John Barleycorn Must Die | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 1970 | |||
Recorded | February–April 1970 | |||
Studio | Island and Olympic, London | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 35:06 | |||
Label |
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Producer | Chris Blackwell, Steve Winwood, Guy Stevens | |||
Traffic chronology | ||||
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Singles from John Barleycorn Must Die | ||||
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John Barleycorn Must Die is the fourth studio album by English rock band Traffic, released in 1970 as Island ILPS 9116 in the United Kingdom, United Artists UAS 5504 in the United States, and as Polydor 2334 013 in Canada. It marked the band's comeback after a brief disbandment, and peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, making it their highest-charting album in the US, [2] and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA. In addition, the single "Empty Pages" spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 74. [3] The album was marginally less successful in the UK, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. [4]
In late 1968, Traffic disbanded, with guitarist Dave Mason leaving the group for the second time prior to the completion of the Traffic album. In 1969, Steve Winwood joined the supergroup Blind Faith, while drummer and lyricist Jim Capaldi and woodwinds player Chris Wood turned to session work. Wood and Winwood also joined Blind Faith's drummer Ginger Baker in his post-Blind Faith group Ginger Baker's Air Force for their first album, Ginger Baker's Air Force (1970). [5]
At the beginning of 1970, after the demise of Blind Faith, Winwood returned to the studio ostensibly to make his first solo album, originally to be titled Mad Shadows. He recorded two tracks with producer Guy Stevens, "Stranger to Himself" and "Every Mother's Son", but yearned for like-minded musicians to accompany, inviting Wood and Capaldi to join him. Thus Winwood's erstwhile solo album became the reunion of Traffic (minus Dave Mason), and a re-launch of the band's career. [6] Mad Shadows would go on to be the title of Mott the Hoople's second album, also produced by Guy Stevens, and the new Winwood/Traffic album took its title from one of its tracks and became John Barleycorn Must Die.
The album featured influences from jazz and blues, but the version of the traditional English folk tune that provided the album's title, "John Barleycorn", also showed the musicians attending to a modern interpretation of traditional folk music in the vein of contemporary British bands Pentangle and Fairport Convention. Whereas previous Traffic albums had been dominated by more concise song structures, John Barleycorn saw the group develop into a looser, jam-oriented progressive rock and jazz fusion style, setting the tone for their subsequent output in the 1970s.
The album was reissued for compact disc in the UK on 1 November 1999, with five bonus tracks, including three recorded in concert from the Fillmore East in New York City. In the US, the remastered reissue of 27 February 2001 included only the two studio bonus tracks.
Steve Winwood oversaw a deluxe edition that was released on 15 March 2011, [7] featuring the original studio album, digitally remastered on disc one, plus a second disc of bonus material, including more of the Fillmore East concert, with alternate mixes and versions of album tracks.
The original LP release of the album had the front cover design on a background consisting of a photograph of burlap. Later LP copies had the design on a grey background. The cover is displayed prominently during a party scene in the 1971 movie by Dario Argento, Four Flies on Grey Velvet .
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [8] |
Christgau's Record Guide | C+ [9] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
Retrospective reviews of the album have been mixed. AllMusic criticised the vocal sections as "excuses for Winwood to exercise his expressive voice as punctuation to the extended instrumental sections", but made note of how the album took the band's jazz/rock leanings beyond mere jamming. [8] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said the departure of Mason hurt Traffic's songwriting on the album, leaving the band to depend on Winwood's "feckless improvised rock, or is it folksong-based jazz?" [9]
However, John Barleycorn Must Die was voted number 369 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). [11] It was also included in The MOJO Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time, which described it as "a magnificent album" that provided "a remarkable showcase" for Winwood's gifts. [12]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Personnel | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Glad" | Steve Winwood | Personnel:
| 6:59 |
2. | "Freedom Rider" | Winwood, Jim Capaldi | Personnel:
| 6:20 |
3. | "Empty Pages" | Winwood, Capaldi [nb 1] | Personnel:
| 4:47 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Personnel | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
4. | "Stranger to Himself" | Winwood, Capaldi | Personnel:
| 4:02 |
5. | "John Barleycorn (Must Die)" | traditional; arranged by Winwood | Personnel:
| 6:20 |
6. | "Every Mother's Son" | Winwood, Capaldi | Personnel:
| 7:05 |
Total length: | 35:06 |
Previously unreleased studio bonus tracks 4. ("I Just Want You To Know") and 8. ("Sittin' Here Thinkin' of My Love") are solo demos by Winwood. The live tracks, recorded on 18/19 November at the Fillmore East, comprise what was to have been side one of Live Traffic (ILPS 9142), presumably shelved in favor of Welcome to the Canteen .
