New Stuff

If you have any news that you would like to bring to the attention of our readers, then please E-mail us at colrain@senzatempo.co.uk

Just to differentiate between fairly recent News and historical News, the New Stuff page deals with current news - that is within the current year. To view Historical News then please go to our Archived Stuff pages which contain news items going back to the E-Zine's creation in October 2003

5th July 2010. By way of a catch up of news since my last posting (been on my hols) Steve is currently touring with Carlos Santana in the U.S. A European Tour for Steve has been announced. Dates and Ticket info on stevewinwood.com/news/. A good article on TRAFFIC (LSD, in-fighting and the making of the first album) can be read in the Summer 2010 Issue 147 of CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE. Steve appears on a track (under the Steve Anglo contractual alias) called ‘Long Night’ on the new and excellent John Mayall ‘So Many Roads’ 4 CD Anthology just released. Originally recorded back in 1966 and taken from the Album ‘Raw Blues’ released in January 1967 on the Ace of Clubs label. This instrumental features Steve on Hammond, together with John Mayall on Guitar, John McVie on Bass and Aynsley Dunbar on Drums. EG.

19th June 2010. Just in from Paul Minkkinen (and I had to crack the whip at him to do this quickly! EG.) is a short report from the BBC Radio2 In Concert show and a review of Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton Istanbul 13/6/10
Photographs from the latter gig will follow shortly, but now over to Paul. EG.

“Yes I did get to see Steve play The BBC In Concert broadcast, but before I’m accused of any favouritism, forget it. How I got admission is my business, but trust me it was very last minute and certainly not through any competition or favours. I’ll talk about the show in a minute but firstly I’d like to know who over 2/3 rd’s of the audience was made up from, as on the pre show warm up it seemed that when audience members were asked who had won the Radio 2 competition, the hands raised represented a small proportion of the audience. Radio stations/artists must bear in mind that such performances are highly coveted amongst fans. (Well said Paul. EG) Personally I believe that a percentage of tickets should have been allocated from the Winwood fans website
database (or even our own Coloured Rain contact list of fans Paul. EG) ) perhaps through a ballot. “The man in a suit who who just bought a new car from the profit he made on your dreams” did o.k. tonight. Whether or not it was BBC family and friends remains to be seen and I’m over the moon I got to see the show but I also believe in fair play amongst a loyal fan base.

That’s me off the soap box and on to the show. Steve had his regular band in tow. Set list as follows: I’m A Man, Hungry Man, Dirty City, Can’t Find My Way Home, Light Up, Higher Love, Dear Mr Fantasy and finally Gimme Some Lovin’.

The set is highly familiar to anyone on this website. The performance was tight, and particularly on Light Up the whole band was given the chance to solo and be expressive. Jose excelled with a solo sounding different to previous excursions, but retaining the nod to James Brown, the audience loved him! Was that Radio2 D.J. Chris Evans spotting the James Brown connection? If so, fair play to you! One of the fun moments of the show was just before Can’t Find My Way Home, where Steve asked for the recording to stop as there was a loud hum coming from the sacred, but vintage Hammond. Mr James Towler ‘Sound engineer of the year” was called into play and open heart organ surgery was performed. Steve likened his Hammond to a 1960’s motor car. The organ recovered and thus allowed sax/flute player Mr. Paul Booth to carry on regardless on the Blind Faith classic. Yes, Dear Mr Fantasy was very good as always and Gimme Some Lovin’ was a right belter. Weak spot for me was Higher Love. It benefitted from the 80’s big production number on the album and I love the current band with a vengeance, but despite the South African hi- life feel to the current arrangement, it lacks the power of that 80’s live / studio version. We all mock that 80’s sound, but within that genre this tune worked oh so well with that big fat production. A tight performance which I hope you’ll enjoy when broadcast next Thursday, along with an interview with highly respected D.J. Johnnie Walker.

As Eddie said above you can read my Istanbul report by clicking the link above. Otherwise, onwards and upwards for those getting to see Steve on the road with Santana in the USA soon. Enjoying all the media attention Steve is receiving at the moment, lets face it he thoroughly deserves it.” Paul Minkkinen.

18 June 2010. Steve Winwood: English Soul on BBC4. For those of you unable to access BBC4 via Terrestrial, Satellite or Cable means, the programme can be viewed and possibly downloaded soon after it is aired via the Internet at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00srj7k/Steve_Winwood_English_Soul/
Programme’s usually remain available online for a few days. First showing tonight at 21.00GMT.

