Winwood: Solo and General
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The Smiling Phases Compendium: Winwood: Solo and General |
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The Smiling Phases Compendiums are a synthesis of information posted in the Smiling Phases mailing list. It's a summary of what SP contributors found interesting, what they asked and others answered, and what has come together through combined efforts. Some material is a re-iteration of the original SP postings, but many are newly written and some include additional tidbits for completeness or clarification. Topics covered elsewhere on the Smiling Phases and official Steve Winwood sites are generally omitted here, as are reviews, commentary, and favorite / least favorite songs. This synthesis is intended only to aid researchers, and authorship is attributable only to the original contributors of the referenced and linked SP postings for each topic. The Smiling Phases Compendiums are compiled and edited by Stephen Smith, mostly from original postings by the many contributors to the Smiling Phases mailing list. See the linked SP references for the original postings in the Mailing List Archives. Information is grouped into linked topics within each page. Source postings are referenced by SP volume and posting. For example, SP 58-04 refers to post 4 in SP volume 58.
Steve Winwood (1977)
The song "Vacant Chair" was written after Graham Bond killed himself in 1974. He had formed
the Graham Bond Organization with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (pre-Cream) and later worked
with Steve in Ginger Baker's Airforce. The chanting is Swahili for "the dead are weeping
for the dead", which Steve sings in English later in the song.
Tony Wright, the artist for the cover of Arc Of A Diver, described the making of the
cover on a site to sell lithographs. They Call It An Accident soundtrack (1982)
The soundtrack album for They Call It An Accident includes several tracks by Steve
Winwood: short and long versions of "Your Silence Is Your Song", "Main Theme", and an
instrumental version of "Night Train". "Main Theme" is actually an instrumental version of
"Your Silence Is Your Song". This version of "Night Train" is about 30 seconds shorter than
the
instrumental version on the flip side of the 12" single "Back in the High Life Again".
The liner notes for the CD list "Dust" (from Arc Of A Diver) as "Lust".
Steve is singing from the heart on "Hearts On Fire" because it is a true account of his
first meeting with his wife, Eugenia. Balto, "Reach For The Light" (1995)
Steve's single "Reach for the Light" was released on October 31, 1995, on MCA Records. It
was the theme song for the animated children's film Balto, from Universal Pictures,
about a Siberian Husky dog. A subscriber researched this name at the library and found that
Balto was a sled dog who, in 1925, saved the town of Nome, Alaska, by delivering diphtheria
medicine through a raging snowstorm, a true story. The single was available on CD or
cassette and contains two versions of the song (4:21 and 5:21). The longer version contains
an extra chorus but does not appear to be different in any other way. Steve produced the
song, but did not write it. There are no liner notes, so no indication if he even played
any instrument, and no other names of musicians.
Junction 7 was released in the US and Europe on June 3, 1997, and in Japan on May
28, 1997. The Japan release included a bonus track, the demo version of "Come Out And
Dance". The album name signifies that it was Steve's 7th solo album, but also the turn-off
on the M6 Motorway which leads to Birmingham Perry Barr, Steve's old home. See SP 78-02 for
an interview with Steve about the album.
Other release dates related to Junction 7:
The CD single of "Gotta Get Back To My Baby", released in Europe, has four tracks:
The producer for Junction 7 was Narada Michael Walden. He started out as a session
drummer in England in the late 1960s, and rose to prominence in the early 1970s playing
drums with John McGloughlin and the Mahivishnu Orchestra. He also recorded with the Jeff
Beck Group (on Wired) and Weather Report (on Black Market). He is also a
songwriter and may play other instruments as well. Eventually Narada shifted his focus to
production. He has since produced albums by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and other big
artists. He has produced several number one hits, including Whitney Houston's "How Will I
Know", Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", Aretha Franklin and George Michael's "I
Knew You were Waiting For Me", and Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who
Loves Me)". Narada was featured in a "super producers" concert in Japan in 1994.
