While Jim Capaldi is not a household name (even here on ERV), he was an interesting and important figure in rock, especially during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Capaldi was born in Evesham, Worcestershire (this isn't important, but we liked it anyhow) and became involved in the lively London music scene during the 1960s. He eventually started jamming with Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, and Chris Wood and they formed the influential rock/jazz band Traffic in 1967.
One of our favorite facts about Traffic concerns the way they wrote their songs. Capaldi would write lyrics first and then Winwood would compose music that suited Capaldi's lyrics.
After Traffic broke up (for the second time in 1974), Capaldi married a Brazilian woman (Aninha Campos) and raised a family in Brazil, where he became interested in environmental and social issues (and Samba). Although Capaldi remained active in the industry, his only real solo success came from his 1983 Fierce Heart LP. That album hit #91 on the charts and generated two charting singles - "That's Love" (#28) and "Living on the Edge" (#75). In typical ERV form, we are opting for the lower charting song, primarily because we like it better. Additionally, it has a pretty far out there video with birds, motorcycles, and what appears to be some sort of Native American ceremony.
[Note that the MTV has the wrong album title on their credits - Rock Art and the X-Ray Style is a 1999 album by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.]
Jim Capaldi died from stomach cancer in 2005.
Any video filmed in a rock quarry has my vote. Love the guitarist with the bat wings too! I'm sure the drummer appreciated Jim's help.
ReplyDeleteWe agree with all of this, and yea, the vid is a bit nutty. FYI, Capaldi was a drummer by trade, so I suspect that whoever was in the band knew that Jim might get behind the kit from time to time (during a video shoot, for instance).
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