Before heavy metal and punk rock there was Traffic. Vocalist, songwriter and organist, Steve Winwood, had already tasted success on the charts, as a teenager, with The Spencer Davis Group. Traffic was to allow him the opportunity to break away from his roots in blues, soul and rhythm and blues and experiment with something completely different. Drummer, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood, on alto sax and flute, had already been exposed to acid rock, when they had been members of the band, Deep Feeling, in Birmingham, England, in the middle of the 1960s. Added to this was the fact that Traffic was always open to new ideas.
Steve was still only eighteen when he joined Traffic, while Jim was twenty-two, as was Dave Mason, who could not only play guitar and bass but several other strange instruments.
Strangely enough, not all of the members in the group approved of its first two hits, “Paper Sun” and “Hole In My Shoe”, in 1967. Prior to his departure from the group, Dave Mason was to write “Feeling Alright”, which was later to be covered by Joe Cocker.
Traffic broke up in January, 1969 when Steve left to join Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker — both formerly with Cream — in Blind Faith. However, the band was to reform in February, 1970 with Rick Grech having replaced Dave Mason. Under multiple changes in personnel it cotinued to release albums for years to come. Steve Winwood enjoyed a solo career in the 1980s, which not only included the release of albums but singles such as “While You See A Chance” (I’ve always loved its instrumental introduction) and “Valerie”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56QSczF231Q
For a further track refer to the suggested playlist.