CoronaVinyl Day 256 (W): Back In The High Life by Steve Winwood

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "W," and I have a few Steve Winwood albums, so why not go with his 1986 hit album Back In The High Life?

Winwood had been a star for 20 years at this point, starting out as the lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group in his teens, then forming Traffic, then taking a little break to be in supergroup Blind Faith, then going back to Traffic, and then finally going solo in the late '70s, releasing his self-titled solo debut in 1977.

Back In The High Life was his fourth solo album, and arguably the most successful of his solo career.  Until then, he only had one Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, 1981's "When You See a Chance.  Back in the High Life changed all that, garnering him four Top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning him three Grammy Awards.  The album went to #3 on the Billboard album chart and #8 on the album chart in his native UK.  It also went triple platinum in the U.S., making it his best-selling solo album in America.  

The album is a solid example of polished, '80s pop, and every song could have been a hit in 1986 or 1987.  "Higher Love" -- with the inimitable Chaka Khan on backing vocals and Nile Rodgers on guitar -- was his first solo #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  (His second would come two years later with "Roll With It," and I still hold that against him because it was #1 for four weeks in a row, keeping Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" stuck at #2 the whole time.)

In addition, "The Finer Things" (with James Ingram and Dan Hartman on backing vocals) went to #8, "Back In The High Life Again" (with James Taylor on backing vocals) went to #13," and "Freedom Overspill" (with Joe Walsh on slide guitar) went to #20.

Winwood's next album, 1988's Roll With It, kept up the momentum started with Back In The High Life, becoming Winwood's only #1 album as a solo artist and producing another three Top 15 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

All in all, Winwood has had ten Top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and all of them reached the Top 20, six reached the Top 10, and the aforementioned two #1s.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 as a member of Traffic.

Favorite song on Side 1:  "Higher Love"
There's good reason this song went to #1.  It's a great song, and it has a wonderful soulful feel, thanks in large part to Khan's backing vocals.

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Split Decision"
This one is probably the most rocking song on the album (at least the intro), and it also features Joe Walsh on guitar.  In parts, it reminds me of Traffic.