Search - Traffic :: John Barleycorn Must Die (Mlps) (Shm)

The Backdoor to the Universe

Joseph Barbarie | new haven, CT | 10/09/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"From the ringing piano chords which open "Glad", to the keening Hammond organ of "Every Mother's Son," a mood of joy, or optimism, pervades this album. This is perhaps unique in the rock music of the time (late 60s and early 70s). We are told by rock historians that the time was a glum one in the "counter-culture" (the dominant one, actually). The "love era", typified by acts like the Byrds and the Beatles, was ending, to be supplanted by the gloomier, visceral sounds of glam, punk, and nascent heavy metal.



Steve Winwood and Traffic must not have gotten the bad news, as a celebratory mood pervades "John Barleycorn." The album's opener, "Glad," is an energetic sax-and-piano workout (with Winwood playing bass and piano on the track). The hero of "Freedom Rider," who seems to echo Peter Fonda's "Captain America" from "Easy Rider," is given a send-off that includes an extended solo for the Fender Rhodes. "Empty Pages" has a similarly easy, jammy feel.



Another unique aspect of the album is the approach to the recording itself. It has a very "natural" or "live" feel, as though the tracks are mostly one-offs. Every instrument is given a detailed image in the sound-picture, warts and all.



The mood of the album begins to slow somewhat for "Stranger To Himself" and "John Barleycorn." "Stranger to Himself" is perhaps the weakest number on the album (of particular note would be the nervous, stumbling guitar solo), both musically and lyrically. The latter song is a traditional English folk number, and rendered as soaring epic here -- Winwood's voice has rarely sounded clearer or better.



Rounding out the LP's second side is "Every Mother's Son", an extended modal jam on the Hammond organ framed by verses in a different key. Of note is Winwood's layers of piano in the rhythm section -- the resultant sound is unique.



No other band of this genre (The Grateful Dead, Santana, Little Feat, Allmans) was quite as effective from a timbral standpoint. Those other bands tend more to sound like one another than Traffic sounds like any of them.



There are perhaps two reasons for this -- Traffic's foregrounding of keyboard instruments above the normal electric guitar sound, and, in addition, its featuring of reeds. This sort of arrangement was unheard of other than, say, something like King Crimson, which was a different sort of animal, altogether."

A Classic by any other name

Sj Construction | Washington, DC | 01/14/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lots of reviews on this one so I wanted to add this is the best available sound quality I have found on a cd of this name to date. I of course have the previous Japanese release which while very good in fidelity as cd's go, does not possess the same level of detail and 'air' about it. Not that the difference is obvious, it is however significant to me on my speakers and headphones with careful listening. While I cannot say for sure it is the touted SHM coating and/or the mastering and/or just extra care in manufacturing, it is worth the additional cost over the regular cd if this is one of your favorites and/or if your a dedicated audiophile. (For me it is both a favorite vintage album and I am a dedicated audiophile)

Audiophile- Someone who is always searching for higher quality sound reproduction."