John Barleycorn Must Die
by Traffic
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Traffic bestography
John Barleycorn Must Die is ranked as the best album by Traffic.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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John Barleycorn Must Die track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
John Barleycorn Must Die rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1970 | 30/50 | 2 |
| 2026 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1970 | 47/50 | 0 | |
| 2026 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1970 | 34/100 | 3 | |
| 2026 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1970 | 11/20 | 3 | |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1970 | 90/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | Top 99 Music Albums of the 1970s | 40/99 | 12 | |
| 2026 | byuzak | Top 38 Music Albums of 1970 | 24/38 | 2 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 74 Music Albums of 1970 | 31/74 | 3 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 66 Music Albums of 1970 | 61/66 | 0 |
| 2026 | Top 97 Music Albums of 1970 | 81/97 | 1 | |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 210 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 821 | |||
John Barleycorn Must Die collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 163 members
John Barleycorn Must Die ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 259 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 4 days ago | Yurls | 3 | 90/100 |
| ! | 08/09/2026 21:29 | AledJames | 1,671 | 69/100 |
| ! | 07/12/2026 00:44 | traistboar | 1,769 | 79/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.6/100, a mean average of 75.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.
John Barleycorn Must Die favourites
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Forum mentions
John Barleycorn Must Die comments
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Cet album est une magnifique vitrine du talent de Steve Winwood.
Vous trouverez notamment 2 pépites à la fin de chaque face.
Un chef d'œuvre. (Edited)
A did not hate it. Just kinda lame
A great album early '70s British rock album that is strong from start to finish. This album began a run of four in a row in which Traffic found its groove, that being leaning toward longer, progressive/jazz fusion-based compositions. The best was yet to come (see their next album, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys), but this one is almost as good, featuring some of their very best songs, including Freedom Rider and Empty Pages. I definitely recommend this for all. (Edited)
john barleycorn and little else (Edited)
Ammetto di essere stato a lungo prevenuto nei confronti di questo disco ed in generale dei Traffic. Il fatto è che tutto ciò che odora di progressive mi ripugna istintivamente ed un album che usciva nel 1970, che coniugava rock, psichedelia, folk e jazz e che - orrore - aveva tra i suoi strumenti cardine il flauto, sulla carta non poteva che respingermi. In più la canzone che titolava il tutto e che già conoscevo non mi piaceva granchè. E invece… Invece succede che qui gli ingredienti di cui sopra sono dosati perfettamente, che non c'è mai ma proprio mai la tendenza a suonarsi addosso tipica del progressive, che le canzoni sono eccellenti ( tutte più della title track, secondo me ) e… si, che pure il flauto riesca ad inserirsi bene nel contesto.
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