Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)

What began as a Steve Winwood solo album after the breakup of Blind Faith and Winwood's departure from Ginger Baker's Air Force became the reincarnation of his old band Traffic, one of the most acclaimed bands of the late sixties.  Traffic alumni Chris Wood (who also played in Baker's Air Force project) and Jim Capaldi had joined Winwood for his solo effort, but it was clear that contributions went beyond mere support.  The result, John Barleycorn Must Die, is astonishing.  

The new version of Traffic - without the guiding force of Dave Mason - goes farther than the psychedelic pop rooted in jazz and blues the band was known for.  On John Barleycorn Must Die, jazz structures become extremely predominant here, with elliptical passages gliding along piano and organ riffs and anchored by Capaldi's steady drums and dovetailing into elements of mystical English folk accentuated by Wood's subtle flute.  As much on brass as on reeds, Wood makes the music deeper, and even somewhat darker; the opening cut, the instrumental "Glad," is almost ironically titled, as Wood's brooding saxophone counters Winwood's bright keyboard work before it makes a transition to an even moodier fade-out.  The lyrical self-analysis of the desperate "Freedom Rider" and the heavy blues number "Stranger To Himself," with its biting, angular guitar, are given more force by Winwood's soulful vocals; left adrift by disarray of their recent history together and apart, the remaining members of Traffic are out to prove themselves anew, and their efforts show a determination and a refusal to be denied their due.  

Their determination comes through on their harrowing take on the English folk ballad "John Barleycorn," a parable of the manufacture of beer and whiskey imagining a crop of barley as a person suffering indignities and death and to be made into intoxicating liquors that suffuse humanity.  The song takes on a mystical tone with a sense of dread, as if Traffic were calling up ghosts of England's agrarian past.  At the time, bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span were tapping into the traditions of English folk and coming up with exciting music of great emotion, but here Traffic make a direct connection to England's musical heritage and connect it to the modern strife that by 1970 was quickly replacing sixties idealism.  

There are brighter moments on John Barleycorn Must Die, such as "Empty Pages," a rich jazz-rock ballad in which Winwood's narrator appreciates the comfort of a woman's love.  Also, the LP's closing cut, "Every Mother's Son," with its searing guitar and its gospel-inspired keyboards and Winwood's own spiritually infused vocal, envisions a positive future for humanity.  But "Every Mother's Son" also voices Traffic's eagerness to continue on as more seasoned and more musically savvy band going into the seventies.  With Mason on his own, Winwood, Capaldi and Wood are ready to carry on without fear.

And these three men made a solemn vow . . . Traffic would live.