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Back in the Hard Life Again

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1986 studio album by Steve Winwood

Dorsum in the Loftier Life
Back in the High Life.jpg
Studio album past

Steve Winwood
Released 30 June 1986
Recorded Baronial 1985 – May 1986
Studio
  • Unique Recording (New York)
  • Ability Station (New York)
  • Right Track (New York)
  • Behemothic Sound (New York)
  • Netherturkdonic (Turkdean)
Genre
  • Pop
  • rock
  • R&B
  • blue-eyed soul
Length 45:03
Label Island
Producer Russ Titelman, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood chronology
Talking Back to the Night
(1982) 		Back in the High Life
(1986) 		Chronicles
(1987)
Singles from Back in the High Life
  1. "Higher Dear"
    Released: 20 June 1986
  2. "Divide Decision"
    Released: July 1986
  3. "Take It Equally It Comes"
    Released: August 1986
  4. "Freedom Overspill"
    Released: Baronial 1986
  5. "Back in the High Life Again"
    Released: December 1986
  6. "The Finer Things"
    Released: February 1987

Back in the High Life is the fourth solo anthology by English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, released on 30 June 1986.[1] The anthology proved to exist Winwood's biggest success to that date, certified Gold in the UK and 3× Platinum in the The states, and information technology reached the top twenty in most Western countries.[2] [iii] Information technology nerveless three Grammy Awards[4] and generated 5 hit singles, starting with "Higher Love", which became Winwood'due south outset Billboard Hot 100 number-one chart topper, coming xx years later on he first entered that chart with "Continue on Running" by the Spencer Davis Group.[5] Other global hit singles from the anthology were "Freedom Overspill", "Dorsum in the Loftier Life Once more" and "The Finer Things". The unmarried "Split Decision", with ex-Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, was a United states hitting.[half dozen]

Musically, the album was polished and sophisticated, representative of pop product in the 1980s, featuring Winwood'due south style of layered synthesizers and electronic drums that he had established with Arc of a Diver (1980). Unlike his 2 prior albums, on which he played every musical instrument himself, Winwood fabricated extensive use of session musicians for this album, including Joe Walsh and Nile Rogers on guitars and JR Robinson on drums. Winwood himself also performed on a large number of instruments, combining live-played instruments with synthesizers and programming. Prominent backing vocals were provided past established stars, including Chaka Khan on "Higher Dearest", James Ingram on "Effectively Things", and James Taylor on the title track. The anthology showcased Winwood's lifelong fascination with the fusion of styles, bringing folk, gospel and Caribbean sounds into a stone, popular and R&B milieu.[1] [ii] [7] As with his previous albums, Back in the Loftier Life served as an uplifting culling to the angry or political punk that was sweeping the rock globe.[8]

The album was recorded and released during a time of meaning change in Winwood'due south personal life. After touring N America to promote the album during Baronial–November 1986, Winwood divorced in England and and then married in New York Urban center. He bought a 2nd dwelling house in Nashville, where he organized his next project, Chronicles, a retrospective album of earlier songs, including some remixes engineered by Tom Lord-Alge, whom Winwood had befriended in the making of Back in the Loftier Life.

Background [edit]

Winwood's solo career had seen success in the Britain with Steve Winwood in 1977 and Arc of a Diver in 1980, the latter being his offset major solo The states hit, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200. His third album, Talking Back to the Nighttime (1982), generated less of a response and was considered a let-down. The terminal ii albums had been created by Winwood playing all the instruments himself at his technologically advanced Turkdean dwelling studio "Netherturkdonic,"[9] but for his side by side project Winwood returned to working with other musicians for boosted inspiration. He hired Los Angeleno Ron Weisner as manager, known for his piece of work with Madonna and Michael Jackson.[10] Weisner pushed Winwood to record in London rather than at his home, where he was having relationship difficulties with his married woman, Nicole. Winwood agreed to the London suggestion, simply Weisner responded, "Well, forget London. Peradventure you should get to New York."[viii]

