MR. FANTASY

Traffic are clearly a talented gang, but it took me a while to see the charms of Mr. Fantasy. The production isn't what it could be, and I think that affects things. The flow of their musical ideas is also odd at this stage in their career: they'll get a good thing going on a track but then abruptly shift gears so hard you get whiplash. For instance, the intro to House For Everyone makes you expect something spooky and foreboding, but then the vocal sections dive into fairytale whimsy, and the vocal parts and the instrumental stretches don't quite sit together. Add to that the way a lot of the band's whimsy (as on Berkshire Poppies) seems more forced and insincere than others of the era and the general patchiness of the songwriting and you've got an album which I struggled to like. However, between Winwood's organ playing and a generally better second side than the first side (a rare example of an album of this era being rear-loaded rather than front loaded), I've come to enjoy the psychedelic charms of this a little more, though I am glad that they shifted to a more focused approach over time.