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Detroit Free Press: Review of Roll With It June 20, 1988 |

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Since the release of Back in the High Life two years ago, this veteran British rocker has become a pop superstar, a Grammy winner, a husband (for the second time) and a father. So it's no wonder Roll With It finds him in high spirits, celebrating perseverance, optimism and love in 8 high-tech, R&B-tinged numbers. Unfortunately, it also finds Winwood rolling with his success; though listenable and commercial, the album is filled with below-par lyrics, safe melodies and slick arrangements. The closing number "Shining Song", even lifts bits directly from Winwood's 1986 hit, "Higher Love". The album's strongest songs - the title track, "Holding On", "One More Morning" - hold their own with Winwood's best material, but the rest smacks of a high-standards artist who's found perhaps too much comfort in success.
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Page created September 16, 1998. Last updated September 16, 1998. © 1998 by the author; reproduce only for non-commercial purposes and with full attribution. |