Winwood was already acquainted with New York, having stayed at the Central Park South flat of Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records.[11] Blackwell had been serving as Winwood's quasi-manager for a few years, just Winwood was intent on moving in a new direction with Weisner. Weisner encouraged him to stop standing half-hidden behind the Hammond organ and accept his position as forepart human being and entertainer.[eight] [12] [13] Winwood said in 1988, "I made a conscious try to start working with musicians and producers and engineers. I got a manager. I have to say that those people are directly or indirectly responsible for my success at present."[viii] [fourteen] Between sessions for Back in the High Life, Winwood booked some other studio, where he scored synthesizer-based music for the documentary The High Life, nigh the 1985 Tour de France experience of Scottish cycle racer Robert Millar (afterward known equally Philippa York). The documentary was produced by ITV Granada; it aired in the weeks leading upward to the 1986 Bout de France, in which Millar competed.[7] [15]

Writing [edit]

Songwriting for the anthology began later on Talking Back was released. Winwood wrote his own music but he usually relied on other lyricists. He collaborated once more with Texan Volition Jennings, a professor of English who had written the words to Winwood'due south song "While You Come across a Take a chance", a striking single in 1981. For this new project, Winwood'south quaternary solo anthology, the pair composed five more than songs, two of which would become the biggest album hits: "College Love" and "Back in the High Life Once again". Jennings carried the phrase "Back in the Loftier Life" around as a song title idea written down in a notebook, simply when he was at Winwood's business firm in late 1984 he wrote the remainder of the lyric in a one-half hour, without whatever music. More than a yr afterward, Winwood finally wrote the music, afterward beingness nudged to do and so by Titelman, who was notified of its being by Jennings. "Back in the Loftier Life Again" came very almost to being missed altogether.[sixteen] Winwood said most teaming with Jennings, "We've got admittedly no rules when nosotros work together. Sometimes we offset with the lyric, sometimes with the melody; sometimes we start with chorus and add together the verses, and sometimes I write some of the lyrics myself. There are no formulas; things simply happen naturally."[17]

A second return collaborator was eccentric English language songwriter and onetime Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band frontman Vivian Stanshall, who had written the words for Winwood's "Dream Gerrard", actualization on Traffic's 1974 album When the Hawkeye Flies. The two often traded favours: Winwood played on both of Stanshall'southward solo albums in the 1970s. More recently, Stanshall had come up with the lyric to the song "Arc of a Diver", which provided the 1980 anthology title.[18] Stanshall joined with Winwood to create a demo version of "My Honey'due south Leavin'" at Netherturkdonic, engineered by Nobby Clarke, who was Winwood's right-hand human being at the studio and on the road.[19] Stanshall also wrote the lyric to "If That Gun is For Real" in the early on '80s, which was under consideration for Back in the High Life simply was ultimately left off.[18]

The third returning lyricist was George Fleming, an quondam friend of Winwood's and the nephew of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. George Fleming had written two songs for Arc of a Diver – "2d-hand Woman" and "Grit" – which were his first-ever compositions.[9] In 1985, he brought Winwood the words for "Freedom Overspill". Winwood wrote most of the music for "Freedom Overspill", with significant contribution from ex–Amazing Rhythm Ace James Hooker, an American keyboard player who toured in Winwood's band starting in 1983.[20]

Recording [edit]

Power Station, Right Track Recording, and Giant Sound sessions [edit]

"The timing was correct. Stevie was set up to try something different. He had been working on tracks for most a yr and some of the songs were demoed pretty seriously. I wasn't brought in for any drastic changes. I think he might have wanted to accept some responsibility off his own shoulders."
    —Russ Titelman on being selected every bit co-producer[21]

In July 1985,[x] Winwood settled into New York City for August recording sessions at Power Station, getting an flat off Madison Avenue nigh Central Park Zoo. Russ Titelman was called to co-produce the album considering he was already familiar with Winwood's keyboard work on Titelman's earlier productions George Harrison (1979) and Christine McVie (1984).[21] Titelman had also produced the Rufus/Chaka Khan song "Own't Nobody", which won the artists a functioning Grammy in 1984, and was i of Weisner'southward favorite songs, aiding in the selection of Titelman.[22] Tracking began in Studio C at Power Station under engineer Jason Corsaro, with Winwood laying down drum machine, synth bass, and some vocal and instrument tracks. Drummer Jimmy Bralower assisted with the programming of electronic drums, even going to Winwood's apartment to work out the sequencing for "Back in the High Life Again", featuring a conga loop devised by Bralower on the Roland TR-808.[23] Corsaro also engineered sessions at Right Rails Recording. When Corsaro had to get out to honour a commitment with Fleetwood Mac,[24] Titelman moved the project to Giant Audio for a couple of weeks in October.[25]

