The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

After John Barleycorn Must Die mutated by necessity from Steve Winwood solo project to inadvertent Traffic reunion, the Mk. II version of the Winwood/Jim Capaldi/Chris Wood braintrust doubled in size and grew even more in ambition with their ’71 follow-up. Leaning headlong into the jazz-rock tendencies that Winwood and Capaldi were increasingly eager to explore post-reconciliation, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys bolstered their rhythm section (Rick Grech on bass, Jim Gordon on drums, and Rebop Kwaku Baah on congas) to great effect. Sardonic-yet-catchy singles “Rock and Roll Stew” and “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” get good mileage out of their funkier tendencies, while the mellower moments — especially flute-laced tracks “Hidden Treasure” and “Many a Mile to Freedom” — are highlights of the band’s more nuanced integrations of both soul and folk. Yet the title cut towers above them all, a bitter yet solidarity-seeking epic of disillusionment where Winwood sounds almost as bewilderingly koan-spinning enigmatic on the endlessly wandering keys as he does with his mystifying words.