Mr. Fantasy

Mr. Fantasy
Studio album by Traffic
Released	December, 1967
Recorded	April - November 1967 Olympic Studios, London
Genre	Psychedelic rock
Length	33:54
Label	Island United Artists Polydor
Producer	Jimmy Miller
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone (Not Rated) link
Traffic chronology
Mr. Fantasy (1967) Traffic (1968)
Singles from Mr. Fantasy
""Paper Sun" b/w "Giving to You"" Released: May 1967, Island WIP6002 ""Hole in My Shoe" b/w "Smiling Phases"" Released: August 1967, Island WIP6017 ""Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" b/w "Coloured Rain"" Released: November 1967, Island WIP6025 ""No Face, No Name, No Number" b/w "Roamin' in the Gloamin' with 40,000 Headmen"" Released: 1968, Island WIP6030

Mr. Fantasy (not to be confused with "Dear Mr. Fantasy", the title song on this album) is the debut album by English rock band Traffic. It was released in 1967. For the recording, group members included Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, and Dave Mason, however Mason left the band before the album was released. The album reached the number 16 position in the UK album chart on 30 December 1967, and reached number 88 in the American Billboard charts.^[1]

Overview

Considered by far the strangest and most art rock style album that Traffic released, Mr. Fantasy didn't gain much more than a cult following for Traffic at the time. Critics seemed to like the album, though, and most said it was clear that Steve Winwood and Traffic were good at putting together semi-mainstream psychedelic rock, except this album was not quite mainstream enough. By their next release, the eponymous Traffic, the band was said to have worked through that.

This album features even more horns, flutes, and less rock-style instruments than most of Traffic's future releases. The sitar was used much more in this album than any other later Traffic albums, undoubtedly because of Dave Mason's influence.

The first US version of the album on United Artists Records had a different title Heaven Is In Your Mind and a different cover that featured 3 members of the group without Dave Mason. The title was quickly changed back to Mr. Fantasy but the new cover remained until Island Records re-issued the UK version in the late 1970s. Both the US and UK editions of the album were released in substantially different stereo and mono mixes.

For the original US edition the group changed the album substantially. The song order was changed and a short looping snippet of the group's November 1967 single "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" was added between most of the songs. The US LP also added three songs from the group's UK singles, "Paper Sun" and "Hole In My Shoe" and "Smiling Phases" (b-side) while deleting two Dave 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 version of "Paper Sun." For most of the songs there are significant differences between the stereo and mono mixes. One song in particular, "Giving to You", actually was released in 3 different versions, including similar mono and stereo versions from the U.K. album, plus a very different mono U.K. b-side mix, which also was later included on the U.S. mono LP. The special U.K. b-side mix includes lyrics sung my Winwood during the introduction which are not heard on any other version.

The album was engineered by Phil Brown who, when asked what was his favourite memory of engineering, responded: "Recording Dear Mr Fantasy, one o'clock in the morning, November 1967." [1]

Track listing

Original UK album

1. "Heaven Is in Your Mind" (Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Chris Wood) – 4:16
2. "Berkshire Poppies" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:55
3. "House for Everyone" (Dave Mason) – 2:05
4. "No Face, No Name, No Number" (Capaldi, Winwood) – 3:35
5. "Dear Mr. Fantasy" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 5:44
6. "Dealer" (Capaldi, Winwood) – 3:34
7. "Utterly Simple" (Mason) – 3:16
8. "Coloured Rain" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:43
9. "Hope I Never Find Me There" (Mason) – 2:12
10. "Giving to You" (Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood) – 4:20 (album version)

    Mono bonus tracks from the US 2000 CD release

11. "Paper Sun" (Capaldi, Winwood) – 4:15
12. "Giving to You" (Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood) – 4:12 (different U.K. mono single mix, with lyrics sung by Winwood)
13. "Hole in My Shoe" (Mason) – 2:54
14. "Smiling Phases" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:43
15. "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" (Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood) – 2:18

Original US album

1. "Paper Sun" (Capaldi, Winwood) – 3:26
2. "Dealer" (Capaldi, Winwood) – 3:13
3. "Coloured Rain" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:46
4. "Hole in My Shoe" (Mason) – 3:04
5. "No Face, No Name, No Number" (Capaldi, Winwood) – 3:38
6. "Heaven Is in Your Mind" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 4:22
7. "House for Everyone" (Mason) – 2:05
8. "Berkshire Poppies" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:59
9. "Giving to You" (Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood) – 4:18 (mono version of the U.S. album has the different U.K. single mix, with lyrics sung by Winwood)
10. "Smiling Phases" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:44
11. "Dear Mr. Fantasy" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 5:33
12. "We're a Fade, You Missed This" (Capaldi, Winwood) – :53

    Stereo bonus tracks from the US 2000 CD release (Heaven Is In Your Mind)

13. "Utterly Simple" (Mason) – 3:17
14. "Hope I Never Find Me There" (Mason) – 2:09
15. "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" (Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood) – 2:35
16. "Am I What I Was or Am I What I Am" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) – 2:32

Credits

• Jim Capaldi – drums, percussion, vocals
• Dave Mason – guitar, mellotron, sitar, tambura, shakkai, bass guitar, vocals
• Steve Winwood – organ, guitar, bass guitar, piano, harpsichord, percussion, vocals, arrangements
• Chris Wood – flute, saxophone, organ, percussion and vocals, sleeve design
• Jimmy Miller – producer
• Eddie Kramer -- engineer
• John Benton Harris -- photography
• Margaret Goldfarb -- re-release coordinator

Versions

There are actually four different versions of the album when taking into account both the UK and US track listings and the different stereo and mono mixes. All have recently been re-issued on CD. The 1999 UK re-issue features the UK version in stereo and the US album in mono as bonus tracks. In 2000 the US stereo version was re-issued on CD with its original title Heaven Is In Your Mind plus stereo bonus tracks. The same year the original UK mono version was also released in the US as Mr Fantasy with mono bonus tracks.

External links

• Traffic's Traffic at allmusic.com
• Traffic at JimCapaldi.com
• Traffic at Music.com

References