Steve Winwood-Arc of a Diver (1980)



Artist: Steve Winwood

Title: Arc of a Diver

Label: Island

Format: LP

Cat:  ILPS 9576

Year of Release: 1980

Country and Year of Edition: US 1980 Jacksonville Pressing

Sell Price: $2.99 9/27/22 VG+/G+ writing on cover, spine wear 

Discogs Last Sold:10/6/22 VG+/VG+ $2.44

Low: $0.96

Median: $2.15

Average: $4.15

High: $24.25

Current low price: $0.97 VG+/F, $0.99 VG+/VG

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 205

Have/Want: 5029/112

Where Sold:   Vallejo, CA

Time it took to sell:  7  years

Where and When Purchased: Worcester early 80's That's Entertainment $2.99 used

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: C+

Sad To See It Go: No

Rock artists of the 60's and 70's going "pop" created a disconcerting turn of events for me.  This record may have ushered in what was to become of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel.  Arc of a Diver I somehow considered Rock enough to buy used in the early 80's, but upon further review it captures an area mapped out by Steely Dan's Aja, which I also had a copy of. 

You can't blame anyone but Winwood.  He had co-writers, but had a hand writing every track, as well as producing, engineering, mixing and playing on the thing.  The change was due to MOR-light Jazz songwriter Wilbur Jennings.  He ruled the roost of soft rock radio with Jazz Funk-lite such as "Street Life" by the Crusaders, but also power ballads later into the 80's like "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.  He wrote 4 of the albums 7 songs including the hit.  Ian Flemming's nephew George wrote two others.  Oddly enough Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Band wrote the title track, yet it is still not the best track of the album.

While Aja was deemed the pinnacle of high fidelity in it's day, like Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms or Radiohead's OK Computer after it, Arc of a Diver didn't reach quite that level of peripheral esteem.  It did get 5 Stars in the 2nd Edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide and it spawned a single massive pop radio hit, 'While You See A Chance."

The side closers are the best for me.  "Slowdown Sundown" is memorable enough and "Dusk" finally falls back into Traffic realm.  "Night Train" was also likeable as familiarity kicked in.

Transitional in a bad way.

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