“Think about it, there must be higher love.”

One of the great joys of Spotify is being able to delve into an artist’s back catalog and revisit classic records. This week, I have been spending some quality time with eighties era Steve Winwood, particularly his 1986 gem Back In The High Life. You might dismiss it as over-produced, old man smooth pop pap, as I did until I spun it a few times this week. Now, I will forever sing this record’s praises to the high heavens, particularly “Higher Love,” “The Finer Things” and the title track. It’s a surprisingly tight affair, only containing 8 songs. No filler, all buzz. It’s certainly a product of its era —there are synthy wooshes and swirls all over the place, plus some arguably extraneous sax flourishes, particularly on “Freedom Overspill”— but it’s clearly the work of a man who tapped into a fresh source of artistic inspiration and managed to capture it all on wax.

Hall & Oates had their hipster renaissance. Fleetwood Mac had their hipster renaissance. Michael McDonald had his hipster renaissance. So why can’t Steve Winwood have his?