Traffic – The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
While we’re on the subject of good album covers, that of Traffic’s 1971 album, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, continues to divide opinion on whether it’s a classic or not. I say it isn’t; everyone else says it is.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s quite poor, faintly reminiscent of The Who’s Tommy, and possibly designed as a portent to what lies within.
Nevertheless, Rolling Stone would list Tony Wright’s artwork as one of their “100 Greatest Album Covers”, but what do they know? Then again, what do I know? Very little, obviously. That’s why I’m sat here writing this barely coherent nonsense for free.
But enough of that. This isn’t Record Cover Weekly. We already have a long-forgotten “Cover of the Week” section dedicated to taking the piss out of album covers. Maybe, one day, HFoS will appear on a website dedicated to taking the piss out of ropey blogs. Then we truly have arrived.
But as I said, the design is possibly a warning to the unwary of the shades of grey that reside on the fourth official studio album of, erstwhile songwriter of this parish, Steve Winwood’s Traffic. Following on from the magnificence of 1967′s Mr. Fantasy, 1968′s near-perfect Traffic, and 1970′s patchy, yet still pleasing John Barleycorn Must Die, 1971′s jaunt into the realms of prog and jazz fusion comes as something of a disappointment.
“… The music lacks in drive, excitement and just about everything good music should have…” So said the January 1972 issue of Beat Instrumental, and it’s a criticism I find hard to criticise. Those fourteen words sum up this dose of rush-hour heavy congestion somewhat perfectly.
The six original tracks (and single bonus track on the 2002 reissue) blend into one aimless amble through the tedious terrains of monotony meadow and vapidity valley. Achingly awful alliteration aside, there’s really very little I can recommend on this album.
It’s like one overlong jam session, at the start of which the engineer accidentally pressed record. Only the Jim Capaldi penned and sung ‘Light Up or Leave Me Alone’ threatens to get interesting, though the impact of this brief diversion from the otherwise indistinct is shortlived and inevitably dragged down by the company it keeps. The Low points of The Low Spark… happen to be everything else.
Even so, don’t take my word for it. If you’re into jazz then you’re probably onto a winner, as The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys follows that genre’s devilish template of abject boredom to the letter. That said, this tiresome exercise in jazz/folk-infused prog isn’t actually jazz, it just feels like it.
More constructive criticism, next time.
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys is reissued by Island Records and available from Amazon.co.uk
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