Dear Mr. Fantasy Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic [Live]

Dear Mr. Fantasy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Eagle Records
• ASIN: B000TE8BO4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,589 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #69 in Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative > Britpop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Even many Traffic fans probably aren't familiar with the extensive solo career of the band's cofounder Jim Capaldi. Therefore, this multi-artist, live tribute to the late singer/songwriter/drummer (also available on DVD), recorded in January 2007 in London, will be a revelation to many who only know his work in conjunction with Steve Winwood. About half of these 20 songs are selections from the late Capaldi's many solo releases, several of them relatively obscure. An all-star ensemble led by Winwood, Paul Weller, Joe Walsh, and Pete Townsend give the Traffic/Capaldi catalog a spin with impressive results. Although bandmate Dave Mason is conspicuous by his absence, the cast also features Bad Company's Simon Kirke, blues rocker Gary Moore, longtime Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, and Capaldi's brother Phil, all interpreting tunes Capaldi wrote or co-wrote. Aside from the Traffic material, he was best known for ballads such as the lovely "Lost Inside Your Love" (gracefully performed here by singer Stevie Lange) and the Eagles hit "Love Will Keep Us Alive," which closes the program on a melancholy note. Yet it's his bluesy midtempo rockers like "Whale Meat Again" (urged on by Kirke), "Pearly Queen" (Weller), and "Gifts of Unknown Things" (Phil Capaldi sounding eerily like his brother) that resonate with the greatest intensity. Yusuf Islam (a.k.a. Cat Stevens) makes a rare appearance (gliding into his "Wild World" during "Man with No Country"), and Pete Townshend also turns in an impassioned performance on this obviously heartfelt tribute to a sadly overlooked talent. --Hal Horowitz

Product Description

In January 2007 a fantastic line-up of guests gathered at the Roundhouse in London to pay tribute to the late Jim Capaldi of Traffic and to raise money for his children's charity The Landmark Trust. Old friends such as Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens), Pete Townshend of The Who, Joe Walsh of The Eagles, Jon Lord of Deep Purple, Gary Moore, Dennis Locorriere of Dr Hook and of course his Traffic colleague Steve Winwood, were joined by younger admirers such as Paul Weller and The Storys to perform their favorite Traffic and Jim Capaldi tracks in front of a sell out audience. The evening was hosted by broadcasting legend "Whispering" Bob Harris.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC, July 3, 2009

By 

EL - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear Mr. Fantasy Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic (Audio CD)

This 2-CD set is a fantastic auditory experience, thanks in part to the wonderfully rich acoustics of the Roadhouse. Jim Capaldi's peers and admirers provide a musical tribute that feels almost more like a journey. From Paul Weller's lilting and melodic opener, "Paper Sun," to Dennis Locorriere's magical and bassy "Elixir of Life," to brother Phil's "Gifts of Unknown Things," and many, many more tracks, this wonderfully captured concert is a real turn-on. You'll want to replay it over and over again.

An amazing congregation of artists touchingly perform here an exquisite set of classic (and lesser known) songs. Although Joe Walsh sounds somewhat aged, his emotions are heartfelt; Steve Winwood, on the other hand, sounds the same as ever, particularly on "Light up or Leave Me Alone." Yusuf Islam's performance, although beautiful vocally, is perhaps the least polished (in all fairness he had only recently dipped his toe back into pop performing), yet his appearance is nonetheless unparalleled. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this CD (and concert) is the simultaneous appearance of my two favourite artists: Yusuf Islam and Pete Townshend. I've closely followed the careers of both for years and to my knowledge this is the ONLY instance (venue, recording, published work, or otherwise), where the two have EVER appeared together, despite often being linked to mutual colleagues. So that makes the concert particularly special to me. Pete Townshend's "No Face, No Name, No Number" is tear-jerkingly beautiful and perhaps the most acoustic and barest performance of the evening. Yusuf's pick, "Man with No Country," (which he embellishes with bars of "Wild World") seems as much a reflection of his own life. Instrumentally this entire concert is delectable: the bass is rousing, the keyboards are cool, the horns are groovy; everyone's voices are great to hear, too.

The CD booklet contains tributary remarks by the performers, each memorializing Jim Capaldi in his own way; these are comments you won't read anywhere else. But they all agree that Jim was a gentle, rare, and gifted musical soul. This concert did him justice in much the same way that the Concert for George (Harrison) honored him. This CD is a worthy substitute for a concert many of us did not have the good fortune to attend.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun little concert, but things slow down on the second CD, March 30, 2011

By 

kireviewer (Sunnyvale, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dear Mr. Fantasy Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic (Audio CD)

This CD set is about 110 minutes long. The sound quality is pretty good, with little annoying audience noise. It comes with a nice 16 page booklet with printing that is too small to read. The concert video is available in DVD.

This is one of those fun and interesting one off projects. There is a backup band hosting a number of guest stars (you can read who above).

The backup band is excellent, which is unexpected for a house band. In many cases the band members are much better than the guest stars. The drumming, flute and sax and guitar are all very good. Especially good is the keyboardist.

Many of the guest star performances are not that good. Joe Walsh is out of place singing the two songs we does, Forty Thousand Headman and John Barleycorn Must Die. I don't know why they didn't have him sing Light Up or Leave Me Alone...that would have been the perfect song for him. And I don't know why John Barleycorn was even included. It is an old English folk song and it was sung mostly by Steve Windwood in Traffic and what was originally supposed to be a Winwood solo album.

I don't think that Cat Stevens' song is anything special. Jon Lord, a founding member and ex-keyboardist of Deep Purple, is almost unnoticeable on the songs he plays on.

Paul Weller, and of course, Steve Windwood really shine on the songs they do. I don't know much about Weller, but I was impressed with his guitar playing and vocals.

The concert starts out strong and is very good through most of the first CD. Things start to drag a little on a few of the songs on the second CD. But, there is nothing bad and it is a fun CD to have.

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dear Mr Fantasy a tribute to Jim Capaldi, September 4, 2007

By 

Jeffrey C. Maggio - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear Mr. Fantasy Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic (Audio CD)

If you enjoyed the group Traffic this is a must CD to purchase Jim Capaldi was a genius.