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VOLUME 77, sent May 27, 1997
Topics in this issue:
1. Steve ' s tour...
2. Skeptical of J7
3. SW Tour Article
4. Winwood Club Date(s) in Chicago
5. Sessions Listing
6. 2nd Winwood Concert
7. Dates
8. CD Roms for Junction 7
9. Re: Mystery sessions
10. First glimpse of Spy video and bad reviews
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Did you read the new address for Scott's Web-site???
Scott has been working for months with Eugenia Winwood, and his site is now
the OFFICIAL Winwood site, with input from the Winwoods themselves!
Many, many thanks to Scott for the enormous amount of effort he put into
development. Congratulations!
I will now be maintaining the unofficial site, as we understand that fans like to
read about things which cannot be included on the official site. My site is not
yet uploaded, but I will make an announcement when it is. None of the
information included on Scott's old site will be lost in the transition. --BG
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From: "Elena Iglio"
Subject: Steve ' s tour...
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 06:00:41 +0200
I've seen the posters... Steve is actually sharing the stage - or shall I say a
beautiful medieval square - with Italian star Zucchero at Pistoia's Blues
Festival on July 6th. Still only 1 Italian music paper actually MENTIONS both
the tour and the release of the album and I wonder if Virgin press is boycotting
him...
I've been noticing by the posts on SP and from what I hear from English friends
that Our Man Winwood seems to play only small venues this year, and I'm
wondering what the reason of this choice can be, if he has a powerful combo
with him and can win thousands of converts.... Maybe he prefers to get back to
the "night club" atmospheres - Traffic always complained in their last years of
having to play basketball courts and auditoriums where the magic was lost in
the base acoustics... - I can't imagine how Steve or his management could be
afraid of "date cancellation" risks with a name like his... (Blur have canceled
most of their Italian dates owing to the scarce ticket sales. THAT I can
understand.)
A note for Steve Smith - I AM really impressed by your work. Will there be a
way to get hold of the final results? That would be of great help to collectors
like me....Have you got hold of the famous Anglos single Incense/You're
Foolin' Me, for instance???
Ellie
[Steve Smith's work will be uploaded onto one of the Web-sites when complete.
-BG]
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From: 8.ball@spotcom.com
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:05:52 -0500
Subject: Skeptical of J7
Call this a little bit of bitterness over not getting tickets for Winwood's LA gigs,
maybe I was spoiled in Virginia when I got 2nd row seats and got a quick sneak
backstage during the Traffic tour.
I'm skeptical of how Junction 7 will go over. Here are my reasons why.
1) Narada. May be a fine producer, but seems to be one of many producers who
want to take older acts and make them "hip." In the process, it eventually
cheapens their music and their legacy. I've always thought Winwood knows his
sound, he should be calling the shots.
2)Guest shots--to be honest I'm not that impressed. When Winwood came back
for BitHL, he got legends or REALLY impressive people who had been around
a long time: James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Dan Hartman. This album: Lenny
KRavitz, a good (not great) guitarist and Des'ree...let me reiterate...DES'REE!!!
A one hit wonder. Time will tell though. Chaka Khan at least had a few
recognizable songs....
3) Choice of singles. Maybe this is just my opinion, but this is one category
that has been deteriorating since BitHL. There are so many songs that could
have been hits, but they either released them after the album had already run
out of steam or not at all. Generally the ballads are the victims, and I think
"My Love's Leaving'" "I Will Be Here" and "One More Morning" were all
potential hits. I also think the powers that be were afraid of making Traffic
"poppy" and instead of following up the poor performance of "Here Comes a
Man" with "Every Night Every Day" (a bonafide hit. MODO) "Riding High" or
even "State of Grace" they followed it with "Some Kinda Woman," a good
song, but not as good as the other three.
This brings me to Junction 7. "Can't Get Enough of It" is a hit. That should be
the first single, of the songs I've heard from going to the VH1 Honors and other
"sources." "Spy in the House of Love" is a good song, but not a great one, on
first instincts alone. Any bets that "Family Affair" will be the followup.
My optimum choice would have been to put the Traffic touring group in the
studio maybe with Nile and make a TRAFFIC album, because it shows Steve's
chops. I also thought "Reach for the Light" was going to be on the album.
