450 - Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle

I must confess that the only Steve Miller Band album I've ever listened to is the greatest hits 1974-78 collection. I don't even own it. Just as I kicked myself for loving the Talking Heads collection Sand in the Vaseline for decades with only a couple of listens to late Talking Heads albums only to discover I love, love, love their first few albums...I now am going to start acquiring Steve Miller Band albums. This album absolutely wooed me.

The album does what good albums should do. It wasn't just a collection of songs, but one that has a cohesiveness to it that unifies the tracks and guides the listener from the drop of the needle* to the last note. This album is by and for space cowboys. There is a nearly flawless flow from "Space Intro" to "Fly Like an Eagle" to "Wild Mountain Honey" and then to "Serenade." The songs after that work together, but don't flow quite as smooth. The songs in the first half benefit from most of them combining both blues and "space"-type elements. The second half fluctuates more between blues songs and the spacey "Blue Odyssey" than having both elements in each song ("Mercury Blues" is about the automobile, not the planet, but I do wonder if it might have benefited from a few shooshes or some other "space" element.

Steve Miller's songs are lazy, fun, head-bobbing, toe-tapping slices of joy. The guy is writing songs for the masses to enjoy. Everyone is invited, so grab your neighbors!

Songs I knew I liked: "Fly Like an Eagle," "Take the Money and Run," and "Rock 'N Me"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Wild Mountain Honey," "Serenade," and "Sweet Maree"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I may get to like "The Window" better after more listens, but right now I keep hearing "Abracadabra" in the keyboards and during the chorus. On the cover of "You Send Me," I was put off by the clips of smooching, a girl pushing the guy off, and the guy saying "Come on, baby, come on." Yeah, just what I needed, hearing some date rape during the intro for a song. *rolls eyes*






* Sorry, put saying "pressing play on the mp3 player" just doesn't have the same romantic feel as "drop of the needle." ;)