Freedom Overspill.
Winwood returns after five years with "Nine Lives". How is it? It's like his days with Traffic, much like his last outing, 2003's "About Time" was. This is Winwood doing Winwood. At 60, Winwood knows his audience, he has his Wincraft label with a distribution deal from Sony/BMG for wider recognition than "About Time" received. Smart business, and Winwood has complete artistic control over his music, something that 1997's "Junction Seven" did not have.

Yet, Winwood seems to be content with the wheel, and not reinventing it. As far as his solo work goes, when artistry meets popularity and sales, that is the definitive moment, and a rare moment in any artist's career. Winwood achieved that with 1980's "Arc Of A Diver", 1986's "Back In The High Life" and 1988's "Roll With It". Definitive solo Winwood albums all.

"Nine Lives" is average Winwood. Not ghastly like "Junction Seven", but nowhere near the caliber of the aforementioned albums. The musicianship, songwriting and production are all pleasant and serviceable. All the right notes are in place, but it feels uninspired somehow. Mellow, rhythmic, well played jazz/latin/blues/r&b. Not very innovative or original when you consider what Winwood has been capable of. Has it been a nice re-visit to Winwood's earlier, organic days both on "Nine Lives" and "About Time"--the answer is yes. But, here's my challenge to Winwood: Mr. Winwood, do you still have the creative juices to make one more shining pop album that's not overburdened like "Refugees Of The Heart" or "Junction Seven", but something inspiring and classic like "High Life" or "Roll With It" or "Arc"? I'd like to see you try something more experimental like "Arc" now, or "High Life" now. I already know that you can do Traffic/Santana easily in your sleep.

So, "Nine Lives". B-/C+, three stars, maybe three and a half. The tracks that stood out to me the most were "I'm Not Drowning", "Raging Sea", "Dirty City" and "Secrets". The album as a whole was good, but nothing overtly memorable or astonishing. I'd rather listen to earlier Winwood, in other words.

So, Steve? Are you going to make that late career defining album? The one that all the critics, fans and non-fans sit up and take notice to? It's been 20 years now. Make us all glad next time.

One of his better efforts
Steve Winwood is of course a Rock icon and has been around for years.
He has had hits with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and of course as a solo act.
When you mix this all together this CD shows you what you might some up with.
I'm not drowning is a great blues tune and a perfect song to open a CD with. I wish we saw this side of Stevie more often.
Fly is another song that reminds me of Traffic
Dirty City is the best song on the CD and features a guitar solo by long time friend Eric Clapton. I wish we could hear more Clapton and Winwood together.
As the title says, its one of his better efforts but not his best....

A tremendous surprise
While I've always had an appreciation for all aspects of Steve Winwood's music (solo and non), I've never really gone nuts for any of it. Until now...

Nine Lives is simply a fantastic album. The instrumentation is sparse, made up of mostly Winwood on Hammond and guitar, a drummer, and a percussionist. Occasionally, he's joined by a sax or flute player, and on one track Eric Clapton jumps in for a smokin' guitar solo. The vocals consist of Steve, solo, without a doubled lead vocal track or any background vocals. It's a fairly minimalist arrangement, but the sparseness just makes it that much more effective.

The groove is mostly laid back, and the songs are extended into mostly five to seven minute explorations of a musical idea. The album isn't flashy, and Winwood doesn't seem to be trying to impress anyone with his skills. He's just out to have a good time, and make some music that he enjoys. It translates to a remarkable album.

Nine Lives is an unexpected joy. I can't seem to listen to it enough, and I know I can't recommend it highly enough. It takes a lot for an album to really blow me away. Nine Lives blows me away...

