When the Eagle Flies

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When the Eagle Flies
File:TrafficWhentheEagleFlies.jpg
Studio album by Traffic
Released September 1974
Recorded July 1973 – June 1974
Genre Progressive rock
Length 39:45
Label Island
Producer Chris Blackwell
Traffic chronology
On the Road
(1973)On the Road1973		 When the Eagle Flies
(1974)		 Far from Home
(1994)Far from Home1994

When the Eagle Flies is the seventh studio album released by English rock band Traffic, in 1974. It was the final album released by the band until their 1994 reunion Far from Home. The album featured Jim Capaldi on drums, keyboards and vocals; Rosko Gee on bass guitar; Steve Winwood on guitar, keyboards, and vocals; and Chris Wood on flute and saxophone. (Percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah was fired prior to the album's completion, but his contributions are heard on two of its tracks.) The album uses a broader variety of keyboard instruments than previous Traffic albums, adding Moog to their repertoire.

When the Eagle Flies was the band's fourth consecutive studio album to reach the American Top Ten[1] and have gold album status. It was far less successful in the United Kingdom, where it entered the charts at number 31 only to drop off the following week.[2] Traffic toured to support the release, but they disbanded in the middle of the tour in 1974.

The Chris Wood composition "Moonchild Vulcan" was recorded for the album, but ultimately left out in favour of "Memories of a Rock N' Rolla".[3] The song was played on the supporting tour for the album, however, and a live recording by Traffic was later released on Wood's posthumous 2008 solo album Vulcan.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars [4]

Rolling Stone called the album uneven, saying that its bleak tone works superbly on "Graveyard People" and "Walking in the Wind", but elsewhere it often "turns anemic as a result of either a poorly conceived arrangement or inadequate production." However, they regarded the use of tighter and more concise songs as a promising change in direction for the band, and recommended the album based on the renewed strength of Winwood/Capaldi's songwriting and Winwood's work with the keyboards.[5] Allmusic's retrospective review asserted the opposite: that the album indulged in long and meandering instrumentation more than any other work by Traffic, with even the vocals doing no more than "improvising his melodies over the music, paying little heed to the meaning of the words".[4]

Track listing

All songs by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Something New" – 3:15
  2. "Dream Gerrard" (Steve Winwood, Vivian Stanshall) – 11:03
  3. "Graveyard People" – 6:05
  4. "Walking in the Wind" – 6:48
  5. "Memories of a Rock N' Rolla" – 4:50
  6. "Love" – 3:20
  7. "When the Eagle Flies" – 4:24

Personnel

Production notes:

  • Chris Blackwell – producer
  • Nobby Clark – engineer
  • Brian Humphries – engineer
  • Jeff Willens – mastering
  • Bill DeYoung – liner notes
  • Martin Hughes – cover design
  • Bill Levenson – reissue supervisor
  • Monique McGuffin – reissue production coordination
  • Vartan – reissue art director

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1974 UK Albums Chart 31[2]
Billboard Pop Albums 9[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Traffic in the USA Charts, Allmusic. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Traffic in the UK Charts, The Official Charts. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  3. ↑ Ropek, Dan (2008). In Vulcan (pp.4-10) [CD booklet]. Cherry Red Records Ltd.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 When the Eagle Flies at AllMusic
  5. ↑ Emerson, Ken. (November 7, 1974). Album review, Rolling Stone.
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