Traffic Sound

The first anthology from one of the most important South American bands of the 60's. These are the best recordings the band made from 1968 to 1971 for legendary labels Sono Radio and Mag. On Yellow Sea Years, the evolution of the band can be fully appreciated, with their roots in the acid blues-rock of Jimi, Cream or the Yardbirds, to a solid Latin-rock sound with psychedelic touches and immensely inspired folk.

Traffic Sound - Traffic Sound (1970) {Repsychled Records CD1005 rel 2009}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 191 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 71 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 35 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 2009 MaG / Repsychled Records | CD 1005
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Progressive Rock / Acid Rock

Peru's six-man psych-pop outfit Traffic Sound came up during a turbulent period for the South American country, the tentacles of the global counter-cultural and social revolutions that defined the 1960s affecting almost every facet of life in the mountainous province. Recorded in 1968, 'Traffic Sound' - or 'III' as it is sometimes to referred to - sports a kaleidoscopic brew of influences and styles, blending fuzzy rainy-day psychedelia, lysergic acid-rock and droplets of ethnic percussion into a richly-coloured album that proves more than a match for the era's better known American-and-English groups.

Traffic Sound - Virgin (1969) {Repsychled Records CD1004 rel 2009}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 210 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 77 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 20 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2009 MaG / Repsychled Records | CD 1004
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Progressive Rock / Acid Rock

Formed in 1968 by members of bands from Lima, Peru, such Los Hang Ten's and Los Mad's and other musicians, Traffic Sound started as a covers band playing songs by The Doors, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Their influences came from England and the U.S., and apart from some bossa nova played at rehearsals, Latin music didn't feature in their repertoire. However, their origin and background could still be heard in their sound, something which they embraced even more after Santana's success. Their first LP with self-written songs, Virgin (1969), is a masterpiece of Latin rock.

A popular Peruvian rock group in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Traffic Sound had a very British-influenced early progressive rock sound along the lines of Traffic and (more distantly) Jethro Tull. These similarities were evident in the band's use of flute and saxes, all played by Jean Pierre Magnet, who could also play vibes and percussion. What is surprising is that Traffic Sound, unlike other South American groups of the period that only came to light in the Northern Hemisphere in the 1990s, do not sound exotic or primitive. They simply sound like an accomplished minor-league 1970 rock band with considerable progressive, psychedelic, and soul influences informing their original material.

It could be argued that, in its most basic form, Traffic was a vehicle for the songs of Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi, who wrote most of the material and on some tracks were the only musicians performing. But the question of whether Winwood and Capaldi could validly constitute Traffic by themselves was not addressed until 1994, 20 years after the group disbanded, when the two surprisingly announced they would be recording and touring under their old band name. The album they made together sounded for the most part like a Winwood solo album. He played most of the instruments and sang (Capaldi drummed and sang occasional backup vocals), and he didn't show much interest in the lengthy instrumental passages that characterized Traffic in its heyday…

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys marked the commercial and artistic apex of the second coming of Traffic, which had commenced in 1970 with John Barleycorn Must Die. The trio that made that album had been augmented by three others (Ric Grech, Jim Gordon, and "Reebop" Kwaku Baah) in the interim, though apparently the Low Spark sessions featured varying combinations of these musicians, plus some guests…