The Steve Miller Band passed through town a couple of weeks ago, playing to an enthusiastic crowd of people who fondly remember his mid-'70s heyday.
Most Miller fans, I'd wager, own no more than an album or two of his, "Fly Like An Eagle" or "Book of Dreams," or the "Greatest Hits" anthology culled from those two (with the slightly earlier favorite tune "The Joker" thrown in for good measure).
Of course, that's hardly all there is to the Steve Miller story.
I remember hearing when "Fly Like An Eagle" was released in 1976 that it was Miller's 10th album. That seemed amazing, considering all I'd heard before was "The Joker." But his band's output started in 1968 and was extremely prolific before its leader was sidelined for a good while following an auto accident.
Fans familiar with the synthesizers and slick harmonies of Miller's AOR-friendly compositions might be surprised to learn his group once was called the Steve Miller Blues Band, and that plenty of his early material draws considerably from that particular genre. That's not to say Miller (and Boz Scaggs, who played on the first two albums) stuck to the good ol' 12 bars. They liked to experiment, which usually is a good thing.
Some very early Miller can be heard on the boxed set from the Monterey Pop Festival (June 1967), with a performance of "Mercury Blues" that sounds far removed from the more popular "Fly Like An Eagle" version nine years later.
The band's first album, "Children of the Future," is somewhat of a product of the times (one track is called "Psychedelic B.B."), but is very listenable with good production values for that day and age.
Miller really hit his stride with the next two, "Sailor" and "Brave New World," which I'd rank as his best work, the platinum-selling '70s stuff notwithstanding. A couple of tunes from each - "Living in the USA" on the former, "Space Cowboy" on the latter - still get some play as indicative of Steve's early days.
But there's plenty of other worthwhile material: "Quicksilver Girl" (written about the girlfriend of Quicksilver Messenger Service bassist David Freiberg, who actually went by "Girl"), "Lucky Man" (a very catchy 12-bar"), Skaggs' energetic "Overdrive," the harp-driven "Got Love 'Cause You Need It" and "My Dark Hour," featuring the same riff that captured the world's attention on the "Fly Like An Eagle" title track (and featuring a guy called Paul Ramone playing drums, who actually turns out to be none other than J. Paul McCartney).
The Steve Miller Band released two more albums through 1970 to wrap up an exceptionally productive period: "Your Saving Grace" and "Number 5." Check out the legendary Nicky Hopkins' piano playing on "Baby's House" on the former and the sociopolitical commentary of "Jackson-Kent Blues" and "Industrial-Military Complex Hex" on the latter.
That is, if you can find those CDs. I guarantee you, they won't be in the Steve Miller bin at your local retailer. Your best bet there probably is a Capitol Records anthology covering 1968-73, which can serve as a good introduction to the (almost) lost work of a long-serving and prolific American artist.
Most Miller fans, I'd wager, own no more than an album or two of his, "Fly Like An Eagle" or "Book of Dreams," or the "Greatest Hits" anthology culled from those two (with the slightly earlier favorite tune "The Joker" thrown in for good measure).
Of course, that's hardly all there is to the Steve Miller story.
I remember hearing when "Fly Like An Eagle" was released in 1976 that it was Miller's 10th album. That seemed amazing, considering all I'd heard before was "The Joker." But his band's output started in 1968 and was extremely prolific before its leader was sidelined for a good while following an auto accident.
Fans familiar with the synthesizers and slick harmonies of Miller's AOR-friendly compositions might be surprised to learn his group once was called the Steve Miller Blues Band, and that plenty of his early material draws considerably from that particular genre. That's not to say Miller (and Boz Scaggs, who played on the first two albums) stuck to the good ol' 12 bars. They liked to experiment, which usually is a good thing.
Some very early Miller can be heard on the boxed set from the Monterey Pop Festival (June 1967), with a performance of "Mercury Blues" that sounds far removed from the more popular "Fly Like An Eagle" version nine years later.
The band's first album, "Children of the Future," is somewhat of a product of the times (one track is called "Psychedelic B.B."), but is very listenable with good production values for that day and age.
Miller really hit his stride with the next two, "Sailor" and "Brave New World," which I'd rank as his best work, the platinum-selling '70s stuff notwithstanding. A couple of tunes from each - "Living in the USA" on the former, "Space Cowboy" on the latter - still get some play as indicative of Steve's early days.
But there's plenty of other worthwhile material: "Quicksilver Girl" (written about the girlfriend of Quicksilver Messenger Service bassist David Freiberg, who actually went by "Girl"), "Lucky Man" (a very catchy 12-bar"), Skaggs' energetic "Overdrive," the harp-driven "Got Love 'Cause You Need It" and "My Dark Hour," featuring the same riff that captured the world's attention on the "Fly Like An Eagle" title track (and featuring a guy called Paul Ramone playing drums, who actually turns out to be none other than J. Paul McCartney).
The Steve Miller Band released two more albums through 1970 to wrap up an exceptionally productive period: "Your Saving Grace" and "Number 5." Check out the legendary Nicky Hopkins' piano playing on "Baby's House" on the former and the sociopolitical commentary of "Jackson-Kent Blues" and "Industrial-Military Complex Hex" on the latter.
That is, if you can find those CDs. I guarantee you, they won't be in the Steve Miller bin at your local retailer. Your best bet there probably is a Capitol Records anthology covering 1968-73, which can serve as a good introduction to the (almost) lost work of a long-serving and prolific American artist.
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