Traffic (ABC album)

Traffic is the first new album of original material released by English band ABC in eleven years. The album's songs were written whilst the band toured the United States in 2006. Critics have described the album as the most 'satisfying ABC album since the mid-'80s by far'.

Drummer David Palmer, who left the band in 1982 after recording The Lexicon of Love, returned to record this album, for which he co-wrote all of the tracks.

Gary Langan returned to mix the album after working as sound engineer on The Lexicon of Love and producing Beauty Stab.

Allmusic described Traffic as 'the album that ABC fans were probably hoping for in 1985' and considered that Fry's 'lyrical mastery was back in place' in the album's songs which showed 'an elegant mix of soul and style'.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Martin Fry, Chuck Kentis, and David Palmer.

Traffic (disambiguation)

Traffic is the flux or passage of motorized vehicles, unmotorized vehicles, and pedestrians on roads; or the commercial transport and exchange of goods; or the movement of passengers or people.

Traffic or trafficking may also refer to:

In transportation

In art, entertainment, and media

In film

In music

Traffic (Traffic album)

Traffic is the second studio album by the English rock band Traffic, released in 1968 on Island Records in the United Kingdom as ILP 981T (mono)/ILPS 9081T (stereo), and United Artists in the United States, as UAS 6676 (stereo). It peaked at number 9 in the UK albums chart and at number 17 on the Billboard 200. It was the last album recorded by the group before their initial breakup.

Background and content

In January 1968, after some initial success in Britain with their debut album Mr. Fantasy, Dave Mason had departed from the group. He produced the debut album by the group Family, containing in its ranks future Traffic bass player Ric Grech, while Traffic went on the road. In May, the band had invited Mason back to begin recording the new album.

Mason ended up writing and singing half of the songs on the album (including his biggest hit "Feelin' Alright?"), but making scant contribution to the songs written by Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood. His flair for pop melody had always been at odds with the others' jazz ambitions, evidenced by the dichotomy seen for the songs on this album, and by October he was again out of the band. He would return one more time for a tour and album in 1971 to run out the band's contract.

Icarus

In Greek mythology, Icarus (the Latin spelling, conventionally adopted in English; Ancient Greek: Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, Etruscan: Vikare) is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth. Often depicted in art, Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus's father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun, whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. This tragic theme of failure at the hands of hubris contains similarities to that of Phaëthon.

The Legend

Icarus' father Daedalus, a very talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman, built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete near his palace at Knossos to imprison the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster born of his wife and the Cretan bull. Minos imprisoned Daedalus himself in the labyrinth because he gave Minos's daughter, Ariadne, a clew (or ball of string) in order to help Theseus, the enemy of Minos, to survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.

Icarus (band)

Icarus are a band from London, England, who specialise in a kind of electronic drum and bass with elements of experimental jazz and rich instrumentation. Formed in 1993 by Ollie Bown and Sam Britton, the band's music has been described by Kieran Hebden as "really beautiful and also quite kind of evil". Hebden included an Icarus track, "Benevolent Incubator", on his Late Night Tales compilation, and Icarus also provided a remix of the Four Tet track "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth".

Icarus founded the independent label Not Applicable in 2002.

Discography

Albums

Roger Squires

Roger Squires, born 22 February 1932, in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, England, is a British crossword compiler, living in Ironbridge, Shropshire, who is best known for being the world's most prolific compiler. He compiles under the pseudonym Rufus in The Guardian, Dante in The Financial Times and is the Monday setter for the Daily Telegraph.

Early days, education, the military, and introduction to crosswords

In the Second World War, as a deck leader in the Sea Scouts, he acted as a messenger, helping to transfer the D-Day wounded and was a member of a Gang Show entertaining war workers in factories, as if they were not suffering enough. Squires was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School where he gained his School Certificate before joining the Royal Navy at age 15 as a Boy Seaman. He trained at the notorious HMS Ganges, where the lash was still in use, winning the award for the best all-round boy of the year, coming first in the Seamanship, Gunnery and School examinations and representing the ship at football and cricket. At 20, as the youngest ever Seaman Petty Officer, he became a Lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm and flew for 10 years from various carriers, visiting over 50 countries. He flew in several Squadrons, 703X test flying the new Gannet anti-submarine aircraft, various Flights of 849 AEW Squadron in Skyraiders and Gannets, and in 831 Radio Warfare Squadron as Senior Observer. His first published puzzle appeared in 1963, the year that he left the Navy, in the Wolverhampton Express & Star. The first national was the Radio Times, and in the same year he became a regular compiler with the Birmingham Post. He then started compiling for syndicates that supplied puzzles for newspapers in the UK and abroad, including Central Press Features, The Press Association, The Syndicate, First Features, Morley Adams, and Gemini Crosswords.