Sometimes I wonder why archivists bother releasing early recordings like these. First and foremost, it should be mentioned that Steve Miller has been around since the '60s as an impeccably talented blues guitarist. In fact, the blues are where he cut his teeth, and in Chicago of all places. It wasn't until 1966 that he moved to San Francisco and became part of the psychedilic rock movement. But it's not this era of his music that most people know and love the Steve Miller Band. In fact, a lot of casual fans of his music don't know of this era of the band at all.
The Steve Miller Band most people know and love came about in 1973 with the release of 'The Joker', one of his best and most-beloved albums. The two albums he's best known for are 'Fly Like an Eagle' and 'Book of Dreams'--arguably his best albums ever recorded--and it's these three albums that have overshadowed his entire career. So why the sudden gust of Steve Miller (Blues) Band nostalgia? Is it their big 2014 tour with Journey? Who knows?
Unless you're an absolutely die-hard fan of Steve's early work, don't even bother with this album. It's not a Capitol Records release, which sends up red flags that it's a bootleg recording. Put the CD into your stereo system, and the sound quality that will soon emit confirms your suspicions. Barely audible at a "normal" decible level, you REALLY need to crank the knob if you want to hear Steve's vocals.
Then there's the hum, the ever-present hum of the Carousel Ballroom's PA system. My guess is our bootlegger held the microphone of his tape recorder right up to the speaker system and started recording. Somewhere in the midst of track 8 on the first disc is where that first side ran out, because the audio cuts out completely.
The band was on fire that night, and the quality of their performance is the only thing that shines on this album. The jams that took place that night were pretty epic; the crime here is that a proper release was not done. Who knows exactly how long this recording has been sitting, but I'm sure the audio could have been cleaned up and remastered, the levels could have been balanced better, and that God-awful PA hum could have been removed completely. I know we can all learn to live with the hum, but it just murders the last two songs on disc 2. ~Kirk A. Gauthier
Album:
Live At The Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, April 28th 1968 (Disc 1)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:15
Size: 119.6 MB
Styles: Album Rock
Year: 2014
[ 3:29] 1. I Got My Eyes On You
[ 5:33] 2. Born In Chicago
[ 3:46] 3. Highway Child
[ 2:48] 4. Fannie May
[ 6:53] 5. Got Love If You Want It
[ 4:38] 6. Steppin' Stone
[12:07] 7. Blues With A Feeling
[ 8:22] 8. Worry About My Baby
[ 4:35] 9. Look On Yonder Wall
Live At The Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, April 28th 1968 (Disc 1)
Album:
Live At The Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, April 28th 1968 (Disc 2)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:23
Size: 94.7 MB
Styles: Rock
Year: 2014
Art: Front
[ 6:30] 1. Mercury Blues
[ 9:17] 2. Living In The Usa
[18:06] 3. Song For Our Ancestors
[ 7:29] 4. Key To The Highway
Live At The Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, April 28th 1968 (Disc 2)
Album:
The Joker
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:54
Size: 82.2 MB
Styles: Album rock
Year: 1973
Art: Front
[4:33] 1. Sugar Babe
[2:23] 2. Mary Lou
[5:41] 3. Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
[3:21] 4. Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash
[4:23] 5. The Joker
[2:09] 6. The Lovin' Cup
[4:04] 7. Come On In My Kitchen
[4:36] 8. Evil
[4:40] 9. Something To Believe In
The Joker is, without question, the turning point in Steve Miller's career, the album where he infused his blues with a big, bright dose of pop and got exactly what he deserved: Top Ten hits and stardom. He also lost a lot of fans, the ones who dug his winding improvs, because those spacy jams were driven by chops and revealed new worlds. The Joker isn't mind-expanding, it's party music, filled with good vibes, never laying a heavy trip, always keeping things light, relaxed and easygoing. Sometimes, the vibes are interrupted, but not in a harsh way -- the second side slows a bit, largely due to the sludgy "Come in My Kitchen" and "Evil," the two songs that were recorded live but lacking any kinetic energy -- but for the most part, this is all bright and fun, occasionally truly silly, as on "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma." This silliness, of course, alienated old fans all the more, but that sense of fun is both the most appealing thing about The Joker and it set a touchstone for the rest of his career. Here, it's best heard on the terrific opener "Sugar Babe" and, of course, the timeless title track, which is sunny and ridiculous in equal measure. If nothing else is quite up to that standard in terms of songs -- certainly, it's not as jammed-pack as its successor, Fly Like an Eagle -- The Joker nevertheless maintains its good-time vibe so well that it's hard not to smile along...provided you're on the same wavelength as Miller, of course. ~Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Joker
