Jim Capaldi

Jim Capaldi - Poor Boy Blue - 2004 - SPV

Poor Boy Blue may have been Jim Capaldi's final album before his unfortunate passing from stomach cancer in early 2005, but it in no way sounds like a goodbye. Rather, this is an ebullient work by an obviously driven and inspired musician — a project of life, not a premonition of death — and a resoundingly uplifting experience for all of his fans who may arrive at it with a sad perspective. Therefore, the bluesy opening title track is hardly a woe-is-me proposition, but a tongue-in-cheek bit of good fun based on the always welcome "La Grange" template, and complete with hard-biting geetars, sticks-on-the-rim percussion, and only the Gibbons "haw-haw-haw" gone missing. It also has no similar follow-up in the remaining tracks, which surprisingly center around gleaming, '80s-flavored rock and pop exemplified by the smart dance-y synth pop of "Breathless," the AOR of "Secrets in the Dark" (which sounds like a lost Russ Ballard composition), and a number of love songs ("Edge of Love," "Bright Fighter," the ultra-saccharine ballad "California Sunset") of the sort that Capaldi's former Traffic colleague and fellow Hall of Famer Steve Winwood used to top the charts two decades earlier. Winwood, of course, guests here, as does Irish guitar giant Gary Moore (surely giving one of his most understated performances ever), a bevy of Capaldi's friendly luminaries, and even his brother on backing vocals. With or without them, though, it's Capaldi's spirit that defines this almost unerringly upbeat set, which only hints at sadness near the end with the brief, stripped down acoustic number "I've Been Changing," before closing on the upswing once again via "Now Is the Time." In conclusion, it's that personal spirit, not some of Poor Boy Blue admittedly dated musical formulas, that should get Capaldi fans and general classic rock enthusiasts alike curious to check out his vibrant and eclectic last album. © Eduardo Rivadavia, allmusic.com, http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:39fqxqysldde

Solo album from the late, great Jim Capaldi, the great drummer, singer, & songwriter who was a member of Traffic from 1967 to 1968, & from 1970 to 1974. There are guest appearances from Steve Winwood, Gary Moore, & Mick Dolan. It is by no means Jim Capaldi's strongest album, as it inclines more towards the AOR/pop side than Jim's more potent blues-rock sound. Nevertheless, the album is not overly commercial, and there are enough decent rock tunes here to make "Poor Boy Blue" an above average album. Buy Jim's classic "Short Cut Draw Blood" album, and Traffic's "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" is an eternal rock classic. If you are interested in other Jim Capaldi albums, please contact this blog

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

01. Poor Boy Blue - Capaldi, Bonas (4:40)
02. Edge Of Love - Leeson, Vale, Waters (3:52)
03. Into The Void - Capaldi (5:00)
04. Breathless - Capaldi, Vale (3:25)
05. Getting Stronger - Capaldi, Vale (4:24)
06. Secrets In The Dark - Jack Green (4:17)
07. Long Legs - Capaldi, Vale (3:35)
08. Scream It To The Dark - Jack Green (2:34)
09. California Sunset - Capaldi(4:03)
10. Bright Fighter - Capaldi (3:33)
11. I’ve Been Changing - Capaldi (1:46)
12. Now Is The Time - Capaldi, Santos (4:13)

MUSICIANS

Jim Capaldi - Drums, Vocals
Gary Moore, Sammy Mitchell, Michael Dolan, Peter Bonas - Guitar
Peter Vale - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Steve Winwood - Guitar, Synthesiser
Steve Kinch, Brent Forbes - Bass
Trevor Morais, Bryson Graham - Drums
Chris Parren - Piano, Synthesiser
Stevie Lange, Phil Capaldi - Backing Vocals



BIO (WIKI)

