It is difficult to say that there is anything wrong with them or their two records, including their newest, other' than that. Every criterion you could think up, they meet—material, performance, creativity, vocals, production, mixing, etc., etc.—yet... Living in a cottage in Berkshire may be fun, but it hasn't done what 710 Ashbury did for the Grateful Dead nor what Big Pink did for the Band.

Their new record is a large improvement on their previous LP, the United States version of which you could fairly say was butchered by whoever handles those things at United Artists. (Having decided that they hold one of the potentially hottest acts in the new rock and roll scene, United Artists has put more of a push behind the new LP, and allowed for a nice eight-page insert in the package, but when it gets back down to it, here's what producer Jimmy Miller says in his liner notes to the LP: "And the UA man still thinks that some underground DJ should write the liner notes. It's all a shame!")

To the music: it's superb. Dave Mason is a top-notch rock and roll composer and the Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi team is equally good. Winwood and Capaldi have a perfect understanding of each other's groove, coming up with material on a level with the Young Rascal's best work. On top of this, they have stunning command of their instruments and voices and the capability of bringing it off in new and fresh ways.

"You Can All Join In" is one of those opening, get-in-the-groove, numbers. It's a fun, very bouncy, and yet a hard Dave Mason number—good tune, good lyrics. Steve's guitar playing is not worth noting for a technical exercise, but he has a superb gift of phrasing and understanding of notes. Mason brings a gift for a very hip naivete to his lyric and his melody. Doing the child-like approach in a very heavy musical setting is what gives this such power as a piece of material. "Pearly Queen," is a Steve Winwood showcase—he does practically everything except the drums, including bass, lead guitar, organ and vocals. "I brought a sequined suit from a pearly queen." Such English country mysterioso! Tremendously effective mixing in the two bridges, where the quick movement from channel to channel imitates the rhythms of the guitar, all of it ending up in the phantom middle speaker.

Their ability as musicians with any material is phenomenal. One mustn't overlook Chris Wood who is always drifting around somewhere in the middle or on the side with the best sax and flute to be heard in a contemporary rock and roll setting. In fact, Chris Wood is the only musician in the contemporary scene who has added a not-often-used instrument to the group effort in any consistently strong way.

The problem is that although they can each write material in the style of the others, they never form together a single performing and composing unit. Mason does his songs; Winwood does Winwood songs. The performance is Traffic; never the material.

What makes this especially sad is that we may never really hear or see what this combination is capable of. They'll break up first. What makes it so potentially good is that Mason is a gifted writer and Winwood demonstrates time and time again his agility and and ability with material that is not R&B in its inception or orientation. He is fully capable of bringing all the technique, style and energy he has learned from soul music to original material in another vein.

"Dear Mr. Fantasy" was an example of that; all the songs on this new LP ("40,000 Headmen" and "Pearly Queen") point in that direction. His piano and bass figures on "Vagabond Virgin" are excellent; the way Wood's doodling on the flute and Mason's Spanish rock rhythm fit right in is the new combination at work. Capaldi keeps time like Al Jackson.

After Traffic, in their full four man version, returned from their recent one-weekend tour of the States, Dave Mason left and the remaining three went right into the studios. Maybe this will be the answer.

Steve's vocal talent is, as always, overwhelming. He has matured, and his approach is no longer that of the 17-year-old Ray Charles, but his own powerfully realized original style, shifting easily and dramatically from the sing-songy slow material to the grooving uptempo passages, such as those on "40,000 Headmen." His vocal transmits the power of his message because he never really cuts loose when he gets into the fast stuff, always holding that edge of restraint on it so that the listener must propel himself forward.

I would like to hear Steve doing the vocal instead of Dave on Dave's song "Crying to Be Heard." It would have given it that last little push so that we would have a great whole Traffic piece. The refrains must have been unconsciously written for Steve: " 'Cause there's somebody crying to be heard, and there's also someone who hears every word." This would have been that new combination that would fulfill the promise of Traffic.

It would be pretty obvious and a bit too clever to say that Traffic is the R&B equivalent of the country & western oriented band from Big Pink, but check out the closing song, "Means to an End" and see if this isn't true.

Traffic is also one of the few rock and roll bands that integrates a jazz feeling into its texture, a far more basic level than the addition of wandering solos (which are, in the end, out of place in rock and roll, a strictly structured form). Check all the fills and intros (like in "No Time to Live") for that very ad-lib, spontaneous and relaxed feeling of much jazz playing.