Producer/engineer Bill Schnee recorded “Aja,” produced Pablo Cruise and so much more!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bill-schnee/id1316200737?i=1000740832787

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/be9dcd4b-4311-4c79-b0e0-f91bcb694465/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-bill-schnee

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Has the “Back in the High Life” album already been forgotten? Has Steve Winwood been forgotten?

Chris Wood has been lost to the sands of time. Jim Capaldi too. And Muff Winwood. Although Winwood’s partner in Blind Faith, Eric Clapton? He’s forever. Then again, Winwood has had a number of peaks.

First there was the Spencer Davis Group, with “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m a Man,” staples of Top 40 radio in the sixties, and AOR oldies for a while there, but so much time has passed. Yes, I know, you remember, but are younger generations aware? Of this mere teenager with the soulful voice?

Blind Faith imploded quickly, but the first side is incredible. “Can’t Find My Way Home” should be heard by all youngsters interested in rock history. Have they listened to it?

As for Traffic, in which Winwood played both before and after Blind Faith… Everybody should know the second album, the eponymous “Traffic,” and, of course, “Dear Mr. Fantasy” from the first. “John Barleycorn” has an amazing sound, sparse at times.

Winwood was ensconced in rock history, a child of the sixties, a member of the canon of classic rock.

And then he jumped the tracks.

I bought the first solo album, with “Luck’s In” and “Time Is Running Out,” and the interesting thing is the same year it was released and pretty much ignored the Kinks came back from commercial exile with “Sleepwalker,” and then built upon that thereafter, to the point of being an arena act.

Winwood went back to the drawing board and pulled a McCartney/ Rundgren, playing all the instruments, with what most believe is his first solo album, “Arc of a Diver.” “While You See a Chance” was ubiquitous, on all formats, both AM and FM.

But the follow-up, “Talking Back to the Night,” had a duller sound, and not as many great tracks, no AM radio powerhouse, it was good, but it wasn’t the revelation of “Arc of a Diver.” And then came “Back in the High Life” in 1986…FOUR YEARS LATER!

MTV ruled. The new British bands had taken over the airwaves. The oldsters were falling off. No one was looking to Steve Winwood for new music. And then listeners got a taste of “Higher Love.”

“Think about it, there must be higher love

Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above”

The sound… It didn’t hearken back to what once was, it was definitely eighties, “Higher Love” sat right alongside the hits of the day, and was played all over MTV, where the man many thought was Black until they saw him in person turned out to have absolutely no rhythm, no soul, evidenced by his lame dancing in the video.

But the video was everywhere. And the album sold and sold and sold and…

This was not the one man band of the previous two records. Rather it was a cornucopia of the best session players in New York. Assembled by producer Russ Titelman, who proceeded to employ the same magic, the same assemblage of superstar players, on Eric Clapton’s 1989 album “Journeyman,” which heralded Clapton’s resurgence.

As for Winwood, “Back in the High Life” was so successful that he made a fat deal with Virgin and had little success thereafter. He put out a phenomenal album “About Time” independently in 2003, a summation of all his previous influences, but by this point the internet era had begun, file-trading was rampant, MTV was dying, and where was the place for a new album by a legendary rocker? One that tested the limits, even had jazz influences? There wasn’t one.

Since then…

Winwood signed with Columbia, which rereleased “About Time,” but it was too late. And there was a studio album, “Nine Lives,” but it had been twenty two years since “Higher Love,” the marketplace did not care. The fans of yore…the ones telling me they remember Winwood…they’d moved on. However, there is one amazing, positively stupefying track on that album, “Dirty City,” where Eric Clapton weighs in. This would have been a classic along the lines of “Free Bird,” the extended numbers of the seventies, if it had been released back then.

But it was 2008.

Yes, there was that tour and resulting live album with Clapton. But now when you go to see Winwood…you get the hits. The exploration has been excised. What he based his reputation on… Belief is those who are coming are nostalgic for the radio tracks. And when there are two bands on the bill, how much time can you play anyway?