12th June 2010. An interview with Steve will be broadcast tomorrow (Sunday 13th) on SMOOTH RADIO at
1.00pm and will also be available to listen to again via their web site. Thanks Phil G for the “head’s up”.
Just follow the link:
www.smoothradionorthwest.co.uk/presenters-shows/smooth-documentaries-gfl6/sundays-documentaries-t46q/t46ql1wn/

10th June 2010. A few bits of info.

There is what appears to be a new web site relating to the Steve Winwood Revolutions release at stevewinwoodrevolutions.com/ . Check it out. Includes videos and music. In the UK at least the new release is getting a lot of Media coverage across TV, Radio and in print with daily advertising on TV and Radio. Even Supermarkets are stocking and selling the album which I don’t recall them doing for any previous releases, which bodes well for giving Steve a well deserved hit album at least here in the UK. It seems that Island/Universal have really got behind the album.

A brief interview with Steve can be heard via this link www.realradioyorkshire.co.uk/presenters-shows/shows-d48g/the-evening-show-izrz/steve-winwood-interview/bst8usbm/ Thanks to Steve M for pointing it out.

A BBC review of Revolutions can be read via this link www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/whwx . Thanks to Inge P for pointing that out. There have been many press articles in recent days on the new release which are too numerous to detail here. A noteworthy mention is the 4 page article in the latest edition of The WORD Magazine which is worth reading.

And staying with the BBC for the moment I noticed a posting today on stevewinwood .com by Drake about a documentary to be shown on BBC4 on both the 18th June at 9pm, 19th June at 12.30am and 20th June at 11pm entitled Steve Winwood: English Soul about Steve’s career.
You can read about it at this link from this TV guide uk-tv-guide.com/programme-details/BBC+4/18+June+2010/20%3A00/Steve+Winwood%3A+English+Soul/Documentary/ . Please note that I’ve not been able to find any BBC confirmation about that as yet. But something to definitely look forward to.

Best wishes. Eddie.

26th May 2010. Added some very good photographs taken by our very own Mr. Paul Minkkinen no less from the 2nd Wembley Arena show on May 21st. To view please visit this link: Steve & Eric shows

24th May 2010. Added review of Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton NEC/LG Arena B'ham 18/05/10 to our Gig Reviews section as written by our very own Mr. Steve Milner (a.k.a. Len Tibbets: Disclaimer : The thoughts of Len Tibbets are purely his own, but the trouble is he can’t remember what he said anyway.)

21st May 2010. The morning after the night before. Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton at Wembley Arena 20th May 2010. Having waited since Blind Faith at Hyde Park 1969 (don't count the years please!) to see these two guys play together again I wasn't disappointed. Sticking close to the setlist of shows that they've been playing together since the first Madison Square Gardens shows back in 2008 with one or two variations, their performance was one that just rolled back the years and showed just how in tune they are with each others music and which they have created together jointly in the past. Particular highlights last night for me were of course the Blind Faith tunes and notably a sublime acoustic version of 'Can't find my way home'. Steve's rendition of 'Georgia' accompanied this time around by Eric and the band discreetly. 'Glad' with Eric's slow building guitar solo which seemed as if it would just keep on rising and flowing in intensity and power and really added a new flavour to that classic song. Good to hear also their take on THE BAND's 'Shape I'm in' with Steve excelling on organ ala Garth Hudson and 'Midland Maniac' from Steve's first solo album which didn't quite work live for me but then perhaps I'm too fond of the original recording to pass such a judgment. A nice surprise anyway.

For those of you who have seen them together live then you will know how good it was much better than I can say here. For those of you who are going to see them on this tour and in particular if like me you haven't seen any of the shows that they've played together since 2008, then it will be a memory to treasure as I will. Eddie Gibbs
Check out our Picture Gallery for Steve & Eric shows

Steve will be recording a show for BBC Radio 2's In Concert at their Maida Vale studios on 24th June. Here's the link: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rr8bv

3rd May 2010. Some bits and pieces. There is a 2 page photo montage spread on Steve with comments by Steve entitled Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes in the June 2010 edition of UNCUT Magazine. The touring band with Eric Clapton has been announced and there are no great surprises in that it includes regular EC band stalwarts in Chris Stainton, Willie Weeks and Steve Gadd together with his regular female backing singers. An interesting article in yesterday Sunday Times on Steve can be read at this link:
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7110766.ece

14th April 2010. The forthcoming “REVOLUTIONS” box set will retail for around £29.99 in the UK when released. Steve also goes out on tour supporting Carlos Santana in the USA from 30 June through to August 1st.

