Steve Winwood "Higher Love"

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.

Paul Simon & Steve Martin "Silver Bells"

Instead of the usual Weekend Post, on weekends in December, I think I'll post some fun, weird holiday tunes.

I'll default to the wonderful folks at the AV Club, for the story behind this one:

The origin of this semi-legendary bootleg is a bit of a mystery. Most sources claim that it’s an outtake from an episode of Saturday Night Live, but Martin and Simon were never on the same show at the same time. Further complicating things, Billy Joel—in a magazine interview from 2001—claims that it’s him playing the piano, and that it wasn’t for television at all, but merely the three of them, lubricated on wine, goofing around in a recording studio. Whatever the case, it’s hands-down the funniest version ever made of this classic carol.

Billy Joel "Captain Jack"

If my love of music comes from either parent, it must be my Dad.

Mom might listen to the Classical station, but otherwise, when she drives, the radio is usually off.

Dad loves music, all kind of music.

And yet, he's not, nor had he ever been, a record purchaser.

If fact, for most of the 90s, he only owned one CD.

Sure, he had a box full of records (which are now mine!) dating back to "Meet The Beatles." And he a small pile of cassettes of music varying from showtunes to classic rock to swing.

But for most of the 90s, there was only one CD in his car:

Billy Joel's Greatest Hits.

Why? Why that one?

You know, when you have dozens of discs, one title doesn't necessarily say anything about you. But when you only have one, it must be saying something, right? It must make some kind of statement, yes?

I'm not sure what it means. But he does love that record.

Happy 70th birthday, Dad!