LIVE AT SANTA MONICA

Traffic

Eclectic Prog

3.78 | 12 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator

ahhh... micky lovingly and reverently picks out a worn, bruised, and battered VHS copy of this and remembers....

Traffic was actually my first independent prog discovery outside of my parents. Neither being much of a Steve Winwood fan. This is a FABULOUS concert experience.. the next best thing to being there. With a couple minor complaints... a near flawless concert video. Lots of close-ups of the main players here. Chris Woods frenetic saxophone solo in Glad, Winwoods guitar on Dear Mr. Fantasy, his piano on Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. Reebop's intoxicating congo solo. Jim Capaldi giving it his all on Light Up or Leave Me Alone. It really is a Traffic greatest hits.... in a nutshell of course.... live.

There are some 'special effects' that plague some 'classic' rock preformances present here in spots however unlike Pictures At An Exhibition though.. I think they actually add something. Prime example the kaleidescope of colours and images during Winwood's eerie solo during the second half of Glad. A star deduction though for those who really have a hang up for those groovy kind of things hahah.

Fans of Folk-Prog which Traffic is listed under will love the THREE gems included on here. John Barleycorn, Rainmaker, and Forty Thousand Headmen. I did deduct a star for the special effects so I should balance it by giving a star for Steve Winwood's shirt (the fashion police were obviously missing in 1973) and the chance to see the typically solid Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section perform.

For me all of these songs are essentials of Traffic and are pure enjoyment to watch. Four stars... Excellent but of course not essential.

one note though...

I have had my copy before the release date listed on the site. I remember watching Glad/Freedom Rider in 1990 the night before I was shipped overseas. I believe I got a copy in 1988.

Michael (aka micky)

micky | 4/5 | 2006-6-19

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