Traffic – Were an English ‘pop’ group formed in 1967 and featuring Steve Winwood (see W) as lead singer.  They had a handful of hit singles, which as was the custom then, mostly didn’t appear on albums.  I loved them, as they seemed to encapsulate the Summer of Love.  First album was Mr. Fantasy (1967) – a bit too poppy really, ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’ was wonderful, as was ‘Coloured Rain’ and ‘No Face, No Name, No Number.’ – a pretty good debut.   Their second, Traffic (1968), was a bit more varied, jazzy in places, it featured – ‘Feelin Alright’, ‘Pearly Queen’ and ‘Forty Thousand Headmen’ – not quite as good as their debut really.  Their fourth, but my third was John Barleycorn Must Die (1970).  Despite the title and the cover this is not a folk album, although the title song is – more or less.  The record is quite jazz-infused and  not my favourite, apart from ‘Freedom Rider’ I don’t really like it that much.  Quite a bit better was the generally mellow Low Spark Of High-heeled Boys (1971) – a strange title but the song of that name, though overlong is pretty good.  I also like ‘Rock And Roll Stew’  and ‘Rainmaker’.  Not sure exactly where the band was heading, having discarded the pop singles and settling into a bluesy and jazzy groove.  My last studio album is Shootout At The Fantasy Factory (1973) not so bad really – best are the title track and Evening Blue…I also have a live album Welcome To The Canteen (1971) – which is excellent.  It actually has 2 Chris Mason songs; he was an occasional member of the band, which were never on Traffic albums – and a great version of Steve Winwood’s ‘Gimme Some Lovin’, which was a Spencer Davis Group song, his former band.  Despite that the performance seems inspired.  Best are ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’ and ‘Medicated Goo’.   A strange band, which maybe never quite reached their potential, at least on albums – but part of the brilliant late 60’s, early 70’s development of British music.  I also have Collection – a best of – which includes most of their singles – ‘Hole In My Shoe’, ‘No Face, No Name, No Number’ and ‘Mulberry Bush’ (I danced to this with Jane Sarginson back in ’67 – whirling her round and round – but despite my best efforts she never wanted to be my girlfriend).

The Travelling Wilburys – A fantastic and maybe the best-ever Supergroup.  All were huge stars in their own right – George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Geoff Lynne and of course Dylan.  The story is that the band came together by accident to record a projected ‘B’ side for a George single.  But I suspect there was a little more to it than that.   Anyway, however it happened the first album Travelling Wilburys Volume 1 – was an instant success; the identities of the ‘Wilburys’ soon becoming an open secret.  The lead single, and the song that brought the band together – a George composition was ‘Handle With Care’ – apparently named after a label on a packing case in Dylan’s garage – is possibly their best, although almost all the songs are brilliant.  Favourites are – ‘End Of The Line’, ‘Rattled’ and ‘Last Night’.  A delight of a record – and a big hit.  Sadly, Roy Orbison died in late 1989 – which put the idea of a follow-up on hold.  There were also tentative plans for a tour – but Dylan and Petty were pretty heavily booked so that never happened.  They did consider a replacement for Roy, and Del Shannon was in the frame for a while – but he too passed away.  The four remaining members did get back together again 2 years later.  A second album, cryptically titled Volume 3 came out in 1990.  It did contain some pretty good songs and the magic was still there – almost.  It wasn’t quite such a hit and there are a couple of fillers.  The band miss Roy’s soaring vocals, and Dylan’s vocals tend to dominate.  Still, by anyone else’s standards it would have been a pretty good album.  Best tracks are probably – ‘Where Were You Last Night’ and ‘Cool Dry Place’.  The not really a group stopped there which may be a good thing.  At least we have these two albums to remember them by.