Steve Winwood - Nine Lives
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Free Music Notes for Nine Lives
Free Music Review: Steve Winwood 'Nine Lives'
Hit: 5 Stars
A very enjoyable CD ...GREAT to hear Hammond organ again...and enlivening percussion...there's some lovely audio surprises...A great SOLID sound..Free Music Review: Nine lives
Hit: 5 Stars
This has the old sound of Winwood but more acoustical. I enjoyed it but he has seemed to have lost that sound of old.Free Music Review: The new rise of a true great British blue-eyed R&B artist !
Hit: 4 Stars
Steve Winwood (who turns 60 this year) has signed a new deal with Columbia Records who has released the artist's highly-anticipated new major label album "Nine Lives", his first studio LP since the acclaimed "About Time" on his own independent label, Wincraft in 2003.
It and opens an important new chapter in Steve's extraordinary career.
Even after a career of 45 years, there always a suspicion that Steve Winwood may surprise us.
He lives the quiet life of a country squire in his Cotswolds retreat, but periodically Steve Winwood emerges, like a gun-dog with a grouse in its mouth, bearing another album of gorgeous, wide-ranging songs.
"Nine Lives" is the latest: it has less of a Latin flavour than its predecessor About Time, but at times it has more of an edge, especially on the rousing, gritty-sounding "Dirty City", on which his old Blind Faith bandmate Eric Clapton guests on guitar.
The album is written and co-produced by Steve Winwood with Johnson Somerset- whose previous credits include Roxy Music and Duran Duran.
Why Nine Lives ? Some people believe in the superstition that cats have nine lives, because cats can survive falls from high places with few, if any injuries. This gives the appearance that the cats return to life after sustaining a fatal accidents, they may sustain minor injuries, such but they live to recover.
The aptly titled album is a fresh and invigorating rediscovery of Winwood's roots, his personal style and career, and paints a musical portrait of spiritual transformation as Winwood continues the exploration of soul, rock, blues and world music which began in 1957, when, at the age of 9, he played guitar in his father's band in Birmingham, England.
Pretty much everything you'd ever want from a Steve Winwood album is here: the plaintive voice, the pulsing rhythms, the multifarious musical influences (funk, jazz, blues, world) - and of course Winwood's trusty old Hammond B3 organ, which drenches this album in its blazing, shimmering warmth.
He is now just days from his 60th birthday, but he joined the Spencer Davis Group at just 15, voyaging through blue-eyed R&B, toying with psychedelia in Traffic, doing the supergroup thing with Eric Clapton in Blind Faith and pioneering the DIY play-everything approach with "Arc of A Diver".
Since then, Winwood has perfected a synthesis of blues, jazz, soul, latin and occasionally folk which at its best is exquisite. No mean guitarist, a master of the lush Hammond organ and possibly one of the best voices in English rock, Winwood's name should be writ as large as Clapton's.
It has nine arresting songs: on each of them he continues the exploration of soul, rock, blues and world music that Steve Winwood is renowned for.
It kicks off with a I'm Not Drowning, hitched to a delta blues riff.
Amongst the many highlights on the album, "Fly" is a brave and ambitious track featuring soaring powerful vocals set against a cacophony of sound: it is a gossamer-fine love song, using latin rhythm, nylon-strung guitar, pining soprano sax and organ, Winwood's voice creating the kind of hymn-like quality he brought to Traffic's "Holy Ground".
Other highlights on the album are many and include "Forget About Him", a joyous and moving six-minute journey through horns, keyboards and world instruments.
Alongside "Hungry Man", which sounds like something from Paul Simon's Brazilian-style "Rhythm Of The Saints", "We're All Looking", a mighty fine Latin funk with lashings of Hammond and the captivating track "Secrets" show that the album is as consistently strong as it is diverse.
On this CD Steve Winwood turns another musical corner, showcasing his ability to still create relevant and evocative music. It gives his fans, old and new, nine new reasons to celebrate the life and music of this ageless, and still prodigious, musical treasure.
Steve and Eric Clapton played three sold out nights at Madison Square Gardens, New York in February.
Steve and his band will be special guests to Tom Petty on his US tour this summer.
Free Music Review: Another Shore For Winwood
Hit: 4 Stars
Fresh off of a reunion tour with Blind Faith Steve Winwood emmerges with this album.While I still lean towards Steve Winwood,Arc of a Diver and Talking Back to the Night as my favorite Winwood solo albums (all three showcase his talents as a computer,vocalist and multi instrumentalist best) this album has a different kind of charm. The music here generally bridges the cap between Winwood's music with Blind Faith and Traffic with his patented genre bending blend of pop,rock,soul,funk,blues and jazz. He starts off the album in a rather quiet mood with "I'm Not Drowning" and "Fly",the later of which features a beautiful flute solo. On "Raging Sea" Winwood gets down into a funky mood which extends into the blues on the meandering "Dirty City" with Eric Clapton,adding his trademark rocking blues licks to the proceeding. The next four songs "We're All Looking","Hungry Man","Secrets" and "At Times We Do Forget" all showcase the percussive/rhythm-based sound of Traffic but again Winwoods quiet mood continues.On "Other Shore" Steve presents a very good pop song using a similar sound. There's only one question about all this-why other then some good songs would anyone beside Winwood fans want this? Steve Winwood has been around for four decades and while his music has never really wavered in quality his enthusiasm has on occasion,especially on his spotty 90's recordings. So this album isn't as much a comeback as an extension on a theme. It also has the feeling of an album that,while by no means a future classic will grow on the listener and surely become a fan favorite to some people.And being a Winwood fan I hope I am one of them.Free Music Review: He's back!!
Hit: 4 Stars
Hi. I've been a fan of Steve Winwood's since I was 8 or 9. The Spencer Davis Group was one of the first albums I ever bought.
I LOVED Traffic; loved Blind Faith...
After that he seemed to lose his way. It seemed that he had "devolved" to utilizing the "flavor of the month" (musical) philosophy .
Now, before all you folks who loved "Arc of the Diver" go nuts on me, it just wasn't the gritty Steve Winwood I'd come to love. It was synths that (now) seem terribly dated in the voices that were used ( as is much of the music from the 80's), and his style- his persona was submerged or hidden by all this..."stuff".
Now, he's found his way back! This album is wonderful! Note: I've given 4 rather than 5 stars only because the writing on a couple of songs in the middle of the CD are not his best...But they still very VERY good! It's gritty, and mature and pure Winwood!
I hadn't realized just how much I'd missed his sound, his soul, his ideas!
This is a WONDERFUL Re-INTRODUCTION to a seminal artist & I recommend this to anyone who is looking for real, soulful tunes that harken back to his best days, his best musical endeavours!
Buy it! You won't be sorry!