Refugees of the Heart

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Refugees of the Heart
Refugees of the Heart.jpg
Studio album by
Steve Winwood
Released5 November 1990 [1]
RecordedWinter 1989–Summer 1990
StudioNetherturkdonic Studios (Gloucestershire, England, UK)
Emerald Sound (Nashville, Tennessee, USA)
Genre Rock, blue-eyed soul, pop
Length46:59
Label Virgin
Producer Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood chronology
Roll with It
(1988)		Refugees of the Heart
(1990)		 Junction Seven
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Robert Christgau Rating-Christgau-dud.svg [4]
Entertainment Weekly C− [5]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]
People (Neutral) [7]
NME Star half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]

Refugees of the Heart is the sixth solo studio album by Steve Winwood, released in 1990. The album contained the hit single, "One and Only Man", which topped the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, was No. 18 at Billboard's Hot 100 and saw the return of former Traffic bandmate Jim Capaldi to Winwood's songwriting team. A Traffic reunion followed in 1994, and because of that collaboration, Winwood would not release another solo album until 1997. "I Will Be Here" and "Another Deal Goes Down" were also released as singles.

Contents

Winwood stated about the closing track, “In the Light of Day”: 'When Will and I wrote the song (..) it was our idea of what Nelson Mandela's dream was, while he was in prison. It was really just a fantasy of ours, but that's what we based the song on.'

Reception

NME said, "Winwood seems to have recorded this in his sleep. Stevie pulls every stale cliche out of his repertoire and gets a couple of witless friends to write equally tired lyrics for them. Retire now." [8] Entertainment Weekly said, "this tasteful and exquisitely boring record is merely another exercise in rock professionalism; it's like being trapped in an hour-long TV commercial for an after-work singles bar." [5]

Track listing

All songs written by Steve Winwood and Will Jennings except where noted.

  1. "You'll Keep on Searching" – 6:15
  2. "Every Day (Oh Lord)" – 5:44
  3. "One and Only Man" – (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi) 4:55
  4. "I Will Be Here" – 5:50
  5. "Another Deal Goes Down" – 4:55
  6. "Running On" – 4:15
  7. "Come Out and Dance" – 5:30
  8. "In the Light of Day" – 9:35

Non-album tracks

"Always" was the b-side to "One and Only Man", while the instrumental version of "In the Light of Day" was the b-side to "I Will Be Here". The instrumental version, an edit of the album version's backing track, runs for about 6 minutes and contains some improvisational work at the end not found on the album version.

Personnel

Production

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [20] Gold50,000^
United States (RIAA) [21] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "New Albums" (PDF). Music Week . 3 November 1990. p. 36. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  2. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. Refugees of the Heart at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Kot, Greg (22 November 1990). "Steve Winwood: Refugees of the Heart (Virgin)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Robert Christgau: Album: Steve Winwood" . Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  5. 1 2 Browne, David (23 November 1990). "Music Review : Steve Winwood : Refugees of the Heart (1990)". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Hunt, Dennis (4 November 1990). "Record Rack". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Hiltbrand, David /Novak, Ralph / Abrahams, Andrew / Kaufman, Joanne / Small, Michael / Shea, Lisa (19 November 1990). "Picks and Pans Review: Refugees of the Heart". People. Retrieved 10 October 2013.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. 1 2 Stephen Dalton (17 November 1990). "Long Play". NME . p. 36.
  9. ↑ Hunter, James. "Steve Winwood: Refugees of the Heart : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  10. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9121". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  14. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  15. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Steve Winwood Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  19. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9145". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  20. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart". Music Canada.
  21. ↑ "American album certifications – Steve Winwood – Refugees of the Heart". Recording Industry Association of America.


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