Steve Winwood – Arc Of A Diver

Mine has a "Loaned for promotion only" embossed in gold on the front of the sleeve but I couldn't find any promo copies. Did I miss something?

"While You See A Chance" remains a gem, the title track and "Spanish Dancer" are also highlights. Not as fond of "Night Train", a bit too close to disco for my ears. The reliance on drum machines and synthesizers pegs this squarely as an early 80s production, but it's not nearly as sterile sounding as most. No issues with this pressing, it sounds very clear and crisp with no obvious flaws, and my copy has almost no surface noise.

A nice Steve Winwood release, mid-career for him, 1980. He enters the '80s with a warm synth pop sound which would become his trademark. Fat synth leads and rich pads. He plays most or all of the instruments here. Drums are sequenced.

Highlights include title track, "See a Chance", and "Spanish Dancer". These three singles are as singable and catchy as it gets.

I also really enjoy "Back in the High Life". 3.5 stars. Recommended.

This is one of the most emotive records I have. First heard on release when I lived in Japan in 1980. Night Train is probably in my top 10 songs .. and there are some big ones in there! .. I was lucky to find an NM copy of this last year .. How is it so cheap!? 😃

Has with this CD anyone noticed an audible skip in Track 3 at 1:51? I cannot tell if it is my disc skipping because of a ding, or if this is a manufacturing error. Thanks.

My album cover has a baby blue border, not pink despite the matching numbers.

Turned on to Steve via Traffic on vinyl and live shows, and caught a few solo gigs over the yrs. Lame as this reads, I got in to Winwood solo via his greatest hits CD when it came out, and was blown away by the feel and groove of tracks like Arch and Spanish Dancer, for me they offered more of that cool Winwood I liked. Finally, I’ve now picked up his first two solo records and really dig em, and I guess better late than never. Plus the sound of this disk is great, nice soundstage.

IMO this is the best sounding version of this album. Might be due to Winwood not mixing and mastering it like the issues before?

What a nice clean sound there is on this album well engineered by Steve Winwood and John Clarke

On my sleeve the text "Im Ariola-Vertrieb. Printed in Western Germany by Mohndruck Graphische Betriebe GmbH, Gütersloh" and Label Code is missing.
Down left I've got "(P) 1980 Original sound recording made by Island Records Ltd." (like on the vinyl).
Can somebody check this. Thanks.