Traffic
1968
Island Records
While 1967's Mr. Fantasy was inspired by the psychedelic bands of the time, Traffic evolved rapidly and suddenly with the release of their second album the coming year. Folk rock entered the stage in a much more prominent role, mostly carried by Mason's song writing. What came from the self titled was doubtlessly more structured than the prior, and acclaimed similar positive critical reception.
Traffic takes a different approach on the composition, with a theme of split sides; one being the bouncy, folk Mason end where all songs are catchy and sing-song. The opposite end is led by the haunting Winwood, whose writing I've always preferred due to it's stylistic nature of more prominent coinciding elements. The music especially from Winwood ages much better than the 60's-born folk that Mason wrote. I won't deny that Mason struck gold a few times, although songs like the slightly annoying 'You Can All Join In', mostly meant as a sort of sing-a-long (living truly up to it's name) tone, can get degrading the more times you cycle through the album. As for instrumentation, consistency is something the album does best. Sometimes vocals from Mason, Winwood and Capaldi can get a little strained to match the pitch of the song, but the actually instruments maintain the beat steadily and don't find much issue in jumping back and forth across the different styles presented each track.
This self titled from the late 60s is of course emblazoned with the stamp of the decade, but is less of a product of the times as Mr. Fantasy unduly was. Unique variation is something that is found in large amount with all of the tracks. Anyone, prog fan or not, could find this enjoyable in some way. Fun for the whole family!
2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher
Originally written for Prog Archives on 7/24/2015.
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