Customer Reviews

Heaven Is in Your Mind

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O.K. Let me see if I can explain all the confusion surrounding the latest releases of Traffic's landmark first album, "Mr. Fantasy" or, as it was first titled in the U.S., "Heaven Is In Your Mind." There are three remastered versions of this album that have been released in the past year and a half. All three versions are currently available on Amazon.com. The first release (in October 1999) is Mr. Fantasy [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [IMPORT]: This is the original STEREO ENGLISH version of this album, and it includes as bonus material the original MONO AMERICAN version of the album. The next release (in August 2000) is MR. Fantasy [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [EXTRA TRACKS]: This is the original MONO ENGLISH version of the album, and it includes as bonus material the four missing songs that were included on the American version of the album, plus the A-side of the rare single, "Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush." The third release (also in August 2000) is Heaven Is In Your Mind [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [EXTRA TRACKS]: This is the original STEREO AMERICAN version of the album (and the one, I might add, that I have been waiting for at least 15 years to arrive, THANKS!!!). It includes as bonus material the two tracks from the English version that were dropped on the American version, plus the A-side and B-side of the rare single, "Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush." I hope this explains the complaints everyone is having about these releases. The great thing is that, for the first time on CD, you can have whatever version you grew up with to enjoy, and remastered to boot! And for the completist fan, you can have all the versions. And if you are new to Traffic, I highly recommend this one, the AMERICAN STEREO version, but then I'm biased (this is the one I grew up with)! No matter which version you choose, Traffic's first album is a psychedelic treat not to be missed.

Although most critics rate this as the best Traffic album, I'd definitely rank it third. Heaven is in your mind was essentially the UK album Mr. Fantasy without two tracks and resequenced. Using the sequencing from the US release (and adding the two tracks cut from the previous vinyl version plus two tracks from the soundtrack album Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush)Island has reissued the album with terrific sound.

There are problems. The booklet is very skimpy (particularly when compared to the UK version) consisting of little more than the credits and the two covers for the album (which were the same save for the title). What is really mystifying is why Island didn't just release the UK version of Mr. Fantasy. That version includes all the original tracks plus 8 of the original mono mixes. The bonus tracks from Heaven is in your mind were added to Traffic (the band's second album).

Perhaps Bill Levenson (who supervised this reissue) felt that there would be more interest from fans in this with the bonus cuts vs. the mono mixes. It's hard to figure what logic dictates what gets released and doesn't. Anyhow, this fine reissue would probably do for most fans but I'd recommend the UK reissues from 1999 for dedicated fans. All three releases have additional bonus tracks (5 on Traffic and 6 on John Barleycorn Must Die).

This is one of the true Master Works of the Psychodelic Era. This album, along with Sgt. Pepper's, Magical Mystery Tour, Axis: Bold As Love, Are You Experienced and a few others represents the "high water mark" of Music of this (or any) century. This (these) milestones in Music are "Lenses" through which everything that came before was projected onto all that has (and will)come in the future.

As a band, Traffic lived up to its legend; in the pantheon of Steve Winwood's career, they were (and remain) his shining moment, none better than their debut music (issued, I hasten to correct, under the title "Heaven Is In Your Mind" in England and as "Mr. Fantasy" in the U.S.; I had the original album in 1967-68 on United Artists), at least until "John Barleycorn Must Die" would appear. The band's oft-expressed motto was "to sound like the same group but never to sound the same," and that they did, from the breezily psychedelic pop of "Paper Sun" ("We're A Fade, You Missed This" was the rest of "Paper Sun"'s finale) to the rumbling shuffle of "Giving To You"; from the soulful balladry of "No Face, No Name, No Number" to the blues-meets-the-Band workout of "Dear Mr. Fantasy". Winwood had picked himself some sympatico teammates: steady drummer/support singer Jim Capaldi, and underrated reedman/keyboardsman, the late Chris Wood, and they fashioned some of the most endearing material of the latter psychedelic period - but Traffic wasn't strictly a psychedelic band. Listen more closely and you hear them mocking as much as embracing the idea, not to mention they don't entirely let go of their R and B roots even when careening off into pop absurdism as they do so pleasantly. This album deserved to be exhumed and remastered, and the bonus material is just as engaging. Traffic was a gift to late-1960s British rock.

