Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Island)

This album started out, in the wake of Traffic's breakup in early 1969 and the brief existence of Blind Faith, as a Steve Winwood solo album. Really solo: Winwood, besides being a fine songwriter and possessing the most soulful vocal style of any Englishman in that era, was also more than capable of handling all the instrumental chores himself -- keyboards, guitar, bass guitar or organ pedals, and even drums.

But after laying down a few songs, he found that the sound he imagined required the contributions of fellow Traffic members Chris Wood (flute, saxophones, organ, percussion) and Jim Capaldi (drums, vocals). So they reunited with Winwood in the studio, resulting in the album being completed and released as by Traffic, though the group dynamic of the original quartet (which also included Dave Mason) was left behind, with Winwood even more dominant than before. But he felt more comfortable working with Capaldi (who has co-writer credits on all the songs with original lyrics), and the hybrid style Winwood wanted sometimes needed flute or saxophone. Wood was hardly the best saxophonist available -- his intonation on "Freedom Rider" is embarrassingly uneven compared to most jazz players' (his flute playing sounds more secure) -- but, again, Winwood liked working with him.

The album was finished in April and released three months later (this was way before advance marketing plans stretched out the interval between completion and release for even most indie artists; it's pretty much a given that when Winwood makes an album nowadays, no way we have it in our hands a mere three months later). Unlike some progressive English rock, this classic album has dated quite well. Its mix of folk, rock, and R&B with jazzy shadings, with just enough psychedelia (the fuzz-tone electric guitar on "Every Mother's Son"; the swirling organ chords of "Freedom Rider" and other tracks) to make it distinctive but not so much as to induce cringes three decades down the road. The interlocking piano and organ parts of the hip instrumental "Glad," the funky optimism of "Empty Pages," the loose ode to alienation "Stranger to Himself," the lovely acoustic arrangement of the traditional title tune with its enigmatic folk lyrics (which could be anti-prohibition or a lament on the power of addiction), and the anthemic "Every Mother's Son" are all album-rock classics.

In its current edition, the album also includes two outtakes, with the wistful "Sittin' Here Thinkin' of My Love" well up to the level of the rest of the original LP and "I Just Want You to Know" a nice slice of Brit soul if hardly a finished song (just a minute-and-a-half long; the title phrase is the entire lyric). Winwood's Ray Charles-influenced vocals throughout the album are the epitome of white soul, his strain in his upper range an integral part of his expressiveness.

One could call John Barleycorn Must Die the best album of its type from the '70s, but it stands out so much from Traffic's other output, and from the competition, as to practically be sui generis. One thing's for sure: No classic rock collection is complete without it. - Steve Holtje

Mr. Holtje is a Brooklyn-based poet and composer who splits his time between editing Culturecatch.com, working at the Williamsburg record store Sound Fix, and editing cognitive neuroscience books for Oxford University Press. No prizes for guessing which pays best.