Nicola James "Jim" Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English musician and songwriter and a founding member of Traffic. He drummed with several famous singers and musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Alvin Lee, and Mylon LeFevre. Capaldi was born Nicola James Capaldi in Evesham, Worcestershire, England to Italian immigrant parents, Nick and Maria Capaldi. His younger brother Phil, born 1 February 1949, also plays the drums professionally as a full time member of "Joe Brown's Bruvvers". Jim Capaldi's musical career lasted more than four decades. He co-founded Traffic in Birmingham with Steve Winwood and the band's psychedelic rock was influential in Britain and the United States. Capaldi and Winwood wrote many of Traffic's major hits and most of the tracks on the band's ten albums. As a child Capaldi studied the piano and singing with his father, a music teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. In 1961 Capaldi played drums for the Worcester band The Sapphires and in 1963 he formed The Hellions with Dave Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm guitar. In August 1964, Tanya Day took The Hellions to the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany as her backing group. The Spencer Davis Group were staying at the same hotel as The Hellions and it was there that Steve Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason. Back in Worcester, The Hellions established themselves as busy professionals of sufficient repute to provide backing to visiting performers including Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky-A-Go-Go Club. In 1965 the band released three singles but none charted. Later that year John "Poli" Palmer joined the band on drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist. The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 in an attempt to reduce their costs but local tastes had changed and the band relaunched themselves as The Revolution with a fourth single that also failed to chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason with Luther Grosvenor and renamed the band Deep Feeling. They played gigs in Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country area where they developed a significant fanbase. Capaldi, Jackson and Palmer wrote original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions repertoire. They recorded several studio tracks which remained unreleased until 2009. Capaldi and the band played frequently in London and Jimi Hendrix played guitar with them at the Knuckles Club as an unknown musician. Back in Birmingham Capaldi would occasionally join his friends Mason, Winwood and Chris Wood for impromptu performances at The Elbow Room club on Aston High Street. Early in 1967 they formalised this arrangement by forming Traffic and the other members of Deep Feeling disbanded. In 1968, Capaldi, Winwood and Mason contributed backing music to a solo album by Gordon Jackson. The new band was signed by Island Records and rented a quiet cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire in order to write and rehearse new material. The cottage did not remain quiet and had frequent visitors including Eric Burdon, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend as well as Trevor Burton (of The Move) amongst many others. Capaldi wrote the lyrics for Traffic's first single "Paper Sun", which appeared in the UK singles chart at number 5 in summer 1967. Two more singles were released successfully in 1967 and in December the band released the album Mr. Fantasy, which demonstrated the individual talents of each member. Mason left the band soon after the album's release but returned the following May before finally leaving again in October. Winwood also left Traffic (to form Blind Faith) and the rest reluctantly concluded that the band was over. Capaldi now tried to form another band with Mason and Wood but the creative tensions that had caused Mason to leave Traffic remained and Wynder K. Frogg only lasted until March 1969. In January 1970 Capaldi and Wood joined Winwood in the studio to record Winwood's solo album. These sessions were so successful that the three of them reformed Traffic (without Mason) to release the album John Barleycorn Must Die. They then toured the UK and the U.S. with a band extended by several session musicians. Although the next Traffic albums were successful, Capaldi began to develop his solo career and released his first solo album Oh How We Danced in 1972. This set featured contributions from Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, Barry Beckett and Rebop Kwaku Baah as well as several members of Traffic. He followed this up with Whale Meat Again in 1974 before releasing what many consider to be his masterpiece, Short Cut Draw Blood, the following year. Full of tracks with lyrical bite, the album tackled issues such as the environment, government corruption and drugs. In October 1975 a single taken from the album, a cover version of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts", reached number four in the UK chart and charted worldwide. Capaldi's first and only solo Top 40 hit in the United States was from his 1982 album Fierce Heart, yielding the hit single "That's Love", which climbed to Number 28 in Billboard's Top 40 in the summer of 1983. The track was a simple arrangement with synthesized drums, electric guitar, and keyboards. Steve Winwood supplied the keyboards with his then-wife Nicole Winwood on background vocals. Capaldi was noted for the extent of his collaborations with other musicians. In 1973, he played drums at Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert and on some Clapton studio sessions. Jim Capaldi's success as a lyricist continued throughout his life. He was a five times winner of coveted BMI/Ascap Awards for the "most played compositions in America", and sales of songs written or co-written by him exceeded 25 million units. He numbered Bob Marley among his friends and they travelled together whilst Marley was writing the Catch A Fire album. Capaldi wrote the lyrics to "This Is Reggae Music". In the 1980s, Capaldi collaborated with Carlos Santana contributing songs and ideas to Santana's projects and in the 1990s he wrote the song "Love Will Keep Us Alive" for the Eagles' successful Hell Freezes Over album. His own 1988 album Some Come Running included Eric Clapton and George Harrison on the track "Oh Lord, Why Lord". In 1993, Traffic reformed (without Chris Wood, who died in 1983, and Dave Mason) and recorded a new album Far From Home and in 1994 Capaldi toured the U.S. and UK with the band. In 1998 he paired up again with Mason on an extensive American tour. He married Brazilian-born Aninha in 1975 and in 1976 toured with his band Space Cadets before moving to Brazil in 1977. His daughters Tabitha and Tallulah were born in 1977 and 1979, respectively. The Capaldis lived in the Bahia region of Brazil until the beginning of 1980 and while there he became heavily involved with environmental issues. The track "Favella Music" on his 1981 album Let The Thunder Cry arose from his love of Brazil and he worked with several Brazilian composers. In 2001, Capaldi's twelfth solo album Living On The Outside featured George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Gary Moore and Ian Paice. George Harrison played guitar on the track "Anna Julia", an English translation of a song by the Brazilian band Los Hermanos and Capaldi played at the Concert for George in 2002. Outside his music and his environmental activism, Capaldi also assisted his wife in her work with Jubilee Action to help Brazilian street children. He remained professionally active until his final illness prevented him from working on plans for a 2005 reunion tour of Traffic. He died of stomach cancer at 02:30 on 28 January 2005, aged 60. He is survived by his wife and daughters. Dear Mr Fantasy was a celebration of Jim Capaldi's life and music that took place at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London on Sunday, 21 January 2007. Guests included Gary Moore, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens, Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, his brother, Phil and many more. Dear Mr Fantasy featured the music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic. All profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal.