Heavies

AMG Review of Heavies

Richie Unterberger
All Music Guide

A hodgepodge of some of the group's lesser-known tracks, this actually contains some of their better performances. The instrumental jam "Waltz for Lumumba" sounds like a prototype for some of the ideas Winwood would employ in Traffic; the group original "Hey Darling" is a smoldering, moody blues, "Mean Woman Blues" and "Watch Your Step" are a couple of their best uptempo, and most guitar-oriented, R&B covers, "Please Do Something" is a good cover of a Don Covay tune, and "Back Into My Life Again" was co-written by Jackie Edwards, who was responsible for their first few British hits. Put together by United Artists after the group had broken up to capitalize on Winwood's ascent to superstardom in Traffic, it's nonetheless a decent compilation of some of their more interesting odds and ends.