Virgin issued a 2-CD promotional version of Junction 7, catalog number IVCD3098,
with the same cover as the regular release. The promo set has 32 tracks, including all 11
tracks from the album plus interview tracks. In the interview, conducted by Paul Sexton,
Steve talks about the recording of each song and then about the involvement of Narada
Michael Walden and the making of Junction 7 in more detail. "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near At Hand" (1997)
Steve contributed the track "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near At Hand" to the compilation CD
A Very Special Christmas 3, released on October 7, 1997. The Very Special Christmas
series supports Special Olympics. The song was also recorded by Elaine Waterson, who as
part of the Watersons recorded the version of "John Barleycorn" that Chris Wood brought in
for Traffic to record. Singles and instrumental versions
The UK 12" single of "Night Train" has an instrumental version on the b-side. This version
has extra guitar and keyboards, and is much longer than 3:35.
The b-side for the "One And Only Man" single was the otherwise unreleased instrumental song
"Always".
The instrumental versions of "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" (5:46), "Higher Love"
(6:05), "Holding On" (5:37), "Night Train" (3:35), and "Your Silence is Your Song" (4:55)
differ substantially from the vocal versions. "Higher Love" has some very odd stereo
effects and a lot more percussion, and "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" is
absolutely unrecognizable until about 1:30 into the song. The instrumental version of "In
the Light Of Day" (6:10) is only a little different from the vocal version.
On the instrumental version of "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?", a Moog solo
replaces the vocals. On the instrumental versions of "Holding On" and "Hearts on Fire", the
vocals are omitted but the music is otherwise changed very little. A long dance version of
"Roll With It" (about 7 minutes) has extra organ licks and female vocals. The "Steve
Testifies Dub" starts out with just piano playing the rhythm of the song and Steve singing
over it. At the chorus, the organ kicks in, then the horns and rest of the rhythm section
pulls in.
"Night Train", from Arc Of A Diver, has been released on various singles and on the
soundtrack They Call It An Accident in both remixed and instrumental versions. One
SP subscriber reviewed these releases and felt that even the earlier instrumental versions
sound different from the later versions. The common element is that they all have a
synthesizer lead in place of the vocal (but different). The earlier release, such as the
"Night Train" 12" single b-side (6:30), also has other differences in nearly every part.
The overall sound is noticeably more tentative than the album version, so it could be an
early working version with some parts from the final version added later. The subscriber
felt that the soundtrack version (3:35) is an edit of this. The later releases, on singles
for "The Finer Things" and "Back In The High Life", sounded more like the album
version. Live appearances - non-performing
Steve appeared on the David Letterman show in 1994, Arsenio Hall in 1991. Rolling Stone
magazine published a major interview with Steve in 1988. There have also been interviews in
Musician and Goldmine magazines.
Steve Winwood was one of many musicians featured on ABC's "Nightline" program on
11/23/1995. The topic was the Beatles. They had about a dozen musicians, ranging from
Steve to Brian Wilson to Itzhak Pearlman, talking about their impressions of the band.
Steve mentioned, among other things, that he really dug the harmonica on "Love Me Do". He
also said that Paul was the main musician of the band.
On February 26, 1997, Steve presented the award for Best New Artist to LeAnn Rimes, at the
39th Grammy Awards held at Madison Square Gardens in New York City.
Steve appeared on CNN on April 9, 1997, talking about the upcoming VH-1 Honors Concert and
the pending new album Junction 7: "It's a soul album, it's a pop-soul album, it's,
uh, it's got a lot of energy, and it's fun, and I'm very excited about it".
Steve was a presenter at the Fourth Annual Nashville Music Awards at the Tennessee
Performing Arts Center on January 21, 1998. Appearing with him were Kathy Mattea, Steve
Cropper, John Hiatt, Amy Grant, Bob Carlisle, Rodney Crowell, the trio of Bela Fleck,
Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall, dc Talk, Rod McGaha, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Mike
Eldred. The Nashville Music Awards are presented by Leadership Music, and the proceeds
benefit Humanities Outreach in Tennessee (HOT) as well as Leadership Music. Steve and Peter
Frampton presented the best pop album award, which was intended for Amy Grant but she
couldn't make it to the stage.
Steve Winwood once played with Alvin Lee and Mylon LeFevre on the weekly NBC-TV rock show
"The Midnight Special". The performance was held at the Rainbow Room of the London
department store Biba. The band included Steve Winwood and George Harrison. They sang
"Rockin' Til The Sun Goes Down" and two other songs. The show remains unreleased.
