John Barleycorn Must Die
Encyclopedia
John Barleycorn Must Die is the fourth album
by the English
rock band
Traffic
, released in 1970
, on Island Records
in the United Kingdom
, and United Artists
in the United States
, catalogue UAS 5504. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200
, their highest charting album in the US, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA. In addition, the single "Empty Pages" spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100
, peaking at number 74. The album was marginally less successful in the UK, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart
.
, Traffic disbanded, guitarist Dave Mason
having left the group for the second time prior to the completion of the Traffic album. In 1969
, Steve Winwood
joined the supergroup Blind Faith
, while drummer and lyricist Jim Capaldi
and woodwinds player Chris Wood
turned to session work
, Wood also joining Blind Faith's drummer Ginger Baker
in his post-Blind Faith group Ginger Baker's Air Force
for their first album.
In the beginning of 1970
, after the demise of Blind Faith, the band having lasted barely six months, Winwood returned to the studio ostensibly to make his first solo album, originally to be titled Mad Shadows. He recorded two tracks with producer Guy Stevens
, "Stranger to Himself" and "Every Mother's Son", but yearned for like-minded musicians to accompany. Inviting Wood and Capaldi to join him, Winwood's solo album became the reunion of Traffic, and a re-launch of the band's career.
As did most of their albums, it featured influences from jazz
and blues
, but the version of the traditional English folk tune "John Barleycorn
" also showed the musicians attending to the same strains of folk baroque
and electric folk
as contemporary British bands The Pentangle
and Fairport Convention
.
It was reissued for compact disc
in the UK on November 1, 1999, with five bonus tracks, including three recorded in concert from the Fillmore East
in New York City
. In the US, the remastered reissue of February 27, 2001 included only the two studio bonus tracks.
Steve Winwood oversaw a deluxe edition version that was released on March 15, 2011, featuring the original studio album, digitally remastered on disc one, plus a second disc of bonus material including more of the Fillmore East concert with alternate mixes and versions of album tracks.
release of the album had the front cover design on a background consisting of a photograph of burlap
. Later LP copies had the design on a grey background. The cover is displayed prominently during a party scene in the 1971 movie by Dario Argento
, 4 Mosche di Velluto Grigio
.
's brief review dismissed the album for lacking Dave Mason, who he saw as the only member of the group with any talent.
, the live tracks comprise what was to have been side one of a concert Traffic album, Live November 70 (ILPS 9142), presumably shelved in favor of Welcome to the Canteen
.
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
by the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, released in 1970
1970 in music
- Events :*January 3**Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees**Former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs....
, on Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, catalogue UAS 5504. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, their highest charting album in the US, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA. In addition, the single "Empty Pages" spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, peaking at number 74. The album was marginally less successful in the UK, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
.
Background and content
In late 19681968 in music
-Events:*January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.*January 6 – Gibson Guitar Corporation patents its Gibson Flying V electric guitar design....
, Traffic disbanded, guitarist Dave Mason
Dave Mason
David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
having left the group for the second time prior to the completion of the Traffic album. In 1969
1969 in music
-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...
, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
joined the supergroup Blind Faith
Blind Faith
Blind Faith were an English blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. The band, which was one of the first "super-groups", released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969...
, while drummer and lyricist Jim Capaldi
Jim Capaldi
Nicola James "Jim" Capaldi was an English musician and songwriter. His musical career lasted more than four decades. He co-founded Traffic in Birmingham with Steve Winwood, and the band's psychedelic rock was influential in Britain and the United States...
and woodwinds player Chris Wood
Chris Wood (rock musician)
Christopher Gordon Blandford 'Chris' Wood was a founding member of the English rock band Traffic, along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Dave Mason....
turned to session work
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, Wood also joining Blind Faith's drummer Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
in his post-Blind Faith group Ginger Baker's Air Force
Ginger Baker's Air Force
Ginger Baker's Air Force was a jazz-rock fusion band comprising Ginger Baker on drums, Steve Winwood on organ and vocals, Ric Grech on violin and bass, Jeanette Jacobs on vocals, Denny Laine on guitar and vocals, Phil Seamen on drums, Alan White on drums, Chris Wood on tenor sax and flute, Graham...
for their first album.
In the beginning of 1970
1970 in music
- Events :*January 3**Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees**Former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs....
, after the demise of Blind Faith, the band having lasted barely six months, Winwood returned to the studio ostensibly to make his first solo album, originally to be titled Mad Shadows. He recorded two tracks with producer Guy Stevens
Guy Stevens
Guy Stevens worked in a number of different roles in the British music industry including producer and manager. He gave the rock bands Procol Harum and Mott the Hoople their distinctive names....
, "Stranger to Himself" and "Every Mother's Son", but yearned for like-minded musicians to accompany. Inviting Wood and Capaldi to join him, Winwood's solo album became the reunion of Traffic, and a re-launch of the band's career.
As did most of their albums, it featured influences from jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, but the version of the traditional English folk tune "John Barleycorn
John Barleycorn
"John Barleycorn" is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky...
" also showed the musicians attending to the same strains of folk baroque
Folk baroque
Folk baroque or baroque guitar is the name given to a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British traditional music to produce a new and elaborate form of accompaniment...
and electric folk
Electric folk
Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...
as contemporary British bands The Pentangle
Pentangle (band)
Pentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
and Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
.
It was reissued for compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
in the UK on November 1, 1999, with five bonus tracks, including three recorded in concert from the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In the US, the remastered reissue of February 27, 2001 included only the two studio bonus tracks.
