Classics IV | Traces

“Anyone who doesn’t have a clear image of the Classics IV can be forgiven — they went through so many shifts in personnel and sound … they were little more than a name attached to some excellent (and very good-selling) records of the second half of the 1960s, without a personality or identity to grab onto easily,” (Tivo).

“They’re one of those bands that will never, ever get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” (BestClassicBands), “but we bet you fondly recall their three Top 10 hits—all logged within a period of less than a year and a half—and wouldn’t turn them off if they came on the radio right now … those soft-rock hits with the single-word titles—’Spooky,’ ‘Stormy,’ and ‘Traces’—were true classics of the late ’60s AM radio scene.”

Released in 1969, “Traces” was a single from an album of the same name. The track is full of jazz voicings and a surprisingly broad harmonic vocabulary, carried by gentle instrumentation (oboe, guitar, vibes, strings, an ambling bass line, and muted percussion); the vocal couldn’t be any more prominent in the mix. The track which likely launched 1,000 prom themes was also named part of BMI’s Top 100 Songs of the Century. The single hit #2 on both the US Pop and Easy Listening charts — certainly, one of the last of that category. The intro begins in B minor, but the emphasis flips over to D major for verse 1 (0:19). As the bridge ends at 1:55, there’s a shift upwards to Eb major. The track ends rather jarringly when an instrumental verse (2:31) withers on the vine with a fast fade midway through — likely an attempt to keep the single under three minutes in length.