Back In The High Life
by Steve Winwood

Back In The High Life by Steve Winwood
Year: 1986
Release date: 1986-06-30
Overall rank: 5,085th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 88 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1986 (73rd)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (741st)
Award Best albums of all time (5,085th)

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Steve Winwood Back in the High Life CD 1986 Pop Rock Soul Island Records NO CASE
Condition: Good


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Steve Winwood Back In The High Life CD
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Steve Winwood Back In The High Life 1986 Vinyl LP Island Records 1-25448
Condition: Used


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Steve Winwood bestography

Back In The High Life is ranked as the best album by Steve Winwood.

Steve Winwood album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (5,085th)
Back In The High Life
Lower ranked (5,451st) »
Arc Of A Diver

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Back In The High Life rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 5,085th | 1980s rank: 741st | 1986 rank: 73rd

Back In The High Life collection

Back In The High Life ratings

Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 88 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 88 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 
05/05/2026 09:39 classicjoe  Ratings distribution  44278/100
 
70/100
 
02/28/2026 16:49 DaveH68  Ratings distribution  1,36376/100
 
65/100
 
12/16/2025 00:30 Btel74  Ratings distribution  72676/100
 
60/100
 
11/24/2025 16:18 EyeKanFly  Ratings distribution  8,75665/100
 
35/100
 
11/12/2025 23:43 NYAndreas  Ratings distribution  1,43344/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 71.5/100, a mean average of 70.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.

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Back In The High Life favourites

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Back In The High Life comments

Showing all 8 comments |
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Rating:  
75/100
From 02/26/2026 21:28 | #313308
When it comes to this artist, I have many albums he is featured, in my collection. Some nice short pop tunes that I'm not used to from him, but he deserves the recognition for a really good album. This album reminds me of some of music Phil Collins put out as a solo artist.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 04/08/2025 08:35 | #308407
Shortlisted for album of the year at the Grammys in 1987. The winner was Graceland by Paul Simon.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 11/14/2024 12:16 | #306030
With a great singer and quite nice pop tunes this stands pretty well in time..
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 03/09/2018 03:06 | #210429
Fun Album!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/01/2016 23:02 | #158450
A good pop record from an artist that deserves more recognition than he received in his heyday. Nice to see Mr. Winwood bank some cash.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/02/2013 11:21 | #96026
Really inspired by this album it's really good
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/04/2013 04:33 | #60015
Breezy title track, fine lead single Higher Love and the song Split Decision... these all stand the test of time, really.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 01/15/2012 21:02 | #35273
Not as fine as Arc Of A Diver, but one of Winwood's best records.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1986
1. The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths
2. Master Of Puppets by Metallica
3. Graceland by Paul Simon
4. So by Peter Gabriel
5. Skylarking by XTC
6. The Colour Of Spring by Talk Talk
7. Reign In Blood by Slayer
8. Lifes Rich Pageant by R.E.M.
9. Licensed To Ill by Beastie Boys
10. Black Celebration by Depeche Mode