Steve joined the reunited Band on stage at the Lone Star Cafe in New York in 1986, singing
with Richard Manuel and Levon Helm on "Willie and the Hand Jive" in one of Richard's last
performances before he killed himself.
Steve played guitar on the first stage performance of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" in
London shortly after release of the album.
Steve took part in the Songs And Visions concert on August 16, 1997, at Wembley Stadium in
London. Other performers included Seal, Rod Stewart, Jon Bon Jovi, kd lang, Toni Braxton,
Robert Palmer, Chaka Khan, and a 50-piece orchestra. Steve was in the opening song "Papa
Was A Rolling Stone". The idea was then to play a song from each of the last 40 years, with
the stars rotating. Steve did a duet with Seal on U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm
Looking For", "Gimme Some Lovin'", Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog", joined the end chorus of
"Heartbreak Hotel", and a duet with Chaka Khan on "Dancing In The Streets". Seal also did
"Stairway To Heaven". The showed was aired on TV in the US.
Steve performed live at the Virgin Megastare on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles on June 8,
1997. The show and an online chat were broadcast live to all other US Virgin Megastores and
on the Internet by Live Concerts. Passes were given to people who purchased Junction
7 in southern California Virgin Megastores in the days between its release and the
show. Steve performed for 45 minutes, playing "I'm A Man", "Spy In The House Of Love",
"Gotta Get Back To My Baby", "Can't Find My Way Home", "Glad", "Just Wanna Have Some Fun",
"Higher Love", and "Gimme Some Lovin'". For the online chat, Steve responded to previously
submitted questions, including some from SP subscribers. The online feed included
video.
Live Concerts also presented a Steve Winwood concert on August 24, 1997, but this may have
been a re-run of the June 8 show.
Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Steve Winwood, George
Michael, the Fugees, and others appeared 12/10/1997 at New York City's Beacon Theatre to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the US Committee for UNICEF. The "Gift of Song" concert,
carried live on the TNT network, raised funds for the US Committee and the United Nations
Childrens' Fund. The event was produced by Ken Ehrlich, the man behind a similar concert at
the United Nations in 1979. That "Gift of Song" event, which included the Bee Gees, Rod
Stewart, and Donna Summer, was subsequently marketed through a double album and has raised
more than $10 million to date.
In about October 1997, Steve performed at the Second Annual Gentleman's Quarterly "Men of
the Year" celebration. Along with David Bowie, Steve provided the musical entertainment for
such honorees as Tom Cruise and Peter Jennings. The event was held at Radio City Music Hall
in New York. Steve played "Higher Love" and "Back In The High Life Again". VH-1 aired the
show on 11/2/1997. 1996 City Of Hope All-Star Garage Band Steve took part in the 1996 City Of Hope All-Star Garage Band on October 16, which also included Don Henley, Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, John Mellencamp, Eddie Van Halen, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Bobby Keys, Tony Rich, Richie Sambora, Jim Price, Narada Michael Walden, and Max Weinberg. Paul Shaffer directed the band, Bill Maher of "Politically Incorrect" was to host the event, and designers Todd Oldham and Tommy Hilfiger were to contribute to the production. The music industry fund-raiser honored VH-1 chief John Sykes with the Spirit of Life Award at the Universal City Walk in Los Angeles. The annual event raises between $3 million and $4 million for the City Of Hope, a non-profit medical and research center dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's and other life-threatening diseases. The black-tie gala, a key record business event, is also an important industry schmooze-fest. Seats at the gala started at $500 with premium tables as high as $50,000. The concert was aired by VH-1 in its entirety on March 8, 1997, due to huge demand. A Billboard article described the concert, its charitable contribution, and the performers, and Steve in particular. John Mellencamp was profuse in his praise of Steve. The broadcast was to be simulcast on radio, providing further fund-raising support for City Of Hope with telethon-style breaks between the songs. Viewers were encouraged to make donations to the nonprofit medical and research center via a toll-free line donated by Ticketmaster. Those who donated $20 or more earned a limited edition All-Star Garage Band T-shirt designed by Tommy Hilfiger, and a copy of the VH-1 Big '80s compilation CD.
