Steve Winwood - The Finer Things (4 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 

The Finer Things is a compilation album box set of recordings by Steve Winwood. It includes songs from his early days with The Spencer Davis Group through Traffic and Blind Faith and into his work during his solo career. 

Steve Winwood has led a long and varied career, recording everything from straight R&B and jazz-flavored rock to folk and pop. Over the course of four discs, The Finer Things chronicles the entirety of his career, beginning with the Spencer Davis Group, through Traffic and Blind Faith, right until his successful solo career. It includes all of the hits and many of his finest album tracks, yet the overall approach is rather exhausting -- the rarities are rarely illuminating, they're just there for the sake of being there. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile purchase for anyone wanting a comprehensive picture of Winwood in all of his various guises. 

Dave Mason discography [FLAC + 320]

 

David Thomas Mason (born May 10, 1946) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. In his long career, Mason has played and recorded with many of the era's most notable musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac and Cass Elliot. Mason's best known song is "Feelin' Alright", recorded by Traffic in 1968 and covered by dozens of artists, including Joe Cocker, who had a major hit with the song in 1969. For Traffic, he also wrote "Hole in My Shoe", a kind of psychedelic satire that became a classic in its own right. "We Just Disagree", Mason's 1977 solo hit written by Jim Krueger, has become a staple of Oldies and Adult Contemporary radio playlists.

Chris Wood - Evening Blue (4 CD, 2017) [FLAC]

  

Perhaps best known for co-founding Traffic with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason, Chris Wood was self taught on Saxophone and Flute although he was also an accomplished keyboards player and bass guitarist too. And a fine artist as well; from Stourbridge College of Art, Chris was accepted by the Royal Academy in 1965 where he ultimately faced the choice – music or art.

The 4 CDs included music drawn from Chris’s entire career with his solo recordings taking centre-stage. We also featured alternate takes and mixes as well as previously unheard compositions and never-before-heard home demos and other sketches.

Naturally, there was music from Traffic as well as recordings by Gordon Jackson, John Martyn, Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi, Bobby Whitlock, Airforce, Martha Velez, Nick Drake, Shawn Phillips and others.

Evening Blue also featured Chris’s previously unheard collaborative work with The Wailers’ keyboard player, Tyrone Downie as well as Rebop Kwaku Baah, Remi Kabaka, The Sky, Dr John & Jeanette Jacobs. Tracks from the only known-to-survive recordings by the short-lived Mason, Capaldi, Wood & Frog line-up were also included as was a brand new 2015 collaboration – Maps with Chris Wood.
 

Jim Capaldi - Dear Mr. Fantasy : The Jim Capaldi Story [4 CD, 2011]

 

The four-disc box set Dear Mr. Fantasy digs deep into Jim Capaldi’s legacy, providing a thorough overview of the musician best known as Steve Winwood’s sparring partner in Traffic. Appropriately, there is a hefty chunk of Traffic here along with a good sampling of his solo albums, plus a fair number of rarities ranging from his first group the Hellions to the pre-Traffic bands Revolution and Deep Feeling and a previously unreleased collaboration with George Harrison called “Love’s Got a Hold of Me.” It’s a generous set that will satisfy the devoted while providing several surprises to those who have looked no deeper than Traffic but were always curious about what else Capaldi had to offer.