01 - Paper Sun (S. Winwood - J. Capaldi)
02 - Heaven Is In Your Mind (S. Winwood - J. Capaldi - C. Wood))
03 - No Face, No Name And No Number (S. Winwood - J. Capaldi)
04 - Coloured Rain (S. Winwood - J. Capaldi - C. Wood)
05 - You Can All Join In (D. Mason)
06 - Hole In My Shoe (D. Mason)
07 - Medicated Goo (S. Winwood - J. Miller)
08 - Forty Thousand Headman (J. CapaldiS. Winwood)
09 - Feelin' Alright (D. Mason)
10 - Shanghai Noodle Factory (Winwood - Capaldi - Fallon - Miller - Mason))
11 - Dear Mr. Fantasy (J. Capaldi - S. Winwood - C. Wood)

Jim Capaldi - Composer, Drums, Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals 
Dave Mason - Bass, Composer, Guitar, Mellotron, Vocals
Steve Winwood - Bass, Composer, Guitar, Harpsichord, Keyboards, Organ, Percussion, Piano, Vocals
Chris Wood - Composer, Flute, Organ, Saxophone, Vocals, Wind 

Release Date - 14 November 1969 

Though Traffic broke up at the start of 1969, the band was on a commercial ascent, which led Island Records, their U.K. label, and United Artists, which licensed their product for the U.S., to assemble a posthumous album, Last Exit, released in April 1969, that, like its predecessor, Traffic, peaked in the American top 20. Meanwhile, former band member Steve Winwood formed Blind Faith, which produced a debut album that topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. No wonder Island and UA determined that the fall of 1969 was a good time for a Traffic compilation. The release was especially needed in Britain, where the singles sides "Paper Sun," "Hole in My Shoe," and "Smiling Phases" had not yet appeared on an LP. Since Traffic had moved away from being a singles band after its first year, the album was not dubbed a hits collection, though all its tracks had been released on one side or the other of a single on one side or the other of the Atlantic. As a selection of the best and most popular material from the group's first three albums, the result is hard to fault, though it's worth noting that the missing "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush," the theme song from the 1967 movie of the same name, was a Top Ten hit in England. Also missing, on the British version of the LP, anyway, was "You Can All Join In," a song that had enjoyed popularity in continental Europe. (The American version did include "You Can All Join In," which replaced "Smiling Phases.") The group's U.K. hit singles, "Paper Sun" and "Hole in My Shoe," were already beginning to sound like quaint bits of psychedelia by 1969, but the entire second side of the LP, comprising "Medicated Goo," "Forty Thousand Headmen," "Feelin' Alright," "Shanghai Noodle Factory," and "Dear Mr. Fantasy," was the kind of progressive rock that would define Traffic and give it its place in the rock pantheon. Who could have known when this disc was first released that the band's story was far from over? ---William Ruhlmann, AllMusic Review

This album is an early compilation of songs taken from the first three TRAFFIC albums - "Mr. Fantasy", "Traffic" and "Last Exit". It is a solid collection of the first phase of the band when they explored typical psychedelic and folk-rock textures of the British scene 1967-69. Seven songs are taken from the first album, and two songs each from "Traffic" and "Last Exit", giving a fina picture of the bands abilities. Completists would probably go for individual albums, but as an introduction, "The Best of Traffic" serves its purpose. If you like this period of music, it is a nice addition to your collection if you don't own original three albums. ---Seyo, progarchives.com

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1 Glad/Freedom Rider (Capaldi, Winwood) 20:49
2 Tragic Magic (Wood) 8:30
3 (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired (Capaldi, Winwood) 10:20
4 Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory (Capaldi, Winwood) 6:40
5 Light Up or Leave Me Alone (Capaldi) 10:30
6 The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (Capaldi, Winwood) 17:35

Rebop Kwaku Baah / Percussion
Barry Beckett / Keyboards
Chris Blackwell / Producer
Jim Capaldi / Percussion, Drums, Keyboards, Vocals
Roger Hawkins / Drums
David Hood / Bass
Steve Winwood / Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Producer
Chris Wood / Flute, Saxophone

