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
Producer	Jimmy Miller
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 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.

Overview

The sitar, widely associated with this era of Traffic due to its use on "Paper Sun", is only used on one track on the album, "Utterly Simple".

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."

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Rolling Stone gave the USA release an overwhelmingly positive review, calling it "an album which, although it needs one unity that time will provide, is one of the best from any contemporary group." They especially praised Steve Winwood's vocals ("probably the major blues voice of his generation") and Jim Capaldi's lyrics. They held 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. The review is noted for containing several major errors, including claiming that Chris Wood was Traffic's bassist and that Dave Mason did the lead vocal on "Paper Sun".

Allmusic's retrospective review was positive, calling Traffic's music "eclectic, combining their background in British pop with a taste for the comic and dance hall styles of Sgt. Pepper, Indian music, and blues-rock jamming."

Track listing

Original UK album

Original UK album
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, No Number"	Capaldi, Winwood	Winwood	3:35
5.	"Dear Mr. Fantasy"	Capaldi, Winwood, Wood	Winwood	5:44
6.	"Dealer"	Capaldi, Winwood	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 (spoken word: Wood)	4:20

Mono bonus tracks from the US 2000 CD release

Side four
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Paper Sun"	Capaldi, Winwood	Winwood	4:15
2.	"Giving to You" (U.K. mono single version)	Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood	Winwood	4:12
3.	"Hole in My Shoe"	Mason	Mason	2:54
4.	"Smiling Phases"	Capaldi, Winwood, Wood	Winwood	2:43
5.	"Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (single version)	Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood	Group (solo parts on chorus and bridge by Winwood)	2:18

Original US album (Heaven Is In Your Mind)

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

1. "Utterly Simple" (Mason) – 3:17
2. "Hope I Never Find Me There" (Mason) – 2:09
3. "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (Capaldi, Mason, Winwood, Wood) – 2:35
4. "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, vocals, sleeve design
• Jimmy Miller – producer, maracas on "Dear Mr. Fantasy"
• 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
• Traffic: Mr. Fantasy at Discogs (list of releases)