31st March 2010. A new career retrospective entitled REVOLUTIONS - THE VERY BEST OF STEVE WINWOOD will be released on June 7th 2010 by Universal. Available as a 4CD Deluxe Box Set and a single CD selected abridged album. For more details go to www.stevewinwood.com

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28th March 2010. According to the new edition of MOJO MAGAZINE Robbie Robertson is finishing a new album with contributions by Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton amongst others.

As can be seen on www.jimcapaldi.com/ a Book of lyrics and a CD Box set will be forthcoming sometime in the future.

11th March 2010. The COLOURED RAIN MAGAZINE Issue 41 will be winging its way to subscribers in the near future. We apologise for its delay.

11th February 2010. CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL 2010. Steve Winwood is scheduled to appear again at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival which is being held on 26th June at The Toyota Park in Chicago. Other guests will include The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Jeff Beck and BB King amongst many others.

23rd January 2010. Ginger Baker at The Jazz Cafe with Special Guest Steve Winwood.
Seen on www.spincds.com and due for release on March 8th 2010 Price £16.99. Here’s what Spin have to say about it:

gbjc1 In August 2009, legendary rock drummer Ginger Baker (of Graham Bond Organisation, Cream, Blind faith, Airforce, Baker-Gurvitz Army et al) miraculously reached his 70th Birthday. In October he also published his long awaited autobiography ‘Hellraiser' (pub: John Blake), a book that for various reasons has taken him over twenty-years to complete. To coincide with these two momentous events a ‘gig with special friends' was held at London's Jazz Cafe on 4th November 2009. This CD & DVD commemorates this historic & prestigious event & invites you to share the music & atmosphere of the venue. Ginger demonstrates his musical fluidity & prowess with a range of numbers spanning the back catalogue of his phenomenal career. He is helped in this by guitarist/singer Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), bassist extraordinaire Jonas Helborg, percussionist Dodoo Abass, world renowned saxophonist Peter King, along with Ginger's daughter Leda Baker (Rubella Ballet/various) on guitar/backing vocals. For the last two numbers Ginger is joined by his ‘surprise' guest & very ‘special' friend Steve Winwood in a moving reconciliation that sees them play two show-stopping Blind Faith numbers and re winds time to when they last played together in Ginger Bakers Airforce in 1970. Thanks Paul.

10th December 2009. Another date has been added to London Empire Pool Wembley for Steve and Eric’s European Tour. This being Friday 21st May 2010.

7th December 2009. Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton pick up the baton again and undertake a 14 date European Tour commencing May 18th 2010 through to June 13th with dates announced so far. Check www.stevewinwood.com for details.

2nd December 2009. Hello. It’s been a bit quiet recently. Steve guested with Ginger Baker for a couple of numbers at The Jazz Cafe in London recently. In the run up to Christmas it’s always going to be relatively quiet but hopefully the New Year will bring Great Expectations. Anyway, we have an interview with Paul Booth that Paul Minkkinen did with him at The Cropredy Festival a few months back and Paul is also doing a few gigs to promote his new album “Pathways”. Just click on this link to read and his gig schedule:
Paul Booth talks to Coloured Rain

5th October 2009. Seen today in the new Autobiography by Ginger Baker entitled “Hellraiser” there is a small chapter entitled “Cream Reunion” which is about the 2005 reunion with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce. Ginger mentions that when the idea was first put to him, it included that “Stevie Winwood would be involved so of course he(Ginger) said yes. But Stevie eventually dropped out.” Words to that effect anyway. Interesting.

30th September 2009. Just in from Steve Milner something Dave Mason related. Steve comments: “A short concert from across the pond by one of Traffic's esteemed alumni, Dave Mason, with guitarist John Sambatero in acoustic mode, doing sweet justice to tunes from Dear Mr. Fantasy to How Do I Get To Heaven. John plays lead on this show, but in case you think Dave's lost it, he demonstrates his prowess on another video on the site taking the lead on All Along the Watchtower. For those of you interested to see Clapton playing the Albert Hall in his gardening clothes earlier this year, you'll doubtless be thrilled to see Mason on stage in his sleeping attire! www.bemote.tv/_davemason/ PS These snips play better full screen for some reason.” Thanks Steve.

15th August 2009. Some photographs from Steve’s appearance at The Cropredy Festival on Thursday 13th August. Photography by Paul Minkkinen.

