Rick Clark's Music I Love Blog - Artist: Steve Miller Band - the early albums, part 2
By the end of 1969, the Steve Miller Band seemed unstoppable, with four excellent album releases in a two year period. Your Saving Grace, their fourth album, opens with the infectiously upbeat rocker “Little Girl,” which I’ve always loved for its melody and sweet guitar rides.
Miller does a great take on the old spiritual “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around.”
The centerpiece of Your Saving Grace is “Baby’s House.” Running at almost nine minutes, it ebbs and flows through stages to a climatic release with some great singing by Miller. As with many of the recordings during this era of the Steve Miller Band, Nicky Hopkins piano imbues the music with a gospel-tinged elegance. This is especially the case with “Baby’s House.” The output on this YouTube link is a little squashed, so the dynamics that are on the actual recording are missing. If you like what you hear, seek out the album and this track, along with really everything posted here will sound much better.
Side Two opens with Miller’s trippy take on “Motherless Children,” which re-tunes the space after the drama of “Baby’s House.” Another song I’ve loved on Your Saving Grace is the groovy title track, which was written and sung by drummer Tim Davis.
In 1970, Miller traveled to Nashville and recorded the fittingly titled Number Five. Even though the Music City adventure is reflected with contributions from country music legends, Charlie McCoy (harmonica), Bobby Thompson (banjo), Wayne Moss (guitar) and Buddy Spicher (fiddle), Number Five retains all the qualities that made the previous Miller albums so strong: great songwriting, performances and production rooted in blues and a unique blend of American and English rock.
During the ‘70s, I had a radio show on various time slots in Memphis at Southwestern’s college radio station WLYX-FM. For a while it was a total graveyard 2-6AM shift. I usually concluded that show with the opening track from Number Five, which was “Good Morning.” It was a great way to head out the door into the morning. Listening to it now, I still get that hopeful lift.
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Little Girl (Remastered 2017) · Steve Miller Band Ultimate Hits ℗ 2017 Capitol Records LLC Released on: 2017-09-...
Social commentary was a quality on the earlier Steve Miller albums and Number Five has doesn’t disappoint in that department with the final three songs on Side Two, the big wooly-Leslie drenched guitar rocker “Industrial Military Complex Hex,” the psychedelic “Jackson-Kent Blues” and the anti-war hymn “Never Kill Another Man,” which features some fantastic piano work by Nicky Hopkins.
Rock Love … or Rock Bottom (1971)
After a string of five stellar albums, the next album was Rock Love, a dismal collection that was an utter disappointment. It was like Miller had busted his ass making all these excellent albums to moderate success and was spent. I did hear that Capitol chunked this out without his consent as he was recuperating from a motorcycle accident. I don’t know, but I did revisit Rock Love while I was writing about these other albums in this post and there are actually one or two decent tracks.
I was still working at Pop Tunes in Memphis when Recall the Beginning... A Journey from Eden showed up in the store I March of 1972. Even though I had sort of moved on to David Bowie, Yes and other music, I still loved those early Miller records so much I was willing to give this album some time.
The first side on Recall the Beginning... A Journey from Eden was an improvement from Rock Love, but it seemed rather lightweight with a couple of fun numbers, including the doo-wop influenced “Enter Maurice.” When I flipped the LP over on the turntable, it was like entering into a totally different album experience. The entirety of Side Two was an exploration of meditative acoustic and spacious, but dynamic, rock moments. Some of the tracks, particularly the stunning “A Journey From Eden” and “Love’s Riddle,” are among the best things in the entire Steve Miller catalog.
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Nothing Lasts · Steve Miller Band Recall The Beginning... A Journey From Eden ℗ 1972 Capitol Records, LLC Releas...
Part of what made Side Two so special was Ben Sidran’s spacious production, Bruce Botnick’s engineering and Nick De Caro’s immersive orchestrations. The whole side feels of a piece, sort of like how Love’s Forever Changes or Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On feel seamless.
By this time, Miller had honed his vocal sound into a distinctively effortless style that was smooth, but still very soulful. His voice sounded especially good double-tracked or layered with thick harmonies that were especially nimble.
One quality of note is Miller’s guitar playing. I’ve always loved his melodically constructed lead breaks and how his parts throughout his material always feels so smartly purposeful that ultimately serves the music. Even when he throws out a flurry of notes, his playing has never felt like the work of a show-off who was lacking ideas. This is a quality that has been consistent through his entire impressive body of work.
Another element I really love on Recall the Beginning... A Journey from Eden is Gerald Johnson’s extraordinarily lyrical bass playing, which is effortlessly fluid and softly funky. Johnson’s melodicism on this and on other later Steve Miller recordings where he appears reside up there in the breathtaking realm shared by James Jamerson’s great Motown work. Check it out on any of these tracks. Wow! Of note, Johnson is left-handed and plays an inverted right-handed bass.
Rounding out the band Recall the Beginning... A Journey from Eden are producer/keyboardist Ben Sidran, Dick Thompson on keys and a very not shabby assemblage of great drummers, Jim Keltner, Gary Mallaber and Jack King.
If Recall the Beginning... A Journey from Eden had all been on the level its Side Two, this might be regarded as a true classic. That said, it is an album that is a lost gem that was dismissed that it never even made it to CD until long after that format had peaked.
In 1972, Capitol released Anthology, which was a smart collection of tracks from these first five albums. It is a solid primer for the uninitiated, but there are so many worthy songs that fall through the cracks.
I hope you have enjoyed diving into Steve Miller’s early work. It has been a total pleasure revisiting it. Thanks for listening.
Steve Miller talks about vinyl. "This is a different way to listen to music... [You] pull the album out, you look at the artwork, you see it, you put it on a turntable, you drop the needle on...
Steve Miller Band From the European Leg of the 1970 Tour. I believe this concert was shot in Sweden. The music is cut from a television special that includes some interviews. ...
