I was looking forward to this & boy was I not disappointed. Tribute concerts can be patchy affairs in my experience, but this one celebrating the life & career of Jim is absolutely wonderful from beginning to end. As I’m sure most people know Jim Capaldi was the co-founder with Steve Winwood of Traffic in 1967. He was also a solo performer & collaborated with many other stellar musicians over his lifetime. Sadly Jim passed away far too early at the age of 60 in 2005 of stomach cancer. This new box set from Esoteric Records contains 2 Cd’s & 1 BluRay of the concert that was held at The Roundhouse in January 2007 as a tribute to Jim. With the proceeds going The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal. The 2 CD’s number 20 tracks between them, split roughly equally between Jim’s work with Traffic & his solo career. The 3rd disc in the package is a BluRay of the concert & as this contains the same 20 tracks (with a little extra) I decided to watch this & have the whole experience of sight & sound. The 2 CD’s are currently living in my car & probably will for some considerable time! A clearly excited and enthusiastic crowd are introduced to the evenings proceedings by the ever excellent Bob Harris who was serving as compere. Bob introduces the ‘house band’ for the night. And being perfectly honest of the musicians introduced I’ve only really aware of the excellent drummer Simon Kirke, co-founder of Bad Company, but no matter they are all clearly great musicians. After Bob’s introduction which includes Jim’s widow Aninha its time to open up with the first track. Fittingly its Traffic’s first outing with ‘Paper Sun’ sung by the evenings first guest in Paul Weller. He makes a pretty fair job of it too & we’re off to a good start. He’s followed by redoubtable session singer Stevie Lange who sings a storming version of ‘Lost Inside Your Love’ (a favourite of mine). When she’s completed her performance, one of the worlds greatest guitarists in the shape of the ever brilliant Joe Walsh treats us to some mesmerising guitar on ‘Living On The Outside’ where he makes that bluesy guitar wail & sing in fine fashion. Up next is Dennis Locorriere, best known as the voice of Dr Hook, a band I confess I’ve never been fond of. So it was a pleasant surprise to hear Dennis perform ‘Elixir of Life’ with such vigour reminding me of a more animated Joe Cocker, he’s also no slouch on the harmonica either, I shall give him more consideration in the future. One of Jim’s favourites is next with ‘Whale Meat Again’ sung by Simon Kirke on drums, I’m always impressed when drummers sing simultaneously. I can do one or the other (or though the ‘singing’ is debatable) but get lost doing both. There isn’t space for every track to be noted but other highlights of the first 10 songs are provided by Cat/Yusuf with ‘Man With No Country’ neatly dropping in a few bars of Wild World’ along the way. Joe Walsh is back for the classic ‘Forty Thousand Headmen’. The real surprise to me is when Steve Winwood comes on to perform Dear Mr Fantasy. I’m used to his excellence on the Hammond, or any keyboard, but was not ready for his blinding guitar work. I truly never knew he could play like that. See the video at the end of this review for the proof. The next 10 tracks kick off with the unmistakable blues guitar of Gary Moore & ‘Evil Love’ which is just sublime. Paul Weller is back following that with another personal favourite ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’ I’ve always loved that particular Traffic track. However whilst its a perfectly good version as Steve is at hand I must confess I was disappointed he wasn’t singing it, that would have been perfect. Other highlights come from Phil Capaldi, Jon Lord & Bill Wyman performing ‘Gifts of Unknown Things’. Joe Walsh again with ‘John Barleycorn Must Die’ simply bliss, & Pete Townshend who delivers an outstanding take on ‘No Face, No Name, No Number’ which I confess makes me a bit teary eyed. I don’t have room to name every track performed, but trust me at no time does the night flag. The whole evening is brought to a close with an ensemble rendering of one of Jim’s best ‘Love Will Keep Us Alive’ bringing the concert to a emotional close. I have only one or two tiny niggles, one I’ve already mentioned, regarding Steve singing ‘Mulberry Bush’. The other is that ‘Eve” one of my all time favourite records, & Jim’s debut solo single, didn’t feature in the concert, that would have made it total perfection for me. However, in conclusion, if you are a fan of Jim/Traffic treat yourself to this amazing concert, I promise you won’t regret it. The whole 3 Disc audio & visual quality is excellent, & the set comes in a sturdy clamshell box with an accompanying booklet, chock full of info & some great photo’s. Enjoy.
For more information go to https://www.cherryred.co.uk
Til next time….stay safe…take care….Colin 
