But clearly Winwood, who could have had the pick of the litter, chose Wood, and were rewarded by his wonderful flourishes of sound as well as song-writing talents. Some might argue that Wood was just a supporting player in Winwood’s brilliant orbit, and that there were plenty of others who could have played the same role. It became the title song of their 1970 album, “John Barleycorn Must Die.” Fantasy.” Wood introduced the 17th century traditional song “John Barleycorn” to the band after hearing it on The Watersons album Frost and Fire. He also co-wrote several of Traffic’s best-known songs, including “Dear Mr.
In addition to sax and flute, Wood occasionally played keyboards, bass and added vocals. Meanwhile, on trivia corner: which band’s second album contained the contributions of a member who left, rejoined and left again all within the space of nine months? The answer was Traffic, whose self-titled sophomore release charted exactly 47 years ago, having come together just in time to capture the restless spirit of Dave Mason, during the few months in which he was back in the line-up before departing again (and then rejoining once more, for another short spell a few years later).Ĭhris Woo d, the wonderfully gifted flutist and sax player for Traffic, one of my favourite bands ever. The pinnacle of the band’s experimentation came in their 1970 record “John Barleycorn Must Die” and although they earned the respect of serious music fans, they’ve never been thought of in the same league as other psychedelic groups such as Cream, even though they arguably produced better music. The effect of this was the creation of one of the best jazz-rock fusions of the era and it wasn’t just a fad either, as Traffic found a way to bring the two genres together to write catchy hooks and inspired songs. Formed in 1967 in Birmingham, Traffic started out as a psychedelic outfit but soon expanded their sound with all sorts of instrumentation, including the Mellotron, harpischord, sitar, as well as brass sections. The Beatles get a lot of credit for their willingness to experiment with different instrumentation beyond the traditional guitar, bass, and drums rock trifecta, but fellow English rockers Traffic made the Fab Four look positively pedestrian by comparison when it came to infusing different styles of music. This is an extremely rare Traffic artifact from their classic era. As far as we know, there were never albums or test pressings of this release–only a very small number of this album cover. It is in near mint condition, with barely detectable staple holes in the four corners. We acquired it from an industry insider, who got it at the time from UA’s head of publicity. This is a fully fabricated album cover for the album something we’ve never seen before. An ultra rare album cover for the unreleased 1971 album “Live Traffic.” United Artists Records, Traffic’s US label, was planning to release a Traffic live album recorded at the Fillmore East on November 18th and 19th, 1970 (featuring the band’s new bassist, Blind Faith’s Ric Grech.)Įvidently United Artists greatly upset Steve Winwood and band manager Chris Blackwell by releasing a 2 LP Winwood career retrospective without their permission, and so this release was pulled at the last minute, amid rumours that the master tape had been “lost”. Introduction by concert promoter Bill Graham. This concert was broadcast on WNEW-FM in New York City. Live performance by Traffic at the Fillmore East on.
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