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Joined: November 09 2014
Location: New York
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Points: 8633
Posted: February 07 2015 at 22:04
The Dark Elf wrote:
Mista-Gordie wrote:
micky wrote:
Low Spark of Trollish Forum Members...
Traffic a bluesy band? Not that there is a damn thing wrong with that.. but never really saw Traffic as that. The bands similarity IMO stops at the frontman, keyboard centric nature of the groups. Traffic was a very diverse group musically.. and jazz was at the heart of Traffic.
I think you're mostly right, though it's undeniable that Winwood's style was also profoundly rooted in blues. Don't forget that we're talking about a guy who played with Muddy Waters and Howling' Wolf, among others.
And Jimi Hendrix as well. Nice organ contributions on Electric Ladyland.
Indeed. In fact, "Voodoo Chile" owes a lot to Muddy Waters in tempo, structure, and general inspiration, thanks to both Winwood and Hendrix. Compare to electrified versions of "Long Distance Call".
Why so much hate on Traffic? Very talented band, especially displayed on Mr. Fantasy, but the fact is that Argent is just better. All Together Now is better than anything that Traffic or the solo artists have ever done.
There is no dark side in the moon, really... Matter of fact, it's all dark...
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
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Points: 46828
Posted: February 08 2015 at 14:14
Moogtron III wrote:
micky wrote:
Low Spark of Trollish Forum Members...
Traffic a bluesy band? Not that there is a damn thing wrong with that.. but never really saw Traffic as that. The bands similarity IMO stops at the frontman, keyboard centric nature of the groups. Traffic was a very diverse group musically.. and jazz was at the heart of Traffic.
I think songs like Dear Mr. Fantasy, No Time To Live, You Can All Join In, Pearly Queen, Stranger To Himself and Every Mother's Son have blues as the basis. I think blues was as important for Traffic as folk, jazz and rock. They had a nice mixture of styles, but blues was certainly one of them.
On topic: haven't heard Argent yet so I cannot vote.
very true Marcel... never said it wasn't an influence. I just said it wasn't accurate to call them A bluesy band. No more accurate than calling them a folk prog band as they were for years here... for .. a handful songs that were overtly folk prog.
They threw everything into the mixing bowl. However most of those tracks were during the Dave Mason years.. once he left. Winwood's vocal stylyings were very much R&B.. musically.. Winwood had a thing for jazzy stuff and once Mason left that became much more pronounced once the musically type-A personality of Mason left the group.
In fact, even more than King Crimson, I see Traffic as the quintescential 'eclectic' prog group. King Crimson shifted styles... Traffic merged them and made a completely unique sound.
Edited by micky - February 08 2015 at 14:15
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
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Points: 12703
Posted: February 08 2015 at 14:44
sublime220 wrote:
All Together Now is better than anything that Traffic or the solo artists have ever done.
Except for perhaps Mr. Fantasy, Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, you may be right. I may even put Dave Mason's solo Alone Together ahead of the Argent album. The lost classic "Look at You Look at Me" has always been a favorite of mine:
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
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Posted: February 08 2015 at 14:49
I'm actually surprised by this poll. I consider Argent to be much more proggy than Traffic. I like Traffic's detours into jazz territory, and as much as I love the title track to John Barleycorn, it's a folk song to me. A great one, but still a folk song!
Edited by SteveG - February 08 2015 at 14:50
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Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
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Points: 12703
Posted: February 08 2015 at 15:03
SteveG wrote:
I'm actually surprised by this poll. I consider Argent to be much more proggy than Traffic. I like Traffic's detours into jazz territory, and as much as I love the title track to John Barleycorn, it's a folk song to me. A great one, but still a folk song!
The question was "which do you prefer", not "which is proggier", Steve. But if you take the album John Barleycorn Must Die for instance, yes, the title song is folk (and very faithful, lyrically speaking, to the Scot Robert Burns' published version from the 18th century). But then you throw jazz, blues, rock and R&B into the rest of the songs (four clocking in at 6 or 7 minutes long) and you have the very definition of "progressive rock" in 1970, in that Traffic melds disparate genres into their own sound.
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
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Points: 12703
Posted: February 08 2015 at 15:24
SteveG wrote:
^Actually I'm listening to Low Spark from Traffic right now. Still a good album but it could use some remastering.
Agreed (what Steven Wilson could do with that, eh?). But to your earlier point, wouldn't you consider Low Spark a prog album? I would. A "headphones only" classic.
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
All Together Now is better than anything that Traffic or the solo artists have ever done.
Except for perhaps Mr. Fantasy, Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, you may be right. I may even put Dave Mason's solo Alone Together ahead of the Argent album. The lost classic "Look at You Look at Me" has always been a favorite of mine:
I wouldn't say that I would put it ahead, but I do like most of Mason's solo work. He definitely should be more highly acclaimed in the music world.
There is no dark side in the moon, really... Matter of fact, it's all dark...
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
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Points: 15916
Posted: February 09 2015 at 04:48
The Dark Elf wrote:
SteveG wrote:
^Yes. It doesn't hit me that way off the top of my head but it's certainly Prog!
And to top it off, it was nearly impossible to fit the record and sleeve back in the damned album cover...
whilst stoned!
I never had any troubles Just love the fuzzy organ improv from Steve on the title cut, such a mellow groove, it's long but finishes way too soon. Lothlorien is one of my favourite Argent songs, along with The Coming Of Kahoutek and most of the album 'Circus'. Still love Traffic more.
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
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Points: 20506
Posted: February 09 2015 at 11:05
micky wrote:
Low Spark of Trollish Forum Members...
Traffic a bluesy band? Not that there is a damn thing wrong with that.. but never really saw Traffic as that. The bands similarity IMO stops at the frontman, keyboard centric nature of the groups. Traffic was a very diverse group musically.. and jazz was at the heart of Traffic.
Just for the record, as much as I like Traffic, they have more of a connection to The Blues Brothers than to Robert Johnson. I'm a soul man!
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