The Last Great Traffic Jam (Remastered) Traffic

• 1 Pearly Queen 05:35
• 2 Medicated Goo 05:58
• 3 Mozambique 05:30
• 4 40,000 Headmen 04:14
• 5 Glad 06:53
• 6 Light up or Leave Me Alone 16:27
• 7 Walking in the Wind 07:12
• 8 Low Spark of High Heeled Boys 14:37
• 9 John Barleycorn (Must Die) 06:57
• 10 Dear Mr Fantasy 07:44
• 11 Gimme Some Lovin' (Live Album Version) 07:26
• Total Runtime 01:28:33

Info for The Last Great Traffic Jam (Remastered)

The Last Great Traffic Jam is a live album from the English rock band Traffic. The album was recorded on the 1994 reunion tour supporting Far from Home.

"In 1994, Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi temporarily put aside their solo careers to re-form as Traffic for the first time in 20 years. (Of the original quartet formed in 1967, erstwhile member Dave Mason had not been a part of the band since 1971, and Chris Wood had died in 1983.) They recorded a new album, Far from Home, and embarked on a five-month tour of the U.S. in the spring and summer, using a backup band consisting of reed player Randall Bramblett, bassist Rosko Gee (a member of the 1974 version of Traffic), guitar and keyboard player Mike McEvoy, and percussionist Walfredo Reyes, Jr. Also taken along was filmmaker Simon Vieler, whose efforts finally see the light of day 11 years later in this, his 102-minute documentary of the tour, The Last Great Traffic Jam. Vieler, who is also the only credited cameraman on the film, has chosen to emphasize Traffic's ties to the hippie milieu and the jam band community, which may be appropriate given that a handful of the tour's 75-plus dates found the group opening for the Grateful Dead (including shows at Soldier Field in Chicago, RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and Giants Stadium in New Jersey, with Jerry Garcia sitting in on "Dear Mr. Fantasy" at the last) and that Woodstock '94 was on the itinerary. But it isn't just the long-haired freaks and tie-dyed T-shirts in the audience that Vieler chooses to focus on. He attempts visual equivalents of the psychedelic jazz-rock sound of the band, using multiple film stocks, a variety of visual effects, quick cutting, and a combination of on-stage, backstage, and travel footage. Each of the 11 songs is heard in full, with much of the playing seen, but it is heavily intercut with other material. In a three-minute music video, such an approach would be eye-catching, but it is wearying over the course of more than an hour and a half. Still, the band performs well, and Capaldi in particular likes to mug for the camera, while bandleader Winwood, despite being the most photogenic person in the film, never seems to be hogging the spotlight, even when he's occupying it, which is most of the time." (William Ruhlmann, AMG)

Steve Winwood, keyboards, lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11), guitar
Jim Capaldi, drums, lead vocals (8, 10) & backing vocals, percussion
Rosko Gee, bass
Randall Bramblett, flute, saxophone, keyboard
Michael McEvoy, keyboards, guitar, viola, harmonica
Walfredo Reyes Jr., percussion, drums
Jerry Garcia, guitar (9)

Digitally remastered

Traffic
Traffic were formed by Winwood, Wood, Capaldi and Mason in 1967 shortly after Winwood had left the Spencer Davis Group. He had played with Eric Clapton in a short-lived studio band called Powerhouse, which contributed some tracks to the Elektra sampler "What's Shaking". Winwood had also jammed with Wood, Capaldi and Mason in clubs around the Birmingham area prior to leaving the Spencer Davis Group. The four of them resided at a cottage in Aston Tirrold in Berkshire for six months in order to - as the saying went - get it together in the country. They introduced themselves with the single "Paper Sun", which reached No. 5 in Britain. That and its sequel, "Hole In My Shoe", encapsulated the summer of 1967 as accurately as any overt flower-power anthem. The debut album "Mr. Fantasy", was a successful vehicle of the talents of the entire group, and served notice that Traffic would be more than merely a backing band for Winwood. However, Mason's flair for light melody was straightaway at odds with the more jazz-oriented ambitions of the other members, and he departed in December of 1967.

This album contains no booklet.