Record of the Day: Steve Winwood, “Arc of a Diver”

Steve Winwood
“Arc of a Diver” (Cd Island CID 9576)

A prolific artist, keyboard player and exceptional composer, Steve Winwood has always sought clarity of expression without hiding behind compositional abstruseness and virtuosic smokescreens. His powerful Hammond organ riffs have inflamed with energy “Voodoo Chile” by Jimi Hendrix, “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Joe Cocker, “Gimme Some Lovin'” (co-authored by the Spencer Davis Group) and dozens of other classics, his adventure with groups like Traffic and Blind Faith now belongs to rock legend; throughout all of this, clarity of vision and the desire for transparency have remained the fixed stars to which Winwood has constantly looked.

It is no coincidence that the title of this album refers to the arc of movement that occurs during a dive; it is precisely that line of
subtle, continuous, present yet invisible energy that passes through the air before reaching the water to attract an acute artist like Winwood; a simple, primordial yet unleashing element just like the music contained in the album.
Songs like “While You See a Chance”, “Dust”, “Night Train”, “Spanish Dancer” and “Slowdown Sundown” manage to convey the same sense of strength and lightness intertwined, despite being based on few chords, very simple choruses and arrangements where there is not a note too many.

The album followed the unexpected commercial failure of Winwood’s first solo album released three years earlier and Steve made it entirely alone in his home studio in Gloucestershire, playing all the instruments.
From a production point of view, the album bears heavy signs of the year 1980 in which it was released; synthesizers in quantity,
electronic drums, a few real guitars, some percussion here and there; in general, a patina is spread over everything that polishes every sound until it shines, but it doesn’t matter, the songs are excellent and Winwood offers us perhaps his best performance as a singer, also avoiding the risk of artificial coldness that prevailed in many records of that period.

Later albums like “Talking Back to the Night”, “Back in the High Life” and “Junction Seven” are also good, but “Arc of a Diver” has a particular compositional intensity that the public understood from its release, finally giving Winwood
a multi-million copy selling success.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.