Steve Winwood Albums (10)
'Back in the High Life: Live'
Release Date 1/1/2009
Tracks 13
Label Immortal
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Steve Winwood's Nine Lives marks a more organic return to recording. This will be good news for those who live for any resurrection of rock heroes from days of yore, and bad for those who loved his hit singles in the 1980s and '90s. Seven of these nine cuts resemble (at least partially) those found on his last album, the brilliant About Time issued in 2003. The latter was a barnstormer of a rhythm and rock album (feels like Traffic meets Santana) that never got its proper due. Winwood produced this set for his debut on Columbia. He plays loads of Hammond B-3 and guitar, but also has a small core band that includes Jose Pires de Almeida on guitar, drummer Richard Bailey, Karl Van Den Bossche on percussion, and Paul Booth on reeds and woodwinds. Those seeking an album that resembles the surprise radio hit "Dirty City" (featuring Eric Clapton as a guest) aren't quite getting that. For the most part, Nine Lives begins as an introspective and reflective album that eventually cooks its way through restrained but inventive Afro-Latin grooves, bluesy, funky B-3, and acoustic and electric rock guitars. Just as often, however, that same blend of rhythmic invention graces lithe, deeply reflective tunes that address some very adult issues: separation, loss, reunion, spiritual redemption, and epiphany. The opening cut is the stripped-to-the-bone acoustic blues "I'm Not Drowning" with Winwood playing all the instruments. It's a gentle but effective blues moaner. Its 12-bar structure, hosts a memorable acoustic guitar lick that's ready-made for sampling. It's followed by "Fly," a nearly eight-minute tome that wouldn't have been out of place on Arc of a Diver if it'd had an unplugged element. Think of Robbie Robertson's solo material, or even the Blue Nile's sparse elegance on its debut album, and you can find a place for this gorgeous midtempo ballad with a sweet soprano saxophone line that leads into the melody. Winwood's voice is so rich here, it's capable of breaking your heart with its unsullied, beaten, and broken but unbowed spirit. The lyrics are almost holy in their expression of hope (more so than optimism) -- a hope that leads to a love that cannot be defeated. The album's single, "Dirty City," offers Clapton's most emotionally involved guitar playing in well over a decade; too bad he didn't play like this for the slumber-worthy Cream reunion. His sense of economy makes possible his actual feel for the guitar entering into the tune, and he basically makes it happen. But he has some real help from Van Den Bossche's djembes and congas, and a five-note, two-chord organ vamp from Winwood. When Mr. Slowhand takes his solo about six minutes in, its nasty sting is startling and raises the tension and release of the song as it eventually goes to fade about two minute later (it also makes the listener wonder where the hell he's been all these years and why his own records don't reflect this much invention and heat). The next track, the deeply spiritual "We're All Looking," is a funky, jazzed-up rocker with searching lyrics and a tremendously soulful presence in Winwood's voice; his singing is beautiful and powerful on Nine Lives -- time has not had its way with the thin yet authoritative and yearning luster in the grain of it. Winwood is singing his ass off, with plenty of deep soul. Here again it's important to note that Van Den Bossche's percussion in this ensemble, and on these songs in particular, cannot be overstated. It lends a certain flight-worthy expansiveness to Winwood's organ playing, and frees Bailey's drums to explore in many of these highly nuanced, nocturnal, funky cuts (check "Hungry Man," where the doubled-up polyrhythms between the two drummers create a vibe Winwood can dig deep into and then soar with, on both the Hammond and in his vocals). Those percussion elements are what make these often lyrically introspective tunes jump to life. Van Den Bossche is also one of the reasons that About Time was such a killer. Carlos Santana might gnash his teeth over not getting to play on this recording -- his influence is all over it. The flute break blended with bubbling congas, djembes, and funky guitars on "Secrets" will make it desirable to beat hunters everywhere. Think of Herbie Mann and Wes Montgomery with Mongo Santamaria playing on Traffic's Low Spark of High Heeled Boys album, and you get the picture. The final two tracks, and the other bookend, as it were, include one of the jauntiest, funkiest numbers on the set in "Sometimes We Do Forget," with a groove that is simply infectious with a bumping guitar and bassline. The closer, "Other Shore," is the only cut that recalls Winwood's early solo records, but it's sparse despite its beautiful, easy R&B lilt. Again, redemption for oneself, for others, for a love that has endured the goodbyes, and the letting go that ushers in a new "hello." This is pop music with soul, with grit and the grains of revealed truth pouring from Winwood's mouth, not as a survivor but as a man who has seen enough of life to know that the sun really does rise in the morning. Nine Lives is deeper, heartier, and braver lyrically than anything he's ever done. Musically, its only rival is About Time, but it's more reflective and gentler, without giving up any of the hunger which that album evidenced. This is not a comeback; it's instead a rediscovery from one of our most gifted singers, songwriters, and truth-tellers. