The 80s were not good to the our favorite keyboard players.
I hadn't really thought this through until I heard Steve Winwood mention something in an interview. He was talking about his early 80s hits, and how some people write them off as too commercial, compared to his work with Traffic or Blind Faith.
He suggests that there really isn't a difference between the songs and the songwriting of those two phases of his career. The difference is in the production.
I wish I could prove him right, because mvyradio would play more Winwood if we could.
But 1980s production just doesn't hold up, especially in the case of piano/keyboard artists.
Think about it. What are some of the most reviled works of Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel? They are the records where these great players lean heavily on terrible-sounding synthesizers. Couple with the use of drum machines and other synthesized instruments, the music of that era sounds painfully, embarassingly cheesy.
I'm sure I don't really have to convince you of this---the 80s don't exactly have a great reputation. But it IS instructive to listen to "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" versus "Part Time Lover," "Tiny Dancer" versus "I'm Still Standing," and "She's Always A Woman" versus "Pressure." (All songs are posted below)
Don't the older songs actually sound more contemporary, or timeless, or, at a minimum, hold up much much better?
What's a little harder to be convinced of---though I think I believe it---is that tunes like Winwood's "Higher Love" and "Roll With It" and "Back In The High Life," if they were stripped of their 80s production, would hold up as equals to Winwood's earlier songwriting and playing.
I had this extended conversation with morning DJ Laurel a few months back. She'd just gone to see Winwood live, and was enthusing about his playing and his songs. I started thinking about his presence on the station. We play 60s and 70s Winwood. And we play more recent Winwood. But we pulled the 80s songs out of rotation a good 10 years ago, because they just sounded dated.
I set Laurel on a task---to find some live or re-recorded Winwood material, where he plays those songs without the 80s trappings. And like an Unplugged record. Or a solo live performance. Or a classic-rock-guy-revisits-his-old-songs record like Randy Newman and Loudon Wainwright have done.
But Laurel reported back that she couldn't find anything like that.
So here we wait, for Steve Winwood to prove this theory correct...
In the meantime, get a glimpse of how a synthesizer-less Winwood 80s track might sound, by checking out the James Vincent McMorrow cover of "Higher Love," below.
Hear Steve Winwood on Youtube.
Hear James Vincent McMorrow on Youtube.
Hear 70s Stevie Wonder on Youtube.
Hear Stevie Wonder in the 80s on Youtube.
Hear Elton John in the 70s on Youtube.
Hear Elton John in the 80s on Youtube.
Hear 70s Billy Joel on Youtube.
Hear 80s Billy Joel on Youtube.
Monday, September 10, 2012
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Cheese factor is still there...but his pipes transcend. I nominate this....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL2p6Rs0Gto&feature=related
I've been a big Winwood fan since I saw Traffic (as a trio) in 1970. I tend to agree with him when he says his music is stylistically consistent, only the production has changed. Your comment about his '80s commercial period is fairly common – and more power to you for playing recent Winwood, which is wonderful. But if if you strip out the work from the '80s you miss (to take one example) Shining Song (from Roll With It), a brilliant work with heavy bass and drums and a thick texture. It's the texture that gives the song its character, which is spiritual, lyrical and powerful. You could no more make it work acoustically than Born to Run would work on a Gibson or Mahler would work without brass and winds. That's how they were meant to sound. If it's the "cheesy" synth sound you object to, you'd miss out on Valerie, a great pop song with exuberant octave leaps and a wonderful melody. There's a lot of fine Winwood music there from the '80s, even if it sounds different from what came before or after.
ReplyDeleteYou know, maybe the reason the later songs don't match up is that the talent well is runnning dry. An artist always puts their best stuff out ifrst, then eventually they start running out of ideas. Case in point: Bono & U2. In any event, Id much rather hear the Winwood version than Hightower: at least Steve sounds like a man!
ReplyDeleteTo Anon, please listen to Refugees of the Heart, or the last two albums, About Time or Nine Lives. The well has not run dry. I only wish he'd stop touring and get back to the studio. To PJ, here's a nice acoustic version of Back in the High Life Again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELfHP7ucN7o&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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