Traffic

Traffic were an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1967. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. They began as a psychedelic rock group and diversified their sound through the use of instruments such as keyboards like the Mellotron and harpsichord, sitar, and various reed instruments, and by incorporating jazz and improvisational techniques in their music. Their first three singles were "Paper Sun", "Hole in My Shoe", and "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".

After disbanding in 1969, during which time Winwood joined Blind Faith, Traffic reunited in 1970 to release the critically acclaimed album John Barleycorn Must Die. The band's line-up varied from this point until they disbanded again in 1975. A partial reunion, with Winwood and Capaldi, took place in 1994.

Links to Peel
John Peel had been aware of Steve Winwood's work with the Spencer Davis Group from his time in the USA, where their singles Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm A Man made the Top ten charts. He also saw the band at Liverpool's Cavern Club during a holiday in the UK, although the date of the performance is unknown. Traffic made an immediate impact in summer 1967, with their first single "Paper Sun" reaching high positions in both the national chart and the Radio London Fab 40. With its sitar backing the song was very much in the style of the time and was played on the Perfumed Garden. Peel also played "Smiling Phases" the B-side of their follow-up single "Hole In My Shoe", as an untitled acetate on the final Perfumed Garden.

Traffic were also among the session artists on the first Top Gear of 01 October 1967. A second session was broadcast on 24 December 1967, two more followed in 1968, and another in 1969 by Mason, Capaldi, Wood and Frog, the band which combined the ex-members of Traffic following Steve Winwood's decision to leave the band and join Blind Faith. Folowing Winwood's return, the band recorded a John Peel's Sunday Concert which was broadcast on 10 May 1970. But Traffic subsequently had more success in the USA (like other bands of the Top Gear era so there were no more sessions for Peel, although he continued to play tracks from their albums until they split up in 1975.

Traffic became one of the most popular British bands with the hippy underground audience, their loose, jamming, R&B-influneced rock style causing them to be compared to the West Coast bands of the period. Peel too admired them, but ignored Steve Winwood's commercially successful 1980s material. In later years the DJ occasionally played tracks by them, revisiting "Paper Sun" as late as 28 July 2004.

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Sessions

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1. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY 2. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY etc
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title

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Other Shows Played
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 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label