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Steve Winwood took an extended break after the ignoble flop of 1997's Junction Seven, resurfacing on his own indie label Wincraft six years later with About Time. Where his last major-label effort fell prey to many of the trappings of a veteran artist gunning for the charts one last time -- an overly slick Narada Michael Walden production, cameos from Des'ree and Lenny Kravitz, songs that were too slick and unmemorable -- About Time finds Winwood scaling back things considerably, keeping himself to a trio featuring him on a Hammond organ, drummer Walfredo Reyes, Jr., and guitarist José Piresde Almeida Neto. Occasionally, congas and timbales and other percussion flesh out the rhythm, while Karl Denson plays flute or saxophone elsewhere, but these are subtle additions to a loose, laid-back, intimate album that harks back to Traffic, even if it is never as freewheeling or unpredictable as that band. Winwood's ambitions with About Time are pretty modest, actually -- to cut R&B-based tunes that bring in jazz and Latin influences and give everybody the chance to jam. Though they meander a bit too much at times, the jams are warm and appealing, and while the songs are a little indistinct, the feel of the music is good, which counts for a lot, since the last two slick solo albums felt distant (surely a byproduct of records that were designed to be Roll with It, Pt. 2). If Winwood's voice is now a little rough (which comes as a surprise), it nevertheless fits the scaled-down, relaxed atmosphere. And if individual songs aren't necessarily memorable, they don't necessarily need to be -- the feel is the thing here, and while it isn't first-rate Steve Winwood, it does feel like a welcome update from an old friend, which, after several years of waiting and several uneven records, is enough. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Winwood manages to reintroduce some of the R&B elements of the Spencer Davis Group and some of the psychedelic effects of early Traffic here, though this is also an effective follow-up to the directions indicated on Back in the High Life. Contains the number one title track and "Don't You Know What the Night Can Do?" ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The key to Steve Winwood's solo career is inconsistency. After he dashed the extravagant expectations built up by his group years with the disappointing debut album Steve Winwood, he came back with the stunning Arc Of A Diver. Then he disappointed again with Talking Back To The Night, only to come back strong again with Back In The High Life. With that track record, Roll With It should have been another flop, but it turned out to be a good followup. It was Refugees Of The Heart that was Winwood's next letdown. The distinction between a great Winwood album and one that's only okay is dangerously small -- it has more to do with performance than composition -- and on Refugees Of The Heart, as on Talking Back To The Night, Winwood was unable to invest Will Jennings' pedestrian lyrics with the soulful feeling of which he's capable. The album's standout is a collaboration with ex-Traffic partner Jim Capaldi on "One And Only Man," which topped Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart, hit #9 on its Adult Contemporary chart, and peaked at #18 on the Hot 100. Perhaps noting this exception, Winwood next teamed with Capaldi in a 1994 reunion of Traffic. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Turning to involved percussion tracks and horns, Winwood turns another musical corner on this sophisticated album, which contains echoes of everything from gospel to Caribbean music. Contains the number one hit "Higher Love." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Talking Back to the Night'
Release Date 1/1/1982
Tracks 9
Label Island
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Utterly unencumbered by the baggage of his long years in the music business, Winwood reinvents himself as a completely contemporary artist on this outstanding album, leading off with his best solo song, "While You See a Chance." Winwood also plays all the instruments. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
