Back in the High Life
Back in the High Life is the fourth solo album by English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, released on 30 June 1986.[1] The album proved to be Winwood's biggest success to that date, certified Gold in the UK and 3× Platinum in the US, and it reached the top twenty in most Western countries.[2][3] It collected three Grammy Awards[4] and generated five hit singles, starting with "Higher Love", which became Winwood's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one chart topper, coming 20 years after he first entered that chart with "Keep on Running" by the Spencer Davis Group.[5] Other global hit singles from the album were "Freedom Overspill", "Back in the High Life Again" and "The Finer Things". The single "Split Decision", with ex-Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, was a US hit.[6]
This article is about the album. For the song, see Back in the High Life Again.Back in the High Life
June 30, 1986
August 1985 – May 1986
- Unique Recording, New York City
- Power Station, New York City
- Right Track, New York City
- Giant Sound, New York City
- Netherturkdonic, Turkdean
45:33
Musically, the album was polished and sophisticated, representative of pop production in the 1980s, featuring Winwood's style of layered synthesisers and electronic drums that he had established with Arc of a Diver (1980). Unlike his two prior albums, on which he played every instrument himself, Winwood made extensive use of session musicians for this album, including Joe Walsh and Nile Rodgers on guitars and JR Robinson on drums. Winwood himself also performed on a large number of instruments, combining live-played instruments with synthesisers and programming. Prominent backing vocals were provided by established stars, including Chaka Khan on "Higher Love", James Ingram on "Finer Things", and James Taylor on the title track. The album showcased Winwood's lifelong fascination with the fusion of styles, bringing folk, gospel and Caribbean sounds into a rock, pop and R&B milieu.[1][2][7]
The album was recorded and released during a time of significant change in Winwood's personal life. After touring North America to promote the album during August–November 1986, Winwood divorced in England and then married in New York City. He bought a second home 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 High Life.
Background[edit]
Winwood's solo career had seen success in the UK with Steve Winwood in 1977 and Arc of a Diver in 1980, the latter being his first major solo US hit, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200. His third album, Talking Back to the Night (1982), generated less of a response and was considered a let-down. The last two albums had been created by Winwood playing all the instruments himself at his technologically advanced Turkdean home studio "Netherturkdonic,"[8] but for his next project Winwood returned to working with other musicians for additional inspiration. He hired Los Angeleno Ron Weisner as manager, known for his work with Madonna and Michael Jackson.[9] Weisner pushed Winwood to record in London rather than at his home, where he was having relationship difficulties with his wife, Nicole. Winwood agreed to the London suggestion, but Weisner responded, "Well, forget London. Maybe you should go to New York."[10]
Winwood was already acquainted with New York, having stayed at the Central Park South apartment of Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records.[11] Blackwell had been serving as Winwood's quasi-manager for a few years, but 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 front man and entertainer.[10][12][13] Winwood said in 1988, "I made a conscious effort 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 now."[10][14] Between sessions for Back in the High Life, Winwood booked another studio, where he scored synthesiser-based music for the documentary The High Life, about the 1985 Tour de France experience of Scottish bicycle racer Robert Millar (later known as Philippa York). The documentary was produced by ITV Granada; it aired in the weeks leading up to the 1986 Tour de France, in which Millar competed.[7][15]
Writing[edit]
Songwriting for the album began after Talking Back was released. Winwood wrote his own music but he usually relied on other lyricists. He collaborated again with Texan Will Jennings, a professor of English who had written the words to Winwood's song "While You See a Chance", a hit single in 1981. For this new project, Winwood's fourth solo album, the pair composed five more songs, two of which would become the biggest album hits: "Higher Love" and "Back in the High Life Again". Jennings carried the phrase "Back in the High Life" around as a song title idea written down in a notebook, but when he was at Winwood's house in late 1984 he wrote the rest of the lyric in a half hour, without any music. More than a year afterward, Winwood finally wrote the music, after being nudged to do so by Titelman, who was notified of its existence by Jennings. "Back in the High Life Again" came very near to being missed altogether.[16] Winwood said about teaming with Jennings, "We've got absolutely no rules when we work together. Sometimes we start with the lyric, sometimes with the melody; sometimes we start with chorus and add the verses, and sometimes I write some of the lyrics myself. There are no formulas; things just happen naturally."[17]
A second return collaborator was eccentric English songwriter and former Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band frontman Vivian Stanshall, who had written the words for Winwood's "Dream Gerrard", appearing on Traffic's 1974 album When the Eagle Flies. The two often traded favours: Winwood played on both of Stanshall's 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 album title.[18] Stanshall joined with Winwood to create a demo version of "My Love's Leavin'" at Netherturkdonic, engineered by Nobby Clarke, who was Winwood's right-hand man at the studio and on the road.[19] Stanshall also wrote the lyric to "If That Gun's For Real" in the early '80s, described by Winwood as a witty "Percy Sledge–flavoured" number. The song was under consideration for Back in the High Life but was ultimately left off.[18][20]
The third returning lyricist was George Fleming, an old friend of Winwood's and the nephew of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. George Fleming had written two songs for Arc of a Diver – "Second-hand Woman" and "Dust" – which were his first-ever compositions.[8] 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.[21]