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Tapes in Circulation: The 80s |
Linked items indicate a review and/or setlist are available below.
More information can be found in the Complete
Discography.
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Steve Winwood: Hammersmith Odeon; July 11, 1983 Sound only fair.
Steve Winwood: Italy; 1983 Very good sound, venue unknown, possibly a TV or radio recording.
"Night Of The Kings": Royal Albert Hall, England; September 29, 1983 Everybody's Gotta Make a Change | Lay Down Sally | Wonderful Tonight | Cocaine | Man Smart Woman Smarter | Roadrunner | Slowdown Sundown | Take Me to the River | Gimme Some Lovin' | Star Cycle | Pump | Out Of a Book | Goodbye Pork Pie Hat | Hi Ho Silver Lining | Prelude | Who's To Blame | Tulsa Time | Layla | Bomber's Moon | Good Night Irene
Featuring Eric Clapton/Jeff Beck (Guitar)/Jimmy Page (Guitar)/Stevie
Winwood (Keyboards)/Bill Wyman (Bass)/Charlie Watts (Drums)/Kenny Jones
(Drums)/Ray Cooper (Percussion)/Chris Stainton (Keyboards)/James Hooker
(Keyboards)/Simon Phillips (Drums)/Andy Fairweather-Low (Guitar)/Ronnie
Lane (Guitar)
Steve Winwood: Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts, Mansfield, MA; September 6, 1986 Steve opens with Low Spark. No full setlist available. My recording is on analog cassette and is a first generation dub -- my copy was dubbed from the master recording. the master recording was made on the front of the lawn using me80 mics. I do trade music -- my tapelists can be found at padeadhead.com. By: Jon
Steve Winwood: Saratoga, NY; September 7, 1986 The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys | Glad | Take It As It Comes | Help Me Angel | Freedom Overspill | Slowdown Sundown | Wake Me Up On Judgment Day | The Finer Things | My Love's Leavin' | While You See a Chance | Arc of a Diver | Valerie | Split Decision | I'm a Man | Higher Love
Decent sound quality, the performances are a little too slick.
Nice to hear more obscure songs, like "Slowdown Sundown." Especially good
live "Arc of a Diver."
Steve Winwood: 'Back in the High Life' demos; 1986 Higher Love | My Love's Leavin' | The Finer Things | Freedom Overspill | Wake Me Up on Judgment Day | Take It As It Comes | If That Gun Is For Real (unreleased)
Great work in progress tape. Especially nice version of The Finer Things. "Gun" was co-written
by SW and the sadly departed Viv Stanshall. Lyrically less abstract than normal, in fact quite
hard-hitting with lines such as "If a thing is worth having, it's worth stealing." Musically
it's quite ragged with some decidedly dodgy rhythm guitar. Maybe SW could record this as a
contribution should there ever be a Stanshall tribute album recorded.
Steve Winwood: Toronto; November 21, 1986 Sound quality fair.
Steve Winwood: BBC Whistle Test, 1986
An extended feature on Steve, we are also treated to SW alone at a piano in a Shepherds Bush
pub giving us a short sweet version of Gimme Some Lovin'. Also performed was an abbreviated
Low Spark. Oh, to have accidentally wandered into that pub for a lunch-time pint of London
Pride or Youngs! Luckily these 2 tracks were subsequently released as a limited edition 7"
white label single with certain copies of the Freedom Overspill 12" single.
Steve Winwood: Eurotube TV Special, 1986
A standout version of There's a River was one of several short extracts of SW on Hammond organ
with Jools Holland on piano, together with a brief interview. This short version of the song
has an even more hymn-like quality than the original, its simplicity being its greatest
asset.
Steve Winwood: Veterans' Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, 1986 Low Spark | I'm a Man | Split Decision | Gimme Some Lovin'
Evidently just a snippet of the whole concert, sound quality excellent.
Eric Clapton at Royal Albert Hall, January 1, 1987 Winwood and Sting joined Clapton onstage for the last two songs, "Money for Nothing" and "Sunshine of Your Love."
The Steve Winwood Story: Hot Rocks by United Stations Programming Network, September 19, 1987 "Back in the High Life" interviews and history; 4 segments on 2 vinyl LPs for 2 hours. Commercials intact.
Steve Winwood: Westwood One 'Off the Record' special, November 23, 1987 "Back in the High Life" interview; 4 segments on 2 vinyl LPs for 56 minutes. Commercials intact.
