Did anybody know that Traffic was planning to regroup and tour!? This fact
alone makes the new double CD concert: Dear Mr. Fantasy: Featuring The
Music Of Jim Capaldi & Traffic all the more poignant in its release.
Put together by the drummer’s wife Aninha, this concert was held at London’s
famed Roundhouse and features ex-Traffic mate Steve Winwood, Pete Townshend,
Joe Walsh, Bill Wyman, Jon Lord and Paul Weller. Fronting a ‘backing band’
that includes Andy Newmark (heard from too little these days, as far as I’m
concerned) Ray Cooper, Mark Rivera, Simon Kirke, Dave Bronze and Paul ‘Wix’
Wickens, the ‘stars’ take the stage to perform various Capaldi-penned
tunes along with the more famous Traffic tunes he co-wrote.
One really can’t go wrong here with a backing band like this or the guest
list, so you get pretty much what you’d expect: great songs being played
and sung by great players. Good thing this CD features some solid rock percussion,
with Newmark, Kirke and Cooper, in case we forget how great a drummer and percussionist
Capaldi was. As Simon Kirke says in the liner notes, “He was a superb
drummer, but the other thing about Jim was that he was also a tremendous percussionist.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that Jim was a total percussionist, which
included playing drums.” Everyone who plays on this CD has a little ‘blurb’
about Jim Capaldi, with Steve Winwood offering a page on his old friend and
band mate. The CD booklet is pretty complete with some great pics of Capaldi,
a “Traffic” bio, tribute pieces, and information about who played
on each song.
As far as this kind of tribute goes, this collection is artfully put together.
The musicians here don’t break any new ground with these Capaldi/Traffic
ditties, but there still are some highlights. Yusuf (I-used-to-be-a-bearded
‘feline’) Islam gives a great reading of “Man With No Country,”
complete with a snippet of “Wild World” thrown in. Joe Walsh plays
guitar like the master he is on “Living On The Outside” and “Forty
Thousand Headmen.” Walsh also sings “John Barleycorn Must Die,”
while The Storys manage an achingly pretty version of “Love’s Got
A Hold On Me.” Jon Lord is brilliant on any song he puts his organ to,
with “Living On The Outside” sounding especially strong. And, of
course, Winwood holds his own on “Dear Mr. Fantasy.”
Of the 20 songs featured, none are duds, yet don’t really stand out beyond
the fact that they are well played, performed on a special night, for a great
musician/activist and friend, with the profits going to a great cause. Capaldi
died of stomach cancer in 2005, but his wife is keeping alive his music and
legacy. The profits from the concert which this CD is taken from went to the
Jubilee Action Street Children’s Appeal, an organization Jim and his wife
were very much involved in. But Dear Mr. Fantasy: Featuring The Music
Of Jim Capaldi & Traffic isn’t an advertisement for the many
causes Capaldi championed. It’s more a solid testament to a great musician
who wrote and played on some great songs, and left this world way too early.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
