Top 5 Steve Winwood Songs

Good old Steve Winwood...he's been around for over 40 years now playing in iconic bands like Traffic and Blind Faith as well as a long thriving solo career. To me, he's best known as the guy from the 80's who best defined the keyboard sound of a band. His keyboards had the weirdest sounds, almost like a wah-wah effect to them. Anyway, this is a totally biased opinion on Steve Winwood's top 5 songs...note they are almost all from the 1980's. A must have on your IPod.

5.) "Back In The High Life Again" - Winwood credits this song as one his favorite songs he wrote. Its a song about a man being beaten down by the world but he's going to be "back in the high life again". I like the neat banjo type guitar and its one of the few songs he wrote without a keyboard playing a major part. I don't remember much about the video except it involves Steve walking around alot, using a pay phone, dancing with a woman, and sporting a cool trench coat with sunglasses (my preferred look of the winter of 1999-2000). I like the live footage interspersed as well. Listen closely for James Taylor singing background vocals on the chorus.



4.) "Higher Love" - A mid 80's hit, this song is an almost perfect 80's song. It has the skittering drum beat in the beginning, a horn section (that might be a keyboard), a great chorus, some cool key changes, and Chaka Khan on background vocals. It almost sounds like 4 different songs in one in the way it changes it so much. It doesn't get much better than that. The video is pretty crazy in that all of these half naked people are dancing around Steve including Chaka Khan who comes along and almost grinds on him at some point. Steve's got some pretty smooth moves too.

I can't embed this song onto the website so you have to click the link if you want to see this one:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdTHa8m1EFo&feature=related

3.) "The Finer Things" - Another almost perfect song. I love the keyboard buildup in the beginning as well as the so bad its good drum machine. The vocals and lyrics during the verses are great and the song has a simple message. There is a line in the song that sounds like he's singing, "I will let you into my brain" but that can't be right. I'll still sing it when I listen to this song in the car. The video is from a concert video he did but it gives you an idea of what a genius playing the keyboards looks like. Listen for the signature keyboard sound during the intro around 20 seconds in. I like how he wanders the stage and how it seems he doesn't know what to do with his free hand not holding the microphone. Sometimes he waves it around, sometimes he snaps his fingers, and my favorite is when he does a fist pump.





2.) "Valerie" - This is a tough choice between one, two, and three but I'll put Valerie at number two. This song is actually from 1982 although it sounds like its from the late 80's. A pretty simple song that has a great keyboard hook and Steve singing very high on the chorus. There's a club version of this song out there that I've heard the few times I venture into a club these days. The video is just Steve standing around with the wind blowing his mullet back and then he decides he might as well play his keyboards. AWESOME keyboard solo starting around 2:42 with that weird keyboard sound. As a bonus you get two Steve Winwoods for the price of one around 3:35 and the freeze frame at the end. Gotta love the early 80's special effects.




1.) "While You See A Chance" - Probably not his best song but this is the song that got me into his other songs. This song is the gateway drug to the music of Steve Winwood I guess. Anyway, it also has a slow almost church organ like buildup with a few random keyboard notes thrown in (listen closely at :05). I love the keyboard riff that starts at :37. What puts this over the edge is the video. What in God's name is going on here? It looks like Steve is trapped in an Atari game with weird colors, shapes, lights, and shadows all around him. Even better are the creepy guys all dressed in black climbing a pyramid. The message of this song has nothing to do what's going on behind him. Its a rare video where he's not sporting is super cool mullet. Still this is a great song with some great chord changes. This would be the perfect video if the two people in black kidnap Steve at the end of the video.

The NBA on NBC intro

Now this is what Bob Costas was made for...setting the stage for a major sporting event. Combine this with one of the greatest intros of all time involving one of the biggest NYC events of all time (Game 7 between the Knicks and the Rockets) and you have this liquid goodness. Although this particular clip is over 9 minutes long...all you need to know is the first 2 and half minutes...trust me on this one.

I still get chills watching this...even the background music is great and I love the old clips. Bob Costas summing up perfectly with his "one game, one winner, one NBA champion" rap is awesome. I always loved when paused when he says "Game 7....next" and then the intro music kicks in. This would be great intro music to a wedding. They don't have intros like this anymore.





Random trivia: John Tesh wrote the intro music.

Now if I can only find the "Miller Genuine Draft Classic Moments" music. That always pumped me up...

U.S. Politics is a Cult (and the Mets Bullpen Sucks!)