The Lord-Alge brothers' interest and Unique sessions [edit]

Session keyboard histrion Robbie Kilgore told Winwood and Titelman that he knew three talented brothers who engineered at a nearby studio with a broad selection of synthesizers: Chris, Jeff and Tom Lord-Alge at Unique Recording Studios.[26] [27] Kilgore took Titelman to Unique, where they discovered that the studio also had an SSL 4000E mixer but similar Winwood's at Netherturkdonic, so Titelman moved the project there in early on Nov 1985.[21] Titelman was immediately impressed by the speed of Chris Lord-Alge.[24] [28] Winwood was delighted with all the choices of synthesizer, playing on them during all-dark jam sessions in which he invited any interested musicians to join him.[29] In the end, he stuck with a few favorites, including the familiar Hammond B3, a Minimoog, a Yamaha DX7, and a Roland Juno-sixty.[21]

Chris Lord-Alge was the more accomplished of the three engineer brothers, merely he had been pushing Tom into positions of greater responsibility; Tom earned his style to go head engineer on the Winwood album, his first time in the role.[xxx]

Back in the High Life was mixed through May 1986 past Tom Lord-Alge in Unique'southward Studio B on the 48-channel SSL 4000E. A pair of linked 24-track tape recorders was initially mixed downwards to stereo on a Studer A-80 half-inch 2-runway deck.[31] [32] At one point the analog Studer stopped working and the mixdown was shifted to a digital Mitsubishi Ten-80 open-reel 2-track recorder. The greater sonic clarity achieved this way was profound plenty for Titelman and Winwood to decide that the whole album must be mixed to digital stereo.[24] Tom said that Winwood taught him a few tricks on the SSL, and Tom returned the favour by showing Winwood a fob or two of his own.[26] Titelman said Tom "uses the SSL like a player uses an musical instrument".[24] According to Tom, between 10 and xx percentage of the Ability Station and other previous tracks ended up on the album. The great majority of Back in the High Life came from overdubbing at Unique.[26]

Drums [edit]

In one case Winwood settled in at Unique, Titelman decided to bring in a existent drummer to augment or supersede the drum motorcar parts. On tape, the album already had Roland, LinnDrum and Simmons electronic drum sounds, merely these were not setting the right tone for many of the songs. Session drummer John "JR" Robinson was called in from a nearby George Benson session, bringing his own pulsate equipment.[33] JR had already worked with Titelman on Rufus and Chaka Khan dates, and he had many hit records under his belt, including the clemency single "We Are the World" and Michael Jackson's multi-Platinum "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". To get a larger-than-life drum sound, Titelman and the Lord-Alge brothers had the drums placed in the center of the main room of Studio B, with eight additional microphones positioned around the room to capture sound-wave reflections and increase the ratio of room ambience.[21] [34]

"Higher Love" was first tracked with a uncomplicated pulsate machine loop, which Titelman felt was "flat", not quite fitting with the synth layers, which had been created mainly by Kilgore. Titelman tried replacing all the electronic drums with JR playing live, only the producers felt that this, besides, was non quite suitable.[34] Instead, the rhythm part for the vocal was synthetic as a combination of electronic drums, JR'south live drums, and sequenced samples of JR's drums added afterwards.[24] Winwood instructed JR to make the snare overdubs feel like they were slightly rushing the tempo, to add together excitement.[34] JR noted that Winwood asked for high-pitched, bright sounds from the drum kit, and so he chose contumely snares such as a vintage 1930 Ludwig for "Separate Conclusion", and the vintage Black Beauty on "Higher Love". JR tuned his drumheads high to satisfy Winwood, different some other of JR'due south bandleaders, Bob Seger, who wanted only low-pitched drums.[33] Real drums augmented or replaced the electronic drums on every song on the album except "My Love'due south Leavin'", on which the pulsate parts stayed purely electronic.[21]