This remastered issue of Traffic's first American lp with the necessary material from other issues of the period is the one to have: great sound, great sequencing, and material that still sounds fresh after a long, long time. I wish that Traffic had been able to surpass their first two lp's. They didn't, but at least we have this wonderful record.

I recently got an itch to listen to some Traffic and put this album onto my ipod. As the band's debut, it features the original lineup of Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood. Though the mix of rock, blues, R&B, folk and jazz that characterizes the band's sound is already here, there's also a heavy dose of 1967 psychedelia.

The music is generally excellent. "Paper Sun", "Heaven Is in Your Mind",
"No Face, No Name, No Number", "Smiling Phases", "Coloured Rain", the goofy "Berkshire Poppies" and the radio staple "Dear Mr. Fantasy" are all classic Traffic tunes. Unlike later Traffic albums, the songs are generally short -- most are under 5 minutes.

There's some confusion over whether to pick up this album or the one titled Mr. Fantasy, as they both contain the same material in different running order. (The mixes are also slightly different, but I haven't paid attention to this.) As far as the original LPs, Heaven Is In Your Mind is the stronger album -- it replaces two of the weaker Dave Mason tracks with the superior "Paper Sun", "Smiling Phases" and "Hole in My Shoe". However, with the presence of bonus tracks you can pick up either album and (almost) create the other using your MP3 player or CD-R.

Overall I highly recommend this album -- it's a 60s classic.

This CD was a great purchase for me since it brings together all the songs on the two vinyl versions I own, plus offers rarities like "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush." Some may be put off by Dave Mason's attempt at psych, but these are more than outweighed by all the great songs this album has to offer. And it just doesn't get much better than Steve Winwood's vocals on "Heaven is in Your Mind", "Smiling Phases", and of course "Dear Mr. Fantasy."

If I were to pick one Traffic album for the fable Desert Island it would have to be Low Spark, but this one isn't far behind.

After being the teenaged frontman for the R&B-based Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood launced his eclectic follow-up, Traffic, with this auspicious debut -- originally titled Dear Mr. Fantasy in UK. To hear the opening, sitar-laden "Paper Sun" when your ears were expecting "Gimme Some Lovin', Phase 2" was a jarring revelation at the time -- and still is.

With a couple of so-so exceptions, Traffic's catalog is consistently high-quality and underrated, even with all the accolades and popularity the group enjoyed. But Heaven Is In Your Mind is still the best -- even better than their self-titled second album, John Barleycorn Must Die, or Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys.

Dave Mason came and left before the release of the album (then rejoined for the second LP and left again), but the trio of Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood were the true nucleus. Contrary to some revisionists' perspective, they were not the fathers of progressive rock or anything other subgenre; this is way too wide-ranging and far-reaching to pigeonhole. There's psychedelica, folk, R&B, jazz, and what would later be dubbed "world music," way ahead of its time.

Although he's invariably thought of as a singer and keyboard player, Winwood is also a killer guitarist and handles most the lead work here. There are several classics, but the obvious highpoint is "Dear Mr. Fantasy" -- the song that stole the show when Winwood played Clapton's Crossroads Festival in Chicago in '07.

I can't recommend this enough.

HEAVEN IS IN YOUR MIND was the American stereo version of Traffic's MR. FANTASY, and here it's remastered and improved with bonus cuts, including two of the songs that were deleted from MR. FANTASY's U.S. release, plus two songs from HERE WE GO 'ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH, an obscure British movie. The fact that the two surviving members- Steve Winwood and Dave Mason- believe that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia on drug-smuggling charges was unjustly convicted is a good, conscientious reason to buy this CD, but it's great anyway.

The great thing about "old" music these days is that so much of it gets remastered and rereleased and doesn't seemed aged at all. The music we bought and listened to 30+ years back meets and usually surpasses what is new these days. I have found that finally putting away the old vinyl discs and "going CD" with the music of the past is not sacreligious or giving up anything. The "old" music will be around a long long time and never loose its punch. So listen to a tune we can all join in with and remember that heaven is in your mind and great in digital.