S.O.D. "Dear Mr Fantasy" by Traffic

10/14/2014

     Of the four originals members that started this 1967 psychedelic/folk/jam/blues and hard rock group, let's start with Steve Winwood, who we're all probably the most familiar with.  Aside from playing every instrument you need to form band, yes including drums, he embarked on a successful solo career in 1977.  He recorded his first two albums at his home studio in England and, oh that's right, actually did play every instrument featured on both albums.  Between this, different bands and session work, he has been a part of 90 albums that we know of.  At age 15 he was the front man for the Spencer Davis Group.

     Next up, Chris Wood, a terrific painter, and self-taught on saxophone and flute, played with musicians such as Christine McVie and Carl Palmer when he was also 15.  He was introduced to Windwood by his sister, Stephanie who designed clothes for the Spencer Davis Group.

     Then there's Jim Capaldi who has mainly as a drummer played with Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee, Cat Stevens, Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison.  Together, he and Windwood composed most of the songs for Traffic.  He is also a guitarist, has written lyrics for other artists and during his solo career, wrote quite a few tunes that achieved international success.

     Multi-instrumentalist, Dave Mason, rounds out the original group but kept leaving and coming back.  Some say that he never really did fit in and Windwood remembers him coming out of nowhere with a song he wrote and expecting everyone to play what he wanted.  Musicians go there own way however, and found his way to being associated with Derek and the Dominos, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison,class Elliot and a few others.

     On the original recording, musician and record producer Jimmy Miller played maracas.  He produced records for a number of popular bands including Blind Faith, Motorhead and The Rolling Stones.  During his long career with The Stones, he produced many of their most popular and critically acclaimed singles and albums.

    Of these 5 artists, only Windwood and Mason are still alive and still playing.