Re Patti Boyd. There was an event for the opening of her photo exhibition at a gallery in San Francisco about 15 years ago and I got to go. I found her really easy to talk with and really sexy. She looked amazing.
I like it, but I can't be objective about that BS&T album since we listened to it constantly when I was a little kid.
I say "nay," and part of the reason is that I too listened to that second BS&T album constantly as well when it came out (I was a senior in high school). It's one of the only albums I can think of that I completely changed my mind about. For some reason, my friends and I thought it was fantastic when it came out, and now you couldn't pay me to listen to it. I'm sure the fact that the singles from it were played to death on Top 40 radio has something to do with this, but beyond that — I've never much liked horns in rock (the first BS&T album may be the lone exception to this), and I don't like big beefy-voiced lead singers either. Finally, it has a rather sterile sound to it. Specific to "Smiling Phases," jacking up the tempo from the original was a bad decision, and for me Winwood's singing has infinitely more "soul" that DCT's.
There’s also Al Kooper’s take on Coloured Rain, which would also have been a BS&T track if they hadn’t kicked him out...
I didn't grow up with them, and am just kind of discovering them now. (Always knew the hits, of course.) That could have something to do with it. Their sound certainly hasn't aged well, but I don't always let that bother me. Clayton-Thomas does give off a kind of Vegas-vibe.
Interesting thing about Traffic. Jim Capaldi is a really good drummer, yet he essentially ceded drumming duties to Jim Gordon and then Roger Hawkins, though be still contributed in other ways (writing, occasionally singing, percussion). I am drawing a blank - is there any other major band contributor who essentially stepped back in such a way during a group’s prime years?
80% twaddle; 20% terrific I like John Barleycorn quite a lot, top to bottom. Low Spark and earlier stuff is semi-listenable. One thing about Winwood is that he's really pitchy, even to this day. Many singers of that era were. Jack Bruce is another example, as is Bob Lamm on early Chicago records. It's like they just throw high notes up into the stratosphere hoping it will be somewhat on pitch. It usually isn't. That totally would not fly today. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But it's interesting how older famous artists get a pass on stuff that younger artists would totally get called out on. For example, Taylor Swift is often criticized for her pitchiness. I think she sings OK. She's not a top tier vocalist by any means, but she doesn't embarrass herself. I sometimes imagine some of these older famous artists going out on auditions today. Would Winwood, Neil Young, or other similar quirky vocalists every get a job singing with a lounge cover band? Highly doubtful.
When the day arrives that whether you can get a job singing with a lounge cover band becomes the gold standard for whether you're considered a viable vocalist or not, that's the day I quit listening to music altogether. Come to think of it, that day began arriving several years ago with the advent of TV shows such as American Idol and America's Got Talent.
I can totally relate to all of this, re: BS&T and their covers. For me, I'm coming back to this album after literally 45 years or more. I hadn't listened to it since I was 8 or 9, so I had the combination of 'fresh ears' and the ability to derive enjoyment from it simply because it took me straight back to my childhood. Objectively, many of the arrangements, and a lot of the vocals, are cheesy as hell. It's hard for me to believe that this band was as popular as it was, but the 60s were a different time, that's for sure. Even compared to Chicago, who seem like a much more "organic" band in the early days, BS&T is cheesy and Vegas as hell. That's their act, and if you don't dig it, you sure aren't going to dig their albums, but I think if you can meet it halfway and accept it for what it is, there's enjoyment to be found. But again, that's colored for me by nostalgia, and I can totally get how having the opposite experience (like Mike M), hearing it constantly when you were a little older, whether you wanted to hear it or not, could turn you off for life. In either case, we're not coming to it from an objective standpoint. I feel the same way about a lot of the popular music from when I was a junior or senior in high school and started to be "serious" about music.
I always thought I loved Traffic then the other day I listened to Shootout at the Fantasy Factory and thought it was pretty weak.
First two albums and early UK singles are fantastic. Next couple have some excellent moments as well.