"Higher Dearest" drum-fill [edit]

Tom says he "clinched the gig" when he made a proffer to Titelman every bit the overdubbing was winding downwardly and mixing was presently to begin. The suggestion involved Tom moving ane of JR's impromptu drum fills to the beginning of "Higher Dearest", by assigning a timing start to ane of two tape machines such that they offset played the drum fill followed by the song coming in on the vanquish.[27] Titelman was very happy with the issue, and decided to open the album with this drum fill. The opening eventually became so famous that JR put it on his answering machine equally a professional calling card. JR said the design was a Latin rimshot technique across the acme of his classic seamless contumely Ludwig Black Beauty snare, unmuffled, with its snare wires disengaged, to emulate the sound of a timbale. He said, "it's one of the best pulsate intros I've ever played."[33]

Titelman remembered the fill up being played ad lib past JR while his friend Chaka Khan was preparing to sing her background vocals on "Higher Beloved", causing Khan to exclaim "What is that shit? It sounds like voodoo shit!"[22] Tom Lord-Alge agreed that the drum fill was played every bit a lark afterward JR had completed his drum overdubs for "Higher Love". Tom said, "It was i of those happy accidents, and it happened because Chris always taught me that if the tape is rolling and there'south a musician in the studio, make sure the record automobile is in tape!"[27]

Notable collaborators [edit]

Joe Walsh co-wrote "Split up Decision" with Winwood

Titelman tapped James Taylor to add together groundwork vocals to "Dorsum in the High Life Again", after hearing the slowed-down Winwood and Bralower version. Titelman felt that the song fit Taylor'southward style perfectly.[22] Another Titelman determination was to phone call Nile Rodgers to handle a guitar solo in "Wake Me Up on Judgment Day", for which Winwood wanted an interpretation different from his own.[24] Chaka Khan, JR and drummer Mickey Back-scratch were all Titelman'southward contacts. Titelman also brought in David Frank for his feel at turning out synthesizer horn parts. Titelman said, "I feel that basically I was a casting director in a lot of means."[22] But Winwood himself invited Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh to join the project.[22] Walsh and Winwood had met during Walsh'due south James Gang years. More than a decade later Walsh phoned "out of the bluish" to say howdy, with Winwood immediately suggesting a songwriting collaboration.[19] In October,[35] the two wrote "Split Decision" together, the only song on the anthology written entirely during the recording process in New York. Walsh also performed slide guitar on "Freedom Overspill". Walsh tackled his electric guitar solo for "Split Determination" in a wholly unrehearsed performance – his usual style. Winwood felt challenged to do the same on synthesizer.[xix]

Marketing and video [edit]

Dorsum in the High Life was a top 10 striking on the album charts in the United States, peaking at number three, and has sold over five million copies. The single "Higher Beloved" outset entered the Usa charts at number 77 during the week of 14 June 1986,[36] and so proceeded to top the singles chart at the end of August and win the Grammy Award for "Record of the Yr"; "Dorsum in the High Life Again" (US number 13), "The Finer Things" (The states number viii, the second-biggest hit from the album), and "Freedom Overspill" (US number 20) were also big hits. "Split Decision" failed to chart in other countries but rose to number 3 in the Us. "Take Information technology As It Comes" fared less well, reaching number 33 in the U.s.a..[6] Island had promoted Back in the High Life successfully, basing the entrada on the idea that Winwood was on a "comeback".[3]

Weisner pushed Winwood to promote the album with at least one video that could be shown on MTV. Island Records agreed. They chose "Higher Love", and selected Peter Kagan and Paula Greif to straight it, on the strength of their video for "The Love Parade" by the Dream University.[37] Weisner relayed his wish that Winwood should await similar an entertainer, that he should not hibernate behind the Hammond as in the past.[eight] Shooting took place in June 1986, primarily on 35 mm film stock, but sometimes using a paw-held camera, especially for black-and-white photography. Ane xvi mm Bolex and a Super 8 photographic camera were used for these in-movement shots. Riding in a shopping trolley, Greif was pushed through the dance flooring to capture movement. Laura Israel and Glenn Lazzaro edited the film to U-matic video, and so mastered to 1-inch tape with a team of assistants.[37] In the resulting video, Winwood is never shown playing an instrument. Instead, he sings far out in front of the band, he stands next to Chaka Khan, and he dances with several women wearing tropical clothing equally different scenes alter from colour to black-and-white.[eight] Nile Rodgers plays electric guitar in the ring, wearing a vivid duster. At the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, "Higher Dear" was nominated for Video of the Year, All-time Male Video, All-time Editing, and All-time Direction, but lost to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" in all four categories. The video was also nominated for All-time Choreography, honouring Ed Dearest's work with the dancers, and it was nominated for All-time Cinematography, crediting Kagan. "Higher Love" was nominated in the Viewers Choice category, which was won by U2's "With or Without You".[39]

