------------------------------------------
VOLUME 120, sent February 12, 1998
Topics in this issue:
1. Re: JC's drums and Jim Gordon
2. Re: Laserdisc
3. 5 Most Uninspired songs
4. Wednesdays at the Triple Inn
5. Re: Dummies
6. Web-site chords, and Laserdisc
7. Re: Winwood for Dummies, and Uninspired Songs
8. Re: Dummies; and BBC2 Radio and Photos
9. Most Beloved Songs
10. Junction 7 - an appraisal.
11. Official interview
12. Summer tour!
------------------------------------------
1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1*1
From: BalletStks@aol.com
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 18:07:06 EST
Subject: Re: JC's drums and Jim Gordon
Thanks so much for allowing me to seek out historical data on my drums. Still
no response, but I'm not about to cave in. I really feel sorry for Jim Gordon,
Carl Radle, Dominos bass player fared no better. I think Bobby Whitlock is still
pounding the keys in Memphis.
Thanks,
Bart
2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2
From: "Elena Iglio"
Subject: Re: Laserdisc
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:31:13 +0100
I bought a copy of the Santa Monica Laserdisc through a Japanese import
record seller in 1990. And I don't even have a laserdisc reader!! (Typical!)
Maybe Japan is where you should look for. Just a suggestion...
Ellie
3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3
From: "Elena Iglio"
Subject: 5 Most Uninspired songs
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:43:14 +0100
Btw do they have to be 5????? OK, you have mine:
1 - Second Hand Woman
2 - It was Happiness
3 - Running On
4 - Angel of Mercy
5 - Put On Your Dancing Shoes
If you go for just one, SHW will do.
I have already heard rumours that someone might pick up "Love" among
these... I am prepared to go buy some medicine against heart attacks....:,-((((
Remember they have to be WINWOOD songs. He would probably have picked
"Strong Love" himself, The Song He Was Most Ashamed Of, but it wasn't
his!!!
Wow, I have to thank you... you devoted half a SP number to our cause. I am
also very glad Jim Gordon's plight got the other half, he's a sick man, was a
talented guy and again, who are we to judge??
Ellie
4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4*4
From: DPolyglot@aol.com
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:30:30 EST
Subject: Wednesdays at the Triple Inn
DANNY WILENSKY, JEFF KAZEE, JACK MORER, STEVE COUNT,
RICH MERCURIO + special guests, appearing Wednesday, February 11th and
18th, 9:30-2 at the Triple Inn , West 54th St. off 8th Ave, New York City.
Seriously funky instrumentmal and vocal music! No cover!
(at least come and say hello.....)
Danny
[Danny was a tour musician with SW and is now a devoted Sper. --BG]
5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 14:40:07 -0600
From: "Tasuki Suboshi, Yui no Seishi"
Subject: Re: Dummies
Hmm, well Bobbie, think I might get tarred and feathered for the
Pro-Spice Girl statement? Oh well =)
Just a quick note on how much we need "Winwood for dummies". At
dinner at the cafeteria of the University of Oklahoma, I had a dance major and
a film major (both highly intelligent, both getting full academic rides) say to
me, "Steve Winwood, who is that?" I also had another person say, "Didn't the
Doobie Brothers write _Gimme Some Lovin'_?" with another saying, "No, that
was a Blues Brothers song."
Sad, sad, just so sad.
Eric J. Brown
6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 17:05:34 +0900
From: Hisao Chida
Subject: Web-site chords, and Laserdisc
A few days ago I saw your video copy of the Royal Albert Hall show and I
picked up my guitar to play the great tunes with your/my transcriptions beside
me. Then my transcriptions were found to include some wrong chords. Live
versions are in many cases more useful for transcribing notes and chords than
studio versions. Also, I realized transcriptions look much better with more bars
"|" added. So I'm updating my transcriptions. Other transcriptions on your site
seem to have some room for improvement too. For example, CFMWH has a bit
more complicated chord progression...
