Stevie Winwood è sicuramente una dei personaggi più affascinanti e dotati musicalmente del rock inglese degli anni 60/70.
Dopo aver suonato giovanissimo nello Spencer Davis Group e scritto l'hit "Gimme Some Lovin", nel 1967 decide di formare un nuovo gruppo in cui possa essere leader e possa dare libero sfogo alla sua creatività. Così decide di assoldare tre talentuosi musicisti: Dave Mason che è chitarrista, vocalist e suona anche il sitar, Jim Capaldi, ottimo percussionista e batterista, nonché songwriter, e Chris wood al sax e al flauto.Con questa Formazione diede alle stampe l'esordio "Mr Fantasy" in cui si mescolavano le eterogenee influenze dei membri in uno degli album più originali dell'era psichedelica inglese. Winwood oltre a cantare con una delle voci più "black" del panorama inglese, suona le tastiere, il basso e la chitarra in modo eccellente e ha una forte componente soul, mentre Mason ha una voce più classica e roca e ha influenze psichedeliche e di musica indiana. Questo fa si che la musica dei Traffic sia un incestuoso incrocio di influenze molto diverse tra loro, che porta il gruppo ad essere inclassificabile anche se, erroneamente è stato accostato al progressive, cosa che personalmente ritengo errata. Il secondo disco del gruppo è L'omonimo "Traffic" (1968) forse meno sperimentale di "Mr.Fantasy" ma forte di una scrittura comunque ottima, in cui si alternano i pezzi scritti dai due leader.
Ogni episodio del LP è un qualcosa di unico il che lo rende sempre vario e interessante. I pezzi sicuramente più riusciti di Winwood sono "You know what tomorrow may Bring" con il suo incedere soul e la ritmica trascinante, il tutto arricchito dall'ottimo organo solista di cui Winwood è maestro; c'è poi quel gioiello di "40000 headman", introdotto dalla chitarra acustica arpeggiata e con il flauto di Wood che da un'aria sognante alla canzone che appunto sembra narrare un sogno. E poi la voce del leader è sempre carica di feeling è da un tocco particolare alla composizione. Poi c'è quella "Pearly Queen" in cui Winwood si dimostra anche dotato chitarrista con sfuriate quasi Hendrixiane che dimostrano che i Traffic sanno fare ottimo rock. Dave Mason, dal canto suo, ci delizia con la leggera opener "You can't all join in", accompagnata dal sax di Chris Wood in una filastrocca scanzonata ma mai noiosa o banale. Ma il vero gioiello di Mason è sicuramente "Feelin' allright?" , coverizzata in maniera superba da Joe Coker (ottima versione su "Mad Dogs And English Man") e dai Grand Funk Railroad (Su Grand Funk), forte del suo ritornello che dire trascinante è un eufemismo.
"Don't be sad" è una canzone che nella sua semplicità colpisce e fa tesoro del sempre ottimo Wood ai fiati e ci fa trovare un Mason che cambia registro vocale abilmente, alternando il falsetto alla sua voce a tratti roca e molto blues. E come non citare "Vagabond Virgin" e "Criyng to be heard"; la prima, che alterna parti più "frivole" a parti un po' più riflessive, sottolineate dal piano e dal flauto, e la seconda, con quell'indimenticabile intro di sax, hammond e basso, che poi esplode nel ritornello davvero imperioso, e si trascina con la voce di Dave Mason sofferta e accompagnata dal clavicembalo, un vero capolavoro, in mezzo a tantissimi altri di questo disco ottimo sotto tutti i punti di vista. E poi che dire, la ballata struggente dominata dalle tastiere ma soprattutto dalla voce (che non mi stancherò mai di elogiare di Winwood "No time to live" (di cui segnalo un ottima cover dei Johnny Winter And sull'omonimo album) e il soul frizzante di "Means to an End" concludono un capolavoro di rock, soul, pop e psichedelica, che forse non sarà originale come il debutto "Mr Fantasy" (lo so che l'ho già detto ma meglio ribadire) o omogeneo come "John Barley Must Die" ma rappresenta uno dei tre capolavori di un gruppo irripetibile nella storia del rock come i Traffic.
A voi i giudizi su questo lavoro.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 You Can All Join In (03:40)
Here's a little song you can all join in with
It's very simple and I hope it's new
Make your own words up if you want to
Any old words that you think will do, yeah
Yellow, blue, what'll I do? Maybe I'll just sit here thinking
Black, white, stop the fight, does one of these colours ever bother you?
