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Product Description
Review
Traffic’s fifth album, released in 1970, could just as easily have been titled Where Were We?
Steve Winwood, the mellifluous keyboardist and gravel-throated singer of this ensemble forged in the fires of psychedelia, had veered off into supergroup Blind Faith and a solo career but found them both dead ends. John Barleycorn Must Die started out as a solo Winwood work before he decided that what he actually wanted was to be back with his old Traffic colleagues Chris Wood (woodwind) and Jim Capaldi (drums), though not Dave Mason.
Guitarist and songwriter Mason had a difficult relationship with the group that had already seen him depart and return before their previous split and his chart-friendly fare like Hole in my Shoe, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Feelin’ Alright? were hardly going to fit in with the musical visions of a band about to unleash an LP containing just six tracks.
Opening an album with a near-seven-minute jazzy instrumental may sound about as listener-unfriendly as can be, but Glad is rather enjoyable. The percolating keyboards, smoky saxophone, fluttering flute and funky percussion set the tone for the record, as does the musicianship, whose impeccable quality doesn't prohibit grit.
In its length and swells and respites, Freedom Rider is more of the same, only with some soulful Winwood vocals. Empty Pages – relatively tight structure, relatively short playing time of under five minutes – is the closest thing to a pop track. Apart from the Winwood-written opener, John Barleycorn Must Die is the only cut that’s not a Winwood/Capaldi collaboration, being a centuries-old celebration of nature. It’s intriguing, even haunting in places, if overlong.
By the time we get to the closing seven-minute Every Mother's Son, though, we feel we’ve been here before and excellent musicianship is not quite enough to disguise the meandering and the marginal differentiation. It’s perhaps understandable that Mason was not part of the new Traffic, but the undeniable conclusion with which we are left is that his ability to write focused tunes and to know when the point has been made are the main things John Barleycorn Must Die lacks.
--Sean Egan
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Product Description
DELUXE EDITION : 2CD set. Digitally remastered in 2011! Watershed 1970 album from the UK outfit spearheaded by Steve Winwood, with 10 rare BONUS tracks of alternate versions and live recordings.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album found the Traffic trio of Winwood, Capaldi and Wood at their creative best and represents a peak in their musicianship as three players whose chemistry really found it's collective muse here post their initial disbandment. For me, not only is this one of the best albums of it's era but it's one of the best of any era.The re-mastering on the first disc of the original John Barleycorn album re-release does a great job of seperating the instruments and the clarity of Chris Wood's flute and sax and Steve Winwood's guitar, piano and organ work really does provide a new dimension for the stand out tracks within this fine album. It has always been a really innovative piece of work with Glad merging mellifluously into Freedom Rider as the opening two tracks but some of the bass muddiness on the original release has been overcome here particularly on Empty Pages and Every Mother's Son.Steve Winwood's virtuoso organ playing on the latter has never sounded better than it does here in a travel song that takes you on a real musical journey with lyrics that match the quality of musicianship "The back door to the universe, That old moon dust..." "Stranger to Himself" features excellent lead guitar work by SW which sounds better than ever. As for the title track itself, these three guys could be playing in your living room the sound is that good and it's a great version of the traditional English folk song with outstanding acoustic guitar and vocals from Steve and Jim Capaldi with flute work by Chris Wood that is quite exquisite.The Berkshire Downs and Cotswolds countryside permeates through the music as a tangible influence upon the sound created between the three players.
It's great to have the Traffic Live material from November 1970 on disc two,when Ric Grech joined the others having recently left Blind Faith along with Steve Winwood, although the sound quality here is not as sharp as the Studio re-master but that's probably to be expected from a concert that was recorded 40 years ago. Some good alternate versions & mix tracks accompanying the live material.
All in all an excellent package and a job well done here in this release. Cannot help but feel a tinge of sadness that Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi are no longer with us but that must be some jam they are playing up there bringing that high spark to the wild blue yonder.
