Winwood 'Lives' Again On Columbia

[Jahfin]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1003714909

Steve Winwood

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

With his highly anticipated gigs with ex-bandmate Eric Clapton looming this week in New York, Steve Winwood has signed a new deal with Columbia Records. His label debut, "Nine Lives," will arrive April 29.

Clapton, who played briefly with Winwood in Blind Faith in the late 1960s, contributes guitar on first single "Dirty City," which hits U.S. radio outlets today (Feb. 25). Fans can stream the track from Winwood's Web site or buy it from iTunes.

The nine-track set is Winwood's first studio album since 2003's "About Time," which he release on his own Wincraft label.

Winwood and Clapton reunited last July at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, leading to the three-show Garden run tonight, tomorrow and Thursday. The duo will be backed by bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Ian Thomas and keyboardist Chris Stainton.

This summer, Winwood will be back on the road in the U.S. as the support act for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Here is the track list for "Nine Lives":

"I'm Not Drowning"

"Fly"

"Raging Sea"

"Dirty City"

"We're All Looking"

"Hungry Man"

"Secrets"

"At Times We Do Forget"

"Other Shore"

[ally]

It's about time we heard something new from Winwood. Great talent that he is

[Jahfin]

Clapton/Winwood Setlist 2/25/08 MSG

1. Had to Cry Today

2. Low Down

3. Forever Man

4. Them Changes

5. Sleeping in the Ground

6. Presence of the Lord

7. Glad/Well Alright

8. Double Trouble

9. Pearly Queen

10. Tell the Truth

11. No Face

12. After Midnight

13. Split Decision

14. Ramblin on My mind (Clapton solo acoustic)

15. Georgia on My mind (Winwood solo Hammond)

16. Little Wing

17. Voodoo Chile

18. Can't Find My Way Home

19. Dear Mr. Fantasy

Encore

20. Crossroads

[MadScreamingGallery]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1003714909

Thanks for your post. I love Winwood. Always have. We couldn't make it to the MSG gig with Clapton but we are seeing him this summer.

It's about time we heard something new from Winwood. Great talent that he is

Amen to that!

http://www.SteveWinwood.com

[GetTheLedOut]

I listened to the single, wasn't too terribly impressed. Fairly bland, but that's just my opinion.

[Joelmon]

Clapton/Winwood Setlist 2/25/08 MSG

1. Had to Cry Today

2. Low Down

3. Forever Man

4. Them Changes

5. Sleeping in the Ground

6. Presence of the Lord

7. Glad/Well Alright

8. Double Trouble

9. Pearly Queen

10. Tell the Truth

11. No Face

12. After Midnight

13. Split Decision

14. Ramblin on My mind (Clapton solo acoustic)

15. Georgia on My mind (Winwood solo Hammond)

16. Little Wing

17. Voodoo Chile

18. Can't Find My Way Home

19. Dear Mr. Fantasy

Encore

20. Crossroads

Dayum !!! Wish I was there !!

Cool to see such veterans as Willie Weeks and Chris Stainton playing with these guys. And to play 'Sleeping in the Ground'....nice Blind Faith 'rareity'......

I loved Stevie's last 'About Time' cd....best I've heard from him since his 70s Traffic days. Will certainly check out his new one...I hope it's not a let down as GTLO hears....

[Jahfin]

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/inde...rgig/#more-5333

Clapton and Winwood Break Out Blind Faith, Hendrix at First Supergig

It wasn’t billed as a Blind Faith reunion, but Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton kicked off their three-night stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden Monday night with “Had To Cry Today.” And through the course of their twenty-song set they’d cover the entire A-side of 1969’s Blind Faith — the only album by the supergroup — hitting “Can’t Find My Way Home,” “Well … All Right” and “Presence of the Lord.” (Full set list after the jump.)

