Most people think "Arc Of A Diver" is Steve Winwood's first solo album.
But it's not.
But not only is this first, eponymous LP unknown by most, it's not even on streaming services. Why, I'm not sure. But I purchased it, and loved two tracks, "Time Is Running Out" and "Luck's In."
Winwood never disappointed me. As a matter of fact, I was a big fan of "When The Eagle Flies," after the disappointment of "Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory." At the time I was on the road, itinerant, changing residences every couple of months, and without a stereo I depended upon the radio, and that was back when they played songs from all your heroes, at least for a while, irrelevant of AM crossover possibility.
And there were two on FM from "When The Eagle Flies" that I heard regularly, "Walking In The Wind" and "Something New."
Now "Something New" blew the carbon off the valves of what came before. I mean writing a track "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired"? Sounds like you were on deadline and burned out and you were delivering something to satisfy the record company. Somehow the jauntiness of the early, pre-breakup LPs had been forgotten, but "Something New" returned it. There was no long introduction, the song started off on a tear, and Winwood was going up and down the scale, you couldn't help but feel good listening to it.
"Luck's In" was a little darker. And I wouldn't quite call it jaunty, but Winwood went up and down the scale the same way, as soon as he started to sing, you were enraptured.
"Some people get lonely, while some people get blue
But nobody can tell you just what you should do"
It's not science, it's not mathematics, despite eons no one has the solution to heartbreak, to depression.
But like "Something New," there was an unexpected change, a left turn in the song that was not predictable, adding to its charm and its ingratiation.
"You hold the key in the palm of your hand, my love"
Whoa, this isn't a depressed song really, there's a hint of optimism.
"There's something about you, I don't know what you got
But you and me girl, we're gonna give it a shot"
It's hard to define love, how it happens. Oh, you can be infatuated with someone, be in love with a picture, but that's very different from interacting and feeling the mutuality, the connection, when you know they're into you just like you're into them, that's really when you feel like your luck's in, that like Lou Gehrig, you're the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
"I think it's amazing just what you can do
When somebody wants you and their love is true"
Whew! We're all looking to be wanted. Especially when we come from broken homes, or when we're emotionally abandoned, even if both of our parents are in residence. You're looking for this from a young age, even if you can't put words to it.
And you can't plan it, you can't plot it out on paper, you just drift through the world and suddenly it hits you. Then again, you've got to interact, you've got to get out in the world to have it happen, which can be hard in this virtual, digital age where there's so much action at home, when you've been burned so many times before.
"If you saw my love
Then you'd know what I mean
She's the only one
That makes this world like a dream"
Love is like having a baby. Even though it happens regularly, when it happens to you you think you're the first one to ever experience it. It's the definition of feeling alive.
And after three minutes, the vocals disappear, it becomes an instrumental track. And just when you think it's gonna stay the same and fade out, at 3:30 it changes, hits a different plane, and there's percussion, and you're wondering what happened to the couple. After testifying Winwood and his love have departed, they're living their lives, having an adventure, we can hear the mood, but we can't see the details, they're off on their own, like every couple in love in the history of the world.
We're all waiting 'til our luck's in.
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