STEVE WINWOOD CAUGHT THE NIGHT TRAIN AFTER KILLING JOHN BARLEYCORN YEARS BEFOREHAND

STEVE WINWOOD had already established a reputation as one of the most versatile multi-instrumentalists in the history of rock, but his 1980 album ARC OF A DIVER took his enviable reputation as a quinessential solo artist to the next level.

Not only did Winwood play every instrument featuring on the album, but he also produced it and recorded it at his very own studio on his property in England. Following the epic one-off supergroup album, BLIND FAITH in 1970, a band which included ERIC CLAPTON and drummer GINGER BAKER, and his involvement in the Clapton-less supergroup GINGER BAKER'S AIR FORCE for the debut album later that same year, Winwood continued on by reforming TRAFFIC, the album JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE, which was intended to be a stop-gap solo album for Winwood around the time when BLIND FAITH was formed, was released under the Traffic brand name to much critical acclaim.

The most accurate description of BARLEYCORN is progressive folk rock, not totally unlike JETHRO TULL in terms of its improvisation. By 1976, Winwood and fellow bandmate JIM CAPALDI decided to call it a day, and Winwood set out on a solo career which went nowhere until ARC OF A DIVER. Although lacking the blues melodic impact of his definitive 1986 release BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE, this more subdued and free form album is all about STEVE WINWOOD and no one else.

BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE was essentially a supergroup album, ARC OF A DIVER is the epitome of a one man band if ever there was one. The title track, NIGHT TRAIN and the single off the album WHILE YOU SEE A CHANCE I rate as my favourite tunes, perhaps a littled too subdued but it still has to be regarded amongst Winwood's very best post JOHN BARLEYCORN recordings.