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Traffic

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Traffic: Traffic Without Dave

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 January 1968

TRAFFIC is now on the move again but as a trio. So it was that I scaled the eight flights to drummer Jim Capaldi's Earl's ...

Traffic Lightens Up for American Tour

Report and Interview by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1974

NEW YORK – Looking only slightly recovered from a two-day-old case of jet lag, Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi strutted into the Providence Civic Center dressing ...

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Blind Date: Stevie Winwood

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 15 January 1966

CILLA BLACK: 'Love's Just A Broken Heart' (Parlophone). It's Cilia — she's great, but this is one of those things that need a second listen. ...

Stevie Winwood: Why I Quit

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 March 1967

MM EXCLUSIVE: CHRIS WELCH probes the Great Break Up and finds the Spencer Davis-Stevie Winwood split inevitable ...

Stevie Directs the Traffic

Interview by uncredited writer, Rave, May 1967

Stevie Winwood walked out on success when he left the Spencer Davis Group. Now he intends to lose his image, and change his style and ...

No jams in sight for Stevie and Traffic

Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 15 July 1967

THE PAPER sun begins to sink below the chart horizon but as each day is born queues of fans await the happy, happy day when ...

New Singles from the Stones, Monkees, Jimi Hendrix et al

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 August 1967

STONES — CONSIDERABLY TOO MUCH ...

Traffic: Uncontrollable Traffic

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 September 1967

KEITH ALTHAM pins down a highly elusive group... ...

Traffic: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 30 September 1967

TRAFFIC GREAT AT SAVILLE ...

Traffic: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 30 September 1967

AFTER CENTURIES in hibernation Traffic left their country womb last Sunday to make their debut at London's Saville Theatre, and certainly in potentiality they must ...

Traffic's British Stage Debut Was Well Worth Waiting For

Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967

TRAFFIC HAVE been a long time getting it all together but last Sunday's debut at the London Saville proved that it has been well worth ...

Traffic's Life of Isolation Ends in London

Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 30 September 1967

THE TRAFFIC'S splendid isolation in the wilds of Berkshire has temporarily ended. Pressure of success has forced the group into town and now they share ...

Traffic's Dave Mason — Pop Face Of 1967

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 October 1967

REMEMBER the teenage idol – all liquid eyes, milk teeth, Cupid's bow and simply oozing with the wonder ingredient, sex appeal? Eyes right and you ...

Traffic, Vanilla Fudge, Tomorrow, The Flowerpot Men: Finsbury Park Astoria, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 14 October 1967

IT WAS AN explosive opening night For the Traffic-Tomorrow-Fudge tour at London's Finsbury Park Astoria on Wednesday of last week. The Fudge came off the ...

The Who, Traffic, the Tremeloes, Marmalade, the Herd, the Dream: City Hall, Sheffield

Live Review by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, 4 November 1967

TREMELOES IN top form; Pete Townshend having another "smashing" time; Herd's Peter Frampton a solo smash; still screams for Traffic's Stevie; impressive debut for the ...

The Who, Traffic, the Herd, the Tremeloes, Marmalade: Walthamstow Granada, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 November 1967

FANS WENT wild for both houses of the Who-Herd-Traffic-Tremeloes tour when it hit Walthamstow Granada on Saturday. ...

Traffic, The Who, The Herd: Danger: Who At Work!

Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 November 1967

THE WHO-TRAFFIC-Herd-Tremeloe tour, while proving to be a sell-out attraction, has caused a certain amount of anxiety among those people whose job it is to ...

Traffic: Mr Fantasy

Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 December 1967

TRAFFIC IN the City may have come to a stand-still due to the recent rail dispute, but Traffic in the charts is still moving full ...

Traffic: Dave Quits, But Traffic Keeps Moving

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 December 1967

DESPITE THE INTENDED departure of songwriter and sitarist Dave Mason, Traffic wheels are turning with renewed vigour. ...

Traffic: Dave Quits?

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 December 1967

THE BIRTH of the Traffic was this year after months of planning and searching and getting themselves together.  ...

Psychedelics Out for Traffic

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 23 December 1967

Jim Capaldi talks to David Griffiths ...

