Traffic-Welcome To The Canteen

Not an official Traffic album as that name does not appear anywhere on the cover or record but their logo is on a bottle in the picture on the back cover. In 1971 Dave Mason appeared with Winwood, Wood, and Capaldi for a few shows in London. Playing with them were Jim Gordon from Derek And The Dominoes, Winwood’s fellow Blind Faith member Rick Grech and “Reebop” Kwaku Baah, a hand drummer. A good album with three songs from Traffic’s early records, two Dave Mason solo songs and , the Spencer Davis Group hit “Gimmie Some Lovin'” which Steve Winwood joined when he was 14. “Dear Mr. Fantasy” on side two has a lot of jamming with Winwood and Mason both playing guitar as does “Gimmie Some Lovin'” with the three percussionists keeping up the beat. “Medicated Goo” is played a little faster than the studio version and Dave Mason’s “Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave” has a good solo by him. The two best tracks on side one are very nice acoustic songs “Sad And Deep As You” and 40’000 Headmen” with a long flute solo by Wood and bongos by Reebop. I originally had this one on 8-Track tape that I bought probably in 1973. I bought this used one about ten years ago. It’s an original 1971 pressing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *