Eight Gigs a Week : The Steve Winwood Years [Box set, Extra tracks]

The great thing about this 2CD set is that it contains virtually everything by the Spencer Davis Group during Stevie Winwood's tenure with the band. When they re-launched in 1967 with Time Seller they were essentially a different band.
None of the three albums released during this period ever made it to CD, so much of the material is on CD here for the first time. The first album was Their First Album, the second was The Second Album and the third was... Autumn '66. Apart from some uncredited backing vocals from Millie on the Ikettes' I'm Blue and a similarly anonymous chorus on Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters' Look Away, everything you hear on the albums is pretty much the band themselves.
They had nine singles, with some throwaway but highly atmospheric and indispensable non-album B-sides, and a 1965 EP of exclusive material, all nicely gathered up here. There are also two previously unreleased live-in-the-studio tracks (Kansas City and Oh, Pretty Woman - this is the Albert King blues, not the Roy Orbison hit), and Stevie's Groove, a very mod-friendly Hammond organ instrumental knocked up in five minutes and only to be found on a rare German B-side (the A-side, an atypical traditional beer-drinking song sung in its native German at the request of the citizens of Hamburg, is the only release not to be included, apart from a US remix of Gimme Some Lovin'). Their contribution to the film Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, an instrumental called Waltz To Caroline, turned up on an Island label "Best Of" in 1968, retitled Waltz To Lumumba, along with the Back Into My Life Again from their final Jimmy Miller sessions and unreleased because it was "too commercial" - well, this was the sixties.
Stevie was born in May 1948 and was therefore barely sixteen when they made their first record, but had been performing live since he was twelve and his voice had an extraordinary maturity and soulful quality. The influence of Ray Charles is quite clear and I'll Drown In My Own Tears and Georgia On My Mind, both superb renditions, were presumably learned from his versions.
Their choice of material, ranging from the Soul Sisters, Brenda Holloway, the Malibus, the Coasters, Prince La La, Ike and Tina Turner, Rufus Thomas, Little Richard, Jimmy Hughes, Roy Alvin, Bettye Lavette, Bobby Parker, Bessie Smith, Stonewall Jackson, Leadbelly, the Impressions, Ivory Joe Hunter, Elvis Presley, Elmore James, Percy Sledge and Don Covay, shows their immersion in then hard-to-find current and older American music, some of it brought to their attention by manager and producer Chris Blackwell and Scene club proprietor and UK Sue label supremo Guy Stevens, though their own material (and songs tailor-made for them by Jackie Edwards) for singles tend to be the most polished productions. Keep On Running, Somebody Help Me and Gimme Some Lovin' were all number one hits in the UK, and their swansong I'm A Man, probably their finest single recording, was a top ten hit. Only their first single Dimples failed completely to chart in 1964 and that found itself in competition with John Lee Hooker's 1956 original, re-released while he was in the UK to promote it.
Although this collection begins in 1964 and all the most recent material is on the second disc, the running order is far from chronological, with the two 1966 albums spread over both CDs in seemingly haphazard fashion, so some listeners may care to re-program their CD players at least once for an authentic listening experience

The Spencer Davis Group were one of several excellent British R+B bands of the sixties. Best remembered in Britain for Keep on running (one of the best songs of the the sixties, regardless of genre), by the time they started to make an impression in America, they were on the verge of losing their key man, Steve Winwood.

They actually had three #1 records in Britain (Keep on running, Somebody help me and Gimmie some lovin') and several other big hits, including Strong love, Every little bit hurts (a cover of the Brenda Holloway song) and I'm a man (also a hit in America). A remixed version of Gimmie some lovin' was a hit in America. The version on this anthology is the original British recording.

All these recordings were laid down between 1964 and 1967, when Steve Winwood quit to form a new band, Traffic. The other band members struggled on for a while, but those recordings are not included here (and are not as good). Apart from the British hits, you will notice many covers of blues and R+B songs, including Georgia on my mind (Ray Charles), Dimples (John Lee Hooker) and When a man loves a woman (Percy Sledge).

If you are thinking of buying this anthology, you are probably familiar with some of their music already, and you're looking for more of the same, which you will find here. If you are new to their music, you should try one of the single-CD compilations first. You may find that such a compilation satisfies your needs.

After searching for years for records stolen, I stumbled on this CD. It took me right back to standing within inches of Steve Winwood at his piano (on several occasions) at the 'Wheel in Brazennose Street, Manchester. A MUST for anyone loving the sounds of that time. A great 'memory jerker' a great sound and Winwood's wonderful soulful voice. Fantastic.