Steve Winwood - Talking Back To The Night (1982)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette, later replaced by a CD.

With lots of moody keyboards, Winwood spends this whole album trying to recapture the magic of his 1981 hit, While You See a Chance. That's okay with me - I love that song. This album is either underrated, overlooked, or I simply just listened to it a lot more during my junior year of high school than it deserved. Or all of the above. If you like Winwood's synthpad music and soulful singing, then it's all good. Of the four albums Winwood released in the '80s, this was his least successful, but I still dig most of it.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "finds his blue-eyed r&b inflections as strong and seamlessly delivered as at any point in his career."
• CashBox: "a stunning performance"
• Musician: "Winwood's decision to continue the format of playing all of the instruments and producing himself...ultimately works against him."
• Rolling Stone (★★½ ): "sounds perfectly unambitious"
• Robert Christgau: C
• Stereo Review: Recording of Special Merit

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #28
• Billboard Rock: #6
• CashBox: #28
• Rolling Stone: #12

Tracks:

1. Valerie: Opening the album with its best song - a tried and true method. And if you like to sing along as much as I do, you quickly realize that Winwood possesses an incredible voice and it's useless to keep up but fun to try. Lots of syncopation and a fun synth solo using the same preset he used on "While You See a Chance" (if it aint' broke...). As a single, this peaked at #70 pop, #13 rock. A remixed version released in 1987 peaked at #9 pop, #2 adult contemporary, #13 rock.
2. Big Girls Walk Away: Like the first track, this one seems to me to relentlessly push forward (to what, I couldn't tell ya). Fantastic chorus and an even better bridge.
3. And I Go: Winwood slows the pace and pulls out the Hammond B-3 for this one. And it's just not doing anything for me.
4. While There's a Candle Burning: a mediocre verse gives way to a redeeming chorus in which the upward movement of the music attempts to move the positive lyrics in the same direction. I would've liked a bridge or solo to mix things up, but this is the shortest song on the album, so I'm outta luck.
5. Still in the Game: the most obvious attempt to replicate the success of "While You See a Chance" almost lifting the backing tracks from that hit. I'm relieved that we've returned to the feel of the first two tracks, but again, there's no solo or bridge (yet there's room for a 80 second fade-out vamp at the end). I dig the chorus, though. As a single, this peaked at #47 pop, #8 rock. 
6. It Was Happiness: And again, we start off with the hi-hat figure that appears throughout the album. The verse is just okay, but Winwood's vocals save it. Then we head into a bouncy, cheesy chorus that could only come from the '80s.
7. Help Me Angel: Finally a different sort of syncopated keyboard groove under the familiar hi-hat pattern. The lyrics are a bit simplistic, but Winwood's pleading for help somehow works. And we get a solo on this one. That ending, though. Sheesh.
8. Talking Back to the Night: A moody ode to people's problems as they move about the night. I prefer the subtle verse to the high-flying chorus. The best part of the thing might be the keyboard licks Winwood inserts between the vocal phrases the second time through the verses and on through the vamp at the end. Good stuff. Not released as a single in '82, but remixed and released in '87 when it peaked at #57 pop, #7 AC, #17 rock, and was used as part of a "The Night Belongs to Michelob" ad campaign.
   
   
9. There's a River: Yawn. 

Let's rank 'em!

1. Valerie
2. Talking Back to the Night
3. Big Girls Walk Away
4. It Was Happiness
5. Still in the Game
6. Help Me Angel
7. While There's a Candle Burning
8. And I Go
9. There's a River

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Because it was generally uneventful, I don't remember many details about prom at the end of my junior year, but artifacts from my personal papers indicate it was held on Saturday, April 23, 1983 and the chosen theme was "Stairway to Heaven" (God help us). I wasn't dating anyone at the time, but Vicki, a co-worker at my Burger King job agreed to go with me and we had an acceptable, platonic evening. The most memorable part of the prom may have been my attire. As I wrote in this post:

I've always been a bit of a contrarian and for the prom my junior year, I decided to be different by wearing tennis shoes with my tuxedo (special thanks to my date for allowing it). I realize that wouldn't so much as raise an eyebrow these days, but in 1983, it garnered several condescending eyerolls from members of my immediate family and, amidst the rice fields of rural south Texas, it was quite the trendsetting statement.

I borrowed my father's car because it had a working air conditioner whereas my car did not. I grabbed this tape to play as pleasant but unobtrusive background music for the evening. Since there weren't any hits from the album, I was unsure if Vicki would be familiar with any of the music. Heck, I didn't even know what kind of music she preferred. But less than five minutes into our date, there was Vicki, belting out the chorus to Valerie right along with Stevie. It surprised me enough that I obviously remember it all these years later.

* * *

It is traditional for one generation to bad-mouth the music popular with the generations that follow. I swore I'd never do it, yet I did and caught myself doing it just the other day (in my defense, the song on the radio was just three notes repeated over and over for 4 minutes). I guess dismissing others' opinions makes us feel better and a little superior. In any case, my mother was riding with me in my car in late '82/early '83 and made such a comment about the music my peers and I enjoyed. The dig cut a little deeper than it should have except for the fact I was a moody, angst-ridden 16-year-old kid who found solace in music. I popped this cassette into the deck as I attempted to prove to her that "my music" had melodies as good as any tune from the '50s. I doubt my tactic worked and if it did, I have no memory of it. But there are some good melodies on this album, no?

Previously revisited for the blog:
Roll With It (1988)
Back in the High Life (1986)
Arc of a Diver (1980)