Steve Winwood - Nine Lives

Nine Lives expands on all the many phases and turns of Steve Winwood's lustrous career, bristling with his pure joy of music-making. The new songs range from the inspiring "Fly" to the burning "Dirty City" (featuring a guest appearance by long-time friend Eric Clapton) to the simmering "Hungry Man", joining a canon that spans more than forty years to include some of the most beloved songs of modern pop and rock. Album Description

 Fantastic!
Definitely blues/jazz sound and feel. It is refreshing to hear an artist go back to his early sounds that defined him, when so many seem to want to distance themselves from their early work and sound. I love every track. The music is outstanding throughout, blending great guitar sounds, of course keyboards, along with great drums/percussion intruments, and flutes. The songs sound similar only in that the blues/jazz feel is always there. But each one has its own strenghts and riffs. As has been stated, if you like the pop/rock sound, you might not enjoy it. But this is true musicianship at its finest, and I can't help but tap along and feel a great mood drift down smoothly over me, just like all the sounds on these songs do. This one's on my favorite shelf already. May 9, 2008

 The fantastic new rise of a true great British blue-eyed R&B artist !
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. May 7, 2008

 Fantastic CD
This is a great Steve Winwood CD, but all the background musicians are fantastic as well, percussion, flute, sax, bass. Everyone on the CD does a wonderful job. Several songs remind you of Blindfaith and other songs blend jazz with rock very well. A definite 4 star CD with Grammy potential. May 5, 2008

 If you liked him in "Blind Faith" and his jazzy phases, this CD is for you
I've liked Steve Winwood through most of his career, including Blind Faith, Traffic, and his solo music. I'm not as much a fan of the pop tunes as I am the jazzier, bluesier music.

The single of "Dirty City" a gritty Blind Faith style number with his old friend Eric Clapton led this CD out into radioland. It's my favorite cut of the collection and the reason I bought the CD.

"Fly" is lovely. The flute at the end of the song is compelling and really conjures up the image of flight.

I'd like to see "At Times we Forget" get some airplay. It's got strong lyrics and is a good listen.

Check out the samples on this page and see what you think. While this CD is mostly jazz and blues influenced, fans of Winwood's pop may find a few cuts they really enjoy--and the price for this collection is excellent.



May 4, 2008

 Winwood At His Best
Steve Winwood doesn't want you to be bowled over with one listen. He prefers to let the music simmer to a boil, letting listeners wrestle with aromas and textures before allowing you to pronounce judgment. It's what's always made me return to his solo work even after dismissing some of his albums as "boring". Yet today, I own 'em all and love 'em all. Because there was something (the organ work, Winwood's warm voice, the grooves) that niggled at me to go back and revisit them time and again. Nine Lives has been in my car player for a week now. I've played it close to 10 times and love every moment of it. Let's be real here: if you've been put off by the man for all these years, this isn't going to make a convert out of you. But if you enjoy his sense of introspection, his will to space his music out in deliberate fashion using the blues, latin or organ-jazz motifs, then you'll be way pleased. "Dirty City" deserves to be a massive hit. In an alternate universe where rock music still matters, it is. That said, don't be afraid to try Nine Lives. File proudly next to his first solo set or Arc Of A Diver. Let the simmer take you to a boil. May 3, 2008

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