To employ an obvious anachronism, this is Traffic 2.0. The three core members (Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, and Jim Capaldi) restarted the band in the wake of the dissolution of Blind Faith (the same supergroup that killed off the original Traffic). The new Traffic, born out of a Steve Winwood solo project than "transformed" back into Traffic, featured an expanded lineup around the core three and sported a more laid-back jazzy sound than the old band.
Apparently the CD I have is all honked up and the track listing is wrong (only 1, 2, and 6 are in the correct place), but this doesn't necessarily require a certain sequence to be properly enjoyed. However, the CD isn't the special version, which includes a six-minute version of "Rock 'n Roll Stew", a minute-and-a-half more than the album version. While it was the title track that probably remains one of the best 10+ minute songs of the era, "Stew" drove me crazy for a period of time a few years ago, when I heard it playing in a casino in South Lake Tahoe and I could not for the life of me identify it (and I already had it!!). Needless to say, typing "gone gone gone" into a search engine will lead to some pretty crazy results. I felt so silly when I realized it was Traffic all along. One does not simply memorize 10,000 songs, however.
Aside from Winwood, every performer on this album is either dead or incarcerated. Unless you count Mike Kellie who played drums on "Rainmaker" and wasn't really part of the band, that's enough to make one think twice about have musicians having it easy!
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