Traffic: Stevie's Back On The Beer Again

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 6 January 1968

ALL IS not lost! Stevie Winwood is drinking beer again! It is pleasing to report the Traffic boss was observed entering a London ale house ...

Traffic, Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 27 April 1968

Traffic, a British Trio, Flows With Subtlety at Fillmore East ...

Traffic: Stevie Winwood, A Calm, Shy Superfreak

Report and Interview by Al Kooper, Rolling Stone, 27 April 1968

IT WAS LATE 1965 and Mike Bloomfield was with Butterfield and I was with the Project. We were sitting in my apartment listening to a ...

Traffic and the US Underground

Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 1 June 1968

THE "UNDERGROUND" in England is a collection of dark damp platforms and jostling crowds and miles and miles of tube trains weaving in and out ...

Top Tunes: Traffic

Profile and Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 6 July 1968

NOW, WHEN the pop music highways are as crowded with groups as city streets are with cars, Traffic has come to mean something more than ...

The Nice, Traffic, Pretty Things, the Action, Eyes: Hyde Park, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 3 August 1968

"ALL THIS needs is for John Peel to appear with three loaves and five fishes and he could feed the ten thousand," said an observer ...

Traffic, Nice, Junior's Eyes, Pretty Things: Hyde Park London

Live Review by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 3 August 1968

Such a NICE day in the park ...

Rock and Roll Dope #6

Comment by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 15 August 1968

NOW THAT things have cooled down a little for the MC5 and myself after all the excitement of recent weeks maybe I can get into ...

NME Reporters Cover the Weekend's Major Event — the Eighth National Jazz and Blues Festival

Live Review by Keith Altham, Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 August 1968

STARS, SUNSHINE and a SHAMBLES ...

8th National Jazz & Blues Festival: Lazy Sunbury Afternoon...

Live Review by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 17 August 1968

PLAGUED BY DISASTER AND COUNTLESS SETBACKS, THE SUNBURY FESTIVAL PRESENTED SOME OF THE BEST MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT EVER SEEN. RM WAS THERE. ...

Traffic Lights a Big Success

Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968

Observe four old young men known just as Traffic/Suffer their tedious setting the stage/Then hark to their magical music and live it/And when the fuzz ...

Traffic: Traffic (Island)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968

GREAT TRAFFIC LP ...

Traffic, Staple Singers, Crome Syrcus: Fillmore East, New York NYC

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 5 October 1968

Traffic Travel on Bumpy And Separate Musical Road ...

Traffic: Traffic (Island)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 5 October 1968

The latest in an exciting series ...

Traffic: Traffic (Island Stereo ILPS 908IT) *****

Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 12 October 1968

TRAFFIC DITTIES ON THEIR NEW ALBUM ...

Traffic: You Can All Join In (Island)

Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 12 October 1968

Traffic cannot be faulted ...

Traffic Is Very Heavy Today: An Interview With Steve Winwood

Interview by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, January 1969

AT THE time I interviewed Steve Winwood, Traffic's American tour had just been cancelled, and Steve himself was rumored to be in a state of ...

Steve Winwood says — Groups must play much much softer

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 January 1969

"FREAKING OUT with volume is over. Everybody seemed to think volume was the revolution of the music. That's okay theatrically, but not musically." ...

Traffic: No More

Report and Interview by Ritchie Yorke, Rolling Stone, 4 January 1969

TRAFFIC has broken up. The announcement, made in London this week, came at a time when Traffic had finally broken through in the United States. ...

Into Traffic with Steve Winwood

Interview by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, February 1969

IN PART Two of our interview, Traffic's Steve Winwood and I talked about producing, songwriting, the creation of 'Dear Mr. Fantasy', and interpretive critics. ...

Traffic: An Interview With Steve Winwood

Interview by Paul Nelson, Circus, March 1969

TRAFFIC CRASHED recently (see "Hullabulletin" elsewhere in this issue for the story of the split), but not before Steve Winwood and I had a long ...

Blind Faith: They're no group

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 April 1969

Island Records boss CHRIS BLACKWELL talks to Richard Green ...

