Perfect douchebag drivel soundtrack for the fuzzy boot-scootin', White Claw guzzling suburbanite housewife set trying to recapture sorority glories. Or is that tryin' y'all?

By this time Traffic had become the art rock band fans apparently loved but critics detested. I'm not a huge fan, specifically because more than ever it's a record that sacrifices Winwood's strengths in favor of the overall band vision…and it's hard to make out what that vision could be. The gruff title track comes closest, with added emphasis from Rebop's congas, but after that it takes a downturn, scraping smooth jazz territory (Chris Wood's "Tragic Magic"). Then again, there's no big sea change from the previous record to this one, either, which means in reality it's just a touch worse.

This album (and probably a few others) are the reason why most critics hate Deep Purple. Other than the title track and maybe "No One Came" they don't even dare match the maelstrom energy of In Rock. Some tracks fumble around in search of good grooves or, even worse, were just half-baked ideas to begin with ("Anyone's Daughter", which ends prophetically with Gillian remarking "wot do ya think of that?"). The U.S. edition replaces "Demon's Eye" with the more front-heavy "Strange Kind of Woman". Even the cover is cringe. Overall, the more self-indulgent side of the group comes bubbling to the surface, and it's to their detriment - or at least that's what the critics would say. Still, there's some fun stuff to be heard - the title track is a great party-starter in the mold of "Speed King", but with impressive work behind the kit from Ian Paice. As a whole, it's worth hearing being in the middle of the group's two biggest successes.

The first few albums from Traffic which paired the songwriting partnership of Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi with Dave Mason dug heartily into the realms of FM-style art rock with pronounced psychedelic edges, much like their Island label mates (Spooky Tooth and Family). By the time the band made it to this album, Mason was long gone; replacing him were renowned session drummer Jim Gordon, bass player Rick Grech (Winwood's pal from Blind Faith), and African percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah. The big band concept had worked on the previous live record Welcome To The Canteen (cut with Mason) so it was carried over to the studio. The new sound was perfect…if you had time to kill, and no problem with a small batch of obscure melodies stretched to jam-band lengths. Oh yes - almost forgot - with Winwood playing only rhythm guitars, all the solos come from Chris Wood's banks of saxes/flutes or Stevie's weird-sounding jazz hall pianos and guitar-aping keyboards. It's hard to get a handle on this faux-intellectual claptrap and probably better to locate where the good grooves are, because from here on out the terms "Traffic album" and "unremarkable stretches" go hand-in-hand. It's their charm and curse.

Out of the three key pioneer groups for heavy rock Deep Purple's infamous Mark II lineup was the most balanced. While Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath had lead singers who posed as wronged lovers or even miscreant victims of society (especially in Ozzy's case), Ian Gillian had howls and pipes for days, and generally existed on equal footing with Blackmore and Lord. The group's move into arena rock was a mild stunner, but pulled off magnificently, even if the lot of critics took it as self-indulgent chest-thumping. Joke's on them! Up until that time, this may have been THE self-indulgent chest-thumping record to listen to! And it still holds up. I'm not sure - especially on the first side of the record, where you are greeted with three whopper tunes in a row ("Speed King", Bloodsucker", and the operatic-level "Child In Time") - the troika of Gillian, Blackmore, and Lord ever clicked this well in the studio again. Surefire must-hear album!