2

“Back in the High Life” was a revelation. Not only because of the songs, with great lyrics by Will Jennings, but the aforementioned studio cats, the players. A trio of drummers, JR Robinson, Steve Ferrone and Mickey Curry. But the real star might have been Jimmy Bralower, who programmed the drums. This was not the earthy, barn board production of the past, all the new tools were used.

And Robbie Kilgore did synthesizer programming and Nile Rodgers played rhythm guitar and Chaka Khan sang backup vocals and Arif Mardin added strings… Look at the credits on Wikipedia, it’s a veritable plethora of hot players and singers: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_High_Life

“Back in the High Life” was everything Winwood was not. Flashy as opposed to earthy. In your face as opposed to subtle. Bright and edgy as opposed to possessing analog warmth.

In other words, while all the oldsters were still looking for purchase on MTV, and in most cases failing, Steve Winwood jumped into the fire and…

It looked like he’d sold out!

But the old AOR world was evaporating, along with the acts it played. It was a new day yesterday, but it’s an old day now.

But “Back in the High Life” not only got MTV airplay, the people bought it and played it ad infinitum, because it worked in so many environments. You could crank it in your car and you could also play it during a cocktail party. At times it was in your face and at others it was intimate and heartwarming.

But like so much of the stuff that is of an era…you could not avoid “Back in the High Life” in 1986…it’s seen as a period piece. Other than Tom Petty, no one looks to classic rockers to have sustained their careers in the mid-eighties and beyond. Sure, Don Henley conquered, but he too used the new sounds…and he wasn’t as old as the acts that broke through in the sixties.

So…

3

Have you listened to “Back in the High Life” recently?

Probably not.

It’s one of my go-tos, but I never hear it mentioned, I don’t see it written about. One could actually say that at this point Warren Zevon’s quiet rendition with gravitas of the title track, “Back in the High Life,” has more purchase in modern society than the original. You hear “Higher Love” here and there, but not to the point where you’re burned out on it.

But the rest of the numbers?

COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN!

Not played, not talked about… Existing digitally, but they might as well be set in amber.

You see there’s no natural constituency for this music. Oldsters like the earlier Winwood. Those of the moment buyers, they’ve moved on to something else. And without cheerleaders, without constant play, music can fall through the cracks.

Now the second best track on “Back in the High Life” is “My Love’s Leavin’,” I do not know a better song about being left behind in love. And “Freedom Overspill” was probably the most played cut other than “Higher Love” back in the day.

And I always played the second side, with its one-two punch of “The Finer Things” and “Wake Me Up On Judgment Day.” And I played that side the other day, and thought of driving up the coast with my hand between the legs of an old girlfriend back in 1990…

“While there is time

Let’s go out and feel everything

If you hold me

I will let you into my dreams”

There’s no equivalent of PCH on the east coast. And as you’re driving north into a setting sun…you’re in your own bubble, one where you’re smiling, reflecting on what once was and looking forward to tomorrow.

But on Friday, I decided to take the album from the top. Hearing those drum notes that begin “Higher Love”…very innovative and risky at the time. But then the album slipped into “Take It As It Comes.”

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I was not in a good mood. That was why I was playing “Back in the High Life,” I knew it would brighten me up, that I’d connect with it, that it would deliver a sense of power and understanding that I needed.

And “Take It As It Comes” starts with what sounds like a backward recording, it’s like opening up a sealed can and hearing the air pour out. And a groove is laid down and then there are synth horns and your head is nodding and then fully half a minute in Steve starts to sing:

“Raise the window on another day

Take it as it comes”

I was in a crisis. A necessary…as important as it comes…item had gone on the fritz in Aspen, far from the experts and repair in Los Angeles.