Of course, despite skepticism...I will be the first in line, even if I have to kill
Craig :)
Jeff Hawkins
["Can't Get Enough of It" is not on J7. --BG]
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Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 13:43:39 +0200
From: Istituto Cervantes Napoli
Subject: SW Tour Article
STEVE WINWOOD - In the Light of Soul
Mr. Fantasy is here again
"REPUBBLICA - MUSICA" was in London at the Hanover Grand for the
opening gig of SW's tour.29.4.1997
He still enjoys making and playing music- with his typical "nonchalance" after
more than 35 years. With his new album, J7, SW adds his solo career an
important new chapter. He started a long European-U.S. tour (he will play 2
Italian dates, July 6th in Pistoia and 7th in Rome), and the first gig of his tour
was in a small club in the centre of London, the Hanover Grand. There were no
more than 500 people in there. "I chose small venues for other gigs also: it is
the perfect situation for the new album and its peculiar, hi-energy sound" Sw
promises before the concert begins. The opening number is a tribute to his
musical history and shows that acid jazz owes a lot to SDG's white soul and
SW's old Hammond B3 sound: I'M A MAN. Then he strolls along the path of
time towards the new record with another, more recent big hit: ROLL WITH
IT, that reminds us of James Brown's powerful funky rhythm. The horn section
- Randall Bramblett and Kev Robinson duets with the backing vocalists Emma
Whittle and Valerie Chambers, that figure prominently in the next new number
LET YOUR LOVE COME DOWN, when SW leaves the Hammond organ to
brandish guitar in Lenny Kravitz' shoes - Kravitz plays this solo on the record-
.
Winwood steps back to the '80's with the next number WHILE YOU SEE A
CHANCE from "Arc of a diver" that proves his natural falsetto is still going as
strong as ever. But the best is yet to come: the new single SPY IN THE HOUSE
OF LOVE is a showcase of his prowess in "call and response" singing. 3
guitars support the rhythm section in this number that is very indicative of his
new musical tendency and of the new record, called JUNCTION 7 for this is
the motorway number leading to his Gloucestershire house (??). ANGEL OF
MERCY is the next song an inspired soul ballad with a splendid guitar
orchestration and the Hammond roaring stressing every line. Winwood also
takes a trip in Latin American salsa and a cover from the Sly-Family Stone
repertoire GOT TO GET BACK TO MY BABY and FAMILY AFFAIR are
coming next, with a hi-quality rhythm section adding the Cuban percussionist
Walfredo Reyes - formerly with Santana- and the Suriname percussionist
Martin Verdonk. Trumpet and flute colour the Family Affair rendition, and the
audience dances like a flowing river. This is the result of Winwood's love for
soul music and the brand new, alchemic meeting with Narada Michael Walden
and Nile Rodgers, two big names in contemporary black music. JUST WANNA
HAVE SOME FUN takes us back to the black dance of the '80..
GIMME SOME LOVING the last number, a must for Winwood, indicates
however that there's always something more to expect from this great Artist
than just playing to have fun. (Carlo Moretti - Repubblica.)
Ellie
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From: "Les Jacobson"
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 12:14:31 -0500
Subject: Winwood Club Date(s) in Chicago
From Virgin's PR people, here's the current status of U.S. club dates. I
asked Gayle to keep me posted.
Les
-- Forward --
From: *****@aol.com
To: Les Jacobson/Antec
Subject: Re: Winwood Club Date(s) in Chicago
The dates are now only in New York and Los Angeles.
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From: Stevsmith1@aol.com
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 20:42:11 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Sessions Listing
If you've been following the last few issues of SP, you know that I'm compiling
a comprehensive listing of Winwood's session work. Subscriber contributions
to the effort have been invaluable! If you have more info, there's plenty of time
to contribute. I'm still looking into a few things, but I expect to finish in 2-3
weeks.
I figured out where the 1975 self-titled Fania All Stars album was listed as a
session - the 1986 tour program! It listed this album but left out _Delicate And
Jumpy_. The compiler used Terry Hounsome's _Rock Record_, probably the
1983 second edition. Looking at the third edition of the Hounsome book, it's
easy to see how someone in a hurry could have picked up the wrong one this
way. In a nutshell, the tour program listing is clearly a mistake!