When Clapton and Winwood converged in London last week for rehearsals — with an all-star backing band consisting of bassist Willie Weeks, keyboardist Chris Stainton and drummer Ian Thomas — they decided to choose songs from each other’s catalogs to jam on. “There’s some perspective material that’s quite intricate and tricky and has got a lot of stuff going on,” Winwood told Rolling Stone before the gig. “And in some ways it’s best to head for simpler territory and then let the performance take over. Otherwise you spend all your time trying to remember bits and remember parts. So we’ve kind of erred a little bit on the simpler side. There’s a shed-load of material and we don’t have time to do all. We’ve honed it down and kept things that are better and more enjoyable to play.”

At MSG they touched on Winwood’s stints in Traffic, busting out “No Face, No Name, No Number,” “Pearly Queen” and “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” on which Winwood laid down a nasty guitar solo. Clapton sang the blues on “Forever Man,” “After Midnight” and “Crossroads.” They also played three tracks by their mutual friend Jimi Hendrix: The fourth song of the night was “Changes,” from Band of Gypsys, and later in the set they offered the one-two punch of “Little Wing” and “Voodoo Child,” with Clapton offering blistering solos. In the middle of the set, Clapton appeared alone, singing “Ramblin’ On My Mind,” which he first recorded with John Mayall’s Blues Breakers in 1966. Following that, Winwood took the stage by himself, pumping his B3 organ and wailing “Georgia on My Mind,” which he first recorded with the Spencer Davis Group in 1965.

“It’s a great, enjoyable thing for me to play with Eric,” Winwood told RS, when asked about the hoopla surrounding these historic gigs. “It’s a little bit surprising, the way there seems to be this big amount of anticipation — but I’m certainly very excited about it.”

[ally]

Thanks for your post. I love Winwood. Always have. We couldn't make it to the MSG gig with Clapton but we are seeing him this summer.

Amen to that!

http://www.SteveWinwood.com

Thanks for the link MSG Loved "Dirty City"... I'll be picking this one up.

And Thanks for the post Jahfin. I'm a big fan of Winwood and will try to catch him live at the Gorge as they're not stopping in Vancouver for some reason

[MadScreamingGallery]

Thanks for the link MSG Loved "Dirty City"... I'll be picking this one up.

And Thanks for the post Jahfin. I'm a big fan of Winwood and will try to catch him live at the Gorge as they're not stopping in Vancouver for some reason

You're welcome, Ally. Same here re "Dirty City" - I'm looking forward to the album and to seeing Winwood live.

[dazedcat]

The day that Steve Winwood can't get a recording contract is the day that the world will really end.

I'm glad he got a new deal, a talent like that deserves one.

Regards;

[MadScreamingGallery]

NY Times

February 27, 2008

Music Review

Finding Their Way Home, or at Least to the Garden

By JON PARELES

Back in the 1960s some of the most promising British musicians aspired only to sound as good as their collections of American blues and R & B records, or perhaps some Saturday-night gig along the old chitlin’ circuit.

The careers of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood would go on to full-tilt jamming, psychedelic fusions, pop hits, rootsy rock and middle-aged soft-rock. But when they got together at Madison Square Garden on Monday night — for the first of three shows there that, Mr. Clapton hinted, may lead them to “do a bit more” — they still paid homage to their cherished old Americana. Half the set was American songs, from old blues to J. J. Cale’s “After Midnight” and an extended version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.”

Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood did play four of the six songs from the studio album that came out of their last collaboration: Blind Faith, the supergroup (with Cream’s drummer, Ginger Baker, and the bassist Rick Grech) that existed for only part of 1969, including a chaotic show at Madison Square Garden.

Monday’s set started with “Had to Cry Today,” which declares in its first words, “It’s already written that today will be one to remember.” Yet Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood carried themselves modestly, without bravado: just a couple of musicians doing their job.

They were looking for the mysterious spark that transforms capable, proficient blues or rock into something startling and exalted. It wasn’t always there. Old blues songs still came across as the work of skilled, dutiful students, chugging steadily through “Crossroads” or easing back for Mr. Clapton’s near-homages to B. B. King, Albert King and Buddy Guy in “Double Trouble.”

Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood were serious about songs like “Sleeping in the Ground,” which Blind Faith performed in 1969, with raspy vocals, splashy barrelhouse piano from Mr. Winwood and a stinging, Chicago-style lead from Mr. Clapton. But it was musicianship, not alchemy.

Fitfully, they found it: in a slow, aching version of “Georgia on My Mind” by Mr. Winwood alone at a Hammond organ; in Mr. Clapton’s Blind Faith song, “Presence of the Lord,” with two very different vocal approaches from Mr. Clapton and Mr Winwood; in the Traffic instrumental “Glad” topped by a frenetic raga-tinged solo from Mr. Clapton; and in Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” which built to a searing guitar solo by Mr. Winwood. If anything, it was Mr. Winwood’s night; his Blind Faith song “Can’t Find My Way Home” held both anguish and camaraderie as he and Mr. Clapton let their guitar picking entwine.

Whatever broke up Blind Faith 39 years ago seemed well behind them; Mr. Clapton also sits in on Mr. Winwood’s forthcoming album, “Nine Lives.” They shared many songs, trading off vocals on verses and sometimes playing simultaneous, overlapping lead guitars. The band was Mr. Clapton’s, with Willie Weeks on bass, Ian Thomas on drums and Chris Stainton on keyboards. It kept the songs earthy, helping Mr. Clapton put a bluesy bite into Mr. Winwood’s old Traffic song “Pearly Queen” and making Hendrix’s “Little Wing” sound as if it could have been a song by the Band — until Mr. Clapton’s guitar solo, spiraling skyward with wailing melodic lines and bursts of speedy filigree.

It was, despite all the musicians’ experience, the first full-length set together in decades for Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood. Understandably, they sometimes fell back on reflexes. The chitlin’ circuit toned up bands through steady work, something the Clapton-Winwood band could try for itself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/arts/mus...xprod=permalink

[Jahfin]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1003725606

Winwood Talks 'Time,' Clapton, Tom Petty Tour

Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton

John Benson, Cleveland

When Steve Winwood came off the road in support of his 2003 album "About Time," the legendary artist had a pretty good idea about the follow-up release. However, the end result of his new album "Nine Lives," which is due April 29, turned out to be something altogether unique.

"Originally I wanted to make it a continuation of 'About Time,'" Winwood tells Billboard.com. "At one point I was going to call it 'About Time Too,' but in fact, what happened was I become inspired by actually what my band had been playing in jams and informal get-togethers. So ('Nine Lives') was quite different from 'About Time.' It was largely cut live and probably a little bit more organic and natural the way it all came about."

Specifically, Winwood points to new tracks "Fly," "Hungry Man," "Secrets," "At Times We Forget" and "Other Shore" as being born out of jam sessions. Something else different is the fact "About Time" was initially released on his own Wincraft Music label, while "Nine Lives" is included in a deal with Columbia Records.

"Obviously in the changing world of the record industry, no one knows any better than anyone else," Winwood says. "There is suddenly a desire to try to reach more people, which on face [value] one assumes a major record company allows you to do that better. But it's not a long-term thing. It's a one-off with Columbia to see how it compares."

Currently at radio, the lead single off "Nine Lives" is "Dirty City," which features Eric Clapton on guitar. Winwood hinted his recent Madison Square Garden shows with his former Blind Faith bandmate Clapton will more than likely end up as a DVD release.

For now, Winwood is gearing up for his opening slot on Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' summer tour, which kicks off May 30 in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"Tom requested the band to do a tour with him and I played with him briefly a couple of years ago at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when he did a segment for George Harrison," Winwood says. "I think he actually tried to get us to go out with him before and the schedules didn't work out."

Winwood, who says he's open to the idea of collaborating onstage with Petty, is excited about performing "Nine Lives" material live, as well as digging into his catalog. This includes material from 1980's "Arc of a Diver" and 1982's "Talking Back to the Night."

Says Winwood, "It'll be a powerful bill, and we'll give you an hour of music that will go across the board from old to new stuff and in between."