Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Steve Winwood - Acoustic - Non-Album Tracks (1994-2020)

Here's a personal update: I'm still on my long vacation, and still having very full days acting like a tourist. Yesterday, I switched from having very full days acting like a typical tourist in the big cities along the upper East Coast to chilling out in rural Vermont with a much more relaxed vacation pace. Nearly all the remainder of my vacation will be in the countryside. That means I should be able to post more often, knock on wood. 

One downside though is that I'm working from a tablet/light laptop that has my music collection on it but doesn't have Photoshop, so I can't make any album covers at the moment. Thus, I'll be posting albums here without album covers until I get home (about two weeks from now), unless it happens to be a case where I'd made an album cover already. Then I'll make the missing album covers when I get back home. However, if anyone wants to make an album cover, I could use that instead and update the post fairly quickly with that. In this particular case, some of the songs come from YouTube videos of Steve Winwood playing a guitar in front of a home fireplace, so that would make for a great cover.

Anyway, on to the music. It's likely you know Steve Winwood from his long career, first with the Spencer Davis Group, then Traffic, then Blind Faith, then a solo career. There are times he's done some acoustic-based music, such as with the Traffic album "John Barleycorn Must Die," but he's never put out an all-acoustic album, and his solo acoustic performances have been very rare. I've gathered up all the ones I could find, stretching from 1994 to 2020. That's a wide range of time, but it all fits together well in my opinion, since his voice and his style hasn't changed much over those years. 

All of the songs are officially unreleased on record, though the third through fifth songs come from an official DVD. Also, two songs, the sixth and seventh ones, were put out by Winwood on his website, www.stevewinwood.com. The rest generally come from in-person radio station appearances, so the sound quality is very high throughout. 

Two of the songs are covers: "What's Going On" and "Now the Green Blade Riseth." The rest generally are his best known songs from all phases of his career, including songs he originally did with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith. A couple of the songs feature him on keyboards, but most are him on acoustic guitar. One song, "Higher Love," is a duet between him and his daughter Lilly Winwood, who has a fine voice.

This album is only 36 minutes long, but it's a gem all the way through, in my opinion. If anyone knows of other acoustic versions he's done that I've missed, please let me know and I'll add them in.

01 We're Gonna Make It (Steve Winwood)
02 While You See a Chance (Steve Winwood)
03 [Roamin' thro' the Gloamin' With] 40,000 Headmen (Steve Winwood)
04 Dear Mr. Fantasy (Steve Winwood)
05 Gimme Some Lovin' (Steve Winwood)
06 Can't Find My Way Home (Steve Winwood)
07 John Barleycorn (Steve Winwood)
08 Higher Love (Steve Winwood & Lilly Winwood)
09 Back in the High Life Again (Steve Winwood)
10 What's Going On (Steve Winwood)
11 Can't Find My Way Home (Steve Winwood)
12 Now the Green Blade Riseth (Steve Winwood)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15193967/SteveWnwd_1994-2020_Acoustc_atse.zip.html

The cover here was made by PJ of the Albums I Wish Existed blog. The pic is a screenshot taken from a YouTube video Winwood did a few years ago.

18 comments:

  1. Sounds like you're having a wonderful vacation, I'm glad to hear it, you deserve it! Chilling in Vermont, that sounds soooo appealing. Thanks as always for this incredible blog!

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    1. I am. :) Although I've had a slight cold the past couple of days. I'm impressed by Vermont.

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  2. Hi Paul. If you'd email me at easily.confused@mail.com I'll send you a link to an idea for a cover.

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  3. Most important is hearing you are having a great vacation. Thanks again for all you do for all of us.

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  4. Here's my cover:

    https://postimg.cc/Ff8Q8xMv

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  5. We did a similar trip a few years back. I love that part of the country. Hopefully you'll make it up to Maine.

    Great music. Thank you! I also did up a cover but this site doesn't seem to allow for attachments. If interested in a copy you can find me at dsgtrane@aol.com.

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  6. As Paul didn't take Photoshop on holiday with him, he asked me to make a cover for this post, so here it is, and he'll add it to the post when he gets back. https://disk.yandex.ru/i/727H-p7WOTG46A

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  7. Thanks for Winwood.
    Enjoy your vacations.

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  8. You can use this as a provisional cover. The picture is from the "Can't find my way home" video.
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nErcqEeHlmz_mhj_I0y8SL5ZdxJ8BU6e/view

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  9. Sorry, the link is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nErcqEeHlmz_mhj_I0y8SL5ZdxJ8BU6e/view?usp=sharing

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    1. Nice cover! But there's a problem. You made his last name "Windwood." Could you change that to "Winwood?"

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  10. Ups! Here is the fixed cover
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OAcHbfThjkZT8rT1tiSRB-YUyWVzqFbj/view?usp=sharing
    but I see you did it yourself, sorry.

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  11. Mayhap Spleeter might provide more acoustic material from Mr. Winwood? #justathought ;)

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  12. This is what I had been looking for - a compilation of Winwood's acoustic music. Thank you so much.

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