Revolutions: The Very Best of Steve Winwood

Once known as the teenage wünderkind who led the Spencer Davis Group through “Gimme Some Lovin’,” Steve Winwood went on to even greater fame with the jazz-soul-R&B-progressive leanings of Traffic (“Dear Mr. Fantasy”, “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”). His participation in the “supergroup” Blind Faith, with Eric Clapton, and his solo career (where in the ‘80s he reinvented his blue-eyed soul to correspond with the keyboard-heavy and slick, grandiose productions of the decade) made him a performer who stood out in each era. This 17-song sampler of his 58-track career-anthology boxed set stands as a concise look into a career that has been packed with some incredible tunes and many diverse styles. “Forty Thousand Headmen” is a flute-fired piece of hard rock. “Can’t Find My Way Home” aches with the search for the soul at the end of the ‘60s. “While You See a Chance”, “Higher Love”, “Back In the High Life Again”, ‘Roll With It” and “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do?” define an era of soulful pop that had Winwood as its major statesman.