TRAFFIC - LOW SPARKS SESSIONS 1971
February 22, 2023 – 6:35 am
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TRAFFIC
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys Sessions [no label, 1CD]
Olympic Studios, London, UK; 1971. Very good soundboard.
Thanks to jswetch for sharing the tracks at Dime.
jswetch noted [January 2023]:
This is something I’d upped a long time ago here. There’s been a few Traffic things popping up lately, so I though I’d bring this back. It’s a bit of a weird one, as commercial boots often could be. I’m saying that because the Low Spark material is certainly different from the official release, but the other stuff is anyone’s guess. This also doesn’t include Hidden Treasure or Many a Mile to Freedom from the Low Spark album, so not everything from that release is represented. These all are very good, and professional sounding recordings (less so with tracks 9-12, but they’re still very good quality demos for the time).
The jam with horns tracks refers to the Muscle Shoals horns, which I’d guess might’ve come from the Shootout at the Fantasy Factory sessions, rather than Low Spark. Shoot Out was the album that followed Low Spark, and it was recorded at the famous studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. If so that’d take Grech and Gordon out, and put in bassist David Hood, drummer Roger Hawkins, and maybe even keyboardist Barry Beckett. They were all on Shootout and the live tour that generated the official live release, On the Road. The Shootout album also didn’t include horns beyond those played by Chris Wood.
Finally, there’s guitar soloing that doesn’t even particularly sound like Winwood. If you’re a guitarist, or big-eared listener, you’ll know what I mean. You’ll hear the occasional pinched harmonic, which I don’t think Winwood ever did. Not that he couldn’t, it just wasn’t part of his style.
Finally, the last four demo tracks are just Capaldi and Gordon on acoustic guitars. Not sure if they were ever earmarked for Traffic sessions, or might’ve related to Capaldi’s own solo recordings that started coming out in 72.
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Lineage:
Liberated Boot “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys Sessions” purchased many years ago > EAC disc extraction > TLH for torrent creation
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (320 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
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Track 01. Low Spark of High Heeled Boys 11:44
Track 02. Rock and Roll Stew 3:20
Track 03. Rainmaker 7:27
04. Rock and Roll Stew - Omitted *
Track 05. Light Up or Leave Me Alone 5:03
Track 06. Jam 1 5:04
Track 07. Jam 2 with horns 3:36
Track 08. Jam 3 with horns 5:17
Track 09. It’s So Hard 1 (Capaldi and Gordon) 7:41
Track 10. It’s So Hard 2 9:42
Track 11. Easter Weekend 1 (Capaldi) 3:29
Track 12. Easter Weekend 2 3:48
67 mins
* UK 45 version officially released on newer edition Low Spark CD.
Lineup:
Steve Winwood - vocals, keyborads, guitar
Jim Capaldi - vocals, percussion
Chris Wood - reeds, flute
Rick Grech - bass
Jim Gordon - drums
Reebop Kwaku Baah - percussion
Click here to order Traffic releases.
22 Responses to “TRAFFIC - LOW SPARKS SESSIONS 1971”
Thank you very much Big O. Pity about track 4 though.
By Derrick & the Dominos on Feb 22, 2023
ALL of the tracks are in this file:
https://dfiles.eu/files/pbsew75ku
By Fink Ployd on Feb 22, 2023
I’d like to give heartfelt thanks and praise to the good folks at BigO for the last two music posts, being of course Traffic and the late Jeffrey Beck, God rest his soul. This, ladies and gentlemen,is real music for real men who know where to put their equipment and what to do with it when they have put it there. This music may be British but I like to think it reminds us all of good old-fashioned American desires and values.
I thank you all.
By Yee Haw on Feb 23, 2023
HHH, I see you have cameltoe. LMAO. How about we have the nigga felons pull a train on you your boyfriend, your mother and your sister.
By Bull Connor on Feb 23, 2023
They calls me Bull because I take no bull from vermin pinko liberal dicwads that still stink the earth is square like you Homeless Hairy Homo
By Bull Connor on Feb 23, 2023
Bullshit, time for your mom to tuck you nicely into bed where you can dream, wet dreams at that. Nighty night hard case.
By Leonard on Feb 23, 2023
Thank you Big O Amigos. “Low Spark” will be very helpful this weekend. Stay well.
By James Smith on Feb 23, 2023
Ross Barnett, George Wallace and myself need to blow up the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Time to billyclub these black savages. Firehose their asses into the walls. Bludgeon all these niggers
By Bull Connor on Feb 23, 2023
SEGREGATION NOW
SEGREGATION TOMORROW
SEGREGATION FOREVER
By Bull Connor on Feb 23, 2023
Who’s taken a dump inside your stupid redneck head Bully Connor ?
By Θήο on Feb 23, 2023
Yeah Bull-shit, who?
By Leonard on Feb 23, 2023
the stuff with the horns is awesome! The third jam sounds like something that got turned into a Fantasy factory song. Maybe the Hood, Hawkins, & Beckett are these cuts as well. Thanks. This one is a keeper.
By david on Feb 24, 2023
These English dudes are big in the britches I hear .They got them them big ole hoagies in their trousers
By ELU on Feb 24, 2023
Thank You Big O. I’d love to hear more Capaldi and Wood solo material-their records were cut-outs in the 80s, and I think they’re incredibly underrated.
The racist Bull Connor posts are sad, but maybe he’s a newly retired Boomer trying to learn how to troll. You’re quoting Alabama Governor George Wallace, idiot. Lace up those New Balance running shoes, leave your mom’s apartment, and go to the library. Or just kill yourself.
By Eric (the Other Eric) on Mar 8, 2023
Thanks, big-O, and thanks to PF for the ‘all of the tracks’ link.
By I-) on Mar 12, 2023
Sorry, that should be thanks to ‘FP’ for that link.
By I-) on Mar 12, 2023
You are welcome I-)
By Fink Ployd on Mar 12, 2023
Thank you, Big O! Great pick.
By peacenluvmaaan on Mar 24, 2023
Hear old Orange face is to be charged over hush money payment to porn star. LOL !!
By HHH on Mar 31, 2023
Yeah triple, heard that he shat his diaper when he was given the news. Something you know all about triple. Oh and he pissed himself at the same time too. True.
By Derrick on Mar 31, 2023
You sound like a nigga luver Eric The Red. How bout I whoop you like I was your pimp daddy. Sad pathethic lil shit. Niggas do not have the intellectual capacity to navigate thru the rabbit holes of life dicwad. They are superior to whitey because of the field niggers you fuckin dumbass
By Bull Connor on Apr 1, 2023
Everyone is prejudiced. Including you! Prejudices are useful, because they help you keep things simple. But they can also influence the way we behave towards certain people, and that can be dangerous. Fortunately, there is something you can do. Below, we describe the three steps you can take.
The first and most important step in the fight against everyday prejudices is to recognise them, and to acknowledge that we are all affected by them. Everyone has definite ideas about certain groups of people that never apply to all members of that group. If you are, and remain, aware of this fact, you have already taken the biggest step.
The second step is to try to make sure that your own prejudices do not determine your behaviour. Prejudice should never lead to exclusion or discrimination against others. Also, make sure that you do not spread your own prejudices.
Step three: react! If someone around you hurts other people, insults entire groups, or uses prejudice to define them, react. Oppose them! React in your own circle of friends and acquaintances, respond on social media.
By Bull Connor on Apr 21, 2023