Classic Albums: Traffic’s John Barleycorn Must Die and the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society

A major feature of late 1960s/early 70s rock music was how bands dug deep into pre-rock sources such as folk, blues and even music hall for inspiration and source material. In this latest in our Classic Albums series of talks, Christopher Budd and Stephen Barnard take a close look at two albums that took contrasting approaches to reworking older forms.

Once so important to the fledgling Island Records with their jazzy psychedelic rock, Birmingham’s Traffic were over by 1969 when all four members moved on to new projects. Steve Winwood found himself a veteran of three great rock bands aged just 21, but when he set out to make his first solo disc he discovered that he just might need a little help from his friends. Right at the point where folk, jazz and rock crossed over in the haze of the new decade, the reformed band found their second wind and created 1970’s John Barleycorn Must Die, taking as its centrepiece a centuries old song rooted in Britain’s folk tradition.

Building on the satirical stance and melancholy tone of the Kinks’ classic singles, Village Green Preservation Society harked back to a past soaked in a different kind of mythology – the fading England of draught beer, family snaps, steam trains, music hall turns and Beano comics. Created at a time when the Kinks were banned from the US, the album’s nostalgic leanings contradicted the transatlantic drift in British rock yet left you wondering whether its jaunty, singalong ambience concealed an ironic intent. As always, what Ray Davies had to say in his songs about Britain’s past and present was sharply double-edged.

Join us for a deep dive into two of the most inventive and unusual LPs in rock history.