Album: John Barleycorn Must Die
Artist: Traffic
Born: Aston, Birmingham
Released: July 1970
Genre: Prog Rock
Influenced: Jethro Tull, Paul Weller, XTC, Gomez
After Steve Winwood's prodigious success as the teenage lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group, he took a very new direction in 1967 with Traffic. Their first album, Mr Fantasy, is one of the notable British psychedelic releases of the late 60s, mixing Winwood's Brummy soul voice with the English music hall. Follow-up, the self-titled Traffic, was less consistent and the band split up in early 1969, allowing Winwood to play on Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland and join supergroup Blind Faith. John Barleycorn Must Die started out as a solo album for Winwood after Blind Faith's dissolution, but he soon found himself calling on his old Traffic bandmates (except Dave Mason) and these sessions morphed into a group effort. Despite the cover and title, the music cannot be classified as electric folk (title track aside) and was more likely an attempt by Island Records to associate the record with this emerging genre. That's not to say it's not a great album, but just that appearances can be misleading.
John Barleycorn (Must Die) is an amazing composition, updating an old English folk song about making beer with some modern touches, like the flute solo. Though the song would be one of my first selections on any electric folk playlist, nothing else on the album compares to it in terms of style. The mix of jazz, rock and folk, as well as the extended jams, give the album a progressive rock feel. Opener Glad is more like freeform jazz and has some brilliant playing, before it morphs into Freedom Rider, which again shows off Chris Wood's flute playing. My favourite track on side 1 is Empty Pages, which has some of the best songwriting on the album, as well as a great jazz piano solo and vocals from Winwood. Nothing really compares on side 2 (apart from the title track), but there's enough on this album to make it Traffic's most consistent effort and the most lasting legacy to their genuine talents.
After Steve Winwood's prodigious success as the teenage lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group, he took a very new direction in 1967 with Traffic. Their first album, Mr Fantasy, is one of the notable British psychedelic releases of the late 60s, mixing Winwood's Brummy soul voice with the English music hall. Follow-up, the self-titled Traffic, was less consistent and the band split up in early 1969, allowing Winwood to play on Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland and join supergroup Blind Faith. John Barleycorn Must Die started out as a solo album for Winwood after Blind Faith's dissolution, but he soon found himself calling on his old Traffic bandmates (except Dave Mason) and these sessions morphed into a group effort. Despite the cover and title, the music cannot be classified as electric folk (title track aside) and was more likely an attempt by Island Records to associate the record with this emerging genre. That's not to say it's not a great album, but just that appearances can be misleading.
John Barleycorn (Must Die) is an amazing composition, updating an old English folk song about making beer with some modern touches, like the flute solo. Though the song would be one of my first selections on any electric folk playlist, nothing else on the album compares to it in terms of style. The mix of jazz, rock and folk, as well as the extended jams, give the album a progressive rock feel. Opener Glad is more like freeform jazz and has some brilliant playing, before it morphs into Freedom Rider, which again shows off Chris Wood's flute playing. My favourite track on side 1 is Empty Pages, which has some of the best songwriting on the album, as well as a great jazz piano solo and vocals from Winwood. Nothing really compares on side 2 (apart from the title track), but there's enough on this album to make it Traffic's most consistent effort and the most lasting legacy to their genuine talents.
Comments