So at this point it seems more important to me to improve the existing files
than to add other songs: quality above quantity. Of course this is my humble
opinion and I would like to know how the other SPers feel about this. Maybe
everybody would say "Why don't you add my favorite song XXX ?" and that
will list almost all the SW tunes.
I like to answer Terence's question about the laserdisc. I know the Live at Santa
Monica was once released on laserdisc some years ago here in Japan. But it's
out of print now and not found anywhere. It can be found at secondhand stores
but I have been searching for it for a long time.
Ciao
Hisao Chida / Tokyo, Japan
7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7*7
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 17:51:31 -0600
From: Steven Robert Seim
Subject: Re: Winwood for Dummies, and Uninspired Songs
Before I begin, one small comment on the great Ellie/Bobbie debate: regarding
bad lyrics by Jim Capaldi, I personally find One & Only Man to be more
cliched and downright corny than Hearts On Fire ("take you to the city, girl
we're gonna buy some clothes..." ?!? puh-leeze!). The redeeming feature of
both these songs is the music; they're both great modern blues-rock numbers, so
I guess I can put up with the lyrics. (J.C. did some beautiful lyrics on Far From
Home, though, IMHO).
I'd like to try my hand at the "Most Uninspired SW Songs" theme. I think this
idea is probably more interesting than the favorite songs lists, since we all
know how much great stuff he's done. And it's also easier (and more fun) to
criticize. Anyway, I'm limiting myself to solo works (about half of the Low
Spark album would qualify if I didn't):
1. Second Hand Woman. I have to agree with Ellie and Bobbie (also see #2).
Thank goodness this is Steve's only experiment with disco.
2. It Was Happiness. Just a completely lifeless song. Even Steve's voice can't
rescue this one.
3. Spanish Dancer. See #2. I can't tell what this song needs (faster tempo,
different instruments, different lyrics), but it definitely needs something.
4. Big Girls Walk Away. See #s 2 and 3. Will Jennings has done some great
stuff in the last 12 years, but he sure started off slowly.
5. Let Me Make Something In Your Life. Maybe the lyrics are nice, but when
he sings "we used to be good friends, whyyy, whyyy not now" it just sounds so
whiny.
(Dis)honorable mentions:
6. Running On. Not a bad number musically, but the lyrics are lacking, which
in turn brings the song down. I've always had a problem with songs that talk
about the artist, music in general, other songs, etc. It suggests that the artist
has run out of real ideas ("Glass Onion" comes to mind).
7. Family Affair. If you can't come up with a good song on your own, that's one
thing, but if you're going to do a cover, there's no excuse for not having good
material.
Steve Seim
8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8
From: "Eddie"
Subject: Re: Dummies; and BBC2 Radio and Photos
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 00:11:01 -0000
Thanks for the "bumper" issue of SP and your reply. Interesting little debate
that you had going there with Elena. I agree with a lot that you were both
saying. One point that Elena made that I whole-heartedly agree with is about
No Face, No Name, No Number. I think that it's one of Steve's most
outstanding songs and vocal performances. I remember thinking that at the
time of its original release on the Mr Fantasy album way back when, and I still
think that today and play it on a regular basis.
Some other bits.
BBC Radio Broadcast. It didn't happen! I'm embarrassed, but it's not my fault.
They either changed their program schedule, or the magazine that mentioned
it, "Q", got it wrong. I've emailed both of them to find out and am awaiting a
reply. I was looking forward to hearing that! Later hopefully.