Reportedly released as an effort to undercut bootleggers following a world tour, Traffic: On the Road was the band's second live album in three years. The album chronicled a late edition of the band in which original members Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood were augmented not only by percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah, but also by a trio of session musicians from the famed Muscle Shoals studio, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and Barry Beckett. The studio pros lent a tightness and proficiency to their characteristic free-form jams, and though they sometimes sounded like they couldn't wait to get the songs over with, the tunes went on and on, four clocking in at over ten minutes. That might have been okay if the choice of material had been more balanced across the band's career, but 1971's Welcome To the Canteen had treated earlier efforts, and the 1973 tour was promoting Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory, from which three of the six selections were drawn. Unfortunately, that album was not one of Traffic's best, and the live versions of its songs were no more impressive than the studio ones had been. Traffic: On the Road featured plenty of room for soloing by some good musicians, but it was the logical extreme of the band's forays into extended performance, with single tunes taking up entire sides on the original LPs. It's not surprising that, after this, Traffic shrunk in size and returned to shorter songs. [Though best known in its two-LP version, Traffic: On the Road was initially released in the U.S. as a single LP containing only four tracks.] ---William Ruhlmann, AllMusic Review

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A1 	Just For You	2:24
A2 	Shanghai Noodle Factory		5:04
A3 	Something's Got A Hold Of My Toe	2:14
A4 	Withering Tree	3:10
A5 	Medicated Goo	3:36

Recorded Live At The Filllmore West
B1 	Feelin' Good	10:50
B2 	Blind Men	7:10

Steve Winwood - vocals, organ, piano, guitar (2,5), bass
Dave Mason - guitar (1,3), vocals (1)
Chris Wood - flute, saxophones, organ
Jim Capaldi - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Since Traffic originally planned its self-titled second album as a double LP, the group had extra material left over, some of which saw release before the end of 1968 (there was a new, one-off single released in December, "Medicated Goo"/"Shanghai Noodle Factory"). In January 1969, Steve Winwood announced the group's breakup. That left Island Records, the band's label, in the lurch, since Traffic had built up a considerable following. As far as Island was concerned, it was no time to stop, and the label quickly set about assembling a new album. The non-LP B-side "Withering Tree," "Medicated Goo," and "Shanghai Noodle Factory" were pressed into service, along with "Just for You," the B-side of a solo single by on-again, off-again member Dave Mason that had been released originally in February 1968 and happened to feature the rest of the members of Traffic as sidemen; a short, previously unreleased instrumental; and two extended jams on cover songs from a 1968 live appearance at the Fillmore West. It all added up to more than half an hour of music, and that was enough to package it as the posthumous Traffic album Last Exit. Actually, Last Exit isn't bad as profit-taking products go. "Just for You" is one of Mason's elegant folk-pop songs, including attractive Indian percussion. "Medicated Goo" has proven to be one of Traffic's more memorable jam tunes, despite its nonsense lyrics, and the equally appealing "Shanghai Noodle Factory" is hard not to interpret as Winwood's explanation of the band's split. And while the cover material seems unlikely, the songs are used as platforms for the band to jam cohesively. So, Traffic's third album, thought at the time of its release to be the final one, has its isolated pleasures, even if it doesn't measure up to its two predecessors. ---William Ruhlmann, AllMusic Review

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01. Glad (Winwood) - 6:57												play
02. Freedom Rider (Winwood/Capaldi) - 5:24
03. Empty Pages (Winwood/Capaldi) - 4:33
04. I Just Want You To Know (Winwood/Capaldi) (previously unreleased) - 1:30	play
05. Stranger To Himself (Winwood/Capaldi) - 3:50
06. John Barleycorn (trad./arr.Winwood) - 6:20
07. Every Mother's Son (Winwood/Capaldi) - 7:03
08. Sittin' Here Thinkin' Of My Love (Winwood/Capaldi) (previously unreleased) - 3:24

