Steve Miller Band

The first ten years of Miller's career were stunningly prolific and evolutionary, and his sophomore record is a spark that set off one of classic rock's longest-running explosions. Owing a debt to the meandering, psychedelic blues of Canned Heat and the Guess Who and presaging the soul-pop pomp of the Doobs (with the album's only hit, "Living in the U.S.A."), Sailor contains several classic blues covers as well as some of Miller's most lysergic experimentation. Hard to believe this scuzzy, lo-fi Gangster of Love became a county fair mainstay decades later.

The Steve Miller Band made an impressive debut with Children of the Future. Sailor, their
new LP, is a most worthy successor. While their first album had a very strong blues flavor
(especially on side two), Sailor has more of a rock and roll feeling. "Song For Our
Ancestors," which opens the album, tastefully blends ocean sound effects with an
instrumental background. This cut is much more successful than the Miller Band'... More >