It's great to have the Traffic Live material from November 1970 on disc two,when Ric Grech joined the others having recently left Blind Faith along with Steve Winwood, although the sound quality here is not as sharp as the Studio re-master but that's probably to be expected from a concert that was recorded 40 years ago. Some good alternate versions & mix tracks accompanying the live material.
All in all an excellent package and a job well done here in this release. Cannot help but feel a tinge of sadness that Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi are no longer with us but that must be some jam they are playing up there bringing that high spark to the wild blue yonder.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I got the original vinyl of this a couple of years ago and its good to hear that this Deluxe CD Edition tries hard to keep close to the warmth,rhythm and space of the original analogue sound, allowing the songs to breath and groove without any hint of digital compression.
So why only 4 stars then?
Well the problem is the second disc.
The various alternate takes are well worth a listen but at the expense of the full track listing from one of the 2 Fillmore East shows? I think not.
These shows are easily available and have superb sound quality -see Wolfgang's Vault to listen- and are always more interesting to fans than a slightly different take on familiar songs.Indeed,the improvisations and jams during Traffic live shows were surely one of the defining features of the band.
But yet again, unearthing rehearsals or alternate takes is the preferred option for the record company types who must source a lot of these so called "extras" e.g
the complete waste of space that the recent Rainbow and Queen re-issues represent.
This is much, much better than those but would have been perfect with a complete Fillmore Set!
So why only 4 stars then?
Well the problem is the second disc.
The various alternate takes are well worth a listen but at the expense of the full track listing from one of the 2 Fillmore East shows? I think not.
These shows are easily available and have superb sound quality -see Wolfgang's Vault to listen- and are always more interesting to fans than a slightly different take on familiar songs.Indeed,the improvisations and jams during Traffic live shows were surely one of the defining features of the band.
But yet again, unearthing rehearsals or alternate takes is the preferred option for the record company types who must source a lot of these so called "extras" e.g
the complete waste of space that the recent Rainbow and Queen re-issues represent.
This is much, much better than those but would have been perfect with a complete Fillmore Set!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I would hate myself if I would sound as someone who has the intention to let down this most excellent edition of so dear album to all of us. My comments regard the second disc i.e.. Fillmore East concert. The tape was in circulation among collectors for ages so a lot of Traffic fans knew it very well, including myself, and it was hard to imagine the reasons to exclude five tracks from the concert tape: Pearly Queen, Heaven Is In Your Mind, John Barleycorn, Means To An End and Dear Mr. Fantasy, all great performances. The whole concert lasts around 70 minutes, so it would fit the second disc, while the outtakes could fill the first disc that lasts mere 35 minutes. Something else bothers me even more: two live tracks were "shorten" about one minute each, in both cases some solos were cut short which is really a shame because I could not find the reason for that.
Again, I love Barleycorn-era Traffic and I would recommend everyone to treasure their every album, including this edition, but I could not help myself not to mention this.
Again, I love Barleycorn-era Traffic and I would recommend everyone to treasure their every album, including this edition, but I could not help myself not to mention this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Fairly Essential Album
I remember listening to this album in a record shop in Edinburgh in 1970 and not being convinced enough to buy it. Time has changed my opinion. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Colin Inverarity
Barleycorn mustn't die
Good to hear this again. Some regard it as Traffic's best but, personally I prefer the rawness of Mr Fantasy and the much overlooked second album. Read more
Published 11 months ago by C. R. Davis
A welcome improvement
I first purchased this album way back when it was first released. The music was excellent but you could not say the same about the pressings in Australia. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Gerard A. Murphy
Superb
Well anyone who loves this album obviously won`t be disappointed. What makes this DeLuxe Edition the business is that we have the LP on one disc & all of the extra tracks on disc... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. PJ Warren
Barleycorn Lives
This is a rather excellent remaster of "John Barleycorn Must Die". That's a rare thing in itself.
It is true that the CD2 doesn't really match the new clarity of this... Read more
It is true that the CD2 doesn't really match the new clarity of this... Read more
Published 13 months ago by JW
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