Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Media:	Audio CD
Record label:	Island
Release date:	19 March, 2002
Our price:	$9.98

Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Average rating: Stars

Would Make a Great Chapter in a Classic Rock Bible.

If only there was one! This 1971 release from Traffic does everything right without ever once becoming overbearingly heavy. From the very first track, "Hidden Treasure" which is driven by Chris Wood's winsome flute and Steve Winwood's plaintive wail, you know you're in for something extraordinary.

And extraordinary it is! The title track is nearly twelve minutes of a blissful cool jazz/rock jam with just enough hipness to keep anyone listening to it from looking like a total coffee house beatnik. "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" is the late Jim Capaldi's excellent bluesy rocker with catchy pop riffs and some great keyboard fills, while "Rock 'n' Roll Stew" is one of the best pure rave rockers ever written and laid down in a studio. It stands as one of my two favorite staples on this classic album. My absolute favorite would be "Many a Mile to Freedom," which has a sweetness and vulnerability all its own without ever catering to whimpiness. "Rainmaker" is my least favorite track, but it's still a good one, and a vital part of the whole enchilada.

LSOHHB is an album you should have in your collection if you are a fan of great classic rock. With a mixture of jazz, blues, soul, and pop influences, it's as potent as a molotave cocktail without the nasty explosion, and there's no bitter aftertaste. Now that's what I call a rock 'n' roll stew.

Low Spark of High Heeled Boys - Traffic

The title track makes the album and then some.

Oh, if you have not heard the title track from this album you don't know what you are missing! Chris Wood's electric sax, Winwood's swaggering piano, the rumblings multi-tracked percussion, a cocksure bass line. . . this is all anyone could ask for!

At around 11 minutes you might think this song would collapse on itself. Atfer all, 1971 was the age of "prog rock" which could sit in your stomach like a brick if you weren't careful. But this is nothing like that. This is a jazz tune, worthy of any straight-ahead high quality performance of the period (and now). While not an overly sophisticated arrangement by jazz standards, the song has an insouciance that makes the ominous lyrics that much more entertaining. Who thought you could swing in syncopation to misfortune? How else might you explain the placcidly delivered "The percentage your paying is too high price/ and your living beyond all your means. . . And the man in the suit is driving a new car from the profit he's made on your dreams/ But today you just read that the man was shot dead by a gun that didn't make any noise/ But it wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest/ but the low spark of high heeled boys." Huh? Well, Steely Dan understood this new mood and banked on it. . . but their debut was still a year away . . .

Winwood is impressive (as always) on this record. He handles the vox, keys and guitars and wrote five of the six songs. His arrangements are an extension of the groundwork Traffic laid out in its first incarnation in 1967/68 when Dave Mason was onboard. Songs like "Rainmaker" possess a celtic and Indian temperament and Rick Gretsch brings out his violin just as he did on "Blind Faith." The music is textured and even ethereal, retaining some of the psychedelia heard on their debut album "Mr. Fantasy".

But Winwood can also rock if he wants to and "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone" and "Many A Mile To Freedom" highlight his lead guitar work. Chris Wood offers up a delicious flute solo on the latter track and Capaldi and Jim Gordon's drum work is flawless. There really is little to complain about and with the exception of "Rock and Roll Stew" (which Winwood, consequently, did not pen) this record can be played all the way through and that is how an album should be!

Five stars. This is as close to perfect as Traffic ever got and if you like Winwood, this album highlights his work and offers him up in a jazz setting to boot. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Another Strong Traffic Album!

"The Low Spark of Hi-Heeled Boys" was Traffic's second album after their re-union. They continue the direction of "John Barleycorn", combining folk, rock, jazz and blues elements into a unique Traffic sound. The songs are generally much longer than they were in the days with Dave Mason, and some people may find that some of them go on for too long. Anyway, the album is full of first-class material. Like always especially the Winwood/Capaldi songs are outstanding.

The opening track "Hidden Treasure" is a poetic folkish tune, a little in the same vein as "Forty-Thousand Headmen" from the second album. Of course featuring the beautiful flute played by Chris Wood.

The strongest composition of the album is without comparison Winwood's and Capaldi's title track. Great complex melody, but still melodic and catchy. Maybe some of the long solos could have been shortened down a little, but that is a matter of taste. I usually enjoy every minute of it ( close to 12 ).

Capaldi's "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" may appear a little light-weight after this. His vocals obviously have not got the power of Winwood's, but the song has charm and a fine melody; and it is probably the closest the new band comes to the sound of Traffic in the Dave Mason days.

New members in Traffic, Rick Gretch (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums) wrote the funky "Rock'n Roll Stew" which were also released as a single. The longer American single version is included as the only bonus-track.

"Many a Mile to Freedom" is the next stand-out track. Strong melody with great vocals from Steve supported by Wood's emotional flute.

Final track on the original album is the slightly vague "Rainmaker", which has some fine elements, but which does not stand up with the rest op the album.

Another Strong Traffic Album!