At least, one of the 12 best Steve Miller Band posts, ever

First of all, I've always had a soft spot for the Steve Miller Band, because my name is Scott Miller and people are CONSTANTLY, mistakenly, calling me "Steve", been going on my whole life, I must "look like" a "Steve".....whatever, there was also a band called SCOTT Miller and the Commonwealth....they sucked, pretty much, so perhaps it  is better, actually, to be called "Steve". Anyfuckingway......

The Steve Miller Band had a sort of odd career, IMO.....kind of like Fleetwood Mac, maybe, or Bob Seger, they put out tons of good shit that a very small niche of people actually HEARD, biding their time I guess until the market was "right" for their stuff......the first a lot of people heard of the Steve Miller Band was around 1973, when "The Joker" was a big hit, and they followed it up with a BUNCH of other AOR-type hits, some decent ("Jungle Love"), some, "not as much" shall we say ("Abbracadabra", "Fry Like a Beagle").......thing is they had been putting out superior shit for quite some time, and for whatever reason, the time wasn't quite right for it......the first 5-6 albums are quite good, really good, jamming blues/psych, stuff that a LOT of folks are unfamiliar with......so let us remedy that.....I'm not going to put up the post-"Joker" stuff, you guys can find that easy enough if you wanted and if you care probably already own it.

The debut, 1968's "Children of the Future" is quite a fine album, actually, and has stood up very well over the years. If you've never heard this, PLEASE check this out, it's a really fine piece of psychedelic blues, (original lineup: singer/guitarist Steve Miller, guitarist Boz Skaggs, bassist Lonnie Turner, keyboardist Jim Peterman, and drummer Tim Davis).....highly recommended and quite a bit ahead of it's time, in my opinion, if you are only familiar with the later AOR stuff, you might get quite a pleasant surprise here.

Later the same year (MAN bands really used to crank out the "product") was the also very good "Sailor", really fine stuff....some may know "Living in the USA", maybe not as much "Song For Our Ancestors" and some of the rest, again, a top notch effort.

"Brave New World" came out in 1969, with the fab "Space Cowboy" and title track, Glyn Johns replaced Scaggs for this one....another good effort, for my money.....next, and later the same year, came "Your Saving Grace", maybe not as great as the others, but which still has it's moments, "Baby's House" and "Little Girl".

1970 saw release of the lads' fifth album, as always, I wonder how much time/effort went into titleing it "Number 5", still, though, a decent effort with some good keyboard work from Nicky Hopkins. 1971's "Rock Love" (such a bad title that "Number 6" would have been preferable) has a live side and a studio side, for the first time on record, these boys show off their considerable live chops, the studio side is pretty good as well with the very fine "Deliverance".....

OK, after this they would hit it "big", whatever, if you like the stuff, great, I like some of it as well.....but like the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac and Bob Seger, once mass popularity struck, the quality dropped off a bit in my opinion......ONLY my opinion, if you are a big fan of Miller's "big hits", hunt Pirate Bay for the (pretty good) "Greatest Hits" or "Book of Dreams" which contains the kick ass "The Stake"......that isn't what I'm trying to document here, though, I MUCH prefer the old stuff, and, again, if you are not familair, please check it out, you may be surprised.

Since I am such a cool guy though I will contribute what I think is a pretty hard to find boot, Winterland SF 3/17/73, which is really good, touches on a lot of the highlights of the earlier albums JUST before "The Joker" made Miller a "star"......please listen and let me know what you think.

CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE-01 Children of the Future/02 Pushed Me To It/03 You've Got the Power/04 In My First Mind/05 The Beauty of Time Is that it's Snowing (Psychedelic BB)/06 Baby's Calling Me Home/07 Steppin Stone/08 Roll With It/09 Junior Saw I Happen/10 Fannie Mae/11 Key to the Highway

SAILOR-01 Song For Our Ancestors/02 Dear Mary/03 My Friend/04 Living in the USA/05 Quicksilver Girl/06 Lucky Man/07 Gangster of Love/08 You're So Fine/09 Overdrive/10 Dime-A-Dance Romance

BRAVE NEW WORLD-01 Brave New World/02 Celebration Song/03 Can't You Hear Your Daddy's Heatbeat/04 Got Love Cause You Need It/05 Kow Kow/06 Seasons/07 Space Cowboy/08 LT's Midnigt Dream/09 My Dark Hour

YOUR SAVING GRACE-01 Little Girl/02 Just a Passin Fancy In a Midnight Dream/03 Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around/04 Baby's House/05 Motherless Children/06 The Last Wombat In Mecca/07 Feel So Glad/08 Your Saving Grace

NUMBER 5-01 Good Morning/02 I Love You/03 Going to the Country/04 Hot Chili/05 Tokin's/06 Goin' To Mexico/07 Steve Miller's Midnight Tango/08 Industrial Military Complex Hex/09 Jackson-Kent Blues/10 Never Kill Another Man

ROCK LOVE-01 Intro/The Gangster Is Back/02 Blues Without Blame/03 Love Shock/04 Let Me Serve You/05 Rock Love/06 Harbor Lights/07 Deliverance

WINTERLAND SF 3/17/73-01 Kowkow Calqulator/02 Going to the Country/03 The Sun Is Going Down/04 Come On In My Kitchen/05 Brave New World/06 Motherless Children/07 I Love You/08 Welcome/09 My Dark Hour/10 Jackson-Kent Blues/11 Living In the USA/12 Space Cowboy/13 Unknown/14 The Gangster is Back/15 Sugar Baby/16 Crossroads/17 Evil/18 Shu Ba Da Du Ma Mu Ma/ 19 Going to Mexico/20 Seasons