DAVID HOOD WITH TRAFFIC - KNOW YOUR BASS PLAYER

[Tom Semioli]

Traffic - Glad & Freedom Rider - Live 1973 [HQ Audio] On The Road Double live slabs are oft ponderous affairs, however to my ears, this terrific Traffic twofer with Muscle Shoals Swamper David Hood in the bass chair is indeed an exception. Waxed in Germany '73 – hence the "wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn" cover artwork – Hood along with polyrhythmic percussion purveyors Jim Capaldi, Rebop, and Roger Hawkins stir up a Bitches Brew brouhaha on super stretched out renditions of the studio originals. David is a master of the pocket – rendering subtle variations on what are essentially jam vamps tailored to the improvisational prowess of Messrs. Chris Wood, Steve Winwood, and second keys man Barry Beckett. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[jerry]

I got to see that version of Traffic on the same bill with a short lived reformed Free with Andy Fraser, two of my favorite bassist on the same bill.

 

[IamGroot]

Definitely swings more than the original cuts which were a bit dry with Rick Grech on John Barleycorn Must die. David Hood, Roger Hawkins plus horns....swamper territory.

The next album after Barleycorn was the The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Grech and Jim Gordon departed and were replaced by Hood and Hawkins.

 

[jerry]

Definitely swings more than the original cuts which were a bit dry with Rick Grech on John Barleycorn Must die. David Hood, Roger Hawkins plus horns....swamper territory.

The next album after Barleycorn was the The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Grech and Jim Gordon departed and were replaced by Hood and Hawkins.

I think Barleycorn was just Winwood playing bass.

 

[IamGroot]

I think Barleycorn was just Winwood playing bass.

Maybe, but Grech is credited.

 

[jerry]

Maybe, but Grech is credited.

Not on my album.

 

[IamGroot]

Not on my album.

On Wiki, it is.

 

[HaphAsSard]

On Wiki, it is.

Grech only plays on live bonus tracks included in some modern CD reissues: recorded at the Fillmore East and to be included in Live - November '70, eventually shelved in favour of Welcome to the Canteen.

John Barleycorn Must Die - Wikipedia
John Barleycorn Must Die - Wikipedia
Invalid Link Removed

 

[FirewalZ]

I saw this post and quickly pulled this up on Spotify....great playing and tone for sure.

 

[Badwater]

Muscle Shoals Rhythm section did a lot of the melodies and grooves for all the major hit makers back in the 60s and 70s. I'm always amazed to find them on great hits of the era.

 

[jerry]

Since we are talking about Traffic, I've always dug this song with Roscoe Gee on bass!

 

[mrmxyzptlk]

Just a minor quibble, but to me the studio version of "Glad" is such a classic, that it bugs me a bit to hear David Hood sustain the last note of the repeated ascending bass lick in the A section instead of cutting it short and letting the piano play in the clear. Also, the tempo is faster on the live version and sounds rushed, although that was almost certainly the decision of the principals in the band, not the Muscle Shoals guys. Be that as it may, the ringers are certainly very polished and professional throughout.

I did happen to see Traffic on this tour, but what I mostly remember about it is my friend and I trying to sneak from our nosebleed seats into better ones for most of the show.

 

[mrmxyzptlk]

I also want to note that I really like Winwood's bass playing on "Empty Pages." He's probably best known as a vocalist, then as a keyboardist, then as a guitarist, but nobody talks about his bass playing much. Sounds to me like he listened to his James Jamerson:

 

[IamGroot]

Listening to that again and thinking lots of Detroit Motown feel.

 

[brlottermann]

David Hood is the maaaan! Tone, feel, and taste for days.

 

[ezra1]

I always liked the Bass part on Medicated Goo.
Whoever was a monster.

 

[mrmxyzptlk]

I always liked the Bass part on Medicated Goo.
Whoever was a monster.

I think that's Winwood too. It's funny to me that when Traffic eventually hired a bassist for live gigs, the guy they got (Rick Grech, who played on the albums "Welcome to the Canteen" and "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys") was fairly nondescript and, in my opinion, not as good a bassist as Winwood.

 

[JimK]

Wow...interesting.
IIRC, Grech was one of those guys that got seemingly got the primo gigs (kinda like Jim Keltner).
Grech...Family, Traffic gig, Blind Faith gig, Clapton's return gig at the Rainbow.
My view of him way back when? A poor man's Jack Bruce.

 

[mrmxyzptlk]

IIRC, Grech was one of those guys that got seemingly got the primo gigs...

Grech did play violin too. Maybe that was a selling point for his services.

He was also known to have drug issues. It's certainly not unheard of for musicians to be hired wholly or in part because of social connections forged through getting high together, although one can only speculate whether that was a factor in Grech's string of high-profile gigs.

 

[emblymouse]

The bass in Empty Pages really caught my ear back then. I can hear a sense of the old bass pedals on a Hammond in the timbre. Musical kick drum as it were.