Album Review: Steve Winwood's 'Nine Lives'

An artist once told me, "Our parents played music all their lives, to age 75 and 81, and we’ll probably do the same thing."

Of course, some artists don't have to play for money their entire lives. A guy like Bob Seger, who made his fortune in the '70s and '80s, could go 11 years between albums (It's a Mystery in 1995 and Face the Promise in 2006) without having to clip coupons and take the bus.

But whether these artists continue to grow creatively is an open question. Face the Promise had the classic crunch of vintage Bog Seger, and lyrically it explored some of the themes that have been touchstones throughout Seger's career. It could have been recorded in 1978.

Meanwhile, Elton John’s The Captain and the Kid, released in 2006, was intended as a sequel to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, but was actually far less adventuresome and interesting that that 1975 megahit.

So if you've heard that Steve Winwood has released a new album, you may be wondering whether it represents just another classic artist hoping to cash in on the loyalty of longtime fans.

Uh... no.

Nine Lives is one of the better reviewed new albums of 2008. (Paste magazine weighs in here; Allmusic.com here.) It was recorded mostly live in the studio, and evokes the spirit of Winwood's work with Traffic (with a dash of Arc of a Diver thrown in for fans who dig the 80s stuff, as on the track Fly).

The album flirts with Santana-like Latin jazz every now and then, and it features a big helping of Hammond B3 grooves, though not quite as much as on 2003's About Time, the most Hammond-centric album Winwood has ever made. Plus, Winwood's old mate Eric Clapton guests on Dirty City. More than many albums by classic-era artists, Nine Lives gives you the sense that it's part of a continuing work of creation by an artist who hasn't run out of things to say, and who still has the chops to do them justice.

Still, one of the hazards an artist faces as years go by is a changing voice. Billy Joel was the first major artist noticed for this, when he transposed most of his hits down a step on the 2006 live album 12 Gardens Live. Both Seger and Elton have lost their upper registers as well. Seger sounds like a taped-and-slowed-down version of himself, while Elton sings in a gruff tone that doesn't serve him especially well. But Winwood, who will turn 60 on May 12, still gets to the same notes he did 40 years ago.

As I write this, Nine Lives is at the fifth spot on Amazon.com, behind Madonna, two editions of the new Neil Diamond release and Portishead.

Pretty good company for a very good album.