In 1965, the Spencer Davis Group issued its first single, "I'm A Man," which introduced the world to a rhythm and blues wunderkind named Steve Winwood. An innately soulful vocalist and musician - particularly on the Hammond organ - Winwood would, over the next four decades, play an eminent role on a range of seminal albums including those made with Blind Faith, Traffic, and under his own name.
Steve Winwood has crafted a stellar solo career since his Spencer Davis Group/Traffic/Blind Faith heyday. But when he sees a chance for a high-profile collaboration, he takes it.
In February, he joined Eric Clapton for three sold-out nights at New York's Madison Square Garden. Next month, just as Winwood turns 60, he begins a new alliance and joins Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on one of summer's top tours. He'll perform a one-hour set and join Petty on stage during the Heartbreakers' headlining set.
Steve Winwood has had a most successful solo career for over a quarter century, beginning in 1981 with Arc of A Diver through 2003's About Time. Yet no album has so accurately reflected his versatile talents or vividly echoed the pinnacles of his past as Nine Lives.
Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die and The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys come to mind at the first sounds of the initial track, "I'm Not Drowning," where bluesy acoustic guitar, congas and timbales surround the effortless soul of Steve's voice. On "Fly"--an ode to optimism if there ever was one--the haunting sound of flute (which reappears on the penultimate track, "Raging Sea," to impart a sense of logic to the album) follows sweet strains of harmonica and grand swells of Hammond B3 organ.