The 1960s were an amazing time for the so-called popular music. New Orleans music took off as of the late 1950s and zoom-climbed for a while. Surf music was a sound and an idea that found its genius in Brian Wilson. Girl groups, Motown, Phil Spector. Then Kennedy got shot, and we all looked down at our shoes for a month or two.
The Beatles quickly reminded us that we enjoyed having fun, and the next five or six years were a period of profound changes and innovation in the music that the young people liked. The big labels were still signing and developing bands, we were all still buying records and listening to the radio, concerts were still rather intimate affairs. It was a great time to be a fan.
This song is from the first Traffic LP, released in December, 1967. We were familiar with Steve Winwood from the Spencer Davis Band, but when we first listened to this record it really put us back on our heels. It sounded fresh; it sounded like some new direction. That could still happen in the late 1960s.
You can complain about the new music if you wish. Me? I'm quitting while I'm ahead.
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