Tour [edit]

Winwood began a bout of North America to promote the album, starting on 22 August 1986 with a evidence at Pine Knob Music Theatre north of Detroit, with reggae artist Jimmy Cliff as the opening human action.[40] [41] In Winwood's viii-piece ring, James Hooker, co-writer of "Liberty Overspill", continued in his role as second keyboard player. Winwood's human being in Turkdean, Nobby Clarke, resumed as road manager. The tour played dates in Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas. In October when he was "somewhere" in Texas, Winwood told the Los Angeles Times that he was seeing the largest audience reactions on the songs "College Honey" and "Gimme Some Lovin'" (1966) – his "newest and oldest songs." He imagined that some of the younger audience members might be thinking "Gimme Some Lovin'" was a Dejection Brothers cover because information technology had been in the film The Blues Brothers (1980).[42]

After Texas, Winwood played Colorado and Arizona, where English band Level 42 became the opening act. Their 1985 World Machine album had brought greater fame and introduced more electronic and pop elements to their sound. The Arizona Republic remarked almost how well they fit with Winwood's style, both sharing a "multilayered instrumentation and a prominent beat out."[43] The tour connected through four dates in California, the fourth at the Concord Pavilion, where the San Francisco Examiner reviewed the testify, noting that Winwood played very piddling guitar and a chip of mandolin, and performed his electric guitar solos on the keyboards to strike a "balance between his instruments and voice." Danny Wolinski on saxophone and Bob Leffert on trumpet were named as "outstanding" musicians. Winwood started the concert softly with "The Depression Spark of High Heeled Boys", and then finished big with "Back in the Loftier Life Again".[44]

Level 42 and Winwood's ring moved up the Pacific Coast to Oregon and Washington, crossing into Canada for 1 dark in British Columbia, and another in Alberta. They headed e to play ix more dates in the United states of america plus 1 in Toronto. The tour ended on 23 Nov in Virginia at the Patriot Center. Non every testify enjoyed good reviews: Rock critic Frank Rizzo in the Hartford Courant was unimpressed by Winwood in Connecticut'due south New Haven Coliseum, describing how nearly of the two-hr show was "less than captivating" because of Winwood's shyness onstage. Rizzo felt that a few hot solos from the band, and a rousing final number that got the oversupply standing for "Gimme Some Lovin'", were not enough to make the show worthwhile.[45] A calendar month later, the Courant published rebuttals by two readers who had witnessed the same concert, one maxim, "This was one of the best concerts I take always attended, and judging from the clapping, dancing, singing and cheering of the audience, I assume that many others would hold with me."[46]

Critical reception [edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Encyclopedia of Pop Music [47]
The Slap-up Rock Discography 8/10[47]
Los Angeles Times [48]
MusicHound Rock iv/5[47]
Music Story [47]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [47]
The Village Voice C[49]

Back in the Loftier Life was met with generally positive reviews. Writing in July 1986 for Rolling Stone, Timothy White hailed it as "the first undeniably superb tape of an well-nigh decade-long solo career" for Winwood.[50] Stereo Review magazine's Marking Peel said the anthology "weds Winwood's sure sense of melody to gospel, r-&-b, African polyrhythm, and Philly soul grooves", adding, "it'southward Lite Soul, only Russ Titelman'due south production and the outstanding recording chore bring out every instrument with a bite and clarity that are ofttimes spectacular."[51] In the Los Angeles Times, Kristine McKenna wrote that Dorsum in the Loftier Life mostly "sounds every bit beautiful as the exemplary message of hope it espouses", with themes of "faith, confusion, [and] a yearning for spiritual clarity" making it more than only "a decidedly tasteful tape".[52]