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13th August 2009. Jose Neto at Ronnie Scott’s in London August 19th - 22nd 2009. 'Fourth World' Reunion Airto Moreira & Flora Purim featuring Jose Neto

Ronnie Scott’s ad states: Masters of Brazilian music, jazz and fusion re-unite for rare live shows. This band is a exciting mix of cultures, sounds, colors and rhythms which generates a powerful and enlightening energy. They perform a wide variety of styles such as World, Latin, Bossa Nova, Afro-Brazilian, Samba and straight ahead Jazz all together in one show. We are also thrilled that the band will feature guitarist and club favourite Jose Neto.

12th August 2009. We have some excellent links to some sound recordings of Steve’s show on July 31st at Donauworth BR Radltour which are on youtube, but with stills as opposed to video. We wouldn’t normally point such things out particularly because there is so much on youtube these days, but the quality of the recording together with the performances warrants it and it felt worthwhile to bring it to your attention. Thanks to Phil Greer for pointing these out.

17th July 2009. Paul Minkkinen reviews Steve Winwood July 14 2009 Leamington Spa together with photographs that he took. Just click the link. The review also contains a link to the venues web site as noticed by Inge P. Thanks Inge.

SW/EC liveat at MSG will be available on triple vinyl on July 28th through Amazon. Currently available on pre-order only from the USA. Listed on UK site but not yet priced or available to pre-order.

27th June 2009. www.inthestudio.net/ have been in touch to alert about their interviews with Steve and Eric by their programme director RedBeard. Some of you may have, like I, already heard these interviews, but for those of you who have not, or wish to hear again, then we have the link. The interviews are in two parts and total almost 40 minutes.

RIP M.J.

25th June 2009. Jose Neto’s new album Mountains and Sea de Novo is available now as a download only, through iTunes and Amazon. Paul Minkkinen interviewed Jose not too long ago and the interview plus his review of the album can be read on our Neto News page.

17th June 2009. We were saddened to hear of the passing of Barry Beckett, one of the core musicians in The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Fans of Traffic will know that Barry, together with David Hood, Roger Hawkins and Jimmy Johnson played on many of the soul hits that came out of the American deep south in the 60’s and 70’s in particular for the likes of Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge and Etta James amongst many others. And of course with Jim Capaldi for his ‘Oh how we danced’ album and Traffic on ‘Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory’ and the ‘Traffic on the Road’ albums as well as touring as part of Traffic at that time (1972/1973).

Steve and Eric Clapton are 4 performances into their 18 date tour of the USA as I write. With regards to Steve, the sets so far seem to have stayed pretty close to the songs played at the 3 Madison Square Gardens shows last year, but there have been some minor changes. There is now an acoustic section in the show where Eric and Steve play and duel on Martin Acoustic guitars. As part of which ‘Can’t find my way home’ gets the acoustic treatment. Other changes are switching No, Face, No Name, No Number’ for ‘There’s a River’ and Steve taking an acoustic guitar solo during Eric’s ‘Layla’.

26th May 2009. Some PAUL BOOTH news. As we had touched upon in our interview in May with James Towler, Paul Booth has now finished his new album, recorded at Wincraft Studios by James Towler. the album, entitled “Pathways” . Paul has recently become a member of the BBC Big Band. Paul is currently on an Irish tour and will be touring with Steve Winwood in July.

19th May 2009. Bumped into James Towler last night at the London Covent Garden Odeon screening of the Madison Square Gardens concert. James mentioned that there should be a 12inch Vinyl version available in the not to distant future which is good news for the Vinylphobes amongst us. By the way, seeing the concert on the big screen in their Digital Theatre was something else.

5th May 2009. Clapton/Winwood MSG - more. I would imagine that those amongst you who got the opportunity to catch the 1 hour preview of the forthcoming DVD on BBC4 last night were as blown away as we were here at CR by its quality. Comments in from our readers include: “May I comment, through the auspices of your organ, upon how absolutely magnificent the 60 mins BBC4 show was last night. This preview of the forthcoming Winwood /Clapton MSG DVD held me spellbound. Afterwards, I had a nervous moment. What if this were the entire DVD?!! Were we to be short changed again as with the Sound Stage DVD a couple of years ago, where several tracks were omitted? Having checked the track listing via the links on Steve's website, it appears my fears are groundless. I cannot wait to see the full set.” Yours, Etcetera. Noted Etcetera! Thanks. Anon had this to say: “Xxxxing hell Man!. I was almost in tears watching that.” Noted and Thanks Anon! And AN Other had this to say “One word. Wonderful. My two all time favourite musicians together. They have an empathy unlike any other musicians in my opinion.” Thanks AN.

