Album review : DEAR MR.FANTASY Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic (2CD+DVD remaster)

April 21st, 2025 by brianmc

Cherry Red [Release date : 25.04.25]

The only surprise with this Jim Capaldi tribute release is that it’s taken so long for any label to do him justice.

Cherry Red stepped in this year, and is to be commended for treating the source material with the respect it deserves.

This 2 CD and Blu-ray DVD release captures the live gig recorded at London’s iconic Roundhouse venue in 2007, memorialising the life and work of writer/ musician/ producer, Jim Capaldi.

Headline names abound.

Among others, Steve Winwood, Joe Walsh, Gary Moore, Pete Townshend, Simon Kirke and Paul Weller all pay tribute to Capaldi’s enduring legacy on these recently remastered recordings.

Few rock fans will be unaware that Capaldi played a key role in the formation of influential UK Rock band, Traffic. And indeed, its worldwide success.

His lyrics were charged with everyday irony, but unfolded with the ease of spoken language. “All” Winwood had to do was write a melody that matched. And he did, many times.

Their best known collaborations, ‘Paper Sun’, ‘Forty Thousand Headmen’ and of course ‘Dear MrFantasy’ are performed here, respectively, by Paul Weller, Joe Walsh and of course, Stevie Winwood.

Weller’s version emphasises the jazzier elements of the song to great effect, and Walsh’s distinctively careworn vocals illuminate a song that reflects the road he too travelled.

And further into the gig, Walsh and Winwood (understandably) continue to tune into Capaldi’s songwriting wavelength. Winwood gets the funk out of the humorous ‘Light Up Or Leave Me Alone’ and Walsh, as always, examines the music’s soulful side on an earnest rendering of the folk/rock song ‘John Barleycorn Must Die’.

They are not alone of course, and there isn’t a dud contribution on this double album. Capaldi is a musician whose life is truly worth celebrating in song, and that’s reflected here, big time.

An artist’s life and career can never truly be condensed and distilled into 100+ minutes, but this is probably as close as it gets.

It helps, at least in some small way that the Hi-resolution video and the the surround sound mix is good, way beyond the threshold of acceptability, providing the clarity and punch you get on only the up market gigs. As it should be. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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