Here's a little dance you can all join in with
It's very simple and I hope it's new
Make your own steps up if you want to
Any old steps that you think will do
Left, right, don't get uptight, keep in line and you'll be alright
Clap hands, move around, make sure no one puts you down
Here's a little world you can all join in with
It's very simple and I hope it's new
Make your own life up if you want to
Any old life that you think will do
Love, yeah, it's nothing new, there's someone much worse off than you are
Help me set them free, just be what you want to be
02 Pearly Queen (04:21)
I bought a sequined suit from a pearly queen
And she could drink more wine than I'd ever seen
She had some gypsies' blood flowing through her feet
And when the time was right she said that I would meet
My destiny
I traveled round the world to find the sun
I couldn't stop myself from having fun
And then one day I met an Indian girl
And she made me forget this troubled world
We're living in
I had a strange dream. In my hair
I saw a pearly queen lying there
And all around her feet flowers bloomed
But they were made of silk and sequins two by two
03 Don't Be Sad (03:25)
(Mason)
Don't be sad, I just want to see you get through
All I have, it's yours if you think it helps you
Good or bad, there's no one can really judge you
You just have to come to your own conclusion
There is only one who means more than all to me
And through the lady, in a dream I've learned to live with everyone
Mother, father, all my friends, have seen me have my day
But now I see that there's no need in trying to run, though it's been fun
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
04 Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring (03:15)
(Winwood/Capaldi)
We are not like all the rest, you can see us any day of the week
Come around, sit down, take a sniff, fall asleep
Baby, you don't have to speak
I'd like to show you where it is but then it wouldn't even mean a thing
Nothing is easy, baby, just please me, who knows what tomorrow may bring?
If for just one moment you could step outside your mind
And float across the ceiling, I don't think the folks would mind
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
06 Vagabond Virgin (05:22)
Tell me how you want me to be, then look again and you will see
That I'm still the same love
Think me into any shape, your twisted mind has no escape
But don't be ashamed, love, it's just a game, love
But don't be ashamed, love, it's just a game, love
You can learn how to play
Born like you were in a terrible mess, didn't know what it was to have a new dress
You just wanted to scream out my name
Till somebody said, 'Let me take you to bed'
And with money and lies they filled up your head
You were barely thirteen, a child from the villages
So fresh on the scene
07 Forty Thousand Headmen (03:14)
(Winwood/Capaldi)
Forty thousand headmen couldn't make me change my mind
If I had to take the choice between the deafman and the blind
I know just where my feet should go and that's enough for me
I turned around and knocked them down and walked across the sea
Hadn't traveled very far when suddenly I saw
Three small ships a-sailing out towards a distant shore
So lighting up a cigarette I followed in pursuit
And found a secret cave where they obviously stashed their loot
Filling up my pockets, even stuffed it up my nose
I must have weighed a hundred tons between my head and toes
I ventured forth before the dawn had time to change its mind
And soaring high above the clouds I found a golden shrine
Laying down my treasure before the iron gate
Quickly rang the bell hoping I hadn't come too late
But someone came along and told me not to waste my time
And when I asked him who he was he said, 'Just look behind'
So I turned around and forty thousand headmen bit the dirt
Firing twenty shotguns each and man, it really hurt
But luckily for me they had to stop and then reload
And by the time they'd done that I was heading down the road
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
08 Cryin' to Be Heard (05:12)
(Mason) Somebody's cryin' to be heard And there's also someone who hears every word Sail across the ocean with your back against the wind Listening to nothing save the calling of a bird And when the rain begins to fall, don't you start to curse It may be just the tears of someone that you never heard Reflected in the water is a face that you don't know And isn't it surprising when you find out it's your own? And so you try to find out whether it is friend or foe And what it wants to know, and what it wants to know Well, you're wrapped up in your little world and no one can get in You sit and think of everything, then you wonder where you've been You put the blame on someone that you've hardly ever known And then you realize too late the blame was all your own ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
09 No Time to Live (05:20)
(Winwood/Capaldi)
As time begins to burn itself upon me
And the days are growing very short
People try their hardest to reject me
But in a way, their conscience won't be caught
Something's happening to me day by day
My pebble on the beach is getting washed away
I've given everything that was mine to give
And now I'll turn around and find that there's no time to live
So often I have seen that big wheel of fortune
Spinning for the man who holds the ace
There's many who would change their places for him
But none of them have ever seen his lonely face
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
10 Means to an End (02:35)
(Winwood/Capaldi)
Well, you told me you were sorry, when I needed your advice
And I was too confused to see the meaning
Like Peter, you disowned me with a voice as cold as ice
And before the fire died and they were leaving
I'm a means to an end and everybody's friend
To a richman, poorman, beggar man or thief
From my heart I send a messenger to bend
And take your mind from agony and grief
Oh, sweet silence without kings and queens
No one here has ever reached your centre
Better to be quiet than to speak without a thought
Or you may lose the meaning of your venture
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
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