(Translated from
my original Italian text by Ornella C. Grannis)
Steve Miller was part of the great hippie season of San Francisco,
but in reality he was a blues man who played elegant and refined
blues-rock. When the acid-rock fashion died, Miller revealed his
true mission: writing muzak that was both atmospheric and relaxing.
Raised in Texas, leader of a blues band in Chicago with Barry Goldberg,
Miller arrived in San Francisco in 1966 and formed the Steve Miller
Band. At his side was singer, rhythm guitarist and childhood friend
Boz Scaggs.
The sound of Children Of the Future (Capitol, 1968) is by all means
hallucinogenic, but without sacrificing the structure of the song, and
best of all, preserving all the aggressive boogie riffs of a well
disciplined blues band. The album is stylistically divided in two sides.
Side One is relatively traditional, the domain of the impeccable Scaggs,
with blues cuts perturbed by solos a la Hendrix, ecstatic choruses and
acid keyboard, as in Roll With It and Baby's Callin' Me Home. Side Two
is experimental, as the times demanded, a multi-part suite for ecstatic
voices, Jim Peterman's church organ and wild guitar. Fantastic melodies
are enriched by cosmic overtones, with a spirited country flavor in
Children Of The Future. Instrumentals, psychedelic and celestial, are
placed in the middle of an epic and symphonic "Pink-Floydian" blues in
the seven minute In My First Mind. Short intervals of turbulence and
dissonance punctuate The Beauty Of Time, with its mantra-chorus grand
finale.
Frequent use of electronic effects weakens the guitars' voice on Sailor
(Capitol, 1968), albeit conferring to the music a wilder character. The
opening song Song For Our Ancestors features a sustained organ in
crescendo, mimicking the rhythm of an air raid siren. Living In The
USA and Overdrive are catchy blues rock songs; Dime-a-dance Romance
is Scaggs' best ballad.
Your Saving Grace (Capitol, 1969) and Good New World (Capitol, 1969)
are complementary albums. The first is a collection of soft rhythm and
blues ballads like Your Saving Grace, Baby' s House, Feel So Glad. The
second is a dynamic red-hot album, with a series of insistent blues
rockers like Space Cowboy, My Dark Hour and Brave New World. After
Scaggs and Peterman's departure the sound became progressively more
manneristic and less bluesy.
Number Five (Capitol, 1970) is a roots-rock album, in a year when many
were turning to country. More than anything, it is a pretext to span many
stylistic fronts, from Going To Mexico, to Going To The Country, to
Midnight Tango, always with grace and gentleness.
In 1973 Miller reorganized and aimed at a more polished studio sound,
with wasted horns and calculated keyboards. Starting with The Joker
(1973) the move yielded excellent commercial success in soft rock,
with Rockin' Me (1976), Fly Like An Eagle (1977), Jet Airliner (1977),
and Abracadabra (1982), as well as in the disco suite Macho City (1982),
a festival of velvety electronics.
(Original text by Piero Scaruffi)
The live/studio album Rock Love (Capitol, 1971) was largely
disposable, but the brief, 35-minute album
Recall The Beginners (Capitol, 1972) contained some of his best
material, including Lover's Riddle, Fandango,
and culminating with the closer, Journey from Eden.
The line-up kept changing and Miller went through serious health problems.
When he was ready to return to the studio, the world had changed.
Miller's solution was to adopt a more soulful sound and
enhance his ballads with slick arrangements of strings and horns.
The result was The Joker (Capitol, 1973), that yielded the hit single
The Joker, besides Sugar Babe and Something To Believe In.
Miller became a master of soft-rock.
Miller's state of grace was proven with
Fly Like An Eagle (Capitol, 1976), that contained the hit singles
Rock And Me, Fly Like An Eagle and Take The Money And Run,
and Book Of Dreams (Capitol, 1977), that contained more hit singles
(Jet Airliner, Jungle Love, Swingtown).
Few artists were producing so many hits in just two years.
But somehow those two prolific years drained Miller's inspiration. He moved
to Oregon and seemed to retire from music.
Greatest Hits 1974/78 (Mercury, 1978) is the anthology of the classic
period.
Miller staged a mediocre comeback with
Circle Of Love (Capitol, 1981), an album that attempted to bridge his
old patented muzak (Circle Of Love, Heart Like A Wheel) with
the electronic funk of Giorgio Moroder's disco-music
(the side-long suite Macho City).
Abracadabra (Capitol, 1982) included the hit Abracadabra and
Italian X Rays (Capitol, 1984) tried to further simplify
his commercial funk-soul style.
Living In The 20th Century (Capitol, 1987) marked a return to his blues
roots and Born 2B Blue (Capitol, 1988) is a tribute to jazz.
Wide River (Polydor, 1993) was the first serious commercial enterprise
since 1984 and offered more faceless Steve Miller muzak.
Bingo (2011) is a cover album.
