John Barleycorn Must Die is the Traffic album that almost never was but which is now commonly regarded as their definitive work. By 1970, still only 22, Steve Winwood had already served time at the heart of The Spencer Davis Group, as a founder member of Traffic, and with the supergroup Blind Faith. What started out as Steve Winwood’s solo debut, originally to be called Mad Shadows (a title later filched by Mott The Hoople), John Barleycorn Must Die  became Traffic’s third and most fully realised studio album.