Some early "music videos"

Hopscotching around YouTube, I stumbled across some early Stevie Winwood performances (I don't know precisely when he became "Steve"--sometime during Traffic, I suppose). The first is a quaint promotional video for the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin," which was the first time most of us in America became acquainted with Winwood's voice--one of the best in rock history. I thought this was merely lip-synching of the single, but it is not the single version, since the band does not echo Winwood's cry to perform the title action. The second stanza is different too. (It's quaint to me because it's set in a department store; that was some British PR staffer's idea of being original.) And Stevie looks like he's about 15 and just got up.



The next is from Winwood's next group, Traffic--"Paper Sun" from their first album. Here the PR genius decided to have the group wandering through a museum as the long version of the song plays. What I also learned from other Winwood videos is something I had forgotten: Winwood might be a better guitar player than he is an organist. He held his own against Clapton when they were in Blind Faith.



Actually, this search started because I learned another artist who performed at the Concert for George had died, Jim Capaldi, Traffic's drummer. Rest in peace.