Last Great Traffic Jam

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
The Last Great Traffic Jam chronicles the band's first U.S. tour in two decades, supporting its 1994 reunion album Far From Home, during which the band played over five months to more than 500,000 people. As well as footage from many of the tour's most notable stops - Woodstock '94, 10 shows with the Grateful Dead - the DVD (PAL/Region 0) follows the band from New York to Los Angeles, and includes candid and intimate footage shot backstage, on the tour bus, at sound check and in formal interviews. In addition to such signature hits as Low Spark and John Barleycorn, The Last Great Traffic Jam features rare performances never before captured on film, including footage of the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia guesting on guitar during Dear Mr. Fantasy shot in July 1994 at Chicago's Soldier Field. *Please note that you will need an ALL Code DVD player to veiw. Epic. 2005.

Tracks:

Pearly Queen
Medicated Goo
Mozambique
40,000 Headmen
Glad
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
Walking In The Wind
The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
John Barleycorn (Must Die)
Dear Mr. Fantasy
Gimme Some Lovin'

Customer Reviews:

True Last Great.......2007-05-11

Unforgetable 1994 Traffic concert tour record and DVD.All musicians are at their best.I own over 200 dvd concerts but this one is one of the best in my collection.Highly recommended for all Traffic fans and old rockers.

Not all it could have been, but good anyway.......2006-12-29

It's about time there was an official live album documenting Traffic's reunion tour (of sorts) in 1994. While it's perhaps not all it could be, it is still worthwhile for any follower of Traffic or Steve Winwood.

On the downside:
- The DVD side of disc 2 is a highly unnecessary extra. Its main feature of interest is a lengthy interview with a very old-looking Winwood and Capaldi -- interspersed with some old pics and video clips -- but it's highly unrevealing. There is, understandably, quite a bit of emphasis on the late Chris Wood (the old, amusing silent film clips of whom are easily the most interesting thing about the whole DVD side). Other past members are not acknowledged whatsoever, except that some are seen briefly in pics from old album covers and Dave Mason is mentioned in passing twice.
- The album is just a little longer than what would fit on a single disc, which means these two discs have plenty of room left on them. How much trouble would it have been to include a few more songs (I know there were several others played on the tour), not to mention the full version of "Glad"/"Freedom Rider"?
- On "Light Up And Leave Me Alone" Capaldi's voice sounds terrible, and an audience-participation call-and-response is rendered nonsensical by our not being able to hear the audience.

Another complaint might be that the song selection heavily overlaps that of the previous Traffic live albums (WELCOME TO THE CANTEEN, ON THE ROAD). But Traffic is not one of those artists who put out multiple live versions that all sound just like the studio original (or even like each other). The seven "repeats" from prior live albums almost all improve on the earlier live versions without making them obsolete. Shoot, there have now been FOUR official live "Traffic" versions of "Glad" (one of which, released on a CD single, was actually from a Winwood solo tour) and they're all really different! This album's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" is how the song is SUPPOSED to sound live -- the ON THE ROAD version wasn't.

And it's about time there were official live versions of "Pearly Queen", "John Barleycorn", and something off of WHEN THE EAGLE FLIES ("Walking In The Wind"). Oddly there's only one FAR FROM HOME song represented, but that one ("Mozambique") is practically worth the price of admission in itself.

a traffic jam? a traffic jam that moves and moves and moves maybe..........2006-04-11

OH MY WHAT HAVE WE HERE?!!!! i have to admit I am only a technology novice, so this is a review just on the music: 10 stars. easily one of the best live jazz/blues/international/folk/jambandrock albums ever. very well played. This cd smokes. what a joy. wish I had scene this tour. Very magical music playing. the band is very good, everyone rips it up. crowd is into as well. you can tell this music was very much enjoyed by those present.

Great music, but could have been better.......2006-01-31

This is also available in DVD as a concert video. Both this CD and the DVD have some problems with the execution and mechanics. But, there is some great music here.

This is a 2 CD set. The first disc is a conventional CD and has six songs on it. The second disc is a CD on one side and DVD on the other. The CD side has five more songs on it. There is a warning that the CD might not play in your system. The CD sides play fine in any conventional CD player but may not work on a computer.

The DVD side has the same 11 songs as the CD's with enhanced sound. You can also play the music in 5.1. The sound is much better than the CD versions. There is no video to go along with the songs. It is just a still picture showing while the audio is playing.

The DVD contains a menu for song selection. But, you can only choose the first the 6 songs. The menu does not show the last five songs (I am guessing they meant to show the last 5 songs on another page, but forgot to include access to that page).

The DVD also contains an interview with Winwood and Capaldi about the concert tour.

On the CD's the track order is not what is listed on the cover.

The music is very good. Winwood is great on guitar and keyboards. Chris Wood died in 1983. He is replaced on sax and flute by Randall Bramblett, who is now guess starring with almost every jam band in existence, like Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers.

The total music time is 90 minutes. Song selection is good, but not perfect. I don't know why more music was included. Maybe they didn't have quality tapes for the other songs?

The biggest frustration is the treatment of Glad. On this product (both CD and DVD side) it fades out before going on to Freedom Rider. It is even worse on the DVD concert, where it is abruptly cut.

THE DVD CONCERT VERSION OF THIS MUSIC HAS ITS OWN PROBLEMS. This also sold as a DVD concert. The DVD comes with a worthless 15 minute bonus CD of Winwood playing around in the studio. The DVD does have concert video, so if you really want to see what they look like, playing the songs, then you might want to get the DVD concert. However, it is poorly produced, filmed and edited. Plus, it has annoying breaks between the songs showing behind the scenes footage.

It is hard to believe that a major record company would put out a product with so many problems. But then, Sony is the one that brought you the famous spyware that can leave you computer open to hackers. With the spyware incident and the mess with this product, Sony may surpass BMG as the worst major record company. You have to really careful what you buy from BMG. They constantly repackage old material and try to sell it as new.

Take This Highway!.......2005-12-19

Okay so the packaging and track listings etc are not perfect. And why did we wait ten years for this release? THIS IS A GREAT LIVE RECORDING OF A GREAT CLASSIC BAND. And with Wood and Capaldi gone, it is definitive. Best live they ever released? Maybe. More focused than CANTEEN, less rambling than ON THE ROAD. Choice of songs is perfect. The version of Dear Mr. Fantasy with Garcia is maybe not the strongest version of that tune released but mostly due to Garcia's meandering lead lines, Winwood is on fire throughout. If you have ever loved Traffic in any incarnation, do yourself the favor and take this highway into the traffic jam.

Average customer rating:

Last Great Traffic Jam

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000BFNYYS
Release Date: 2005-11-01

Album Description

The Last Great Traffic Jam chronicles the band's first U.S. tour in two decades, supporting its 1994 reunion album Far From Home, during which the band played over five months to more than 500,000 people. As well as footage from many of the tour's most notable stops - Woodstock '94, 10 shows with the Grateful Dead - the DVD (PAL/Region 0) follows the band from New York to Los Angeles, and includes candid and intimate footage shot backstage, on the tour bus, at sound check and in formal interviews. In addition to such signature hits as Low Spark and John Barleycorn, The Last Great Traffic Jam features rare performances never before captured on film, including footage of the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia guesting on guitar during Dear Mr. Fantasy shot in July 1994 at Chicago's Soldier Field. *Please note that you will need an ALL Code DVD player to veiw. Epic. 2005.

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