Traffic – Welcome To The Canteen

Welcome To The Canteen is the first live album by British band Traffic. It was recorded live at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon and at the Oz Benefit Concert, London, in July 1971 and released in September of that year. It was recorded during Dave Mason’s third stint with the band, which only lasted for six shows.

The tracklist includes one song each from Traffic’s first three albums, two songs from Mason’s first solo album, Alone Together, and “Gimme Some Lovin'” from Steve Winwood’s previous band, the Spencer Davis Group .

In the band’s home country of the UK, the album was an unexpected failure and the first in a series of albums by the group to fail to chart. In the US, however, it was a huge hit, reaching No. 26 on the charts and spawning the live single “Gimme Some Lovin'”, which reached No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Although billed as a Traffic album, it was originally released without the name “Traffic” credited instead to the seven individual musicians. However, the Traffic logo appeared on the LP’s back cover as it did on all of their albums.

The first half of Welcome To The Canteen, around 20 minutes, exceeds expectations. The band kicks off with high energy on “Medicated Goo”, which dates back to their Last Exit era. Mason then delivers the mellow “Sad And Deep As You” with acoustic guitar and flute backing his vocals, with the polite crowd looking more than happy to see him back in the fold. Next, Winwood delivers a six-minute “40,000 Headmen,” a gorgeous piece that creates a mysterious and undefined time and place.

Side one closes with “Should Not Have Took More Than You Gave,” the album’s most charged five-minute track. The song rocks with the band jumping into it beautifully, creating a perfect Traffic moment.

The second half of the album contains the tracks “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and “Gimme Some Lovin'”.

In his review for Rolling Stone, Ed Leimbacher felt that most of the songs were faithful reproductions of the original studio versions, but found the group’s performances really hit the spot. He was particularly impressed by “Dear Mr. Fantasy” calling it “eleven wonderful minutes of swirling and mixing sounds and fantastic creation with Winwood as thoughtful, as wistful, yet mournful as ever.” “Gimme Some Lovin'” on the other hand, describes it as an eternal nine-minute experience squeezed out of a three-minute single.

From this historic live album I select the track “Dear Mr. Fantasy”.

Tracklist

1. Medicated Goo 3:21
2. Sad And Deep As You 3:23
3. 40,000 Headmen 5:52
4. Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave 5:29
5. Dear Mr. Fantasy 10:32
6. Gimme Some Lovin’ 8:46