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VOLUME 52, sent February 19, 1997
Topics in this issue:
1. Re: Coloured Rain editorial
2. "Hard to Find a Friend"
3. Fun, Fun, Fun
4. sessions
5. Deaths, overheard, and 5 favorites
6. "Aiye Keta"
7. sorta irrelevant, but...
8. Hard to keep up
9. Chronicles, the newsletter
10. Request for review
11. And the winner is ...
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1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1
From: "Mary Katsikas"
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 16:23:38 EST
Subject: Re: Coloured Rain editorial
I have no patience with anyone criticizing Smiling Phases. You do an
absolutely wonderful job, and I'm in awe of all the information that people have
on SW. I had no idea how much work SW had done. I am a new but older
fan. Thanks.
Mary
2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 13:19:46 -0800
From: woontner@sirius.com
Subject: "Hard to Find a Friend"
Prior to the release of the Low Spark album there was a feature story on Traffic
in Rolling Stone. In it, the writer mentions hearing the band rehearse a
beautiful song titled "Hard to Find a Friend". I have never heard this song, have
any of you?
Alan Woontner
3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 01:54:07 +0200 (EET)
From: Berkin Altinok
Subject: Fun, Fun, Fun
It seems like the things I've mailed seemed to have worked, I wanted to bring
out some excitement, I loved all the responses that came. I was out of Ankara
for a while for the winter break, to the south coast it was really nice weather.
Anyway I would really like to order the Woodstock 94 video of Traffic, do you
know how I can do that? I really feel that I have so many material missing and
this puts a lot of stress on me. I would love to mail you a list of all I have got.
Checking out the Capaldi manager is a good idea but it is really a shame for
Weisner not to help, does not he get it? I mean, we are desperate for the new
album! Any way I'm all the time checking with Q magazine and Billboard.
Happy Valentine's Day.
4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 16:03:52 +0200 (EET)
From: Berkin Altinok
Subject: sessions
In the book "Keep on Running" Chris Welsh wrote in the discography that SW
played in Viv Stanshall's " Teddy boys do not knit" whereas he does not; only
Roskoe does play the bass. Am I right on this?
I think he also plays on the James Brown album "Gravity" from 1986.
Definitely on "How do you stop", that's his moog all right.
I also have the 1968 movie "Performance" where Jagger starred, on the song
'Memo from Turner' they say Traffic played but some where else I heard it was
Randy Newman who cut the song again because the Stones did not like the
Traffic version. On my CD it sounds like Traffic though there is no SAX.
Any way I saw your list of songs - very good job but there are more. What
about Frozen Forever on the 1995 Davy Spillane album, and other tracks on the
debut of Harrison also the Christine McVie album?
[It's only a list of the things I actually own, but since I recently acquired the
McVie album, I should do an update soon. -BG]
5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 02:15:50 -0800
From: Steve Tidwell
Subject: Deaths, overheard, and 5 favorites
I read Chris Wood and Rebop both died in 1983 (sadly, I only found out about
it in the last two years). I wondered what they died of? Was it drugs? I could
well believe it of Chris, he seemed so wired the one time I saw him on Traffic's
last State-side tour in late 1974. He was all over the place that night, a real
bundle of energy. He may not have got a lot of song-writing credits but I bet he
played a bigger role in the creative side of the band than most people will ever
know. I remember a music critic I knew giving me a 15 minute note-by-note
analysis of Chris' opening solo in "Low Spark", going on about how it was no
great piece of genius (as he was tired of hearing from less educated fans, it
seems), describing it in music theory terms as "the tonic followed by a fifth over
the dominant" or some such. I was pretty thoroughly intimidated by the guy;
my only music experience was playing the sax in high school band. But I
couldn't help thinking then, just as I do now, that he was mistaking complexity
for quality. Chris was no Coltrane or Adderly, but what he did *fit*, it was just
right for that moment, and I have yet to hear anything as dramatic as his
opening solo to "Low Spark".
Something I read in previous volumes seemed to indicate Rick Grech had died
too--is that true?
Overheard at Traffic's concert in Salem, Oregon, May 1994: Jim Capaldi's
introduction of Steve Winwood--"pound for pound, the *best* musician".
And my top five Traffic songs:
1) 40,000 Headmen - because it captures and epitomizes the very essence of
Traffic, the fantasy and mystery, and showcases the entire expressive range of
Winwood's voice, all in a scant two minutes.
2) The Low Spark - because it showcases Winwood's skills as a songwriter
and producer and all-around musician, proving Steve and Pete Townshend the
absolute masters of the form.
3) Medicated Goo - because it's good for you. Tons of fun and it really rocks.
4) John Barleycorn - a moving and totally unexpected masterpiece.
5) Glad - because that's how it makes me feel
And that's just the Traffic stuff...but that's enough from me, for now. The
rest of you guys, keep digging it and seeking for more.
[We started a list of who has died; it's in the archives on the Web site. You can
get there directly at http://www.azstarnet.com/~bobbieg/others.txt -BG]
6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 18:34:56 -0600
From: srseim@students.wisc.edu (Steven Robert Seim)
Subject: "Aiye Keta"
Can anyone out there tell me--specifically--how to get the "Aiye Keta" CD?