Photography. I read an interesting article about the photographer Richard Polak
in a magazine here. According to the article he was Traffic's court
photographer (whether that's true, I'm not sure) but certainly took the
photograph that graced the inside of the gatefold sleeve of John Barleycorn. It
was mentioned that at the time it was an experiment with an infrared film, new
at that time. The picture published in the magazine is Orange, Yellow and
Green tinted. The article said inaccurately that the picture was taken for
Traffic's second album, but was in effect the session for their fourth album, if
you accept Last Exit as a third. Curiosity got the better of me having read that
and I checked some of the other Traffic sleeves to see if he was the
photographer and found that he did the photography for Traffics 2nd album
and Low Spark also. Possibility that he may have done Last Exit, but is not
credited on the sleeve. The colour photo in the magazine is one of the shots that
he took but didn't use for John Barleycorn and is very good; I hadn't seen it
before. Polak also photographed many other 60's/70s icons and also did the
shoot for the Rolling Stones R&R Circus.
Eddie
9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9
From: "Scott Tribble"
Subject: Most Beloved Songs
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 19:47:00 -0500
1. Every Mother's Son
2. Hearts on Fire
3. Vacant Chair
4. Walking in the Wind
5. Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring?
10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10
From: "Eddie"
Subject: Junction 7 - an appraisal.
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 20:33:23 -0000
Much has already been said here by fellow SP'ers and elsewhere about Steve's
most recent work and I've enjoyed reading them all, but I also wanted to take
the opportunity to record my views on the album. For me an album is best
appraised once I've listened to it many times over a period of time and grown
comfortable and appreciative of what it is trying to achieve. I've followed
Steve's career closely from the latter days of the Spencer Davis Group through
the progression of Traffic, his other collaborations and solo work. The Steve
that I've always admired and enjoyed has been the multi-instrumentalist,
vocalist, songwriter and performer within the structures of the superbly free
flowing and blowing music of Traffic, through to his solo work. His body of
work through the years has had had many outstanding high points and now
having had time to appraise Junction 7, I am of the opinion that this album
ranks as one of those, if not the highest point of his solo career work to date.
Encompassing so many styles it is perhaps his most commercial, spiritual and
soulful work so far, underpinned by the unique style and quality of
musicianship for which he is renowned and respected. When I first played the
album, I'll admit that I wasn't sure about it. The commerciality of it struck me
as being surprising and not quite what I had come to expect. But having played
it many times since, I'm of the opinion that it is his most carefully structured
and complete work to date. The main things that appeal to me are the quality
of the songs, which I think are the best collection as a cohesive set for an
"album" that he has produced. From the riffing Spy In The House of Love to
Lord Of The Street, these are the familiar Steve that I've enjoyed for many
years. To the soulful Let Your Love Come Down, Family Affair and Plenty
Lovin. The good time songs Just Wanna Have Some Fun and the Latin styled
Gotta Get Back To My Baby. Finally to the loving and spiritual offerings of
Angel Of Mercy, Real Love, Fill Me Up and Someone Like You. Running
through all of this is his unique talent as a musician, vocalist and songwriter,
allied to his collaborators Narada, Eugenia, Jim, and of course the players and
technicians which together collectively go towards making this such a special
album for me. In particular the songs co-written with Eugenia are obviously
deeply heartfelt and a joy. His musicianship and delivery as always is supreme.
Junction 7 is a joyous body of work and a triumph.
Eddie
11*11*11*11*11*11*11*11*11*11
From: "Scott Tribble"
Subject: Official interview
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 23:09:21 -0500
I uploaded the interview tonight and I was wondering if you could send out a
post in SP to publicize it? Many of the questions are long-time ones from
subscribers so I think they'd be interested to see it. Thanks.
Scott
[The address is www.stevewinwood.com/multimedia/press/interview.html ]
12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12
From: sohi@aabc.dk
Subject: Summer tour!
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 10:15:20 +0100
I have actually just sent off a lengthy fax to Mick and will advise you of his
response asap.
As regards the tour, he was talking about Steve playing jazz festivals with (I
think he said South American musicians - the name Tito came up). So it would
not be the straightforward versions of his songs.
I'll keep you posted.
soren
[Soren mentioned earlier to me that the tour would visit 18 cities, but we have
no idea yet what the dates or cities (or even the continent) are. --BG]
------------------------------------------
END OF SMILING PHASES, VOL 120