Fantastic!
Definitely blues/jazz sound and feel. It is refreshing to hear an artist go back to his early sounds that defined him, when so many seem to want to distance themselves from their early work and sound. I love every track. The music is outstanding throughout, blending great guitar sounds, of course keyboards, along with great drums/percussion intruments, and flutes. The songs sound similar only in that the blues/jazz feel is always there. But each one has its own strenghts and riffs. As has been stated, if you like the pop/rock sound, you might not enjoy it. But this is true musicianship at its finest, and I can't help but tap along and feel a great mood drift down smoothly over me, just like all the sounds on these songs do. This one's on my favorite shelf already.

The new rise of a true great British blue-eyed R&B artist !
Steve Winwood (who turns 60 this year) has signed a new deal with Columbia Records who has released the artist's highly-anticipated new major label album "Nine Lives", his first studio LP since the acclaimed "About Time" on his own independent label, Wincraft in 2003.
It and opens an important new chapter in Steve's extraordinary career.
Even after a career of 45 years, there always a suspicion that Steve Winwood may surprise us.
He lives the quiet life of a country squire in his Cotswolds retreat, but periodically Steve Winwood emerges, like a gun-dog with a grouse in its mouth, bearing another album of gorgeous, wide-ranging songs.
"Nine Lives" is the latest: it has less of a Latin flavour than its predecessor About Time, but at times it has more of an edge, especially on the rousing, gritty-sounding "Dirty City", on which his old Blind Faith bandmate Eric Clapton guests on guitar.
The album is written and co-produced by Steve Winwood with Johnson Somerset- whose previous credits include Roxy Music and Duran Duran.
Why Nine Lives ? Some people believe in the superstition that cats have nine lives, because cats can survive falls from high places with few, if any injuries. This gives the appearance that the cats return to life after sustaining a fatal accidents, they may sustain minor injuries, such but they live to recover.
The aptly titled album is a fresh and invigorating rediscovery of Winwood's roots, his personal style and career, and paints a musical portrait of spiritual transformation as Winwood continues the exploration of soul, rock, blues and world music which began in 1957, when, at the age of 9, he played guitar in his father's band in Birmingham, England.
Pretty much everything you'd ever want from a Steve Winwood album is here: the plaintive voice, the pulsing rhythms, the multifarious musical influences (funk, jazz, blues, world) - and of course Winwood's trusty old Hammond B3 organ, which drenches this album in its blazing, shimmering warmth.
He is now just days from his 60th birthday, but he joined the Spencer Davis Group at just 15, voyaging through blue-eyed R&B, toying with psychedelia in Traffic, doing the supergroup thing with Eric Clapton in Blind Faith and pioneering the DIY play-everything approach with "Arc of A Diver".
Since then, Winwood has perfected a synthesis of blues, jazz, soul, latin and occasionally folk which at its best is exquisite. No mean guitarist, a master of the lush Hammond organ and possibly one of the best voices in English rock, Winwood's name should be writ as large as Clapton's.
It has nine arresting songs: on each of them he continues the exploration of soul, rock, blues and world music that Steve Winwood is renowned for.
It kicks off with a I'm Not Drowning, hitched to a delta blues riff.
Amongst the many highlights on the album, "Fly" is a brave and ambitious track featuring soaring powerful vocals set against a cacophony of sound: it is a gossamer-fine love song, using latin rhythm, nylon-strung guitar, pining soprano sax and organ, Winwood's voice creating the kind of hymn-like quality he brought to Traffic's "Holy Ground".
Other highlights on the album are many and include "Forget About Him", a joyous and moving six-minute journey through horns, keyboards and world instruments.
Alongside "Hungry Man", which sounds like something from Paul Simon's Brazilian-style "Rhythm Of The Saints", "We're All Looking", a mighty fine Latin funk with lashings of Hammond and the captivating track "Secrets" show that the album is as consistently strong as it is diverse.
On this CD Steve Winwood turns another musical corner, showcasing his ability to still create relevant and evocative music. It gives his fans, old and new, nine new reasons to celebrate the life and music of this ageless, and still prodigious, musical treasure.
Steve and Eric Clapton played three sold out nights at Madison Square Gardens, New York in February.
Steve and his band will be special guests to Tom Petty on his US tour this summer.