TRAFFIC
Steve
Winwood was known for his blue-eyed soul with the Spencer Davis Group.
Songs such as "Gimme Some Lovin’" and "I’m A Man"
were the last in a string of hits from the R&B inspired group. In
1967, Winwood was solo, and recruited some friends from Birmingham for
Traffic.
of "Giving It To You", Traffic was highly original and above
all, rock and roll. Yet Winwood never lost sight of his R&B roots;
just witness "coloured Rain" or "Smiling Phases". The
title track is perhaps the highlight, a preview of what the band could
(and eventually would) deliver.
Drummer Jim Capaldi and
flautist/ saxophonist Chris Wood provided ample support, however, Dave
Mason would prove to be a foil to the progressive experiments. The album
made the UK Top 10, as did the singles "Paper Sun" and
"Hole In My Shoe" earlier in London's summer of love. The
following year saw the whole trip repeated with their self-titled second
album. It too would reach the UK Top 10 and also breach the US Top 20. But
by 1969, Winwood disbanded Traffic to join the super group Blind Faith.
THE END
Over
the years of their existence, The End enjoyed the active help of Rolling
Stone, Bill Wyman. They had been previously introduced to Wyman by
producer Glyn Johns who had spotted them backing Elkie Brooks and were
amongst the support acts for the Stones September '65 tour following the
release of 'Out of Our Heads' along with the Spencer Davis Group; Unit
Four Plus Two and The Moody Blues. A debut single 'I Can't Get Any Joy'
had duly flopped and any plans Wyman had regarding the band were then
thwarted by lack of action on the part of the Stones manager Alan Klein's
office. So it wasn't until nearly three years later on signing to Decca
(ironically the Stones label) before any further releases kicked off
again. In 1968 'Shades of Orange' / 'Loving, Sacred Loving' appeared, both
songs were built up during the sessions for the Stones album 'The Satanic
Majesties Request' and have appeared over the years on various Stones
bootlegs which seems a little odd as apart from Wyman the only other
connection is Charlie Watts who plays tabla. 'Shades' was a wonderful song
with dreamy atmospheres whilst 'Loving' featured Nicky Hopkins on
harpsichord. In the same year, the album 'Introspection' also appeared and
is one of the highlights of the English psychedelic scene, no collection
should be without it. 1969 gave the band the chance of an appearance in
the Spanish underground movie, 'Al Escondite Ingle's' ('To The English
Hiding Place') making a playback of 'Cardboard Watch' whilst walking in
the street (see below for stills from this film).
Shortly
after this, The End's original line-up fragmented as the band mutated into
Tucky Buzzard (still under Wyman's management). Colin Griffin left to
pursue a solo career and Hugh Atwooll returned to the End's adopted home,
Spain, to work with the likes of Miguel Rios. Remaining members - Nicky
Graham; Dave Brown and Terry Taylor recruited Paul Francis on drums along
with Terry Taylor's former colleague from The Mode, Jim Henderson as lead
vocalist. Incidentally two points of interest, firstly Jim had also
contributed backing vocals on Introspection and The Mode is not the same
band who recorded Eastern Music on Rubble Two : Pop Sike, Pipe Dreams.
Tucky Buzzard went on to record five Lps before splitting up in the
mid-Seventies.
Tenth
Planet has served the band well, issuing three albums worth of unreleased
recordings. The first volume 'In The Beginning' (TP 025) highlights the
earlier recordings; the second 'Retrospection' (TP 033) includes album
outtakes and a version of 'Black Is Black' which was inspired by the
group's friendship with Los Bravos. The final offering 'The Last Word' (TP
047) looks more at the final line-up with the band going through the
transitional period around the end of The End and the beginning of Tucky
Buzzard.
'Shades of Orange' can be found Rubble 6 : The Clouds Have Groovy Faces; The Psychedelic Scene and The Great British Psychedelic Scene. Broken Dreams featured two songs, 'Jacob's Bladder' & 'Introspection pt.2' whilst Visions from the Past volume 3 featured 'Why'