Is there an 800 number I can call to order it or something? My local
record/music stores understandably (and unfortunately) seem to have never
heard of it. Thanks.
Steve
7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7
From: Operanut@aol.com
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 01:38:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: sorta irrelevant, but...
I am Opera Nut!! I am into many kinds of music, all of them good, and playing
Steve's stuff keeps me happy because it's positive and bouncy and poetic and
he's a white boy with soul and....well I don't have to tell you about it! I always
wanted to be a piano player in a rock band, but couldn't due to sexism, so I can
relate to SW's keyboard talents.
I have played (piano, violin, synth)and sung (opera & lieder) classical music all
my life since the age of 5, and being a white person with rhythm, I felt out of
place in regular Protestant churches. So finally last summer after
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan died, I saw her funeral on TV at Good Hope
Missionary Baptist Church here in Houston. We (me and my cyberstud)
recorded it off the TV and were very impressed with the preaching and music.
So a few months later we checked it out, not knowing what to expect, and we
became the first white couple to join Good Hope in its 125 year history!!! I
even sing in the gospel choir, and am learning a lot, and so I can relate to Steve
and his "blue eyed soul" as it's called. I think growing up listening to sixties
rock and roll and Motown has a lot to liking to groove on Sunday morning. I
am not a real strict Baptist or I wouldn't be this far into rock and roll, but I
enjoy the clapping and dancing in church. Also with the oral tradition from
slavery, when it was a crime to teach a slave to read, we don't use hymnals at
all, and the piano player will get into a groove and repeat a "vamp" over and
over, or phrase, and change the words and go on and on for a while, and it's
pretty neat.
Back in 81 I was going thru a severe personal crisis during my first year of law
school. There were two records I had to play every single day at least once per
day for about a year, and I have no idea why, except that they must have been
very healing to me. One of them was "Empty Glass" by Pete Townshend, and
the other one was -- you guessed it -- Arc of a Diver. I especially dug While
you see a chance, and Night Train.
At some other point, I had to play a recording of Mahler's first symphony each
day for many months. Why, I don't know.
Other forms of happy music I like are the Gershwin Piano Rolls on CD and the
Pat Metheny Group which plays fusion jazz, and a capella music like
Anonymous 4 and Chanticleer sing.
I think my favorite line in all of SW is "I will have my ever after." That kind of
sums things up for me -- I m working on following my dream.
Peace and all that good stuff,
Sharon Gray
8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 17:52:48 +0800
From: Normahani Jamaludin
Subject: Hard to keep up
Before subscribing, I was thinking whether there are other Malaysians in your
mailing list. I guess I am the first (and the most arduous enough to join you...)
from this part of the world. Surely you've heard of Malaysia.
SW is well-known enough among the yuppies around the cities; seasoned
critics here greatly admire his works, but still, he is known mostly for his
recent works since "High Life". But I love him, I do so greatly. It's his vocals,
and his devotion to each of his songs that made them distinctively his.
I love the idea of getting SW into the Hall of Fame, because he deserves it.
I heard SW for the first time with "Higher Love", and I "fell in love", and for
the past ten years after that I kept track of his recent and past works - but fell
short after "Far from home" was released because there was no more news of
him. When they released "keep on running" I looked high and low for the
disks and found them only at the nation's capital K.L. ( thousands of miles
from my home ). And I had to enlist help from a friend over at the capital to
purchase it and mail it to me. (And I got a "Who's this guy??" message from
that friend!! ) I also got "arc of a diver" and "s.w" from a friend studying at
London at that time. "Talking back..." I also got from a friend from another
state. I've no video compilations of him - my most priced visual of him is a
partial recorded live performance of "Farewell to ARMS" concert back in
1983.( The guy at the video store sold it to me because no one else wanted to
rent it...)
You see now why I want to join up...
[And my personal welcome to our first Subscriber from Malaysia!! -BG]
9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9
From: Madbotyou@aol.com
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 08:28:33 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Chronicles, the newsletter
Chronicles, the print-version newsletter dedicated to Steve Winwood is
available, for a limited time, at no cost. If anyone is interested in receiving it,
please contact me at: madbotyou@aol.com. It comes out approximately once
every two months (a little off in most cases).
Ken aka Sting
10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10
From: Madbotyou@aol.com
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 08:28:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Request for review
If anyone would be interested in doing a review of the VH-1 all-star jam
concert being broadcast on March 8, please contact me at:
madbotyou@aol.com.
It will appear in the March/April issue of Chronicles.
Ken aka Sting
11*11*11*11*11*11*11*11
From: "BobbieG."
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 08:19:17 -0700
Subject: And the winner is ...
In the tee-shirt vote, Smiley Face #1 in Blue won by a hair. Here's
the vote results:
Design 1 - 11
Design 6 - 8
Design 5 - 6
Design 4 - 2
Design 3 - 1
Design 2 - 0
Blue - 10
Red - 9
Green - 3
Purple - 1
Other colors received no votes.
To check out the designs again, look at the Web site at
http://www.azstarnet.com/~bobbieg/teeshirt.htm
I'll let you know asap what the price will be, so everyone can order
one.
Thanks to all who voted!
---
Bobbie (bobbieg@azstarnet.com)
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END OF SMILING PHASES, VOLUME 52