Songs (lead vocals): The concert was aired several times on March 8, along with a 2-hour special called Garage Band Heroes featuring interviews and music of the participants, hosted by Max Weinberg.
See the original postings: SP 37-03,
During the concert, Steve wore devices in both ears which were described by subscribers as
head phones to replace the on stage monitors. The head phones are form-fitted to each
person and block out all extraneous noises. They serve the dual purpose of being able to
hear directly what is being fed into the microphones while screening out a lot of unneeded
decibels. Phil Collins started using them on the last Genesis tour. Todd Rundgren wears a
brand named Crystal Ear Monitors when performing live, and they look very much the same. A
musician in the business indicated that these new monitor devices are commonly used by
musicians who have even a slight hearing loss, or more often, problems with separating room
noise from music. This kind of hearing loss, he said, is very normal among performers
who've done lots of live concerts throughout the years.
VH-1 aired the show on April 11, with two related shows:
Songs (lead vocals):
See the original postings: SP 58-01,
The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame site said, in early 1996, that Joe Walsh "is putting
material together in anticipation of a joint musical project with British rocker Steve
Winwood. Walsh contributed a song and played guitar on Winwood's 1986 Back In The High
Life album. The two met again recently at an Eagles gig in Nashville and decided to try
a new collaboration...The new music could be used for a joint Walsh / Winwood release or be
used on separate solo albums." There was also a note on the Joe Walsh Home Page that he was
currently working on a new project with Steve. In a 1998 interview on the official Steve
Winwood site, Steve said "In fact, we got together and we had a jam. We had not seen each
other for a long time. Joe is a very long time friend and has been through a lot. I've also
been through a lot, so we just got together for a day. We jammed more than specifically
wrote together, so nothing finished came out of that. But I hope that we may finish where
we left off at some point." The BMI site lists many songs written or co-written by Winwood that have not been released. Subscribers evaluated these songs.
See the original postings: SP 13-02, SP 32-06, SP 52-02, SP 94-08.
Steve's full name is Stephen Lawrence Winwood. His birthday is May 12. Steve and Eugenia
were married on Saturday, January 18, 1987. Their four children are Mary Clare, born in
June 1987, Elizabeth Dawn, born in July 1988, Steven Calhoun ("Cal"), born in February
1993, and Lillian Eugenia ("Lilly"), born September 25, 1995.
Steve and his first wife, Nicole, were divorced during the making of Back In The High
Life (1986). "Freedom Overspill" may have been written about events related to the
divorce. Nicole was originally from California.
According to a newspaper article, Steve celebrated his 50th birthday on 5/18/1998 with a
party at the Lower Broadway bar Seanachie in Nashville, Tennessee. Over 300 people
attended, including friends and music business people. Steve brought his band and sang
three or four songs including "Roll With It". Others who performed were Delbert McClinton,
Emmylou Harris, Bekka Bramlett, John Cowan, saxy Jim Horn, and Felix Cavaliere of the
Rascals. Afterward, Steve, Carlos Santana, and others reportedly went to The Trace for a
nightcap.
Jenny Boyd included some background on Steve in her book Musicians in Tune. Jenny
was married to Mick Fleetwood, and Donovan's song "Jennifer Juniper" was written for her.
Her more famous sister Patti was married to George Harrison and then, more famously yet,
Eric Clapton. Jenny now lives in Los Angeles, California, and has a PhD in psychology. She
wrote this book to explore the creative process in contemporary musicians. These excerpts
are from pages 34 and 57.
Steve Winwood extricated himself from stifling and uninspiring music education: "Shortly
after I turned 5 or 6, I had some music lessons, but I fooled the teacher by doing things
by ear instead of reading. That didn't last long, and I didn't really have any training
until I was 14. Then I got into the Birmingham and Midland Institute of Music as a
part-time music student while I was still at school. I did that for about a year and a half
before I got kicked out for playing rock and roll and jazz, which of course was not
acceptable. They made me make the choice - so they kicked me out."
On Bob Seger's "Heavy Music single on the Cameo-Parkway label, back when he was still
mostly a local phenomenon, Bob sings "Stevie Winwood ain't got nothin' on me".
