Familiar? Sure. But only in the best sort of way. Like a dear old friend who has been sorely missed for years - no, make that decades.

By the time of one of the best Eric Clapton guitar solos heard in recent years, you are all but sucked in by it. For anyone who ever spent any time listening to the original late night, freeform FM rock stations of the sixties and early seventies, where the DJs for the most part shut up and let the music — by bands like Santana and Winwood's own Traffic — do the talking, this song will send shivers straight up your spine.

Yes, it's that good.

From there, the jazz/blues/rock vibe of this album just takes on a life of its own. The heavy organ remains front and center for the most part, especially on tracks such as "We're All Looking" and "Hungry Man." Meanwhile, the congas and Latin percussion lays down a rock solid foundation that doesn't so much groove as it does perk. The combination of the Hammond organ swells and the percolating rhythms here are straight out of "Soul Sacrifice" territory - yep! there's that early Santana thing again.

The fact is, in another time and place Nine Lives would be an album rock smash. As it stands, nothing here is going to fit into today's restrictive radio formats — not even something like adult alternative. There's simply nothing here as instantly catchy as say, "Roll With It" was — although "Dirty City" comes damn close. Still, Winwood's voice, which has always been a force unto itself anyway, has never sounded better here.

Evoking the spirits of improvisation that marked his best work in bands like Traffic, this is quite simply, Steve Winwood's best work in years.

God bless him for it.