Customer Reviews

Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was a real surprise to me. An avid listener to Guitar orientated rock albums, this really blew me away. Not that its anything like you'd expect, but a musical journey with out being over the top in extravagance. If you dont have any Traffic albums this is were to start. You will enjoy over and over again.

If you're over 30, you may remember the term "progressive rock". It was the term preferred by cool FM stations in the early days of FM radio as way of stating they were NOT interested in mainstream Top 40 songs. Radio stations that take chances, of course, are harder to find these days as radio becomes more corporate. This album, perhaps as much as any other, typifies the old FM progressive rock playlist, and always takes me back to that simpler time. The 12-minute title track of "Low Spark" may be a fairly standard tune heard now on classic rock stations, but was truly a progressive classic back then. Steve Winwood, of course, is about as talanted a musician as they come, and his keyboards on this album and particularly on the title track are astounding. Add the sax and flute of Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi's percussion, and there you go. It's a quiet album; won't wreck your speakers, but very listenable. And if you're tired of people being on your case all the time, "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" is your track on this album. Worth every penny.

During 1972 and 1973 I worked in a 'hippy coffee house' in Chicago, which, for reasons that now elude me, played "Low Spark..", (as well Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"), over and OVER during the hours when we were open but no customers were around. As insane as this made me at the time, I stil have good memories of those jams.

I missed hearing that tune and when I bought the cd I thought of only that song but the whole cd just isn't long enough. I wanted more it's great.

I love this cd. I can listen to Rainmaker, Low Spark and Hidden Treasure 1,000 times and not tire of them - the music is so extraordinary & eerie - meaningful too.
Low spark has this beat like a heart-beat, you can pace your whole life by it. Shades of Bach, which I think, in time, this music will be more & more compared to. I, personally, am not much into the rocking Jim Capaldi numbers, but that is the beauty of cd listening, one can pick & choose. I would recommend everyone who loves music to own this cd. Also check out When the Eagle Flies and Last Exit - two other extraordinary Traffic recordings.

1971's "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" is one of Traffic's all-time greatest. Singer/guitarist/keyboardist Steve Winwood, drummer Jim Capaldi & flautist Chris Wood are joined on this one by bassist Rich Grech, drummer Jim Gordon & percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah, and the resulting album is a phenomenal blend of Traffic's great flare for rock, jazz, funk & folk all rolled into one. "Hidden Treasure" is a beautiful acoustic number. The 11-minute-plus title song is one of the band's signature pieces, with outstanding mood & musicianship as Winwood & company build it up & build it up into an amazing prog-jazz fusion jam. It is truly thrilling stuff. "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone" is a fun rocker, and Traffic get the funk out with the awesome "Rock 'N' Roll Stew." "Many A Mile To Freedom" is wistful & brimming with fine melody, and "Rainmaker" is masterfully steady, with the band riding into the sunset with style & some killer jamming at the end. This is without a doubt one of the best albums that Steve Winwood & company have ever done. "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" is heavy Traffic all the way.

This one brings back memories and alwasy sets a mood sure to create new ones. I saw the band after they released this record and it always left a lasting impression on me. The music sets a beautiful mood and this is one you should buy.

I think I can certainly be included among the most devoted 5 Traffic fans of all time. This is MY desert island record, the only record I could NOT live without. Enough said.

From the period when rock music was a really exciting musical form comes Traffic's most accomplished work.Although I feel all their discs have something special about them ,this one is where it all came together perfectly.
The band had been reduced to a three piece by the departure of founder member Dave Mason( who wrote their early hit "hole in my shoe") and then split up when Winwood joined Eric Clapton in Blind Faith before reforming during sessions for a Steve Winwood solo album to be called "Mad Shadows"( Mott the Hoople borrowed the title for their next album),which of course became the Traffic album "John Barleycorn".From there bassist Ric Grech( also in Blind Faith)and percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah( Ginger Baker's Airforce)and Jim Gordon on drums were enroled and the band set to with gusto.
Steve Winwood( keyboards ,guitar ,vocals)Chris Wood(flute,sax,keyboards) and Jim Capaldi(vocals,percussion)were all at their peak during this period( as Capaldi's fist solo outing "oh how we danced" illustrates).

The heart of the disc is the title track,surely one of Winwoods best ever tunes(and that's saying something)the Jazzy smoky bass and piano riff driven by and alternatly driving the percussion while Winwood relays his tale of woe of life in the music biz."Hidden Treasure","Rainmaker" and "Light up or leave me alone" are all first rate tunes ( some would say classics)and only Ric Grech's weak "Rock n roll stew" lets the side down.
It was along way from "Hole in my shoe" but once again the rigours of the road would prove too much and after only two more studio albums Traffic would collapse once more.

Its not easy to write a review of a cd as great as this. After my initial impression (see review below) I have been listening to this cd virtually every day and every day I still find incredible beauty to it. The title track is simply the best studio-recorded rock song of all time. It is very rare to find artistry such as this on any other recording. The best songs (Hidden Treasure, Low Spark and Rainmaker) are more like journeys than songs - absolutely transcendental.
This is definitely the best Traffic cd. All the others are more patchy, though still worth buying. But for the apex of this great, sublime band's career, buy this cd!