Stand up in a clear blue morning, until you see what can be...

There are few male British singers that can rival the soulfulness of the American R&B experience. Steve Winwood was one of them. Nowadays, he's mostly known for dentist-office adult contemporary pop, but back in the day his voice was such an asset he was able to float between rock "supergroups" with the greatest of ease. In 1995 The Finer Things box came out to attempt to chronicle the evolution of Winwood from Brit-rock ringer to solo journeyman. That he has only had two minor albums released after this set came out still makes it relevant - does it deliver?

The collection starts out with a generous nine-song helping of his work with the Spencer Davis Group, which Steve, with his brother "Muff" (yes, Muff) backing the Welshman and experience his first success. All of the SDG's Winwood-affiliated singles are here, with the first set having the covers they honed their chops on. Beginning with a version of bluesman John Lee Hooker's "Dimples", the band followed the 60's pattern already tread by the Beatles and Stones of redoing blues and R&B numbers, though thankfully saved by the authentic sound of Winwood's voice. "Every Little Bit Hurts" and "Keep On Running" are the best highlights here, each fine examples of the extremes he can master, from tearjerker ballad to dance stomper. Sure, "I Can't Stand It" and "Strong Love" show more of the soul "student" than a master, but he doesn't sound at all false. They ventured more into BritInvasion territory with "Somebody Help Me", and steals a little of Otis Redding's smoothness for "When I Come Home". While Winwood toiled here, he stepped out for an appearance on what would be his first "supergroup", playing with Eric Clapton's Powerhouse band with Jack Bruce from Cream and Paul Jones from Manfred Mann, and going under the alias "Steve Anglo" to avoid attention. An early version of "Crossroads" is a find, though not eclipsing neither the Robert Johnson by any means nor the Clapton solo try. However, this nightshifting did some good apparently, and a revitalized Winwood reemerged a soulful songwriter in his own right, with the 60's party record "Gimme Some Lovin'"already sounding like a timeless classic out of the gate, followed by the psychedelically fantastic "I'm A Man". These two not only showed a progression in their sound, but broke the band wide open in America.

Just in time, of course, for him to leave the Group to form his second group, Traffic. Though Winwood was the biggest "name" at the time, the band also featured Dave Mason (of "We Just Disagree" fame and later a fleeting Fleetwood Mac-cer) and Jim Capaldi (who later hit the top-40 with "That's Love"). The Finer Things tries to cram a lot of Traffic in (no pun intended), with twenty-five tracks, a dozen from their original period and another baker's dozen from after Mason left. The first selection, from their initial three albums (Dear Mr. Fantasy, Traffic, and Last Exit), evolved from the hippie-rock drawing on both the American West Coast and the Asian Indian subcontinent. "Paper Sun", "Dealer", and "Coloured Rain" were paisley-tinged departures from the soul of the Spencer Davis Group. In fact, a full seven songs of the twelve on Traffic's debut LP are on this set, though ignoring anything Mason even co-wrote with the band. Snap! "Heaven In Your Mind" is early Chicago without the horns, and "Smiling Faces" would've made a killer late-60's radio hit. Finally, the title track, Dear Mr. Fantasy, showed a start of a metamorphosis into a true album-rock staple band. On the subsequent two albums, the band got looser, and more creative, to mixed results, mostly good, like the muddy "Pearly Queen" and the Zep-apolcalyptic "Forty Thousand Headmen", to the silly, the the goofy "Shanghai Noodle Factory". "No Time To Live", from Traffic, was more grounded in its atmosphere, while the band first reclaimed its "funk" back with songs like "Medicated Goo" a seemingly lighthearted ode to tripping (probably on the acid).

Traffic was certainly having success, with a top-10 US album and 3 UK top-10 singles under their belt, but the tension between reclusive Mason and Winwood caused the group to implode, sending Winwood back out in search of artistic collaboration again. That he found with his former "bandmate" in the Powerhouse, Eric Clapton, and ex-Cream-ster Ginger Baker along with bassist Rick Grech to form the first big-time "supergroup" project called Blind Faith. Crashing and burning with just one album, the one with the "naked girl" on the cover, the band explored expanding the psychedelic rock from Traffic into full-scale jams, almost like the proto-Phish. Of the six-song Blind Faith LP, only two cuts are on Finer Things, the guitar jam-out "Had To Cry Today" and LedZep meets progrock of "Sea Of Joy", while the album highlight "Can't Find My Way Home" is here in a competent "live" version, along with a sleeper blues nugget "Sleeping In The Ground" (which plays Winwood's regained soulful voice with Clapton's guitar nicely), and the sub-par rarity of their version of "Under My Thumb".