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Personnel | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Glad" | Winwood | 6:59 | |
2. | "Freedom Rider" | Winwood, Capaldi | 5:30 | |
3. | "Empty Pages" | Winwood, Capaldi | 4:34 | |
4. | "I Just Want You to Know" | Winwood, Capaldi | Personnel:
| 1:30 |
5. | "Stranger to Himself" | Winwood, Capaldi | 3:57 | |
6. | "John Barleycorn" | traditional; arranged by Winwood | 6:27 | |
7. | "Every Mother's Son" | Winwood, Capaldi | 7:08 | |
8. | "Sittin' Here Thinkin' of My Love" | Winwood, Capaldi | Personnel:
| 3:33 |
9. | "Backstage and Introduction" (live; introduction by Bill Graham) | Winwood, Capaldi | 1:50 | |
10. | "Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring" (live) | Capaldi, Winwood, Chris Wood | Personnel:
| 6:56 |
11. | "Glad" (live) | Winwood | Personnel:
| 11:29 |
Island Records 314 548 541-2, also includes the previously unreleased tracks "I Just Want You to Know" and "Sittin' Here Thinkin' of My Love".
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Glad" | 6:57 |
2. | "Freedom Rider" | 5:29 |
3. | "Empty Pages" | 4:38 |
4. | "I Just Want You to Know" | 1:33 |
5. | "Stranger to Himself" | 3:57 |
6. | "John Barleycorn" | 6:26 |
7. | "Every Mother's Son" | 7:08 |
8. | "Sittin' Here Thinkin' of My Love" | 3:24 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stranger to Himself" (alternative mix) | Winwood, Capaldi | 4:09 |
2. | "John Barleycorn Must Die" (first version) | traditional; arranged by Winwood | 5:05 |
3. | "Every Mother's Son" (alternative mix) | Winwood, Capaldi | 7:03 |
4. | "Back Stage and Introduction" | 1:44 | |
5. | "Medicated Goo" (live) | Winwood, Jimmy Miller | 4:17 |
6. | "Empty Pages" (live) | Winwood, Capaldi | 4:47 |
7. | "Forty Thousand Headmen" (live) | Winwood, Capaldi | 4:30 |
8. | "Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring?" (live) | Winwood, Capaldi, Wood | 5:16 |
9. | "Every Mother's Song" (live) | Winwood, Capaldi | 7:00 |
10. | "Glad" / "Freedom Rider" (live) | Winwood / Winwood, Capaldi | 14:30 |
Tracks 4–10 recorded on 18–19 November 1970 at the Fillmore East.
Traffic
Chart (1970/71) | Peak position |
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Australia (Kent Music Report) [13] | 14 |
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) | 11 |
United States (Billboard 200) | 5 |
Traffic were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. They began as a psychedelic rock group and diversified their sound through the use of instruments such as keyboards, sitar, and various reed instruments, and by incorporating jazz and improvisational techniques in their music.
Blind Faith were an English supergroup that consisted of Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. They followed the success of each of the member's former bands, including Clapton and Baker's former group Cream and Winwood's former group Traffic, but they split after a few months, producing only one album and a three-month summer tour.
Stephen Lawrence Winwood is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist, prominent for his distinctive soulful high tenor voice, Winwood plays other instruments proficiently, including drums, mandolin, bass and saxophone.
Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording.
Traffic is the second studio album by the English rock band of the same name, released in 1968 on Island Records in the United Kingdom as ILPS 9081T (stereo), and United Artists in the United States, as UAS 6676 (stereo). The album peaked at number 9 in the UK Albums Chart and at number 17 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. It was the last album recorded by the group before their initial breakup.
Nicola James Capaldi was an English singer-songwriter and drummer. His musical career spanned more than four decades. He co-founded the progressive rock band Traffic in 1967 with Steve Winwood with whom he co-wrote the majority of the band's material. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a part of Traffic's original lineup.
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys is the fifth studio album by English rock band Traffic, released in 1971. The album was Traffic's most successful in the United States, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and becoming their only platinum-certified album there, indicating sales in excess of one million. However, it failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The album features the minor hit "Rock & Roll Stew" and the title track, which received heavy FM airplay.
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Christopher Gordon Blandford Wood was a British rock musician, best known as a founding member of the rock band Traffic, along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason.
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Santana is the third studio album by the American rock band Santana. The band's second self-titled album, it is often referred to as III or Santana III to distinguish it from the band's 1969 debut album. The album was also known as Man with an Outstretched Hand, after its album cover image. It was the third and last album by the Woodstock-era lineup, until their reunion on Santana IV in 2016. It was also considered by many to be the band's peak commercially and musically, as subsequent releases aimed towards more experimental jazz fusion and Latin music. The album also marked the addition of 16-year-old guitarist Neal Schon to the group.
Welcome to the Canteen is the first live album by English rock band Traffic. It was recorded live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon and the Oz Benefit Concert in the canteen of the Polytechnic of Central London London, on 3 July 1971 and released in September of that year. It was recorded during Dave Mason's third stint with the band, which lasted only six performances.
Last Exit is the third album release by English rock band Traffic. Released in May 1969, it is a collection of odds and ends packaged by Island Records after the initial breakup of the band. The first half of the album consists predominately of previously released A-sides and B-sides, while the second half were recordings taken from a March 1968 concert at the Fillmore Auditorium. The album reached number 19 in the American Billboard Top LPs chart.
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... and a more jam-based jazz-rock on the masterful (but not-proggy) John Barleycorn Must Die