Customer Reviews
One of my all time favorites!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
2008-09-10
I LOVE THIS CD. Even though it was originally recorded in 1988, it is one of my all time favorites and I love every single song on it. Steve Winwood and the many groups he belonged to were staples in my teen years and way beyond. I am so happy to have a copy of this album again. Thanks, Amazon, for carrying it.
What more can I say ...ROLL WITH IT! 2007-05-05
Roll With It is a song I just enjoy dancing and listening to any time. This is one of his best and still rocks on after some 20 years! There are some other great tracks but Roll With It is the best!!
Good effort, but I like High Life better 
2006-08-14
It was a big risk for Steve Winwood to follow a hugely successful album in Back in the High Life from '86 with this 1988 album. And while I like the songs here, such as Roll With It, it lacks the excitement of High Life or its major hits. Roll With It sounds like it was recorded in a blues soul club in a Southern town. It recalls '60s soul in a big way but with a 1988 sheen to it. Don't You Know What the Night Can Do has that cool, modern feel to it, as if it's to be heard under neon lights. The album version feels and sounds long every time I hear it. But Holding On sounds too dull every time I hear it. It still doesn't grab me like his earlier records. The rest of the album tries too hard to follow the formula of the last effort. Where High Life has more of a relaxed comfortable feel, some songs on Roll With It sound a little too forced in the way they were performed and recorded. Winwood sounds superb vocally on all numbers, but without the excitement of the other one. His keyboard playing is among the best in the business, but he falls short on some songs. Roll With It has had the strongest shelf life, as I hear it a lot in some stores. The other singles haven't been as memorable.
Roll with it. Yeees man. This one shines quality 
2006-02-27
Steve Windwood doesn`t dissapoint on this one. The reason i think it`s his voice, and the way it fits in as a shining guide, inbetween the very "urban street sound" which brings associations to smoke clouded nightclubs and highlife so to say. Track 1 Roll with it, is an ok starter, which paints a "funky musical tempo up beat " all trough the song. Track 2 Holding on is a classic, or should have been the forgotten hit song gem. It starts, so, so, but then when it build`s up on the refrain, it realy kick`s your`e soul into "heaven feel". There`s something with the refrain that fills you with some sort of religious mood that gives you a good emotion. Track 3 The Morning side is an ok ballad, but it`s a minor let down from the song before. It`s moody, and the Windwood magic is still there`, but it`s not realy up there. Track 4 Put on your dancing shoes, it`s a fastback hard top rock and roller with guts and glory and also have the right element`s to make it shine in a way. Track 5 Don`t you know what the night can do ?, shines in it`s glory. It has a halleluja feel over it, and the Windwood quality dripping on the right notes, so to speak. Track 6 Hearts om fire, is a minor let down. It has tempo, it has a certain flair, and a funky beat, but that`s all. It`s easily forgotten, even when the refrain kick`s in,but the shining quality is still there. Track 7 One More Morning is an ok ballad, but that`s all. It`s to tiny in a way. Track 8 Shining song doesn`t shines too much, sorry to say. Anyway. To sum it up. Roll with this man. Winwood always deliver`s.
That`s a fact.
Back into the highlife again. 2006-01-31
I admit this album reminds me of his last one in a few ways. Mostly because I think half of the 8 tracks are excellent, and of course the other half is just so-so. Obviously, like "Back In The Highlife", it's the singles that really shine here. The title track is a great upbeat song, even if it was overplayed at the time, and I really do like "Holding On" as well. However, it's "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do" that keeps this in my collection. It's link to the late 80's beer commercial has faded from my memory, and now I just enjoy it as the great song it is. This is a good album for any fan, but what he really needs now is a simple 15-20 track "Greatest Hits" of his solo years, or a double including everything he's done.
One great album 2004-12-01
I understand Steve's yearning to return to a simpler sound as he did on his latest cd but, for me, this is his true calling. I rate this one as one of the best albums of the 80s. It literally jumps out of the speakers with enthusiasm and infectious rhythms every time I put it on. I love the horns, the background singers, the drums, the tight arrangements and clear sound and, of course, Steve's wonderful vocals throughout. This is just one great album.
Winwood rolls with it! 2004-03-23
ROLL WITH IT was no megahit like BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE,released in 1986,was. The title track is like one of Hall & Oates' albums,rock and soul. HEARTS ON FIRE contains the title of Steve Winwood's 1981 hit,his first,WHILE YOU SEE A CHANCE. In addition to the title track,hits include HOLDING ON and DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THE NIGHT CAN DO?. The latter song was featured in several Michelob commercials. Total playing time for this CD is 44 minutes and 50 seconds. Some CD players read it as 44:48.
Inconsistent, lots of filler unless you're a diehard fan 
2003-09-15
If you are a die-hard Winwood fan, you'll probably like this album well enough to own it, but for the rest of us it is a disappointing follow-up to Back in the High Life. There are definitely good songs on this album, but they are the exception. You get the sense listening to this album that record company execs pressured Stevie for a couple of cookie-cutter hits and a quick release date.
Let's start with the positive: "Shining Song" is a catchy, fresh, inspiring tune, lyrically along the lines of "Still in the Game". And "Don't You Know What the Night Can Do?" is possibly the best beer ad ever made, but for anyone who watched TV ads in the late 80's it will be hard to separate from the commercial. A couple of other songs are passable: "Roll With It" is catchy, but it doesn't stand up to very many listens without sounding trite, like a cheap copy of some of Winwood's better work. "Holding On" is also at least average-quality for a Winwood album track, which is saying a lot.
The rest of this album isn't really listenable except as background music, because there aren't enough hooks or lyrical substance to make the otherwise perfunctory songs worth your time. This isn't an album you can just pop in and listen to front-to-back, over and over, like Arc of a Diver or Back in the High Life or Talking Back to the Night. Those are all better choices if you want a studio album from Stevie.
Fantastic!! 2003-08-16
This album was great in 1998 when first released and it's even better in 2003! Would love to hear some more from Winwood.
Yeah, he rolled with it 2003-07-02
For some reason, "Roll With It" seems to be Steve Winwood's most popular song. Even now, when listening to stations that play at least a little bit of 80s rock at times, I hear that song more than any other from Winwood. It baffles me. I think to myself a lot, "Why do they play this one when they could be playing his much better songs, such as Back in the High Life, The Finer Things, or Valerie?"
Don't get me wrong, I like the song, "Roll With It," I just don't find it to be his best song ever. It's one of the three hits featured here on the album of the same name. The other two are the subtle "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" and my personal favorite, "Holding On." "Holding On" is one of those songs that I can listen to over and over and over again without ever growing tired of it. I love it; its chorus is just TOO catchy.
But from there, the album takes a turn downward. The other five songs weren't hits at all, and apart from "Morning Side," I don't like any of them much at all. So that means that I usually listen to half the tape and skip the other half.
Steve Winwood rolled with the success of Roll With It. But don't mistaken it for his best album, which is definitely Back In The High Life. If there's a song on Roll With It that you just gotta have (I HAD to have "Holding On"), then get this one. If you're just looking for a nice sampling of Steve Winwood's best (he hasn't had a good compilation album made yet), then get Back In The High Life.
