Cool Stuff

 

Dave Mason
It's Like You Never Left

 

Released 1973
Columbia Records

 

by Jim Esposito

I hear guys like John Mayer and Ed Sheeran, to me they sound like Fourth Generation Dave Mason. A forgotten artist, English guitarist, singer-songwriter Dave Mason was a founding member of Traffic, played lead guitar on their early records. He wrote “Feelin’ Alright?” on their second album, the eponymous Traffic, came out in 1968. Released as a single it didn’t fare well, but Joe Cocker covered the song for his debut With a Little Help from My Friends, and his version hit the charts. “Feelin’ Alright?” was subsequently recorded by a number of artists, among them: Three Dog Night, Gladys Knight, the Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes, Grand Funk Railroad, Little Milton and Craig Chaquico.

Mason was in and out of Traffic through the late Sixties into the early 70s. There’s a famous quote by Sam Goldwyn: “I was always an independent, even when...