“By the time there’s nothing left to choose, one man puts the
fire out, the other lights the fuse.”
How ya doin’,
friends? Welcome back to Kyle’s Radio Dial, the blog where the more
you listen, the MORE you remember!
For today’s
musical memory jaunt, we’re taking it back to 1986, the year of
Halley’s Comet’s last approach, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and
the Fox Television network’s initial launch, in order to present a
rock classic from a classic rocker who was in his third decade of
recording at that point. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Dial is proud to
present Mr. Steve Winwood and “Split Decision”.
"Split" is an upbeat rock tune with a bit of blues essence which finds Winwood musing on various opposites
within the human psyche. There's being certain versus being unsure,
or having the symptom versus having the cure (emotionally speaking of
course). It’s almost about the duality of man, but the lyrics don’t
quite go into that good vs. evil territory. Ultimately, Steve concludes
that it’s a fine line… a very fine line… a split decision. The
split decision of course, being which way any individual will go in
each decision of their life. A rather heady topic for a rock song
with pop aspirations, no doubt!
The third
single from Steve’s Grammy winning 1986 comeback LP “Back in
the High Life”, “Split” was co-written by Winwood and the
Eagles’ Joe Walsh. Steve turns in a fine blue-eyed soul performance
with a bit more of a straight rock lean, and Joe totally shreds on
this track, especially during the instrumental bridge and final
chorus repetitions! Backing vocals are provided by the soulful
Jocelyn Brown whom has appeared on tracks by Inner Life, Salsoul
Orchestra, Culture Club, Chic, Mick Jagger’s solo work, and many
others.
“Split”
reached #3 on the US Mainstream Rock chart in mid ‘86, but
amazingly it never made the leap to pop, and thus, the Billboard Hot
100. I sure never heard it on my beloved top 40 stations back then,
but I’m certain I would have been rockin’ along with Steve and
Joe if I had.
Winwood first
hit big on the US singles chart as a member of the Spencer Davis
Group with their hits “Gimme Some Lovin’” (US #7, 1966),
and “I’m a Man” (US #10, 1967). Later he was involved in
the critically acclaimed groups Blind Faith and Traffic. In 1980, he
enjoyed a US #7 solo pop hit with “While You
See a Chance”, but had kind of slipped into the
background in subsequent years until the release of the “Back in
the High Life” album which netted him four top 20 pop singles
including the chart topping “Higher Love”.
Steve belongs
to an esteemed class of ‘60s rockers that either through consistent
chart success or through a successful comeback, continued to enjoy
hit songs into the decade of hot pink leg warmers. And he is in great
company alongside Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, Eric
Clapton, Cher, Rod Stewart, Smokey Robinson… I’m sure I’m
forgetting a few, but you get the idea.
And I’d like
to give a shout out and sincere thanks to my buddy Justin, whom last
year gave me a 1989 JVC boombox with the “Back in the High Life”
cassette along with about 20 other tapes as well. Because of that, I
was able to discover and appreciate this killer track that I had
never heard before. Give it a listen below, and leave me a comment
with your thoughts. Should “Split Decision” have been pushed to
top 40 stations? Or was it just too rock leaning to do well on that
format? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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