THE BEST OF TRAFFIC

In my opinion, this was a premature compilation album with some tracks taken from their first three albums, "Mr. Fantasy" (1967) , "Traffic" (1968) and "Last Exit" (1969, with this third album also being really another compilation of tracks previously released on singles plus two live tracks!). Released in October 1969, I think that at that time, with TRAFFIC not existing as a band, the label still wanted to have a product from the music of this band, or maybe the demand for it was enough that they released this album then. Nobody knew then that the band was going to reform again in 1970, with Winwood, Capaldi and Wood.

I think that, despite being a premature compilation, it still has very good songs of the sixties period of TRAFFIC`history. "Paper Sun", "Smiling Phases", "Hole in my Shoe", "Shanghai Noodle Factory" and "Medicated Goo" were tracks previously released in singles, but it was the second appearance of "Shanghai Noodle Factory" and "Medicated Goo" in a TRAFFIC L.P. in the same year because they were also released in their "Last Exit" album in May 1969, which itself was a compilation album. "Hole in my Shoe" was a Psychedelic song which was composed by Dave Mason and the other members of the band didn`t like (as I read in an interview with Capaldi and Winwood done in 1994 in the now defunct British magazine called "Vox": "Mason and the A&R men were in one corner of the studio, and the other three members of the band were in another"), so it started a conflict about the musical direction of the band which made Mason leave the band several times between 1967 and 1968. Anyway, "Feelin`Alright", another song composed by Mason from their second album and which also was released as a single in 1968, was so popular that it became one of their most known songs of their sixties period.

From their first album, this album has "Heaven Is in Your Mind", "No Face, No Name, No Number", "Coloured Rain" and "Dear Mr. Fantasy", which are among the best from this album. From their second album this album has "Forty Thousand Headmen" and "Feelin' Alright", both very good songs from that album. So, I think that this is a good compilation. The inclusion of "Paper Sun", "Smiling Phases" and "Hole in my Shoe" for the very first time in a British album by TRAFFIC was a very good idea, and the inclusion of "Shanghai Noodle Factory" and "Medicated Goo" made this compilation a bit redundant, but both are very good songs anyway, and this compilation is good and representative of their sixities peiod, in my opinion. I also like the cover design, which is part of the very oiginal cover designs that TRAFFIC had for their albums.