Traffic - Mr. Fantasy [320k MP3]

Mr. Fantasy 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 albums chart, and number 88 in the American Billboard charts.

The first US version of the album on United Artists Records was titled Heaven Is In Your Mind and had a cover that featured all members of the group except Dave Mason. The title was quickly changed back to Mr. Fantasy, but the new cover remained until Island Records reissued the UK version in the late 1970s. Both the US and UK editions were released in substantially different stereo and mono mixes. One song in particular, "Giving to You", 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 by Winwood during the introduction which are not heard on any other version. The soundtrack album for Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush also contains a recording of "Utterly Simple" which is a different take than the one used on this album.

For the original US edition, a short looping snippet of the group's single "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" was added between most of the songs. The LP also added three songs from the group's UK singles("Paper Sun", "Hole In My Shoe", and "Smiling Phases") 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."

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."

Track Listing [320k MP3] [2008 Japanese SHM-CD]

Original UK album

01. "Heaven Is in Your Mind" 4:16
02. "Berkshire Poppies" 2:55
03. "House for Everyone" 2:05
04. "No Face, No Name, No Number" 3:35
05. "Dear Mr. Fantasy" 5:44
06. "Dealer" 3:34
07. "Utterly Simple" 3:16
08. "Coloured Rain" 2:43
09. "Hope I Never Find Me There" 2:12
10. "Giving to You" (album version) Instrumental 4:20

Bonus Tracks

11. "Paper Sun" 4:15
1. "Giving to You" (U.K. mono single version) 4:12
13. "Hole in My Shoe" 2:54
14. "Smiling Phases" 2:43
15. "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (single version) 2:18