More interestingly, I came across a few more possible sessions. Most are
probably bogus, but so far one has turned out to be real! Steve sang backup on
Rosanne Cash's _King's Record Shop_, about 1987 or 1988. Actually, this one
rings a bell - didn't someone refer to it in SP many many issues ago?
Steve
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From: MHargre586@aol.com
Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 10:58:32 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: 2nd Winwood Concert
Last night (22 May) I went to see Mr Winwood for the second time on the J7
tour. I went with Steve Darlington (he who drew your traffic.jpg logo) - he had
permission this time, from Marie!! The lineup was as for Birmingham on May
1. The songs were also the same, except that "Freedom Overspill" was added
towards the end. At the end of the concert, Steve said he hoped to come to
Manchester again. Let's hope so. It was a fantastic concert (no guitar
problems!) with excellent sound quality, better than Birmingham. The UK CD
single of "Spy...." contains 2 mixes plus "Come out & dance", but it's not out
yet. Is the Reading 1974 valedictory Traffic show available anywhere?
Bye, Mike.
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From: "BobbieG."
Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 08:08:05 -0700
Subject: Dates
Okay, let's start to get a chronology going here for this year's appearances by
Our Hero. What I've got so far is:
May 14 or 19 - release of single "Spy in the House of Love" to radio
June 2 or 3 - release of album "Junction 7" to stores
June 3 - release of single "Spy" to stores
June 3 - Dave Letterman show (CBS)
June 4-6 - shows at Irving Plaza, NYC
June 6 - release of video for "Spy" to MTV and VH1
June 6 - Rosie O'Donnell show (NBC)
June 8 - performance at LA Virgin Megastore
June 9-11 - shows at Roxy Theatre, LA
July 6 - show in Florence, Italy
June/July - performances at Virgin Megastores in London & Paris
June/July - appearances at European festivals
August 16 - show at Wembley, UK
September - December - full-scale tour of US
Late winter, spring '98 - tour of Japan, Australia, (?)
Start watching the TV listings for appearances on morning TV shows during
the NYC dates, and for an appearance on Jay Leno during the LA dates.
We need to fill in a LOT more blanks, particularly for the European gigs, so
you guys keep your eyes open. I'll put the results up on the web-site real soon.
Thanks for all the help!
Bobbie
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From: "Vockeroth, Adrian"
Subject: CD Roms for Junction 7
Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 17:13:35 -0400
As I'm totally ignorant about CD ROM's, does anyone know what features the
Junction 7 CD ROM's would have? I just saw an advert for promo CD ROM's
of Junction 7 and Spy in the House of Love. Is it likely to become
commonplace for all releases to come out in CD format and CD ROM format?
Adrian Vockeroth
Gatineau Quebec
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Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 01:05:50 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Berkin Altinok
Subject: Re: Mystery sessions
Hey fellows, i was away for the weekend to Istanbul, to meet with my friend
Erim, who had recently come back from Boston, what a surprise he brought me
some "Records", now isn't that special, well here you go here is the list:
1> JC: Oh How We Danced!!
2> JC: Short Cut Draw Blood!!
3> JC: Whale Meat Again!!
4> JC: Daughter Of The Night!!
5> JC: Electric Nights!!
6> JC: Fierce Heart!!
7> JC: One Man Mission!!
8> Winwood & Friends!!!
8> More Heavy Traffic>>!!
10> Off the record radio Show 10\18\1982 interview with SW
Well, this pretty much clears the JC stuff, since Prince of Darkness is a
compilation, and so we are left with the only lost Solo album, most probably
left from 1977 "Sweet Smell Of Success" and i got a couple of singles from that
album, well this is way over incredible!!!!!!
How is the single, people? i think i will receive it soon, looking forward!!!!
Berkin,,,,
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From: MomeyKate@aol.com
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 10:06:19 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: First glimpse of Spy video and bad reviews
I caught the tail end of Spy in the House of Love video on VH1 this AM- the
entire band is playing- like a club scene- with dancing... Steve looks good, but
depressed- must have read the scathingly bad reviews of Junction 7 in Request
magazine and Entertainment Weekly. I don't agree with the reviewers, of
course! I find almost everything SW does to be musically wonderful! Let's
hope the general public will form their own opinions and give the album a fair
listening! Still haven't seen the single in record stores, but can order it through
Goldmine magazine ads like Thoughtscape Sounds in Arkansas...
Mary
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END OF SMILING PHASES, VOL 77
