![]() The Second side of the album is less jazzy and I guess more rocky with “Stranger To Himself”, the pastoral acoustic folk of “John Barleycorn Must Die” a traditional English folk song which offers a nice break from the heavy jazz and R&B, and album closer the anthemic “Every Mother’s Son” with its swirling psychedelic organ solo and classic rock guitar riff. In order to get the jazz fusion style they were after, it is worth noting that this is not a guitar album by any means, with the music on the album very much based around piano, organ, flute, and sax, with guitar by in large playing a secondary role. Both of these tracks also contain Winwood’s amazingly superb Hammond organ and piano playing, something that is a definite highlight of the record and is the main driver behind a lot of the songs. ![]() ![]() The opening track “Glad” which is also an instrumental is a free jazz jam complete with sax flourishes and a jazzy piano riff, while “Freedom Rider” one of the standout tracks on the album is an intense fusion of R&B and jazz and features Chris Wood’s masterful flute playing. The jazz fusion sound the band was trying to create is best exemplified by the first two tracks on the record. ![]() Stylistically, John Barleycorn was a massive step away from their previous psychedelic pop sound towards a more jazz and R&B influenced sound, and as an album was one of the earlier examples of jazz fusion, also known as jazz-rock. But because of a burning desire to play with like-minded musicians, Winwood called on ex-Traffic members Jim Capaldi (drums/percussion) and Chris Wood (sax/flute) to work with him, and henceforth the project became a full-on Traffic reunion and album. Released in 1970, this album originally started as a Steve Winwood solo project as at this point Traffic was still disbanded after Winwood ended the group in order to form Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. ![]() Why? I don’t know as they not only had one of the best soul/R&B singers to ever come out of England in Steve Winwood but also released some damn fine albums of which John Barleycorn Must Die was one. Traffic was a band that flew under the radar during the late-60s and into the early-70s, and was not as big commercially speaking as some of their more famous contemporaries. ![]()
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