And believe me, I was not in a good mood. But then I thought of the last shrink session before I flew to Colorado, at the end of which…

My shrink was summing up what I had been talking about for the previous forty five minutes, he said ultimately what I’d been saying was…

It will all work out.

And that’s not me. I’m a glass half-empty kind of guy. But reflecting back on the tales I’d told I realized that was the message.

And one benefit of being older, you’ve got a whole history of crises. And you realize…it always works out. What you were obsessing about is handled, and you move on.

“We’re all skating on the thinnest of ice

Got to take it as it comes

In a world that is not so very nice

Got to take it as it comes”

I was telling a buddy on the chairlift today that I felt detached. He surprised me by saying that EVERYBODY felt detached today. That stunned me. He said it wasn’t about age, but the world at large…

“Any day now the curtain may fall

All the plays end, there’s no curtain call”

It’s gonna happen. No one here gets out alive. You just don’t know when. But as you get older, it’s in the back of your mind… Is this it? Will I be healthy enough to do this, will I even live that long?

And I was discussing with this same buddy why everybody always bitches about concert ticket prices. And he said it was the emotional commitment to the music, people believed they were entitled, DESERVED a good ticket at a low price. I agreed, but I said it was more than that… That when the acts sing, write and play, fans believe this music comes straight from the heart of the musician to them. It’s a direct connection. That’s what we had before songs were written by committee.

And I can already see my inbox full of boomer complainants saying that Winwood is forever. Maybe for them… But the rest of us?

In any event, “Back in the High Life” is forever for me!

There is a courtroom scene in this book that is so tense…

That I wanted to tell you about it just then, when I read it. But I figured I’d better finish the book first, to see if it’s good throughout. And it’s GREAT!

What you’ve got here is four sections, “Water,” “Earth,” “Fire” and “Air.” Don’t get too into the meaning… The point is the story changes with every new section. Some of the old characters remain, but new ones are introduced. You could say it’s like linked short stories, but it’s much more than that.

Unfortunately, the first section, “Water,” is not as great as what follows. It’s interesting, but it’s not a tour-de-force, which “Earth” and “Fire” are. As for “Air”…it doesn’t match the previous two, but there is a plot point that is completely unforeseen that not only astounds the main character, but the reader.

This book is easy to read. It is not laden with too much description. You don’t have to look up new words on every page. It flows.

And stuff happens. Most surrounding moral/sexual issues. None overdone. A lot unpredictable. Thrilling throughout.

This is not a short book, one you can read in a day. Which is one of its selling points. You look forward to getting back to it each and every day. Its plot and themes take over your brain. On some level your relationship with the book takes precedence over your relationships in real life. You’re invested. It’s kind of like living in a movie, but it’s a book.

And most people don’t read books.

But this one…

I won’t say if you read one book a year this should be the one, but if you read a bit of fiction, this is the real deal. Written by an Irishman, where the written word is still respected.

Really. Get this book. Make it through the first section, and after that, WOW!

Felice wanted to see the Jim Gaffigan bourbon special. She asked how we could watch it. I told her we could just pull up the YouTube app on the Roku!

Which we did.

Looked good, but not everything blown up to 65″ does. Are people surfing YouTube on their giant flat screen TVs? The news tells us they are…

But the news is completely out of touch.

So we just had a club panel here at Aspen Live. These were the sharpest people in attendance, because they live where the rubber meets the road. Anybody can promote a Taylor Swift show and sell out, and this is the case with a zillion arena acts. But at the club level? How do you know how to book and how do you get people to come?

That’s the challenge.

Brent Fedrizzi said that in many cases you were flying blind. You got a call from an agent, looked at the Spotify numbers…

And business is so bad because today’s kids are not drinking alcohol. Assuming they’re drinking at all! Used to be patrons were drawn to club shows by radio and print, often driven by the major labels. Steve Chilton said he never booked a major label act. Those companies are out of the artist development game. They don’t want to start at zero and build an act, they’d rather just find someone with online traction and make a deal.