Steve will be eligible to be nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2002,
which will be 25 years after the release of his first solo album. But Spencer Davis Group
(1989), Traffic (1992), and Blind Faith (1994) are all eligible now. Invitations to join other groups David Downing, in his book A Dreamer of Pictures: Neil Young, describes how Crosby, Stills, and Nash (CSN) considered asking Steve to join them in 1969. CSN had just released their first album, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, to generally good reviews. "There were good musical reasons for adding SOMEONE. First and foremost they needed some help to take their music out on the road. ... For an electric band they would need either another guitarist or a keyboard player, preferably someone who was both. The first choice was Stevie Winwood, at that time between legs of Blind Faith's one, immensely lucrative tour of the US. Stills and drummer Dallas Taylor went to see him in England, trudging through knee-deep mud to Winwood's country cottage, only to find that this particular member of rock's first supergroup had already had enough of such aggregations."
The CSN box set includes a version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" recorded by Stills and Nash in
1980. In the liner notes, Stephen Stills comments on the group's interest in Steve. "Stevie
Winwood was always my favorite singer, that blue-eyed soul sound. It had been our ambition
from the start to convince him to join Crosby, Stills and Nash - I wanted an organ player
who could sing the blues. He was exceptionally kind to me, but every time I trudged across
the moors to see him, he was always occupied. I didn't think there was anyone more shy than
me - the phrase painfully shy was invented for this man. We recorded "Dear Mr. Fantasy" a
number of times, beginning in 1970. It was intended as a homage. Hats off, Stevie."
After Roy Orbison passed away, the other Travelling Wilburys may have invited Steve to
join. He declined and they decided not to fill Roy's spot.
In John McDermott's book Jimi Hendrix: Sessions (1995), Buddy Miles is quoted as
saying that they considered asking Winwood to join what would become the Band of Gypsies. A
VH-1 special about Jimi Hendrix' album Electric Ladyland also included several
references to wanting Steve to join the group. Steve was fortunate to have performed with some people who have since passed away. Subscribers noted a few in memory of their accomplishments.
Subscribers posted two obituaries for Bernard Edwards.
From Entertainment Weekly 4/1996:
According to the book Encyclopedia of Rock Stars, Steve performed "Arc of A Diver"
at a memorial service for Vivian Stanshall. Another source indicated that he played
"Londonderry Air" on acoustic guitar.
Linda McCartney, who took the first-ever photos of Traffic while they were still jamming
and writing at the cottage at Aston-Tirrold, died Friday, April 17, 1998, in Tucson,
Arizona. Her body was cremated and part of the ashes was spread at the McCartney ranch in
Tucson.
In the video for "I'm A Man", the Spencer Davis Group does not appear but Brian Jones,
George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr are in it. The cover photo of the
Chronicles album was from the "Freedom Overspill" video. The "Back In the High Life
Again" video was shot at the Southern Railway station in Manassas, Virginia.
Steve did television commercials with Michelob beer using the songs "Talking Back To The
Night" and "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?". The commercial for "Don't You Know..."
looked very much like the video for the song. In the "Roll With It" video, there is a
Michelob bottle on the organ.
Steve Winwood live video: Yokohama Arena (Yokohama, Japan), 3/22/1991
Bobby Messano, a guitarist and SP subscriber who toured with Steve in 1983, was to release
a new CD in late 1996. An advance cassette copy was called Tentatively Untitled, by
Bobby Messano and the NBO (New Blues Orchestra). The final album was titled Dominion
Roads, for his home state of Virginia, and was released in March 1998 on the Ichiban
label. One track is the Spencer Davis Group song "Keep On Running". Bobby's Web site
is:
SP subscriber Danny Wilensky, saxophonist and keyboardist on the Steve's 1986 High Life
tour, released a solo album in late 1997. The album is called And Then Some,
released on independent label Speechless Records. Danny's Web site is:
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Revised through Smiling Phases volume 150. The Smiling Phases Compendiums are compiled and edited by Stephen Smith, mostly from original postings by the many contributors to the Smiling Phases mailing list. See the linked SP references for the original postings in the Mailing List Archives.
Page created March 22, 1999. |
