Steve Miller Band - Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-1978
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Steve Miller BandEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Capitol
Soundtracks:
- Swingtown
- Jungle Love
- Take The Money And Run
- Rock 'N Me
- Serenade
- True Fine Love
- The Stake
- The Joker
- Fly Like An Eagle
- Threshold
- Jet Airliner
- Dance, Dance, Dance
- Winter Time
- Wild Mountain Honey
Free Music Notes for Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-1978
Free Music Review: A Roundup Of Space Cowboy Hits
Hit: 4 Stars
This is another Greatest Hits release from the Steve Miller Band, (after Greatest Hits 1968-73), offering a collection of his greatest hits from the highest point of his career, in the mid 1970s. In this 14-song package, 13 of the hits come from two of his albums, released in adjacent years 1976 (Fly Like An Eagle,(FLAE)), and 1977 (Book Of Dreams, (BOD)). The songs for these two albums were recorded at the same time, but split among two albums rather than being released on an extra long album with more than 20 songs on it. The 14th hit stands alone as being derived from an older album, The Joker, (1973). Although this last song is unusual in that it was extracted from an older album, it is perhaps a harbinger of what was to arrive in the near future. This bluesy, humorous song is about a funny character who is described in many terms: "picker, grinner, lover, sinner"; "joker, smoker, midnight toker"; "Space Cowboy, Gangster of Love, Maurice". Each of these last three names is followed by a wacky guitar symbol.
Six of these 14 songs come from the immensely popular FLAE album, released in 1976. At least half of the songs in that album can be considered hits. That album represents many different styles of music: rock 'n' roll, folk, country, and the blues, as well as SM's unique spacey style. The songs from that album included in this GH collection are: "Fly Like An Eagle" (FLAE song), perhaps the best-known song of his career and most heavily played on AOR and oldies radio stations. This album-oriented song is marked by organ accompaniment to his mellow plea for food, clothing, and shelter for the people who lack them. "Wild Mountain Honey" (WMH) is a sequal to the "FLAE" song on the original album, with fancy organ accompaniment and light drum tapping that serve as a backdrop to Steve's vocals. Both of these songs are marked by a unique Steve Miler sound of spacey, novel organ frills on the original FLAE album. Folk guitar can be heard in the rapid strumming of "Serenade" and in "Take The Money And Run", a story of a man and woman trying to rob some cash. A rock 'n' roll number is "Rock N Me", a memorable piece with a hint of southern blues similar to Roy Orbison or Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). Finally, there is the country-sounding "Dance Dance Dance", a good choice for down-to-earth, backyard parties.
The remaining seven songs come from the Book of Dreams (BOD) album, released in 1977 (although it was recorded at the same time as the FLAE album.) These seven songs represent over half of the dozen tracks on the BOD album, or 7/12 songs of that album. The instrumental "Threshold" features an organ that rises and falls in pitch smoothly, sort of like the sound of an airplane taking off, landing, or flying overhead. This track leads directly into "Jet Airliner", one of the very popular hits with the folk and southern rock style reminiscent of CCR. Other southern rock-style hits include "True Fine Love" that also sound like CCR, and "The Stake", a love song with guitar work similar to The Eagles or Joe Walsh. "Winter Time" is a folk/soft rock hit that highlights a folk guitar and harmonica, in a poem about the characteristics of winter outdoors. Steve does a very creative production of the party song "Swingtown", in which he plays with a variety of instruments, as well as the organ. Another track with Steve's unique style of toying with musical instruments is "Jungle Love", a rock 'n' roll love song that begins and ends with whistles and squeaks that probably mimic birds and monkeys and other creatures found in the jungle. This was one of his most popular hits on the radio and also on his GH album.
Overall, this album would earn 5 stars for the creativity and uniqueness of SM's songs, for nobody else seems to produce a sound quite like his. However, some of these tracks are abbreviated, a couple severely. The "FLAE" song has been severely edited at both the beginning and end parts, most notably eliminating the organ trills and scales found at the ending part. More than 1 and 1/2 minutes have been chopped off this song. "Jet Airliner" has also been butchered in places, reducing its impact that was suggested by the title. Almost one minute has been removed here. "Dance Dance Dance" is the third song that has been drastically shortened here, with nearly a minute removed. "Swingtown" has also been shortened by nearly half a minute.
Also, the producers could have placed the FLAE song and WMH together as in the original FLAE album. Fortunately, they have placed "Threshold" and "Jet Airliner" together. Also notably absent are some songs like "Mercury Blues" from the FLAE album, which was a popular hit: a blues-type song about a special car that the singer dreams of having in his possession. This very popular and well-known hit was remade by another artist about 18 years later, using another style.
With the 14 songs in the GH album, even if all of them were full-length, unedited forms, the CD with an 80-minute capacity would be able to accommodate them. The CD with this capacity would also be able to include additional songs such as "Mercury Blues" in its full length for a remastered 15-track album. The original GH album was released on vinyl LP with a 60-minute capacity; even this would be sufficient to accommodate the original 14 songs in full-length form: they still would have amounted to less than 50 minutes. A better remastered GH album would have at least 15 songs in its lineup (the original 14 songs plus "Mercury Blues.") Fortunately, other versions of SM's GH albums have since been produced and released.
With its faults, this album deserves about 3+2/3 to 4 stars. If detailed ratings were possible, the creativity and novelty of songs earns 6 stars on a 5-point scale (really), inclusion and coverage of all available SM songs would bring 4 stars, but the edited versions of songs deserve only 1 or 2 stars. Due to the greatness of SM's creations, this album will receive the benefit of the doubt and get 4 stars here.
Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-1978 Poster
Greatest-hits collections often deprive the listener of the chance to experience an artist's true scope of talent. Not so with Steve Miller--his strength has always been more in crafting an occasional blast of FM-radio heaven rather than a dozen solid album tracks. Greatest Hits 1974-78 chronicles the best singles from Miller's most successful years, after he veered from Haight-Ashbury bluesy trippiness to more accessible blues-based pop-rock. There are the slippery grooves of "The Joker" and "Fly Like an Eagle," and there's the air-guitar-beckoning riff rock of "Take the Money and Run," "Jungle Love," "Rock n'Me," and "Jet Airliner." Don't expect groundbreaking art, expect references to the "pompatus of love" and instant gratification. Requisite listening at the classic-rock keg party. --Neal WeissPop Music CDs
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