9 Lives

Performer: Steve Winwood
Artist: Eric Clapton
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Steve Winwood (vocals, organ); Eric Clapton, Jose Pires De Almeida Neto (guitar); Paul Booth (flute, saxophone); Richard Bailey (drums); Karl Vanden Bossche (percussion). After more than 40 years of making music, and over 30 as a solo artist, former Spencer Davis Group/Traffic singer Steve Winwood truly seems to have 9 LIVES, sounding as vital as ever on his ninth solo outing. Picking up on the Latin inflections of the preceding ABOUT TIME, percolating congas weave their way through most of the album, adding an insistent pulse. Unsurprisingly, the atmospheric blues-rocker "Dirty City," featuring an Eric Clapton guest appearance, garnered the most attention, but there are plenty of other pleasures here. The jazzy soprano sax that floats over the congas and acoustic guitar on "Fly," and the floating textures of "Raging Sea," are evocative of Winwood's days in Traffic, while the invigorating organ tabs of "We're All Looking" bear a link to his Spencer Davis Group work. Throughout the album, churning, tension-filled riffs and syncopated Afro-Cuban rhythms provide an urgent undercurrent, proving that this elder statesman is no mere bloated classic-rocker.

Uncut (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "NINE LIVES revisits the jam-based work of Traffic...and that's good news, because Winwood remains at his most compelling in immediate settings." Q (Magazine) (p.148) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "True to form, his first album in five years is a very musicianly affair..."

Even if singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood's career began with his solo recordings, he'd still be regarded as a major musical figure. The fact that the spent most of the '60s and '70s making history with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith should stir up even more respect for the British blue-eyed soul singer's accomplishments. While his group efforts mixed jazz, folk, blues, and rock, Winwood concentrated on a more accessible, pop/R&B-oriented style on his smash '80s solo albums, garnering huge hits with his percolating, high-gloss, synth-based sound. The turn of the century, however, saw him getting back to basics and rocking out on the Hammond Organ over funky Latin-tinged grooves on 2003's aptly titled ABOUT TIME.

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