... LP, Vinyl record album

A great second step for the Spencer Davis Group – working here with Hammond player Eddie Hardin, who strongly steps in to replace the departed Steve Winwood! LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe our favorite album ever from Traffic – a set that has the group coming back together, after a fracture that took them in separate musical directions – reformed with a sound that's very different than before! The tracks are longer, and have more influences from both folk and jazz – a deeper sound and spirit, and one that also maybe reflects the loss of Dave Mason from the group! The trio really finds this amazing way forward, almost with some echoes of the hipper side of the Island Records underground – with Steve Winwood on vocals throughout, and on some mighty nice organ and piano – and Jim Capaldi on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on a variety of saxes, flute, and percussion. Titles include "Glad", "Freedom Rider", "Empty Pages", "Stranger To Himself", and "Every Mother's Son". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe our favorite album ever from Traffic – a set that has the group coming back together, after a fracture that took them in separate musical directions – reformed with a sound that's very different than before! The tracks are longer, and have more influences from both folk and jazz – a deeper sound and spirit, and one that also maybe reflects the loss of Dave Mason from the group! The trio really finds this amazing way forward, almost with some echoes of the hipper side of the Island Records underground – with Steve Winwood on vocals throughout, and on some mighty nice organ and piano – and Jim Capaldi on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on a variety of saxes, flute, and percussion. Titles include "Glad", "Freedom Rider", "Empty Pages", "Stranger To Himself", and "Every Mother's Son". CD

A huge album from Traffic – a set that was first given to the world in a strange-shaped cover – which seemed to grace countless record collections back in the 70s! The group is expanded to a sextet here – with bass from Rick Grech and percussion from Rebop Kwaku Baah – both of whom really flesh out the sound in wonderful ways – adding more bottom and heft to the musical ideas here from Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi, the latter of whom gets to shine on vocals on two tracks too! As usual, the reeds from Chris Wood really send the whole thing home – and titles include "Rock & Roll Stew", "Rainmaker", "Many A Mile To Freedom", "Hidden Treasure", and "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone". CD

A huge album from Traffic – a set that was first given to the world in a strange-shaped cover – which seemed to grace countless record collections back in the 70s! The group is expanded to a sextet here – with bass from Rick Grech and percussion from Rebop Kwaku Baah – both of whom really flesh out the sound in wonderful ways – adding more bottom and heft to the musical ideas here from Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi, the latter of whom gets to shine on vocals on two tracks too! As usual, the reeds from Chris Wood really send the whole thing home – and titles include "Rock & Roll Stew", "Rainmaker", "Many A Mile To Freedom", "Hidden Treasure", and "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge album from Traffic – a set that was first given to the world in a strange-shaped cover – which seemed to grace countless record collections back in the 70s! The group is expanded to a sextet here – with bass from Rick Grech and percussion from Rebop Kwaku Baah – both of whom really flesh out the sound in wonderful ways – adding more bottom and heft to the musical ideas here from Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi, the latter of whom gets to shine on vocals on two tracks too! As usual, the reeds from Chris Wood really send the whole thing home – and titles include "Rock & Roll Stew", "Rainmaker", "Many A Mile To Freedom", "Hidden Treasure", and "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge album from Traffic – a set that was first given to the world in a strange-shaped cover – which seemed to grace countless record collections back in the 70s! The group is expanded to a sextet here – with bass from Rick Grech and percussion from Rebop Kwaku Baah – both of whom really flesh out the sound in wonderful ways – adding more bottom and heft to the musical ideas here from Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi, the latter of whom gets to shine on vocals on two tracks too! As usual, the reeds from Chris Wood really send the whole thing home – and titles include "Rock & Roll Stew", "Rainmaker", "Many A Mile To Freedom", "Hidden Treasure", and "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone". CD

The incredible first album from Traffic – a record that was already way ahead of the pack, and would set the tone for so many other sounds and modes from others in years to come! At some level, the group were just coming off the big beat group years in the UK – that time of strong inspiration from American soul, jazz, and R&B – but they're already pushing all these elements in very different ways – certainly psychedelic, as you'd guess from the image on the cover – but also still holding onto a lot of the soul and jazz that first inspired them! To our ears, the reed work of Chris Woods is as important to the record as the Hammond from Steve Winwood, guitar from Dave Mason, and drums from Jim Capaldi – plus the vocals from all three – and in addition to the classic title cut "Mr Fantasy", other tunes include "Dealer", "House For Everyone", "Berkshire Poppies", "No Face No Name No Number", and "Coloured Rain". LP, Vinyl record album

