| Mr. Fantasy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 8 December 1967 (1967-12-8) | |||
| Recorded | April–November 1967 | |||
| Studio | Olympic, London | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 33:54 | |||
| Label | Island,United Artists | |||
| Producer | Jimmy Miller | |||
| Traffic chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mr. Fantasy | ||||
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Mr. Fantasy is the debut album byEnglish rock bandTraffic, released in December 1967. The recording included group membersJim Capaldi,Steve Winwood,Chris Wood, andDave Mason; Mason temporarily left the band shortly after the album was released. The album reached the number 16 position in theUK Albums Chart,[1] and number 88 on theBillboard Top LPs chart in the United States.[2]
The album was recorded atOlympic Studios in London with Americanrecord producerJimmy Miller andrecording engineerPhill Brown. When Brown was asked his favourite memory of engineering, he responded: "Recording Dear Mr Fantasy, one o'clock in the morning, November 1967."[3]
The UK release was one of the earliest rock albums on theIsland Records label. This edition had a colorgatefold cover and included 10 songs. As with common practice in the 1960s, the original UK album left out hit songs from Traffic singles of the era. Thesitar, an instrument widely associated with this era of Traffic due to its use on the singles "Paper Sun" and "Hole in My Shoe", is used on only one track on the UK album, "Utterly Simple".
The first US version was released in early 1968 byUnited Artists Records and re-titledHeaven Is in Your Mind. It featured a different, non-gatefold cover showing three members of the group without Mason. For this edition, a short looping snippet of the single "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" was added as asegue between most of the songs. The US LP was re-sequenced and also added three other singles ("Paper Sun", "Hole in My Shoe", and "Smiling Phases") but deleted two Mason songs ("Hope I Never Find Me There" and "Utterly Simple".) The final track on the US album, "We're A Fade, You Missed This", is actually the ending of the full length "Paper Sun".
After the first pressing the title of the US album was quickly changed back toMr. Fantasy, but the new cover and track list remained until United Artists went out of business and Island reissued the UK stereo version in the United States in 1980. This edition was also released asMr. Fantasy in Australia and New Zealand byFestival Records after the original UK track listing had first been released in Australia simply titledTraffic.[4] The first Canadian edition was similar but was released in December 1967 with the titleReaping in a unique cover. This album contained the full-length "Paper Sun", but dropped "Heaven Is in Your Mind" and the between song segues.Reaping was discontinued and replaced by the UK stereo album in 1970.
Both UK and US albums were released in significantly differentstereo andmono mixes. These differences led to four distinct variations of the album. All of these have been re-issued on CD. The 1999 UK re-issue features the UK version in stereo and the US album in mono. In 2000 the US stereo version was re-issued on CD with its original titleHeaven Is in Your Mind plus stereo bonus tracks. The same year the UK mono version was also released in the US asMr. Fantasy with mono bonus tracks.
The song "Giving to You", was released in 3 different versions. The first was a mono B-side with lyrics in the introduction sung by Winwood. This also appeared on the US mono LP. The mono and stereo UK albums had a revised version, which was included on the US stereo album. The soundtrack album forHere We Go Round the Mulberry Bush also contains a different recording of "Utterly Simple" than the one used on this album.
"Coloured Rain" was recorded as "Colored Rain" byEric Burdon & The New Animals featuring a guitar solo byAndy Summers.[5] It was also recorded byThe Hassles,Al Kooper andSlade. "Smiling Phases" was recorded byBlood, Sweat & Tears on theirself-titled second album released in 1968.[6] "Dealer" was recorded as part of the medley "Dealer/Spanish Rose" bySantana on theirInner Secrets album released in 1978.
A review in the 27 April 1968 edition ofRolling Stone called the album "one of the best from any contemporary group". The reviewer felt that Steve Winwood's voice had "matured, acquired new depth and new reaches, a more individual feeling and a greater range in both style and tones", and considered that "the strongest points of this album are where the elements of Traffic's 'comprehensible far-out' and Winwood's great R&B style are combined", but deemed Mason's contributions to be good enough in their own right.[7]
AllMusic's retrospective review is positive, calling Traffic's music "eclectic, combining their background in British pop with a taste for the comic and dance hall styles ofSgt. Pepper, Indian music, and blues-rock jamming".[8]
In 1999, the album was added to theGrammy Hall of Fame.[9] It was also ranked 517 inColin Larkin'sAll Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition in 2000.[10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Heaven Is in Your Mind" | Jim Capaldi,Steve Winwood,Chris Wood | Winwood and Capaldi | 4:16 |
| 2. | "Berkshire Poppies" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:55 |
| 3. | "House for Everyone" | Dave Mason | Mason | 2:05 |
| 4. | "No Face, No Name and No Number" | Capaldi, Winwood | Winwood | 3:35 |
| 5. | "Dear Mr. Fantasy" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 5:44 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Dealer" | Capaldi[nb 1] | Capaldi and Winwood | 3:34 |
| 7. | "Utterly Simple" | Mason | Mason | 3:16 |
| 8. | "Coloured Rain" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:43 |
| 9. | "Hope I Never Find Me There" | Mason | Mason | 2:12 |
| 10. | "Giving to You" (album version) | Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood | None | 4:20 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Paper Sun" | Capaldi, Winwood | Winwood | 4:15 |
| 12. | "Giving to You" (mono single version) | Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 4:12 |
| 13. | "Hole in My Shoe" | Mason | Mason | 2:54 |
| 14. | "Smiling Phases" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:43 |
| 15. | "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" | Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood | Group (solo parts on chorus and bridge by Winwood) | 2:18 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Paper Sun" | Capaldi, Winwood | Winwood | 3:26 |
| 2. | "Dealer" | Capaldi | Capaldi and Winwood | 3:13 |
| 3. | "Coloured Rain" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:46 |
| 4. | "Hole in My Shoe" | Mason | Mason | 3:04 |
| 5. | "No Face, No Name and No Number" | Capaldi, Winwood | Winwood | 3:38 |
| 6. | "Heaven Is in Your Mind" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood and Capaldi | 4:22 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7. | "House for Everyone" | Mason | Mason | 2:05 |
| 8. | "Berkshire Poppies" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:59 |
| 9. | "Giving to You" (stereo album version; mono album has the mono single mix) | Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood | None | 4:18 |
| 10. | "Smiling Phases" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:44 |
| 11. | "Dear Mr. Fantasy" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 5:33 |
| 12. | "We're a Fade, You Missed This" | Capaldi, Winwood | Winwood | 0:53 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Utterly Simple" | Mason | Mason | 3:17 |
| 14. | "Hope I Never Find Me There" | Mason | Mason | 2:09 |
| 15. | "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" | Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood | Group (solo parts on chorus and bridge by Winwood) | 2:35 |
| 16. | "Am I What I Was or Am I What I Am" | Capaldi, Winwood, Wood | Winwood | 2:32 |
with:
| Chart (1967–1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC)[12] | 16 |
| USBillboard 200[13] | 88 |
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Live albums | |
| Compilations | |
| Songs | |
| Related articles | |
