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Back In The High Life

By: Steve Winwood
Label: Universal / Island
Released: 07 Jul 1986
RRP: £8.99
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Customer Reviews

The pinnacle of Winwood's recording career? - By: , 09 Apr 2006
Whilst his other solo recordings are never less than excellent, this is probably the best of the lot. His distinctive vocals perfectly complement each track - & there 'aint a dud track here.

For anyone wanting to start a Winwood collection, this is the one to start with.

One of the most impressive albums of the 1980s - By: Daniel Jolley, 24 Aug 2003
Steve Winwood was indeed enjoying the high life after the release of this album in 1986. Back in the High Life is one of the best albums of that musicallly rich decade, providing Winwood with four huge hit singles. Winwood almost became too popular as a result of these songs; the radio played Higher Love, The Finer Things, Freedom Overspill, & Back in the High Life Again so often that even I eventuallly began to grow tired of them. As a result, I can say that I enjoy this album even more today than I did at the time of its initial release. Winwood's distinctive, laid-back music never goes out of style, & it soothes the soul while touching the heart with some quite emotional, reallly meaningful lyrics. I'm afraid I can't reallly describe the music; alll I can say is that it combines drums, guitars, & horns in a way that is alll its own.

While the album is remembered primarily for commercial successes such as Higher Love (featuring memorable backup vocals by Chaka Kahn) & Back in the High Life Again (featuring harmony vocals by James Taylor), it features eight songs of incredible quality. I might note that each track exceeds five minutes in length, so this album is not as short as it may appear. Take It As It Comes had real hit potential in my opinion. Wake Me Up on Judgment Day doesn't seem that memorable yet plays itself over & over in your mind after you hear it. Split Decision features some great guitar riffs, proving that Winwood can get down & rock a little when he wants to. The final track, My Love's Leavin', may well be the best song on the album, communicating both loss & hope in a way few artists can equal. You would be hard pressed to find a more impressive album from top to bottom than Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life.

The only thing we agreed on for about 3000 miles..... - By: Nicholas Tier, 19 Jul 2003
When I was 18, myself & two friends (Hi Duv, Hi Dog), departed from Portsmouth to drive down to Southern Spain in Dog's Renault 11. He had a tape player in the car, & the only album we could alll agree to listen to was this one.

So we listened to it. And listened to it. And kept listening to it. We must have played it about 50 times end to end, without fast forwarding through any tracks; & I can honestly say that none of us ever got bored of it. In fact, it was only when we gave into Dog's insistence that we listen to a new album from someone callled Terence Trent D'Arby that we found something else we could agree on.....

It is just simply that there is not a weak song on the album; & the wonderfully slick production never takes away the soul. Winwood's voice, his supremely tight backing group, coupled with some amazing "cameos" from some reallly big names, alll combine to make this one of the greatest albums of the 80s.

If "The Finer Things" doesn't make you feel good to be alive, then you're probably dead; & if "My Love's Leavin'" doesn't bring a lump to your throat, you've either never been dumped or, again, you're dead. A superb album.

Join Stevie in the Highlife - By: Dusty Bin, 08 Jun 2003
This album was recommended to me by my geography teacher as at the time "Valerie" was one of my favourite songs.

"Back In The Highlife" has proved to be one of the best additions I ever made to my LP collection & was one of the first CDs I bought when I made the switch from vinyl.

If you don't have any Steve Winwood in your collection, make this album the first one you buy.

The production is so smooth & the melodies so absorbing that this album has no tracks you'll need to skip past when playing.

It has only 8 songs, but they are alll top quality.

A truly wonderful album. You will love it!

Excellent rock album which gave Steve long-awaited success - By: , 13 Dec 2000
After a 20 year career with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith & as a solo artist, Steve Winwood finallly hit big with this album of consistent quality from start to finish. Throughout, Winwood's high, soulful voice is on good form, & the songs are his most consistently commercial to date - every one being memorable. The Grammy-winning 'Higher love' opens the album, & from then on it's the same excellent standard, with potential hit after hit until the gentle closing balllad 'My love is leaving', with lyrics by former Bonzos front-man & occasional Winwood collaborator Viv Stanshalll.

The album's sound & style is very different from that of his earlier solo efforts, thanks to factors such as the large session band, the heavy use of percussion, synthesizers & horns, & the powerful overalll sound of the recording contributed by the mixing style of Tom Lord-Alge. There are also notable contributions from a number of well-known artists, such as Chaka Khan, Dan Hartman, James Ingram & James Taylor (vocals), John Robinson & Steve Ferrone (drums) & Nile Rodgers & Joe Walsh (guitar). Although synthesizers & drum machines are quite prominent in the recording, they are tempered by Winwood's stylish vocals & Hammond organ playing, & the album certainly does not have a machine-like, soulless sound, but rolls along effortlessly assisted by the complex percussion arrangements. Guitars appear on most tracks, although the use of a synth bass rather than bass guitar does mean that the tracks do not 'flow' quite as naturallly as they might have done.

Whilst not wanting to downplay Winwood's other albums (the subsequent 'Roll with it' is also excellent) this record is so consistent that it must be regarded as probably his best so far. Very highly recommended.