Island Records/UMe will release the definitive career retrospective of one of the all-time greats of rock `n' roll on June 15, 2010. Entitled Revolutions - The Very Best Of Steve Winwood, it is a portrait of one of the mo... more »st influential musicians in rock history, a singer-songwriter, peerless vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player. With a track listing personally selected by Steve Winwood from his five decade career, Revolutions - The Very Best Of Steve Winwood is a high quality four CD deluxe box set including a 52 page book, with sleevenotes by writer Dylan Jones. Also included in the four CD deluxe box set is a re-recorded version of "Spanish Dancer." In a career lasting nearly 50 years he has sold over 50 million albums and several of his songs have become standards, notably "Gimme Some Lovin'" (memorably covered in The Blues Brothers film), "Can't Find My Way Home," "The Low Spark Of The High Heeled Boys," and "Higher Love." He has been awarded multiple Grammy Awards - for "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "Higher Love" (a US no 1 in '86). In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him number 33 in the 100 Best Singers Of All Time.« less
Island Records/UMe will release the definitive career retrospective of one of the all-time greats of rock `n' roll on June 15, 2010. Entitled Revolutions - The Very Best Of Steve Winwood, it is a portrait of one of the most influential musicians in rock history, a singer-songwriter, peerless vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player. With a track listing personally selected by Steve Winwood from his five decade career, Revolutions - The Very Best Of Steve Winwood is a high quality four CD deluxe box set including a 52 page book, with sleevenotes by writer Dylan Jones. Also included in the four CD deluxe box set is a re-recorded version of "Spanish Dancer." In a career lasting nearly 50 years he has sold over 50 million albums and several of his songs have become standards, notably "Gimme Some Lovin'" (memorably covered in The Blues Brothers film), "Can't Find My Way Home," "The Low Spark Of The High Heeled Boys," and "Higher Love." He has been awarded multiple Grammy Awards - for "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "Higher Love" (a US no 1 in '86). In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him number 33 in the 100 Best Singers Of All Time.
CD Reviews
A Flawed Update of 1995's "The Finer Things"
Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 06/18/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Fifteen years ago, Island Records released an excellent 4-CD retrospectve of one of the great artists of the British Ivasion. With 63 songs and more than five hours of music, THE FINER THINGS covered Steve Winwood's career from the Spencer Davis Group through his solo career.
Now Island has unleashed REVOLUTIONS: THE VERY BEST OF STEVE WINWOOD, and the question is, why? Of the first three discs, all but four songs were also included in THE FINER THINGS. Overall, these two collections share a whopping 37 tracks. That leaves only 21 tracks that are new to this collection. Many of them are from the handful of albums that Winwood has released since the previous collection. Still others are simply a result of tinkering with the track listing. For example, you now get Blind Faith's "Presence of the Lord," but gone are the two previously unreleased live tracks "Sleeping in the Ground" and "Under My Thumb"; you do get "The Morning Side" from the hugely successful ROLL WITH IT, but that album's No. 1 title track is missing.
Bottom line, there's no point in purchasing both of these collections; and all things considered, the nod goes to THE FINER THINGS."
"Revolutions" Box Set - A Revelatory Look at the Music of St
Michael J. Shogi | Reminderville, Ohio USA | 06/17/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The "Revolutions" box set provides listeners with an excellent overview of Steve Winwood's career. It includes most of the key tracks featuring Winwood from The Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith, Traffic, and his vast solo career. The remastered sound is a welcome addition to Winwood's catalog, and a few "surprises" are thrown in, for good measure - including an excellent 2010 re-recording of "Spanish Dancer" and a revealing print interview with the artist himself. In "Revolutions", the range of multicultural influences on Steve Winwood's music are on display, which may surprise some listeners who are familiar only with his radio hits from the 1980s. In fact, the only criticism of this box set I can make is that several of Winwood's radio hits were omitted, including "Roll with It" and "The Finer Things". However, this is a minor quibble, because these tracks can always be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon.com, or similar outlets. Overall, "Revolutions" is an intriguing and revealing listen for Steve Winwood's fans - old and new."
Night and Day...punchier and fuller than the Finer Things bo
luckykz | Oakland | 06/24/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I, too, have most of this material. But I bit for it, and I'm glad I did. I a-b'ed it to the Finer Things box set and it's no contest because, as the notes implied, Winwood spent time in the studio tweaking the music. Not only is it remastered, but check out the new mix on Low Spark. I don't think it's louder in the sense of Volume Wars. Rather, even the mono Spencer Davis tracks jump out (and I'm no purest mono freak). Steve Winwood is my absolute favorite musician. If you're young and have yet to collect his music, this set is perfect for you (and well priced!). If you're a longtime fan, you'll be equally thrilled. As for the missing trax, "Roll With It" and "Finer Things," suck it up and download it for an extra $1.99, burn it on a 35 cent disc and stash it between the pages. The liner notes are a little goofy, but it's all about the music. (Speaking of i-Tunes, what idiot would download it for $29.99 when you can get the discs (software)and the artwork for five bucks less?)"
Double dip?
M. Lanahan | USA | 06/21/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I think it's shady that the single disc version of this collection contains "The
Finer Things" & "Roll With It," while the boxed set does NOT.
Does Island Records expect Winwood's fans to purchase both versions of this collection to get every song available?"
Mixed Feellings!
Obewonkanoli | Sudan | 07/03/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I love Steve Winwood. When I purchased Arc of a Diver, at that time I didn't even realize he wast the mastermind behind so many great groups that preceded his solo career. I have both box sets now, "A Finer Thing" and "Revolutions". Sincerely, I do believe that the music is a bit crisper and fuller on Revolutions. I like his selections, although I agree with the obvious omissions and wish there would have been more from "Talking Back to the Night". In fact I probably would rather he had re-released his entire solo package digitally remastered, which probably comes next. Ok so here's the caveat! This is absolutely the worst packaged box set I've ever seen! I thought I had seen it all when Jackson Brown pasted two sponges on cardboard to house your cds on his "Best Of" collection! But this is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen! The discs are stacked half way on top of each other with half the prongs to seed your cd back in it's spot. You literally have to remove one cd to listen to the other! I mean this seems like almost a calculated plug to justify the price of the music by comparison to what the market has offered in the past. I would have gladly paid $5 more to make this right! I mean you could have just inserted a couple of sleeves to drop your cds in! This is just stupid!"
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1