Traffic get some help here from Muscle Shoals heavyweights Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, and Jimmy Johnson – a trio who help the group continue that richer, more expanded sound that was first unfurled on the group's Low Spark album! The sound is maybe a more focused attempt at territory from that record, but one that also really stretches things out too – long tracks that have just the right balance, and which never make the extra long space of the tunes feel like their wasted at all – just perfect settings for the energy of the tunes composed by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. Titles include "Roll Right Stones", "Tragic Magic", "Evening Blue", and "Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Traffic, and a set that forever cemented their legacy in the annals of modern music – a set that has Dave Mason returning to the group after a brief hiatus, and maybe helping the quartet find a tighter, rootsier sound overall! The approach here is nicely mixed – almost half Dave Mason moments, and half from the energy of Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood – held together wonderfully by the reed work of Chris Wood! There's a few key classics here, and lots more overlooked gems – and titles include "You Can All Join In", "Forty Thousand Headmen", "Pearly Queen", "Who Know What Tomorrow May Bring", and "Feelin' Alright". LP, Vinyl record album

The last album in a legendary run from Traffic – a set that has the team of Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi working with a really strong sense of focus – maybe in part because the group's winnowed down to a quartet, which leaves their contributions even more strongly in the lead! The great Chris Wood still brings in some nice sax and flute touches – but Steve's also really letting loose on keyboards, and not just organ and piano – taking the longer space of some tracks to bring in some mighty nice solo moments! Titles include the classic title cut "When The Eagle Flies" – plus "Dream Gerrard", "Graveyard People", "Love", "Walking In The Wind", and "Something New". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Gladys Knight, Steve Winwood, Lenny Kravitz, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, the Isley Brothers, Aretha Franklin, BB King, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins & more. (Note: This item is not for sale online until noon on Saturday, July 17. It is in limited supply – and by nature of the Record Store Day rules it will be offered for sale first to customers who visit the Dusty Groove retail outlet in Chicago the morning of Saturday, July 17. It will not be pre-sold or reserved in any way. However, after noon on July 17 we will offer up whatever we have left for sale online.) LP, Vinyl record album

A famous date that showcases the Chess Records influence on the sound of the Brit rock scene – one that has a number of key players "giving back" to the label, and working on a special date with Howlin Wolf! Wolf's rough vocals are in the lead on all tracks, and he also plays a bit of harmonica and guitar as well – and other artists include Steve Winwood on piano and organ, Eric Clapton on guitar, Bill Wyman on bass, and Charlie Watts on drums – all players who are respectful of the original bluesy sound of Chess, and who clearly dig the opportunity to show off their chops in the setting. Titles include "I Ain't Superstitious", "Poor Boy", "Do The Do", "Red Rooster", "Built For Comfort", "What A Woman", "Highway 49", "Who's Been Talking", and "Rocking Daddy". CD

One of the superest of the late 60s supergroups – with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech! Titles include "Had To Cry Today", "Presence Of The Lord", "Do What You Like", "Sea Of Joy", and "Well All Right". CD

The last album in a legendary run from Traffic – a set that has the team of Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi working with a really strong sense of focus – maybe in part because the group's winnowed down to a quartet, which leaves their contributions even more strongly in the lead! The great Chris Wood still brings in some nice sax and flute touches – but Steve's also really letting loose on keyboards, and not just organ and piano – taking the longer space of some tracks to bring in some mighty nice solo moments! Titles include the classic title cut "When The Eagle Flies" – plus "Dream Gerrard", "Graveyard People", "Love", "Walking In The Wind", and "Something New". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from the second chapter of The Spencer Davis Group – the time immediately after Steve Winwood left to form Traffic, and the combo stepped forward into some even headier music of their own! This period of the SDG isn't nearly as well known as their early hits – and the box set is a really surprising revelation overall – music that has some of the R&B currents of the earlier group, but which is also infused with a headier, trippier style too – not just in the instrumentation, but in the way the records are put together – with cool elements that space things out slightly, but never get too indulgent! The mix is a bit like that on the earliest work of The Move – or that shift that Small Faces were taking after moving to the Immediate label – and as with previous work from the Spencer Davis Group, there's as much great Hammond on the tunes as there is guitar, thanks to the talents of new member Eddie Hardin. Some of the best cuts almost hit a freakbeat mode – with a very cool mix of mod and psych – and the 3CD set features the full albums Funky and With Their New Face On – plus material from the Round The Mulberry Bush soundtrack, lots more singles, some BBC sessions, and even some alternate and unreleased tracks too. 68 tracks in all – titles that include "Letters From Edith", "Time Seller", "Taking Out Time", "After Tea", "Sanity Inspector", "What A Way To Die", "Firefly", "Magpie", "Groove Extra", "The Girls Song", "Don't Want You No More", "Der Wassermann", and "Picture Of Heaven". CD