Steve Miller Band - Sailor (

Steve Miller is somewhat of a rock & roll chameleon.  Getting his start in 1966, his travels about the country changed where he was musically.  He started as a harmonica playing, guitar stringing singer in California and later, took his act to Chicago to play the blues.  It wasn't until he went back to San Francisco where the psychedelic music movement was booming that he and his newly formed band hit their stride.

Rockers were still reeling from the Beatles brand experimental-ism in their late era, when they themselves did a lot to make psychedelic popular.  As you could imagine, through the 60's was ripe with psychedelic rock.  When the Beatles kicked it off in 1966 with Revolver, Jimi Hendrix making it glamorous in 1967 with Electric Ladyland, and Cream, and Santana, and everything leading up to Blues Rock that fuel the hard rockers in a few years like Zeppelin.  Somewhere in the mix was Steve Miller.  Just laid back enough to be approachable, and just Rock & Roll enough to be considered, well Rock & Roll.

Sailor, Steve Miller's 2nd release, and ironically the 2nd oldest LP I own, is the first release they had where they were taken seriously as a group.  The strength of the genre at the time and Steve Millers ability to be tongue-in-cheek with his lyrics made this album a moderate success in a crowded field of burning out rockers.  Have you listened to the lyrics of any of the Steve Miller catalog?  I could do a whole post on Jet Airliner alone.

Living In The U.S.A.

This was the last Steve Miller Band Album that would feature Boz Scaggs, who for whatever reason went on to do some odd things over the next 20 years or so.  So, why is this album so great to warrant a pick of the week?  Well;

Gangster of Love

...Anybody that can pull Wolfman Jack onto a record, and basically jam out while telling a story backed up by a cool song earns my respect.

Look, long before Steve Miller became part of the list of musicians that "redefined" themselves in the 80's, he and his bad was all about rocking and tripping out till there were no stories left to tell.  Right up till about the mid 70's, he was telling tales and making you think about what he really meant.  Before Abracadabra...  Thank god he was great before that.  This album is kinda hard to find, but should you happen upon it, it'll be cheap.  Definitely well worth spinning one day when you want hear what the 60's felt like before disco happened.

Next week, some blues perhaps....

Pointer Sisters - Break Out (1983)

How awesome is this record player!?

If you're over the age of 35, you'll probably remember the day you found out that Boy George was in fact, a man.  How about the day you found out that Mike Score was actually a hairdresser before singing with Flock of Seagulls.  OK, when you learned that Eddie Van Halen was the one responsible for the epic guitar solo in MJ's Beat It?  Here's another one.  The lead vocals on the Pointer Sisters 2nd single from 1983's Break Out, Automatic, was in fact not a man.  -Gasp  Those hooks belong to Ruth Pointer.  

Automatic

This is was an interesting release for the time.  In 1983, we were literally just hearing about CD's.  Seriously, not factoring ABBA into it, Billy Joel's 52nd street was the first album spun to that devil plastic in 1982.  This album shot way up the charts on the strength of it's vinyl only release. in 1983.  It spawned 5 singles, went platinum 3 times, and won 2 minor Grammy awards.  I say minor because 1 category thankfully no longer exists, and the other is an arrangement award.  (Let's thank the resurgence of pop for killing that award a few years ago!)

The album had 2 initial releases.  Originally, a rather bizarre synth-pop, (Think super early Thomas Dolby stuff, or super nostalgia Eddie Murphy stuff.), song called Nightline, which was intended for Michael Jackson's Thriller was pressed for and recorded by the Pointer Sisters.  Wisely it was subbed out for the now immortal, (Thanks Jesse!), I'm so Excited on later releases of this album.  

This is one of those albums that you would be hard pressed to not find a favorite song.  Who didn't rock out to the Neutron Dance?  Their first single on the album, I Need You, which was more soul than pop. I'm going to call the lead song on the record their opus, Jump.  Hell, I even remember the first time I heard that song on the radio. 

Jump

This album also marked the early signs of the downfall of solid albums.  It's painfully obvious that all the most popular, (Note: I didn't say best), songs the Pointer Sisters have ever done on their most commercial record ever, (They've released 7 original albums) are all on the "A" side of this album.  That's not done by accident.  This album draws a clear line where popularity ends and album filler or "B" sides begin.  Sure, the practice has been around long before the 80's, but to a degree it wasn't obvious.  "A" sides historically had a way of just being hits.  They were the songs that would be played first and often.  Didn't feel like flipping a record or tape?  Just replay.  "B" sides on the other hand at one point in music history were at least manufactured to become great. at some point by some artists.  There was a period where an artists entire album had to be good for people to buy it, and people certainly did exactly that.  That's where we get the Classic Rock and Blues era.  These day's it's ultra rare for an artist to release an overall great album, why?  Well, progression.  Now we have the choice to pick whatever songs from whatever artists we want based on little more than what sounds great in the moment.  Heard something on the radio that was catchy?  Download it.  Out and about around town and hear a song that could have legs?  Bust out SoundHound, search it, tag it, and download it later.  So called "artists" know this, and therefore why on earth do they have to put any measurable effort into creating good music?  All they need is a hit or two, everything else is filler.  

With regard to the Pointer Sisters, their whole career was based on building up to this album.  They were consistently great from their inception with their first single, a country song mind you...

 Fairytale

They went on to release their first album, a self titled gold certified, soul album, The Pointer Sisters in 1973.  From there they weathered through the disco 70's by weaving soul with pop all building to something that had to break out in a post Michael Jackson Thriller world.  You know, Thriller?  It's release basically changed music permanently, killed disco, and gave birth to cinematic music video's.  Yeah, that Thriller.  I would say that given the all the hidden little gems behind this album, all the hits, all the history of the group, that this was exactly why this album more than most of that age just stands the test of time.  So yeah, if you remember any part of the Pointer Sisters, you remember this album.  You remember your parents owning.  You remember rocking out to it before going out.  That's kind of the hallmark of a great overall album.  You don't forget it.  

Neutron Dance

If you have a turn table, get to a record store and get this album.  It was so popular it'll be cheap,but it won't be easy to find.  Not in great condition anyway.  Hell, I found mine doing some good old fashioned roadside crate digging.  Go own this album.  Next week, we're going to finally do some classic rock!