Traffic - Fillmore West 1970 (2022)

SUPERB SUMMER 1970 BROADCAST FROM TRAFFIC’S JOHN BARLEYCORN TOUR\nIn late 1968, Traffic disbanded, with guitarist Dave Mason leaving the group for the second time prior to the completion of the Traffic album. In 1969, Steve Winwood joined supergroup Blind Faith, while drummer and lyricist Jim Capaldi and woodwinds player Chris Wood turned to session work. Wood and Winwood also joined Blind Faith\x27s drummer Ginger Baker in his post\-Blind Faith group Ginger Baker\x27s Air Force for their first album.\nAt the beginning of 1970, after the demise of Blind Faith, 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\x27s Son’, but yearned for like\-minded musicians to accompany. Inviting Wood and Capaldi to join him, Winwood\x27s erstwhile solo album became the reunion of Traffic (minus Dave Mason), and a re\-launch of the band\x27s career. Mad Shadows would go on to be the title of Mott the Hoople\x27s second album, also produced by Guy Stevens.\nAs did most of their albums, the record 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 modern interpretations of traditional folk music as contemporary British bands Pentangle and Fairport Convention.\nReleased in July 1970, John Barleycorn Must Die became Traffic’s fourth studio album, reaching number 4 on the Billboard charts and number 11 in the UK. The band were touring in the UK during the run\-up to the record’s release and re\-located to the US in early June, where they continued to perform until almost the end of the year. By the end of June, the band were on the West Coast where they played 3 nights at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West in San Francisco, between 30\/06 and 02\/07. The 2 shows they performed on 1st July \- both early and late sets \- were recorded for live FM broadcast, and this remarkable gig is now captured in its entirety on thus new 2CD set for the first time.\