Tuesday 21 July 2020

Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)


The fourth album from this British band.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, tambourine, percussion, bass, wind, flute, saxophones, organ, electric piano, piano, guitars and vocals.
Two guest musician, including Bill Graham, contributed with guitars, bass and spoken vocals.

This is the comeback album from Traffic after the original members went to join Blind Faith and other bands. This was originally meant to be Steve Winwood's solo album too. But with three of the four original Traffic members doing the studio recording, it soon became clear it had to be a Traffic comeback album.

A good choice although Steve Winwood deserve a lot of credit in his own right.

Their mix of jazz and blues with folk rock really sets this album a part from most other albums in the scene. Traffic had their own style.

That is very much evident on this album which has some dark blues and some rather bright jazz. This in addition to some really traditional folk rock in Traffic's own take on folk rock.

The great title track is an old folk song and Traffic's version is a grower. The rest of the songs are more own stuff and very good indeed.

Steve Winwood and the other two does a very good job here with some very good songs. This is for me one of the better albums from this era.

3.5 points

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