So where does this leave the developing act, the one at the bottom, what gets people to come see them?

So I loved that Jim Gaffigan wasn’t doing the special for money. That’s something that still permeates the music business, no one wants to work if they don’t get paid. But a career is now an holistic, all-encompassing venture, it’s not only streaming numbers and ticket sales. What can you do to bond an audience to you? Gaffigan took a risk (although the costs were underwritten by the man, i.e. the corporation), he knew his focus on bourbon was too narrow for a major streamer. Oh, he could have made a deal, he’s that big and outlets want to be in business with him. But would it be good for the fan and his career? No.

So when Gaffigan was done, we decided to check out some of the comedic offerings on YouTube. I watch a lot of comedy on TikTok, I’ve heard some great routines, but what I was pulling up on YouTube was unknowns who were not quite good enough. And we’re all time-challenged. We want great. So we start a few more videos, even Gaffigan’s greatest hits, but nothing is truly clicking.

And then I click on this 800 Pound Gorilla multi-act clip which starts off with Matt Rife.

I didn’t even know who Rife was until a couple of years back a car salesman in Vermont, a woman, said she had to drive to Maine to see him. And that ain’t close. But that desire, when people have it there are no limits (and not only no limits to the distance traveled, but the money spent).

And then I started reading criticism of Rife. How he was young and trading on his good looks. I don’t know, I’m just giving you the scuttlebutt.

But since Rife was the starting act on this 800 Pound Gorilla clip, I decided to let it play.

So Rife is on stage, it’s a typical comedy club. Well, a bit bigger than many, it had a balcony.

So… He’s doing his routine, and then he goes into crowd work. Where he starts quizzing the audience. In this case he wants to know women’s red flags.

And a couple are coughed up and… Rife is good with the interaction, the blowback. He’ll let you speak, but he will comment, he might dig.

But what blew my mind was that he got into it with this woman, and the story ultimately went to a place where I laughed out loud, it was so hysterical. Just a real person in real life.

This is what comedy is selling. Is this what music is selling?

We don’t have the Tubes at the Roxy… We’ve got someone unseasoned who believes that standing up and playing is enough. Used to be you saw an act and they were so overwhelming that you had to tell everybody you knew about them and their show, had to drag your friends to the next show. Now the goal is to get big enough that you can play arenas with a ton of production. This is what MTV has wrought. Managers and acts say the audience expects it. I’m not so sure, all I know is these shows laden with production are closer to the Vegas of yore than the heart of rock and roll. It’s a spectacular, often timed to the instant, so the images and the pyro sync. Where is the humanity? Nonexistent.

But it was there in this Matt Rife clip.

Now if you see a great act in a club…they tell stories, they connect with the audience personally. That’s what bonds people to you, makes people want to come back. But that’s been lost.

But the problem is music is now competing with not only YouTube, but TikTok, and the way you build an audience on these platforms is by being clever… It’s an intellectual exercise. How can the person make a clip that will stimulate your heart or your brain or maybe both? All the old school people pooh-pooh TikTok. But everyone on the panel said that’s where acts get started today, that’s where the audience finds them. And this disconnect is not only in music… Oldsters can’t stop telling youngsters to put the phone down. They might as well tell addicts not to shoot heroin.

So what sells today is greatness, which is often based on innovation. And you can’t only get it in music.

So since I watched that video on YouTube on the Roku without signing in… I searched and searched but just could not find it again.

But I found a clip. Which is just a partial cut of Rife’s set.

So, with the foregoing buildup, this clip may not ring your bell. But I recommend you watch it anyway. You can take it from the very top, or start at 4:52, where Rife sets up the crowd work. And then watch. It builds…

It’s days later and I’m still thinking about it, writing about it. That’s what you need to break through with music. With any art form today.

This is what separates the legends from the fly-by-nights. The culture. The meaning. The depth. The touching of the audience’s soul…or maybe just making them laugh.

Think about it.