I'm currently watching Hillary Clinton speaking at the Democratic National Convention and the propaganda nonsense that is going on is unreal. First Hillary gets a huge standing ovation that she soaks in for a good 3-4 minutes....she literally just stands there and smiles. Close ups of people in the crowd are seen crying. There are shots of Bill Clinton looking on proudly and almost looking like he's in tears. Random standing ovations by VP candidate Joe Biden. What is going on here?!? No points are being made...its all just story telling and grandstanding while taking shots at the Republican party.

Ugh....

Sorry to vent...part of it is that the Mets are in another close game in the 9th...and right on cue, the Phillies just tied it.

Not going to sleep well tonight...

Dancing With The Stars Cast

Let's take a closer look at this season's Dancing With The Stars cast. I'm judging them by their relevancy, both past and present, and if I have any interest in watching them dance. In no particular order.

1.) Susan Lucci - I had a crush on her in junior high when I got bronchitis and started watching "All My Children" because nothing else was on during the day. She was also in some sexy TV movies too playing the temptress or the precursor of a MILF today. I guess she is still relevant today and it will get a lot of middle aged women to watch. I look forward to seeing her. She wears a lot of makeup I bet now and her face has been pulled back more than Eddie Guardado on the waiver wire.

2.) Toni Braxton - I also had a crush on her in early high school when she was popular. Had a couple of cool songs I liked ("Another Sad Love Song") and a few I didn't like ("Breath Again"). I bet she still looks good and that's the only reason I'd be interested in watching her perform. If she's hit the wall, then forget it.

3.) Lance Bass - I did not have a crush on Lance Bass when he was popular. I'm sure he's going to do well since he made a career out of being a dancer in N'Sync. To me, he'll always be the guy who tried to launch himself into space. I have a little bit of interest in seeing how he does since he's barely still relevant (see Tropic Thunder) and it will be interesting to see shots of his boyfriend applauding in the crowd.

4.) Cloris Leachman - Yes! You might not know her face but she's been in a ton of movies over the years including a personal favorite "Beerfest". For anyone under 30, she's best known as the woman who replaced Mrs. Garrett on "The Facts Of Life". She's almost 80 years old and it will be interesting to see who dances with her. I'm sure who ever gets paired with her is going to be pissed off. I'm excited to see her.

5.) Kim Kardashian - Well, I guess you need somebody to bring in the MTV crowd. I'm not sure what she's done in life other than pose in Playboy and have Bruce Jenner as a father-in-law. I definitely am married after reading that last statement because if I was 17 years old, she would be the one I'd be most, ahem, "excited" about watching dance around. It should be interesting to see who she gets paired with...maybe the young blond guy who ended up with Shannon Elizabeth last year.

6.) Ted McGinley - Ted McGinely is a like an old friend from high school. He pops up from time to time and when you see him, its like nothing has changed much. Most famous for his role in "Revenge Of The Nerds" and later on playing the guy who replaced Steve in "Married With Children", it should be interesting to see how he does. He seems to be like the Steve Guttenberg of last season.

7.) Brooke Burke - She was pretty hot in the 90's though I don't think I've seen any pictures of her in at least a few years. She was always on random infomercials and hosted that show "Wild on E" which was a precursor to "Girls Gone Wild". Anyway, I bet she's jealous of Kim Kardashian since that's who she pretty much was 10 years ago.

8.) Warren Sapp - Ugh, this should be interesting. I never liked this guy (probably because he was at Miami while I was at Boston College) and he showboats a bit too much. He probably couldn't get a job as a broadcaster so he latched onto this to keep his name in the spotlight. Good luck making it past week 4.

9.) Misty May-Treanor - This works out good for her since she just won the beach volleyball gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. She's the dark haired of the two players. She might do very well since she's the most relevant person on the show right now since she's had the most recent success. I couldn't tell you if she was good looking or not although she must have a good enough body to wear the skimpy outfits they had in Beijing.

10.) Maurice Greene - I know he's a track star who won some medals in the Olympics. I have NO idea what he's been up to since then. He's the kind of guy that could steal this thing though.

11.) Rocco DiSpirito - A washed up reality TV star who is still clinging to his 15 seconds of fame. Not sure if he still runs any of his restaurants, his best hope is to get paired up with the hot blond girl, Julianne Hough.

12.) Cody Linley - I have no idea who this person is except for the fact that he/she is from the Hannah Montana. I'm assuming this a guy but I'm not 100% sure.

13.) Jeffrey Ross - This guy is pretty funny, I've seen him do those celebrity roasts. I have a feeling though his humor won't translate well over to 50 year old women that watch this show. He's the Adam Corolla from last year and will need his humor to carry him through a few weeks.

That's it! My random prediction of the top 3 are Ted McGinley, Misty May-Treanor, and Maurice Greene. We'll see what happens