “ is a must do by them
Ok thanks!
yes "Dream Gerrard" is a fav and so many other