After his adventure with the supergroup Blind Faith ended, Steve Winwood decided to create his first solo album, which was originally titled "Mad Shadows", but ultimately became Traffic's fifth album and, in the end, their masterpiece.
For this recording, Steve Winwood enlisted the help of his inseparable bandmates Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, Rick Grech, and Bill Graham almost the same musicians who had recorded the previous album, "Last Exit", with the exception of Dave Mason, who had left the band after that album.
In this new release, Traffic's characteristic psychedelic sound is still present, but here with a more progressive treatment, fusing elements of jazz, folk, and rock, as demonstrated in the irresistible "Glad" and "Freedom Rider" with their infectious rhythms. Separated by a brief interlude, these two tracks foreshadowed what they would later achieve with their next two albums, "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" (1971) and "Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory" (1973), brimming with instrumental interplay between the musicians and superbly executed music.
However, the true masterpiece of this album is the title track, "John Barleycorn", a moving and profoundly oppressive piece, featuring superb acoustic guitar parts interwoven with Wood's exciting flutes and Capaldi's magnificent percussion.
The rest follows the patterns of their previous works with that unmistakable Traffic psychedelic style, such as the solid “Empty Pages” or the melodic “Stranger To Yourself”.