Traffic at Berkshire Cottage: Just Playing Together was a Fantasy

Report and Interview by David Dalton, Rolling Stone, 3 May 1969

THE COTTAGE is an hour and a half from London, but it's thousand light years from Soho Square. Henley is like driving through a postcard, ...

Eyes Of Blue: In Fields Of Ardath (Mercury); Best Of Traffic (Island); Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (Warner Bros.)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 5 December 1969

IT'S VERY difficult you see. The record companies send you FREE records to review and something goes wrong: not enough space, a strangely appalling record ...

Grateful Dead, Traffic, Black Sabbath, Jose Feliciano et al: Hollywood Music Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970

PEACEFUL FESTIVAL OF GOOD MUSIC ...

Traffic Rarin' To Grow

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 August 1970

WHATEVER analytical terms are used by people in attempting to define Traffic's music, however many superlatives are attached to the group and among the hundreds ...

Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Island stereo ILPS 9116; 39s 11d)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 August 1970

THE FIRST Traffic album for far too long consists of a mere six tracks. This is not a bad thing though because each one is ...

Alone Together: Mason and Cass

Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 17 September 1970

LONDON — Dave Mason was sitting about 6,000 miles away from the action. While his album, Alone Together, was booming in America, with a first ...

Ric Grech: Traffic's One Big Happy Family

Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 10 October 1970

IT WAS good to see Ric again. We talked in melancholic tones of hazy days when gangster Grech, cigarette hanging from his lips, pumped out ...

Stevie Winwood Talks About The Future Of Traffic

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971

SLUMPED IN a chair, Steve Winwood looked tired. ...

Traffic: Welcome To The Canteen (Island 12TS 9165; £2.15)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971

TRAFFIC MUSICAL HISTORY ...

Traffic: The Gaumont, Worcester

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971

TRAFFIC: THEY NEVER PLAY THE SAME TWICETour review by TONY STEWART ...

Traffic: The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (Island ILPS 9180, £2.15)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971

FRANKLY I am more than a little disappointed with the new Traffic album, mainly because I had put so much faith in the new line-up ...

Traffic: The Low Marks of Well Heeled Boys

Comment by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, January 1972

SOME NOTES ABOUT THE SLOWING DOWN OF TRAFFIC ...

Traffic: The Grech Traffic Report

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 January 1972

A RECENT trip to America proved to be a traumatic period for Traffic. ...

Stones Producer Jimmy Miller Part Two: The tracks I like best

Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972

In this final part of his interview with Ritchie Yorke, Miller talks about the many artists he has recorded, and in particular about tracks which ...

Steve Winwood: Winwood (U.A. Import).

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 January 1973

WHAT A strange world it is. A couple of years ago this same double set was released in America, and swiftly withdrawn following objections – ...

Traffic: Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (Island)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973

COME ON NOW, put away the hammer and nails and the coffin; save them for a much lesser band than Traffic. Agreed, over the last ...

Waiting For Traffic

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973

ONE ONLY HAS to mention the name Traffic these days and somebody'll grunt, groan and lower their eyes, dismissing the subject. Undeniably, the group have ...

Traffic In The States

Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973

WHEN FOUR people have given rock one of its biggest facelifts, it's natural they should never be far apart. So in the same way that ...

Traffic: Shoot Out At The Fantasy (Island)

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1973

FOR A BRIEF but heady period Traffic were my favourite rock band. I still get a spark from the thought of a new Traffic album ...

Traffic: Dear Mr Fantasy

Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973

THE FIRST ENCORE at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, started with Jim Capaldi up front, his face pressed hard against a microphone to ring out ...

Stevie Winwood: Not Just A Singer In A Rock And Roll Band

Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, Phonograph Record, April 1973

I MADE INITIAL contact with Stevie Winwood in March of 1966, a weekend rebel still in the high school clutches of suburban Boston. As was ...

Traffic: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973

DEAR MR. FANTASY played us some tunes, something that made us all happy. No, it was more than that. All of us at the London ...

Traffic: Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory

Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, May 1973

They're playing it on the FM progressive stations. It's five o'clock in the morning, and some snoring deejay is claiming that Stevie Winwood really has ...