The album was not without criticism. McKenna suggested that the songs are flawed by somewhat indulgent lengths, singling out the Walsh duet "Carve up Conclusion" for "meander[ing] near rather aimlessly".[52] The Village Voice reviewer Robert Christgau was more critical. He found Winwood'due south lyrics to be truthful and unpretentious but ultimately "well-wrought banalities" and uninteresting, which he attributed to Winwood being "a wunderkind with more talent than brains", who "afterward two decades of special treatment … derives all the cocky-esteem he needs just from surviving, as they say."[49] Geoffrey Himes, writing for The Washington Post, was dismissive, saying that Winwood's creativity had abandoned him in 1971, and that this new album was proof that "the spark is gone." He complimented "Higher Love" for its catchy melody and electronic production, simply he criticised the album as a whole, saying, "The songs actually have no content, though Winwood'southward gorgeous bluish-eyed soul voice nearly convinces yous otherwise."[53]

Retrospective appraisals have been positive. While reviewing Winwood's 1988 follow-up album Whorl with Information technology, Dennis Chase of the Los Angeles Times called Dorsum in the High Life "arguably the best R&B album by a white singer in the last five years".[54] Years later, in The Crude Guide to Rock (2003), Justin Lewis declared it "the epitome of sophisticated mid-80s AOR, as Winwood adds Caribbean and gospel flavours to his pop, rock and R&B mix."[55]

Legacy [edit]

In the Great britain, Back in the High Life was certified Golden by BPI in August 1986.[56] In the United states of america, Gold was reached about as apace just stiff sales continued for a longer period, raising the album to Platinum in October 1986. With steady sales through 1987, the anthology was certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA in January 1988.[57]

Whitney Houston's version of "College Love" was remixed posthumously in 2019

Winwood's wife Nicole separated from him in late 1985 while he was however recording on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Around the aforementioned time, Winwood went to hear a Junior Walker concert at the Alone Star Cafe in New York City and met a Nashville woman named Eugenia Crafton; the two struck up a relationship.[58] Crafton was Winwood'due south girlfriend in mid-December 1985 when Will Jennings visited New York City with his own paramour, singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman. They went out as a foursome to bask the nightlife, and stayed at the Gramercy Park Hotel for a few days.[59] Winwood kept his new girlfriend and failing marriage private: When he started his album tour in August 1986, he instructed his staff to inform journalists that he would not answer any questions about his personal life.[42] Winwood's divorce was finalised in Dec 1986, then Crafton and Winwood married in January in a private anniversary held at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.[58] [60] [61] When he stepped up to the podium on 24 Feb 1987 to have one of two Grammy Awards, Winwood said, "I'd similar to say how much an honour similar that ways to me. The more I'm involved in making records the more it seems to mean. So I would like to thank everyone who has written for me... And finally, I would like to thank my wife."[62] Winwood settled in Nashville, and his first kid, Mary Clare, was born in May 1987. The new Nashville vibe lent its sound to Winwood'south fifth album, Roll With It, released in June 1988, which would eventually surpass Back in the High Life in sales.[threescore]

The song "Higher Dear" was covered by Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow, who recorded a stripped-down, ethereal acoustic version of it in 2011 for a compilation album called Silver Lining, produced to benefit the Irish charity Headstrong. The album raised €225,000.[63] McMorrow's comprehend version was also used in Europe for an Amazon company advert. It was picked up once again in 2017 for an American goggle box commercial promoting the Hyundai Kona machine. McMurrow said, "It'due south a beautiful melody, the chord structure of that song is really complex. When I used to play it on the guitar but to myself, I was always struck past how interesting it was."[64] "Higher Beloved" was also covered by Whitney Houston in 1990, but her version was not widely heard as it was released only equally a bonus runway in Nippon. In June 2019, seven years after Houston's death, Norwegian producer Kygo re-arranged and remixed her vocals to create a tropical business firm version.[65] An accompanying video was released in August. The Houston/Kygo remix of "College Beloved" was certified Gold in the US in Oct 2019, and the next month information technology reached Platinum in the U.k..[66] [67]