Now this time it would be Clapton dissolving the group instead of Winwood, which sent him to begin recording a record that evolved from a solo effort to a reformed Traffic project John Barleycorn Must Die. Without Dave Mason, Winwood now controlled the show, though still relying on Capaldi and Wood to provide the "name" and backup. Wood's flute is a welcome return on the English dark-tale "John Barleycorn", while "Stranger To Himself" clearly gleaned from Winwood's Blind Faith stint to a more muscle-rock sound. "Glad" is a funky little instrumental that Steve reprised on Christina Aguilera's "Make Me Wanna Pray", and "Freedom Rider" brought some sax and piano to a more accessible AOR sound for the group, while keeping the flute flourishes. Yay! Meanwhile, that album's other big highlight, "Empty Pages", is for me the first big hint on what Winwood's solo career will sound like (apart from what Phil Collins pilfered from it). The strutting beat, the prominent synths, the laid-back vocals, this is the Winwood to come. The apex of this tighter, jazzier yet prog Traffic is the title track from their next LP, "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys", which is as close to a Traffic definitive song as I believe there was. Nearly twelve minutes of a suite meandering between Frampton-like dreaminess and Bowie white-boy funk, while dramatizing the common hooligan in the 70s. The other track from that album on this collection, "Rainmaker", re-explored the Anglo-mythical world akin to "Barleycorn".

By now, we're starting disc three, with no solo Winwood in sight yet. In fact, his first low-key solo affair comes at the end of this section, with the denouement of the Traffic work. Their next album is represented again by its title track, the bongo-driven "Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory", and a live version of the dreamlike "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired" from their On The Road set that extends the even long album version. Winwood's yearning to explore different, experimental, jazzier notes is evident on his one-off collaboration with Remo Kabaka and Abdul Amao on the Aiye-Keta album that provides the track "Happy Vibes" track to this retrospective that's interesting but not essential. Joining Capaldi and Wood again for their swan-song (at the time) set When The Eagle Flies, the four songs on The Finer Things are all over the map, from the keyboard-driven AC pop of "Something New" and "Walking In The Wind" to the flashback wooziness of "Dream Gerrard". "When The Eagle Flies" itself is a snapshot of Traffic's former self. Winwood the rocker has just about completed the dip-the-toes to jump into solo pop purgatory. But first, to somehow prove again his "edginess", two tracks are here from when he was a member of Stomu Yamashta's "jazz-supergroup" Go outfit, with the live "Crossing The Line" a much better listen than the plodding "Winner/Loser" album cut. Finally disassembling Traffic again, Winwood wouldn't be in a "group" until the "reunion" Winwood/Capaldi effort Far From Home, which even though hitting in 1994, didn't place anything on this box-set.

Steve's first solo album, Steve Winwood, was a under-the-radar affair which sold moderately (hitting the top-40 album chart, while Traffic was a regular in the top-10), but not placing anything on the singles chart either here or in the UK. Not to fault the music, "Hold On" and "Time Is Running Out" are pleasant no-brainers for the Steely Dan-loving crowd (well, save the acerbic wit of the "Dan"). "Vacant Chair" is a great headphone production, though still a little low-energy to propel him back to his heights. That all will change shortly.

And now I'm at disc four. One disc for his truly "solo" success is sadly proven too short. One positive is that his breakthrough solo disc Arc Of A Diver is 5/7ths here, starting with the ageless positive-power adult-pop song that sprung a thousand others, "While You See A Chance". The early eighties were a time of steely-cold synthesizers and drum machine robotics, yet he was able to incorporate both and still sound earthy, and wound up placing him in the US top-10 singles for the first time since his Spencer Davis years fourteen years prior. All the other tracks here were AOR cornerstones of the time, from the shuffling title track to the exotic (yet almost Asian-like) "Spanish Dancer". "Night Train" took from the dying "disco" phenomenon to give it an 80's urban sheen. "Dust" is a pensive end to looking at this vanguard set for him. At this point he seemed to have reverse sophomore-jinx, with his third set Talking Back To The Night coming just as the "second British invasion" and new-wave was beginning to pick up full steam. Like his solo debut, not to fault the music, which didn't stray far from his schtick, to the point of having the original second single from here, "Valerie", make #9 on the pop singles chart five years later, while failed third single "Talking Back To The Night" also making the top-100. While it may be purist to have the originals here artistically, the 1987 "remixed" versions that were more successful are missed on The Finer Things, as is the TBTTN's first single "Still In The Game". In its place is the rarity "Your Silence Is Your Song" from the movie They Called It An Accident, which does sound like a Talking Back To The Night outtake.

