Traffic remasters coming

Three more Traffic remasters are coming out on 5/20: Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory, Ont The Road, and When the Eagle Flies. The last is particularly exciting. It has one of my favorite Traffic songs (Dream Gerrard). I have the Mofi of Shoot Out, so I probably won't be getting that.

 

It will be great to hear the Traffic titles that MoFi missed out on.

 

Yeah, Shoot Out on MFSL is absolutely amazing. The stock US Island from the late 80's wasn't bad either.

I have a semi-warped US vinyl copy that I still listen to a lot. I think that album was underrated.

 

Traffic Jam

I understand that the new Winwood album is a lot less poppy than his post Traffic material and sounds more like Traffic. Also, he is opening some Dead shows so he probably would want to give them some jammier sounds
There was a time when they were my favorite band...I can remember going into the record store every day to see if Low Spark... had come out yet. Remember doing stuff like that??

Peace
Norm
Too busy today to really put much of a move on in race towards the elusive and highly coveted thousand post mark.
Damn work!

 

Re: Traffic Jam

I remember getting the first 3 Traffic LP's as cut-outs for $1.90 each! I paid a hefty price for John Barleycorn though, as I bought it soon after it came out - $3.79. I also remember getting a real lousy pressing of Low Spark from the record club I belong to and I also remember (although I'm a bit ashamed to admit it) switching the vinyl from my copy with the much-better sounding copy from my local public library.

The albums I remember getting on the day they came out were Goat's Head Soup and Human Touch/Lucky Town.

Those were the days.

BTW, Norm, now that Palmeiro's hit his 500th, I am eagerly awaiting your 1000th!

 

Raffy

Oh man. Please don't mention him. I am a frustrated O's fan and they gave him away. The man has been torrid since they shipped him off to Texas. I have this mental picture in my head of the best team in baseball: The EX-O's. They feature Raffy, Robby Alomar, Mussina, Schilling, Harnisch, Armando Benitez, Jeffrey Hammonds...I could go on.

We now return you to your regulary scheduled thread

Peace
Norm
Getting closer...

 

How is the John Barleycorn remaster compared to the orginal Cee Dee release?

 

I don't have the original cd, but the remaster sounds pretty good. My lp sounds better though, and it doesn't sound as good as the Mofis of the other Traffic albums.

 

I remember having my mother drive me to a Globe discount store before it opened the day The Beatles White Album was released because they had advertised ALL Beatle LPs for $2.67. clear mistake. Only those who were waiting at the door when the store opened got the $2.67 price on the White Album. I was one of the lucky few. Couldn't have bought it otherwise - I was only 11, and $2.67 was a LOT of money.

 

I'm still waiting for a decent remaster of John Barleycorn as the original bites hugely IMHO

Steve, are you reading buddy?

 

I remember cutting classes the day that Concert for Bangladesh came out. The album had a fixed price of $12.99 that was being adhered to by retailers but Alexander's had a special for $8.99. Met a really nice girl that day too.



Michael
John Barleycorn has been ill served on CD and US vinyl. The original UK vinyl is 100 times better than any other version that I've ever heard. I have no idea why that title has been so poorly rendered.

 

I have a pink Island Barleycorn that has STERLING and LH in the dead wax. No, I am not kidding. I also had a regular pink Island without that info in the dead wax, but obvioulsy, the STERLING one was much better, so I got rid of the other one years ago. The STERLING one also had a date in the dead wax, something like 6-30-70. I am guessing that this pink one I have is THE first pressing, but who knows? Not me. I also have a UK orange/green palm tree label of JBMD and recently, bought a mint blue label copy (late 70's/early 80's). I played the blue one last night. Absolutely incredible. Matrixes end in 7U. Don't know how a late pressing can sound so good. To add to the confusion, I also have a UK orange/green Shoot-out with STERLING in the dead wax, and LH too, if I recall correctly. Can anyone figure this out??

 

Is the jacket an ACTUAL burlap bag glued onto the front cover? Only the 1st UK pressings were packaged this way.
One day, in around 1975 or so, I was in an import record store in Manhattan, & I saw 3 LPs that I had never seen before on import. I only had enough cash to get one, so I agonized for a while & chose probably the worst one. The choices were: an original UK pink label burlap bag Barleycorn; An original UK pink label, gatefold Tea For The Tillerman; or a UK octagon Thru The Past Darkly. I bought the Stones LP because it had different tracks than the US LP & the other 2 had the same tracks as their US equivalents. Of course, 28 years later, I have NEVER seen another copy of the Traffic or Cat LPs in those pressings.

BTW, there has NEVER been a good US UA pressing of Barleycorn---they are ALL frisbees!

 

I'm embarrassed to say I don't own any traffic. Just a Winwood 'Back in the Highlife'. I should probably just go bonkers and buy everything, which of course would force the catalog out on hybrid SACD's.

 

I'm told that the "Shoot Out" remaster won't be quite the same as the old CD. They're using the original mixes that are on my first UA LP pressing (for "Roll Right Stones" and "Uninspired") that were replaced on later pressings. The original mixes are different and longer than the replacements. It's why "Roll Right Stones" was mislabeled as 13+ minutes on the CD and later LPs, yet really ran 11+ minutes. Never changed the label copy.

Can't wait to hear the remaster. Should sound amazing...

 

UA never released this. First issue was distributed by Capitol.

 

I have 3 vinyl copies of JB. The original Canadian Polydor copy is typical of Canadian pressings at the time. My UK Island copy ca. 1974 is wonderful. I also have a later UK blue label Island pressing. You must have gotten lucky with yours. Mine sounds like mud! In addition, the balance leans heavy to the right! I thought that I may have imagined this so, I just gave it another spin a few minutes ago. Yep, it's garbage. It's also not a gatefold. Luckily I got it cheap.

Cheers,
Chris

 

Right. Meant to type US.

 

Have you heard rthe redo?

 

I guess I'll ask you too...Which is better on Cee Dee, the original or the redo?
I'm not interested in any vinyl version...just Cee Dee

 

I've got it. The new US Barleycorn is MUCH better than the earlier US CD and the UK remaster. The UK remaster is pretty harsh and noisy. Go for it.

 

Re poppy Winwood releases, do not dare to put "Far form Home" in that bag.

A great album, horribly underrated and even ignored.

 

That's one of my favorite albums of the time...Thanks for the info... Can only imagine a Hoffmaneered version!

 

the mofi "low spark" isn't to shabby either.

renny