Rail listing [edit]

All tracks written by Steve Winwood and Volition Jennings except where noted.[17]

No. Title Writer(s) Length
ane. "Higher Love" 5:45
2. "Take It As It Comes" five:xx
3. "Freedom Overspill" Steve Winwood, George Fleming, James Hooker 5:33
iv. "Dorsum in the High Life Again" v:33
5. "The Finer Things" 5:47
6. "Wake Me Up on Judgment Day" 5:48
vii. "Split Conclusion" Winwood, Joe Walsh 5:58
8. "My Love's Leavin'" Winwood, Vivian Stanshall 5:19

Personnel [edit]

Adapted from the album liner notes[17] and AllMusic credits[68]

Industry awards [edit]

Grammy Awards [edit]

MTV Video Music Awards [edit]

Charts [edit]

Certifications [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c Ruhlmann, William (2011). "Back in the High Life – Steve Winwood | AllMusic". allmusic.com . Retrieved vii August 2011.
  2. ^ a b Hughes, Rob (3 Oct 2017). "Steve Winwood: from teen prodigy to Traffic and beyond". Louder Audio: Classic Rock . Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b Higgons, Keith R. (2 July 2020). "Album of the Day – July ii: Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life". Pop Off. Medium. Retrieved ix July 2020.
  4. ^ "29th Annual Grammy Awards (1986)". Recording Academy Grammy Awards. 1987. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  5. ^ Grein, Paul (xxx August 1986). "Nautical chart Beat". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 35. p. 10. ISSN 0006-2510.
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  7. ^ a b Pareles, Jon (23 July 1986). "The Pop Life: Steve Winwood Returns to Make the Juices Flow". The New York Times.
  8. ^ a b c d e f DeCurtis, Anthony (1 Dec 1988). "From Mr Fantasy to Mr Entertainment". Rolling Rock.
  9. ^ a b Blackness, Johnny (28 May 2020). "Steve Winwood: Arc Of A Diver". Hi-Fi News & Record Review.
  10. ^ a b Van der Kiste, John (2018). While You See A Chance: The Steve Winwood Story. Fonthill Media. p. 194.
  11. ^ Palmer, Robert (21 January 1981). "The Pop Life; Winwood, at 32, a rock traditionalist". The New York Times. p. C 15.
  12. ^ Van der Kiste 2018. p. 199
  13. ^ Wawzenek, Bryan (7 Dec 2016). "How Steve Winwood Survived the '80s". Ultimate Classic Stone . Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  14. ^ Welch, Chris (1990). Steve Winwood – Scroll With Information technology. Perigee Books. ISBN978-0399515583.
  15. ^ Fotheringham, William (2015). Cyclopedia: Information technology's All About the Bicycle. Chicago Review Press. p. 272. ISBN9781613734155.
  16. ^ Wiser, Carl (seven May 2006). "Songwriter Interviews: Steve Winwood". Songfacts . Retrieved eleven July 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Winwood, Steve (1986). Dorsum in the High Life (booklet). Island Records. A2 25448.
  18. ^ a b Nzo, Vince. "Vivian Stanshall: Solo". The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall . Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  19. ^ a b c White, Timothy (July 1986). "Steve Winwood'southward Merging Traffic". Musician. No. 93. p. 34.
  20. ^ Hooker, James (12 March 2011). "Biography". AirPlay Direct . Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  21. ^ a b c d eastward f Parisi, Paula (26 July 1986). "Titelman Wears Many Hats at Warner Bros". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 30. p. 48. ISSN 0006-2510.
  22. ^ a b c d e White, Timothy (22 June 1996). "'Please Don't Wake Me'". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 25. pp. 41–54. ISSN 0006-2510.
  23. ^ a b Titelman, Russ (eleven July 2013). "Mailbag". Music Industry News . Retrieved ten July 2020.
  24. ^ a b c d e f Jones, Ralph (December 1986). "Production Viewpoint: Russ Titelman". Recording Engineer/Producer. pp. 44, 46, 48, 52, 54.
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External links [edit]

  • Back in the High Life at Discogs (list of releases)

roachdected.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_High_Life

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