At this juncture, it looked like Winwood would follow the "gracefully aging" rockers from the 70's that would now and then put out non-assuming music. Nope. At 38 (jeez, he was only 38?) he released the single that would put him on top for the first time, "Higher Love". Co-written with the guru of "nice" music, Wil Jennings, and getting a hand from Chaka Khan to validate his faded soul creds, Winwood blasted back on the scene with the amazing set Back In The Highlife. I guess it would be unfair to expect the entire album to be on The Finer Things, but the LP was such a standard of AOR at the time that the eight tracks all seemed essential, and while the half of the album that made the pop top-20 is here - "Higher Love", the harder "Freedom Overspill", the reflective "Back In The Highlife" backed this time by James Taylor, and the collection-named "The Finer Things", rock stations also played the heck out of the Joe Walsh collaboration "Split Decision" and the lesser "Take It As It Comes" (even charting on rock radio), and "Wake Me Up On Judgement Day" and "My Love Is Leavin'" were equally present on adult contemporary stations. But at least it had a better representation here that Winwood's #1 album followup Roll With It. Only the title track and second single (and Michelob shill) "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" appear, leaving behind the pop top-20 funk of "Holding On" or rock singles "Hearts On Fire" and "Put On Your Dancing Shoes". Diminishing returns proceed with the last album contributing to the compilation, Refugees Of The Heart, which places a solitary "One And Only Man" here (to it's credit, by this time the albums have become a little more pristine).

By front-loading his earlier work, The Finer Things is entertaining and informative to those seeking Winwood's pre-80's roots. However for a more complete picture of his success, at least a half-CD worth of material from his solo years would've made a hands-down essential, especially with his work being criminally underarchived (the only "hits" set, Chronicles, only has three of his top-40 singles out of ten tracks). I'm still waiting for the best-of he deserves, but until then, The Finer Things is a good springboard for those really interested in Winwood's evolution from soul-teen oddity to soccer-mom serenader.

Grade: B+
Best Cuts: "Every Little Bit Hurts", "Gimme Some Lovin'", "I'm A Man", "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys", "While You See A Chance", "Arc Of A Diver", "Spanish Dancer", "Night Train", "Valerie", "Freedom Overspill"
Weakest Links: "Shanghai Noodle Factory", "Under My Thumb (live)", "Happy Vibes", "Winner/Loser"

with the Spencer Davis Group:
"I Can't Stand It" hit #47 on the UK singles chart.
"Every Little Bit Hurts" hit #41 in the UK.
"Strong Love" made #44 in the UK.
"Keep On Running" hit #76 on the US pop chart and #1 in the UK.
"Somebody Help Me" made #47 US pop and #1 in the UK.
"When I Come Home" hit #12 in the UK.
"Gimme Some Loving" hit #7 US pop and #2 in the UK.
"I'm A Man" made #10 US pop and #9 in the UK.

with Traffic:
"Paper Sun" hit #94 US pop and #5 in the UK.
"No Face, No Name, No Number" made #40 in the UK.
"Empty Pages" hit #74 US pop.

solo:
"While You See A Chance" hit #7 US pop, #2 rock, and #45 in the UK.
"Arc Of A Diver" hit #48 US pop and#11 rock.
"Night Train" made #52 on the dance club play chart.
"Valerie" (the original version) made #70 US pop, #13 rock, and #51 in the UK. (the '87 remix made #9)
"Higher Love" hit #1 US pop, #7 adult contemporary, #1 rock, #28 dance club (as the flip of Freedom Overspill), and #13 in the UK.
"Freedom Overspill" hit #20 US pop, #28 dance club play, #4 rock, and #69 in the UK.
"The Finer Things" made #8 US pop, #1 adult contemporary, and #5 rock.
"Back In The Highlife Again"made #13 pop, #1 adult contemporary, #19 rock, and #53 in the UK.
"Roll With It" hit #1 US pop for four weeks, #1 adult contemporary, #21 dance club play, #1 rock, #30 R&B, and #53 in the UK.
"Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" hit #6 pop, #2 adult contemporary, and #1 rock.
"One and Only Man" made #17 US pop, #9 adult contemporary, and #1 rock.

Buy: You can pick up The Finer Things at webstores like here and here.

And now for some clips. Now here's a weird one. A promo video for SDG's "Gimme Some Lovin'" done as stoically as can be in some department store...