Steve Winwood - Back In The High Life ...

...Again

The 45 version isn't on Back In The High Life or Chronicles, which for many years were the only Steve Winwood CDs I owned. Many years later, I was happy to find the 45 version on Time-Life's Gold And Platinum Volume 5 1985-1988 (1997), which is mastered by Dennis Drake and sounds very nice. It runs (4:22) on that CD.

Since the Time-Life CD is relatively uncommon, at least compared to the Island Steve Winwood CDs that turn up cheap everywhere, I'll give you instructions on how to create the 45 edit from the (5:33) LP version on Back In The High Life. (Note that strictly speaking, my instructions are how to create the edit used on the Time-Life collection. I don't have the actual 45 for comparison.)

Instructions:

Keep the first 16 beats from 0:00.0-0:12.0.
Edit on downbeat.
Remove the 16 beats from 0:12.0-0:23.4.
Keep the 76 beats from 0:23.4-1:17.5.
Edit on the beat that falls inside the word "in".
Remove the 22 beats from 1:17.5-1:33.2.
This is interesting, because the beginning of the word "in" is spliced onto the end of the word "again" - listen very carefully to the edit at 1:06 in on the 45 if you have it.
Keep the 232 beats from 1:33.2-4:18.3.
Edit on downbeat.
Remove the 8 beats from 4:18.3-4:24.0.
Keep the 8 beats from 4:24.0-4:29.7.
Edit on the downbeat that falls immediately after James Taylor finishes his "back in the high life" line.
Remove the 8 beats from 4:29.7-4:35.4.
Keep the 36 beats from 4:35.4-5:01.1.
Put a 24-beat fade from 4:44.0-5:01.1.

Your mixdown will run about 4:24, with edits at 0:12.0, 1:06.1, 3:51.3 and 3:57.0, with a 24 beat fade from 4:07.4-4:24.5.

I think I may have answered my own question. I found
someone who posted a 45 on YouTube, at least pictured, and
it fades slightly earlier from 4:08-4:18.

Filling in some mastering info, a mere 12-1/2 years after my original post...

LP version (5:34)

The LP version turned up first on Island's full-length Steve Winwood album Back In The High Life (1986), where it runs 5:34 and sounds superb. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 4 Together Forever (1996) - absolute polarity inverted, which is insignificant
• TM Century's track no. 00001863, which adds noise reduction (listen as the high end disappears on the fade); avoid

MFSL released a gold disc version of Back In The High Life, which I don't have. I'm sure it sounds terrific, but so does the Island version of the album.

There's only one other commerically available CD that features the LP version - Rhino's VH1 Classic: The Cuts (2003).

45 version (4:18)

The 45 is an edit of the LP version, with editing instructions above.

The 45 version first appeared on Island's Steve Winwood box set The Finer Things (1995), where it runs 4:22. It also sounds superb here. There are differently-EQ'd digital clones on:

• Time-Life's Gold And Platinum Vol. 5 (1997)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Classic Soft Rock Vol. 10 Heat Of The Moment (2007)

There are a bunch of later compilations on Time-Life and Star Vista, and Steve Winwood collections on Island, which all feature the 45 edit. I'd bet that all of them have masterings that can trace back to The Finer Things, but I can't confirm.

TM Century's track no. 007021 seems to use the same analog transfer as The Finer Things but hastens the fade. It sounds nice otherwise.

I have another TM Century track (track 10 on disc 695?) that adds noise reduction, and sounds pretty bad.

My recommendations

If you avoid the TM Century tracks, you can't go wrong. Everything else that I've heard sounds terrific.

mjb50 wrote: Sorry to do this to ya Ron, but the info above is incorrect. The version which debuted on The Finer Things box set and appearing on all compilations thereafter was a failed attempt to recreate the actual 45 version. First there is the difference at about 1:05, where you should be able to hear James Taylor (backing vocalist) stretch out his "in", extending past Winwood's "in". The fake 45 version does not have this because they edited on the downbeat instead of the next beat. The second difference is at about 3:56, in the mandolin part, right after Taylor sings "back in the high life", and right before Steve Winwood sings "Oh, we'll be back". This is another case of where they just got the edit points wrong. You can re-create the 45 version from the album version (1986 Back in the High Life CD) by cutting out the following sections. Edit points are on the down beat except where indicated: • 0:11.9 to 0:23.3 • in what remains, 1:06.7 to 1:22.3 (1 beat later than the down beat on both ends) • in what remains, 3:51.1 to 3:56.8 • in what remains, 3:58.2 to 4:03.9 In what remains, fade 4:05 to 4:19 to match the linked YouTube clip (I'm not sure it it's complete), or 4:15 to 4:27 to match the UK 12" (DjPaulT's rip). In Audition, the fade can be almost exact if you do a linear fade and then a smooth fade on top of it.

Thank you. Will be updating in my files. Good catch!