Stevie Winwood: 'I'm Gonna Do An Album A Week!'

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 17 May 1973

IT'S BEEN many a long year since Stevie Winwood has made impact as an individual on the English rock scene. ...

Traffic: On The Road (Island)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW ...

Traffic: On The Road (Island)

Review by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 17 November 1973

TRAFFIC, ON OCCASIONS, have the ability to sound like the most demanding and mature rock band in the world. Trouble is, each time they've reached ...

Traffic: On The Road (Island)

Review by Jon Tiven, Zoo World, 20 December 1973

TIME TO open Tiven's rock dictionary and search for a few very basic definitions: ...

Stevie Winwood: Sixties Soul Survivor

Profile by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 8 June 1974

"STEVE'S only 25 you know. When people criticise him and say he's not as good as he used to be in the old days, they ...

Traffic, Lindisfarne: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 28 September 1974

Terrible Traffic ...

Traffic: Where The Eagle Flies

Review by Gary Sperrazza!, Shakin' Street Gazette, 10 October 1974

RECORD COMPANIES amuse me. As soon as their bands get an established name, the corporate mouths start watering as they see visions of dollar signs ...

Steve Winwood: Goodbye Mr Fantasy, Hello Midland Maniac

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 7 May 1977

THE SIXTIES are very much alive in Ladbroke Grove these days. Tucked away in the back of Island's Basing Street Studios, swinging London gently reverberates ...

Steve Winwood: Don't Call Him Stevie

Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, November 1977

When Steve Winwood was 15 years old he was the child prodigy/focal point of the Spencer Davis Group. Singing with a soul voice experienced beyond ...

Steve Winwood Keeps On Running

Interview by Jim Farber, Creem, April 1981

The Diver Comes Up For Air ...

Interview: Island Records' Chris Blackwell (1989) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1989

This is a transcript of John Tobler's 1989 audio interview. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Steve Winwood

Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, May 1997

IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1993, 30 years after he first heard Ray Charles sing, that Steve Winwood met his lifelong idol. Winwood happened to be ...

Chris Blackwell: A Man of Wealth & Taste

Profile and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 18 February 1999

For forty years, CHRIS BLACKWELL has survived on killer instincts, killer bud and tough business tactics. Along the way, he's changed the course of pop ...

10 Questions for Steve Winwood

Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, April 2004

The blue-eyed soul voice behind the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic on jamming with Jimi Hendrix, the madness of Viv Stanshall and the problems of ...

Traffic In The Summer Of Love

Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, Summer 2007

RELEASED AT the tail end of the summer of love, 'A Hole In My Shoe' was hailed by NME as "an incredible disc which you ...

School of Rock: Monterey to Altamont

Guide by Barney Hoskyns, iTunes, 2008

BETWEEN 1966 and 1970, there was a seismic change in British and American pop. Within a few short years "pop" became "rock", and teenagers who'd ...

Traffic: Getting It Together In The Country

Retrospective and Interview by Paul Moody, Uncut, November 2008

Dust down the Tibetan Book Of The Dead and buy in the "apple yoghurt". In 1968, Traffic — four blazing talents of rock, R'n'B, jazz ...

Empire of the Sun: Island at 50

Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, June 2009

The grand scheme of a gambler with a taste for chicken blood, Jamaican label Island Records introduced Bob Marley and U2 to the world. On ...

Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Deluxe Edition)

Review by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2011

Winwood and pals' pastoral funk apogee, remastered. ...

Traffic Jammer Dave Mason Peers Into His Future's Past

Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 14 May 2014

MOST OF THE TIME, a traffic jam is a wholly unpleasant experience and something to avoid at all costs. But when the said confluence of ...

Fantasy and Reality: Traffic, Part One

Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Shindig, March 2017

50 years ago, four musicians moved into a haunted Berkshire cottage. Surrounded by ancient sites and monuments, they ignited a unique musical melting pot that ...

Traffic Part 2: Last Exits

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, April 2017

NOW WITHOUT any band at all, Island released Traffic's Last Exit in May, consisting of singles that ironically started with Mason's 'Just For You'. ...

see also Dave Mason

see also Steve Winwood

see also Jim Capaldi

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