Steve Winwood oversaw a deluxe edition version that was released on March 15, 2011, featuring the original studio album, digitally remastered on disc one, plus a second disc of bonus material including more of the Fillmore East concert with alternate mixes and versions of album tracks.
Cover
The original LPLP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
release of the album had the front cover design on a background consisting of a photograph of burlap
Burlap
Hessian , or burlap in the US, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, or may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, and similar products...
. Later LP copies had the design on a grey background. The cover is displayed prominently during a party scene in the 1971 movie by Dario Argento
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
, 4 Mosche di Velluto Grigio
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Four Flies on Grey Velvet is a 1971 Italian mystery thriller film, directed by Dario Argento. The screenplay is also by Argento, from a story by him, Luigi Cozzi, Mario Foglietti and Bryan Edgar Wallace .-Plot:...
.
Reception
Retrospective reviews of the album have been mixed to negative. Allmusic criticized the vocal sections as "excuses for Winwood to exercise his expressive voice as punctuation to the extended instrumental sections", but made note of how the album took the band's jazz/rock leanings beyond mere jamming. Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
's brief review dismissed the album for lacking Dave Mason, who he saw as the only member of the group with any talent.
Side one
- "GladGlad (song)"Glad" is a song composed by Steve Winwood and performed by Traffic. It is the opening track on the band's fourth album, John Barleycorn Must Die, which was released in 1970. It is an instrumental running 6 minutes, 59 seconds and is heavily influenced by jazz, especially in its instrumentation and...
" (Winwood) 6:32- Steve WinwoodSteve WinwoodStephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
- Hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, percussion; Chris WoodChris Wood (rock musician)Christopher Gordon Blandford 'Chris' Wood was a founding member of the English rock band Traffic, along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Dave Mason....
- saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, percussion; Jim CapaldiJim CapaldiNicola James "Jim" Capaldi was an English musician and songwriter. His musical career lasted more than four decades. He co-founded Traffic in Birmingham with Steve Winwood, and the band's psychedelic rock was influential in Britain and the United States...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion
- Steve Winwood
- "Freedom Rider" (Winwood/Capaldi) 6:20
- Winwood - vocals, Hammond organ, piano, bass, percussion; Wood - saxophone, flute, percussion; Capaldi - drums, percussion
- "Empty Pages" (Winwood/Capaldi) 4:47
- Winwood - vocals, Hammond organ, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, bass; Wood - Hammond organ; Capaldi - drums, percussion
- Winwood - vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano
Side two
- "Stranger To Himself" (Winwood/Capaldi) 4:02
- Winwood - vocals, piano, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, bass, drums; Capaldi - vocals
- Winwood - vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
- "John BarleycornJohn Barleycorn"John Barleycorn" is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky...
" (traditional-arr. Winwood) 6:20- Winwood - vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, piano; Wood - flute, percussion; Capaldi - vocals, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
- Winwood - vocals, guitar
- "Every Mother's Son" (Winwood/Capaldi) 7:05
- Winwood - vocals, Hammond organ, piano, bass, electric guitar; Capaldi - drums
1999 reissue track listing
Studio bonus tracks (4 & 8) appear to be demos left over from when Winwood was still planning to make this a solo album. Recorded on November 18 at the Fillmore EastFillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
, the live tracks comprise what was to have been side one of a concert Traffic album, Live November 70 (ILPS 9142), presumably shelved in favor of Welcome to the Canteen
Welcome to the Canteen
Welcome to the Canteen is the fifth album by English rock band Traffic. It was recorded live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon and the Oz Benefit Concert, London, July 1971 and released in September of that year...
.
- "Glad" (Winwood) 6:59
- "Freedom Rider" (Capaldi/Winwood) 5:30
- "Empty Pages" (Capaldi/Winwood) 4:34
- "I Just Want You to Know" (Capaldi/Winwood) 1:30
- Winwood - vocals, instruments
- "Stranger to Himself" (Capaldi/Winwood) 3:57
- "John Barleycorn" (Traditional/Winwood) 6:27
- "Every Mother's Son" (Capaldi/Winwood) 7:08
- "Sittin' Here Thinkin' of My Love" (Capaldi/Winwood) 3:33
- Winwood - vocals, instruments
- "Backstage and Introduction (live)" (Capaldi/Winwood) 1:50
- Introduction by Bill GrahamBill Graham (promoter)Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
- Introduction by Bill Graham
- "Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring (live)" (Capaldi/Winwood/Wood) 6:56
- "Glad (live)" (Winwood) 11:29
- Tracks 10-11 Winwood - vocal, Hammond organ; Wood - saxophone, electric piano; Ric GrechRic GrechRichard Roman Grech was a British rock musician.-Career:Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in...
- bass, guitar; Capaldi - drums
- Tracks 10-11 Winwood - vocal, Hammond organ; Wood - saxophone, electric piano; Ric Grech
2011 Deluxe reissue Disc Two track listing
- "Stranger To Himself" (Alternative Mix) (Capaldi/Winwood) 4:09
- "John Barleycorn (Must Die)" (First Version) (Traditional/Winwood) 5:05
- "Every Mother's Son" (Alternative Mix) (Winwood/Capaldi) 7:03
- "Intro" 1:44
- "Medicated Goo" (Winwood, Miller) 4:17
- "Empty Pages" (Live) (Winwood/Capaldi) 4:47
- "40,000 Headmen" (Capaldi/Winwood) 4:30
- "Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring" (Capaldi/Winwood/Wood) 5:16
- "Every Mother's Son" (Live Version) (Winwood/Capaldi) 7:00
- "Glad" / "Freedom Rider" (Winwood)(Winwood/Capaldi) 14:30