Personnel:
- Steve Winwood - Hammond organ, piano, percussion, guitar, vocals
- Chris Wood - saxophone, flute, electric saxophone, percussion, Hammond organ
- Jim Capaldi - drums, percussion, vocals

At only 22 years old, Steve Winwood sat down in early 1970 to fulfill a contractual commitment by making his first solo album, on which he intended to play all the instruments himself. The record got as far as one backing track produced by Guy Stevens, "Stranger to Himself," before Winwood called his erstwhile partner from Traffic, Jim Capaldi, in to help out. The two completed a second track, "Every Mother's Son," then, with Winwood and Island Records chief Chris Blackwell moving to the production chores, brought in a third Traffic member, Chris Wood, to work on the sessions. Thus, Traffic, dead and buried for more than a year, was reborn. The band's new approach was closer to what it perhaps should have been back in 1967, basically a showcase for Winwood's voice and instrumental work, with Wood adding reed parts and Capaldi drumming and occasionally singing harmony vocals. If the original Traffic bowed to the perceived commercial necessity of crafting hit singles, the new Traffic was more interested in stretching out. Heretofore, no studio recording had run longer than the five-and-a-half minutes of "Dear Mr. Fantasy," but four of the six selections on John Barleycorn Must Die exceeded six minutes. Winwood and company used the time to play extended instrumental variations on compelling folk- and jazz-derived riffs. Five of the six songs had lyrics, and their tone of disaffection was typical of earlier Capaldi sentiments. But the vocal sections of the songs merely served as excuses for Winwood to exercise his expressive voice as punctuation to the extended instrumental sections. As such, John Barleycorn Must Die moved beyond the jamming that had characterized some of Traffic's 1968 work to approach the emerging field of jazz-rock. And that helped the band to achieve its commercial potential; this became Traffic's first gold album. ---William Ruhlmann, AllMusic Reviews

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01. Medicated Goo (Steve Winwood, Jimmy Miller) - 3:34
02. Sad And Deep As You (Dave Mason) - 3:48
03. 40,000 Headmen (Winwood, Jim Capaldi) - 6:18				play
04. Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave (Mason) - 5:36		play
05. Dear Mr.Fantasy (Winwood, Capaldi, Chris Wood) - 10:53
06. Gimme Some Lovin' (Winwood, Davis) - 9:00

Personnel:
- Steve Winwood - vocals, organ, electric piano, guitar
- Chris Wood - saxophone, flute, electric piano, organ
- Jim Capaldi - drums, tambourine, percussion, backing vocals
- Dave Mason - vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar
- Jim Gordon - drums
- Rebop Kwaku Baah - congas, timbales, bongos
- Ric Grech – bass

Following the success of John Barleycorn Must Die, Traffic planned a concert album for the fall of 1970, and it got as far as a test pressing before being canceled. A recording was necessary to satisfy the terms of British label Island records' licensing deal with American label United Artists, which had provided for five albums, of which four had been delivered. With Island starting to release its own albums in the U.S., the UA contract had to be completed, and hopefully not with the potentially lucrative studio follow-up to John Barleycorn Must Die. Thus, Traffic tried again to come up with a live album by recording shows on a British tour in July 1971. Joining for six dates of the tour was twice-dismissed Traffic singer/guitarist Dave Mason, who had subsequently scored a solo success with his Alone Together album. The resulting collection, Welcome to the Canteen (which was technically credited to the seven individual musicians, not to Traffic), proved how good a contractual obligation album could be. Sound quality was not the best, with the vocals under-recorded and stray sounds honing in, but the playing was exemplary, and the set list was an excellent mixture of old Traffic songs and recent Mason favorites. "Dear Mr. Fantasy" got an extended workout, and the capper was a rearranged version of Steve Winwood's old Spencer Davis Group hit "Gimme Some Lovin'." Welcome to the Canteen's status as only a semi-legitimate offering was emphasized by the release, after a mere two months, of a new Traffic studio album on Island (The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys) that undercut its sales. But that doesn't make it any less appealing as a summing up of the Winwood/Mason/Traffic musical world. ---William Ruhlmann, AllMusic Review

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