This 6LP vinyl box set due in May, Universal Music are set to release a new Traffic vinyl box set, the snazzily titled, The Studio Albums 1967–1974.
The six-LP set collects together the Island-released Mr Fantasy, Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die, Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory, The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys and When The Eagle Flies. 1969 odds ‘n’ sods compilation Last Exit isn’t included.
Traffic were originally formed in 1967 when Steve Winwood fled the Spencer Davis Group at the ripe old age of 18, and joined drummer/singer Jim Capaldi, singer/guitarist Dave Mason and reed player Chris Wood. The quartet soon rented a cottage out in rural Berkshire to ‘get their heads together in the country’.
While the group were quickly successful with the singles ‘Paper Sun’ and ‘Hole In My Shoe’, they were more at home on the album format, and also enjoyed considerable success within the U.S., scoring four consecutive top ten albums from 1970 to 1974.
The Studio Albums 1967-1974 is released 17th May 2019.
The LPs have been remastered from the original tapes and presented in their original and highly collectable ‘first’ Island pressing form (gatefold sleeves, pink eye labels etc). The set also includes a related and rare facsimile promo poster for each album.
“Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory”, released in 1973, was the seventh album and sixth studio album by the band Traffic. It followed their 1971 album “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and contained five songs. while achieving poorer reviews than its predecessor, the album did reach number six on the American charts, one space higher than “Low Spark” Like its predecessor, the original jacket for the “Shoot Out” LP had its top right and bottom left corners clipped. The album was remastered for CD in 2003.
What an excellent band assembled here, with the band adding Muscle Shoals rhythm section greats David Hood on bass and Roger Hawkins on drums. That band would tour that year and record the fantastic live album “On The Road”, also featuring the song “(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired”.
Steve Winwood talked about the song with Musician Magazine in 1982: “That song reflected a lot of things: the state of rock n’ roll world at that point, my own frame of mind, and struggle with my health. It was just an honest thing: the song was talking about a definite sometime-feeling I get. We can’t be inspired all the time, can we? And those of us, who are made to feel that we have to be, grow weary and even sick from the stress of the crazy, unfair responsibility put on us.”
Winwood plays a fantastic, inspired (ha!) guitar solo on this tune.
The beautiful cover art is by Tony Wright who created many great covers in the 1970s,
After two exemplary releases, Traffic released “Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory”, which begins with the title track, based on a guitar riff reminiscent of the recent Deep Purple hit “Smoke on the Water,” and continues through the lengthy “Roll Right Stones,” the folkish ballad “Evening Blue,” reed player Chris Wood’s instrumental “Tragic Magic,” and the uncertain self-help song “(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired.” Lyricist Jim Capaldi was co-credited with Steve Winwood as the album’s producer, and he may have contributed to the cleaner mix that made his words easier to understand. Meanwhile, the rhythm section had been replaced by Muscle Shoals studio aces DavidHood and Roger Hawkins. Capaldi sings no songs here, and Chris Wood’s flute and saxophone, so often the flavouring of Traffic songs, are largely absent. Muscle Shoals rhythm section, Barry Beckett, RogerHawkins, David Hood along with Jimmy Johnson for contributing their musical skills on this and the live “On The Road” live album that followed.
The Fat Angel Sings 