Some further snippets of information relating to preview Theatre showings in the UK and USA on May 18th and news of a Blue Ray DVD issue in June can be read at www.whereseric.com/

29th April 2009. Clapton/Winwood at MSG on TV. Word just in from Sian Hughes is that next week's Radio Times is showing that they will be airing an hour of last year's Madison Square Gardens concerts on BBC4 on Monday 4th May at 9pm as part of the Blues Britannia season. Thanks Sian.

25th April 2009. Steve has added more dates to his European Tour, including some in Spain, Italy and a UK date in Leamington Spa, Warks. Keep watching www.stevewinwood.com or www.myspace.com/stevewinwood for a full itinerary.

1st April 2009. The Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live from Madison Square Gardens CD/DVD set now has a scheduled release date of May 19th.

30th March 2009. We interview Wincraft’s James Towler, please click on the following link to read :
James Towler Interview March 2009 and we review Deep Feeling’s - Pretty Colours album and talk to former bandmate Gordon Jackson which you can read at this link: Deep Feeling - Pretty Colours Both of these new pages can also be accessed from our Articles section.

I have also moved previous news items for 2007/2008 to our Archived Stuff section.

24th February 2009. We understand that the forthcoming Clapton/Winwood at MSG DVD & CD set has a release date of 21st April in the UK and 22nd April in the USA. Elsewhere in the world we are not sure as yet.

19th February 2009. Steve will be appearing at Fairport Convention’s Annual Cropredy Folk Festival this year. The festival takes place from Thursday 13th August 2009 through to Saturday 15th August 2009. Steve will be the headline act on the Thursday (13th). More details can be read at this link: www.efestivals.co.uk/news/09/090219a.shtml

14th February 2009. This is believed to be part of the artwork for the forthcoming releases on DVD and 2 CD audio ecswmsgart_redux03 of the 2008 concerts due to be released this Spring (which has just sprung) sometime. Full details on the release can be viewed at both www.stevewinwood.com
and ericclapton.com/Clapton-Winwood-splash/index.html

A new edition in the MOJO Classic Magazine series out now entitled Led Zeppelin and the Story of 1969 features a 5 page spread on Blind Faith - (although nothing you haven’t already read before it does feature a previously unseen photograph from Hyde Park) amongst many other things from that great year for those fortunate to have lived through it and enjoyed many of the musical events of that year. Even if not it’s a very good read anyway and CR recommended.

12th February 2009. Following on from their acclaimed 3 night stint at Madison Square Gardens in 2008, Steve and Eric Clapton will be undertaking a 14 day U.S. tour together in June 2009.
Full information can be obtained from www.stevewinwood.com and www.whereseric.com/

29th January 2009. Sad to hear today of the death at the age of 60 of John Martyn. John and Steve Winwood as Island Record artists collaborated on a number of sessions, notably for John’s ‘One World’ and ‘Inside Out’ albums.

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John Martyn was a great musical innovator and influence on many artists. Fans of Steve should check out 2 inspirational albums:
1. Inside Out - which features Steve and Chris Wood. Martyn's vocals and guitar work are probably at their most innovative / experimental stage on this recording.
2. One World - is way up with Martyn's best work and the lengthy 'Small Hours' is a chill out classic; Martyn's slurry vocals, echoey guitar, Winwood’s excellent synth and the sound of real geese ! Winwood is prominent throughout the whole album on assorted keyboards.
Steve also performed live with john in 1976, and 3 previously unreleased tracks from these performances were featured on "Ain't No Saint" a 4 CD boxset.

John was a wonderful live performer and produced a massive catalogue of music. His guitar style was way up there with the great’s. Amputation of a leg a few years ago did not stop him performing and indeed I saw him perform in a wheelchair last November. Apart from the 2 albums already mentioned Solid Air, Bless The Weather and Grace And danger also highly recommended. A full obituary will appear in the next Coloured Rain mag, later on in the year

Thanks for the great music John.

22nd January 2009. The Winwood/Clapton MSG concerts. In a recent telephone interview with Steve Winwood by Ross Cat of 107.7FM Lake Lighthouse Rock Rapport in Buffalo, Steve confirms that the 3 shows with Eric last year were filmed and that they’’ve been looking at some final edits with the hope of issuing sometime early in 2009.

20th January 2009. Happy New year to one and all from us here at Coloured Rain. Kicking off this new year with a review from K T Bourke of Steve Winwood Jan 17 09 Foxwoods Casino, Ct, USA. Thanks K T.