Steve Winwood: "Freedom Rider" Blossom Music Center, Cleveland; 1987 Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys | Glad | Freedom Rider | While You See A Chance | Valerie | Split Decision | I'm A Man | Higher Love | Back In The High Life Again | Gimme Some Lovin'
This is a Westwood One concert from Winwood's first "High Life" tour. The sound is excellent as
is the performance. The mix of songs is fine with a number of Winwood's mainstays, which he
would continue to perform throughout the '80s and early '90s. "Low Spark" is a piano/voice only
short version that leads into a short but cooking "Glad," with a burning tenor saxophone solo.
There is a funky, rousing "Valerie" and "Higher Love" with a wonderful Latin feel. This disc is
available in slightly more legitimate forms as Westwood One radio discs through many dealers of
radio shows who advertise in collector's magazines. There is a CD version with fewer tracks -
tracks 1, 4, 5, 9 and 10 above - plus "The Finer Things." And also a double vinyl version,
which is the most complete of this concert. It has all of the above tracks plus "Take It As It
Comes," "My Love's Leavin'" and "The Finer Things." Any version is highly recommended. The
double vinyl is still very available and quite reasonable.
SW's first solo tour in the US had Low Spark as the opening number with SW playing alone on the
piano, before he counted the rest of his band in, for a stomping version of Glad. A nice
contrast in its much abbreviated and simplified form.
Steve Winwood: "Valerie" Radio City Music Hall, NY; 8/16/88 Take It As It Comes (5:32) | While You See a Chance (5:18) | The Finer Things (5:34) | Glad (3:42) | Higher Love (5:12) | Valerie (4:07) | My Love's Leavin' (5:40) | Back in the High Life Again (5:32)
The interesting thing is that Glad segues straight into Higher Love, the way we're always used
to hearing it segue into Freedom Rider. The quality in EXCELLENT. It must have been recorded
right from the
soundboard.
Steve Winwood: Great Woods Arena, Mansfield, MA, 8/21/88 Triple album, Westwood One Superstar Concert Series, radio station release, rare.
Steve Winwood: "Ocean Breeze" Mansfield, MA; 8/21/88 Freedom Overspill (6:27) | Put on Your Dancin' Shoes (5:38) | Don't You Know What the Night Can Do (7:38) | Finer Things (6:56) | Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys (10:00) | Glad (4:15) | While You See A Chance (5:18) | Roll With It (5:14) | Valerie (4:18) | Higher Love (6:34) | Back In The High Life (5:34) | Gimme Some Lovin' (5:00)
As you can hear from the intro on the first track this is a boot of a Westwood One concert, so
the sound quality is outstanding and the performance first-rate. This is likely the same band
as the Refugees Tour
of 1990, augmented with a larger horn section and female vocalist. That means the date is
probably incorrect and is probably summer, 1989, because Steve's band was pared down in '90.
Highlights include the opener, "Freedom Overspill," a long version of "Low Spark," with several
long horn solos, "Finer Things," "While You See A Chance" and "Gimme Some Lovin," although all
the tracks are quite good. The concert contains a nice cross section from Steve's solo work of
the '80s, along with the Traffic tunes. At last check this disc is still available. Highly
recommended.
Steve Winwood: "Keep On Dancin'" Mansfield, MA; 8/21/88 Freedom Overspill | Put on Your Dancin' Shoes | Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys | Glad | While You See A Chance | Roll With It
The same concert as "Ocean Breeze" with fewer tracks. Sound quality is about the same. Not as
highly recommended because of significantly less playing time. Still available.
Steve Winwood: Royal Albert Hall, London; September 30, 1988 Can't Find My Way Home (pre-concert acoustic performance) | Freedom Overspill | While You See a Chance | Don't You Know What the Night Can Do | The Finer Things | I'm a Man | Low Spark of High-heeled Boys | Roll With It | Valerie | Higher Love | Back in the High Life | Gimme Some Lovin'
Personnel:
RAH Concert as edited and broadcast on Showtime network.
Audience recording, sound is fair/good.
Steve Winwood: Westwood One Superstar Concerts, Boston, December 16, 1988 Freedom Overspill | Dancing Shoes (sic) | Don't You Know What the Night Can Do? | The Finer Things | Low Spark of High Heeled Boys | Glad | While You See a Chance | Roll With It | Valerie | Higher Love | Back in the High Life | Gimme Some Lovin Triple album, Westwood One Superstar Concert series, radio transcription discs, rare.
Steve Winwood: Osaka, Japan; March 28, 1989 Sound only fair.
Steve Winwood with the Otis Grand Band: Roughill Festival, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK; August, 1989 SW guested with the band for an hour playing blues standards. The tape came out quite well. He took lead vocals on a couple of songs and played lead and rhythm while on stage. His performance was video'd by some people but no copy has been traced. A good audience tape in mono from quite near the stage as I had been tipped off that he would be playing. By: Chris F
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Page created May 29, 1997. Last updated July 10, 2002. Copyright |
