John Barleycorn Must Die!
	Produced by Chris Blackwell/Steve Winwood tracks 4/6 produced by Guy Stevens
	Released on July 1970
	UK CHART POSITION #5 . . . US CHART POSITION #11 . . . GOLD RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
UAS 5504 cover

J ohn Barleycorn had to die for Traffic to live. Originally conceived as a Steve Winwood solo album, the sessions evolved into a Traffic reunion when Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood offered to help. This marked a new chapter for the band, eschewing the psychedelic sound of earlier albums for an earthiness unique in the prog rock canon. Each of the six tracks on here creates a self-sustaining musical world where guitars, flutes, pianos and drums are woven together in soulful arrangements, suggesting what Simon & Garfunkel might have sounded like in the context of a jam band. Of course, John Barleycorn is a harder record to pin down than that, trying its hand at all manner of music. The opening “Glad” is an instrumental workout built around a jazz/soul melody from Winwood, “Empty Pages” looks forward to Winwood’s pop aspirations, “John Barleycorn” is pure folk music. Around these are the jazz/rock/soul songs written with Capaldi: “Freedom Rider,” “Every Mother’s Son” and “Stranger To Himself.” On these songs especially, Winwood creates the illusion of a full band by multitracking the instruments himself. Every time I listen to this album, I’m amazed all over again at the instrumental interaction on these songs; you’ll swear there was a five-piece band behind them. Together with The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, this represents the cream of Traffic’s musical crop. That album had a slicker feel (not to mention a few more players) whereas Barleycorn is more rustic in tone. They represent the twin towers of Traffic’s achievement, outstanding from beginning to end. If you enjoyed the brief Blind Faith experiment, then John Barleycorn Must Die! is a must own.

UAS 5504 inner gatefold	UAS 5504 original label	UAS 5504 reissue label

TRACK LISTING

1. GLAD    (Steve Winwood)    6:30
2. FREEDOM RIDER    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    6:02
3. EMPTY PAGES    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    4:45
4. STRANGER TO HIMSELF    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    4:05
5. JOHN BARLEYCORN    (trad. arr. by Steve Winwood)    6:20
6. EVERY MOTHERS SON    (Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi)    7:05
   
   CD reissue bonus tracks
   
7. I JUST WANT TO KNOW
8. SITTIN' HERE THINKIN' OF MY LOVE
9. BACKSTAGE & INTRODUCTION
10. WHO KNOWS WHAT TOMORROW MAY BRING (LIVE)
11. GLAD (LIVE)

CREDITS

JIM CAPALDI -- drums, percussion, vocals, tambourine
STEVE WINWOOD -- organ, piano, vocals, percussion, bass guitar, electric piano, acoustic guitar
CHRIS WOOD -- sax, flute, electric sax, percussion, organ
Brian Humphries -- engineer
Andrew Johns -- engineer
Richard Polak -- photography
Mike Sida -- album design

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