Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-78 [Gold CD]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Greatest-hits collections often deprive the listener of the chance to experience an artist's true scope of talent. Not so with Steve Miller. His strength has always been more in crafting an occasional blast of FM-radio heaven rather than a dozen solid album tracks. Greatest Hits 1974-78 chronicles the best singles from Miller's most successful years, after he veered from Haight-Ashbury bluesy trippiness to more accessible blues-based pop-rock. There are the slippery grooves of "The Joker" and "Fly Like an Eagle," and there's the air-guitar-beckoning riff-rock of "Take the Money and Run," "Jungle Love," "Rock 'n Me," and "Jet Airliner." Don't expect groundbreaking art, expect references to the "pompatus of love" and instant gratification. Requisite listening at the classic-rock keg party. This gold version of the title offers superior sound quality for a higher price than the standard-issue CD. --Neal Weiss

Tracks:

Swingtown
Jungle Love
Take The Money And Run
Rock'n Me
Serenade
True Fine Love
The Stake
The Joker
Fly Like An Eagle
Threshold
Jet Airliner
Dance, Dance, Dance
Winter Time
Wild Mountain Honey

Amazon.com

Greatest-hits collections often deprive the listener of the chance to experience an artist's true scope of talent. Not so with Steve Miller. His strength has always been more in crafting an occasional blast of FM-radio heaven rather than a dozen solid album tracks. Greatest Hits 1974-78 chronicles the best singles from Miller's most successful years, after he veered from Haight-Ashbury bluesy trippiness to more accessible blues-based pop-rock. There are the slippery grooves of "The Joker" and "Fly Like an Eagle," and there's the air-guitar-beckoning riff-rock of "Take the Money and Run," "Jungle Love," "Rock 'n Me," and "Jet Airliner." Don't expect groundbreaking art, expect references to the "pompatus of love" and instant gratification. Requisite listening at the classic-rock keg party. This gold version of the title offers superior sound quality for a higher price than the standard-issue CD. --Neal Weiss

Customer Reviews:

Miller Time!.......2007-07-17

This Steve Miller album gets 5 stars largely on its strength as a compilation. All of the Steve Miller hits you know from the radio are on this disc. It's all you need for an overview of Steve Miller and for slapping in the CD player when you're at a party and want some 70s rock on. This stuff is good, simple, rock music. Steve's vocals are well-backed by the guitars. Very solid album.

Dollars and (common) cents........2007-06-21

I'm going to rate this CD based on a $1 per song cost to total cost for the entire CD (Apple and Rhapsody charge $1 per song).
This is a rather fine example of what a greatest hits CD should be. A bunch of really good songs with not much in the way of "filler".
Tracks 1,2,3,4,8,9 & 11 are the popular classics you'll know from the radio. (Tracks 6,12 & 13 aren't that popular, but they grow on you). So you get $7 worth of essential tracks for the current Amazon price of $8. Not bad. (You can get each of these songs individually from iTunes and save yourself $1). Two other good songs from Steve Miller, that fall outside the 1974-1978 range, are "Abracadabra" and "Living in the USA". Don't go and pay $14 for the "Young Hearts" greatest hits CD just to get these two additional songs. I'd buy each of them on iTunes for $1, if available.
Hope this helps.
Darium

Fly like an Eagle, let you spirit set you free........2007-06-10

A wonderful CD of some of Mr. Miller's best tunes. This is a staple for those times when you want to kick back and relax, and just fade into your memories. Super tunes.

TAKES ME BACK.......2007-05-14

I LOVE IT. I LISTEN AT HOME OR IN THE CAR . IT HAS ALL OF THEIR GREAT SONGS AND IT IS SO MUCH FUN.

Good but Outdated Compilation.......2007-03-12

The Steve Miller Band produced some remarkable pop rock songs in the 1970s. They were sticky, short and sweet tracks that bore the mark of ingenuity and economy. They didn't take up a lot of your time, but they songs stayed in your mind for a long, long time. Indeed, many of these are FM staples down to this day. This 1978 collection is filled with the gems of their mid-70s work. How do the songs rate?

Swingtown- It begins with a fade-in. The bassline we hear becomes the backbone of the song. Harmonies fill the song, as do catchy melodies. An excellent way to kick off the compilation.

Jungle Love- A classic. Just thinking about "Jungle Love" is driving me crazy.

Take the Money and Run- A short little gem that's one my favourite SMB tracks. The off-kilter drum intro is great, as is the zany guitar work. The lyrics themselves tell the story of a robbing couple and the sheriff who's out to get them. Goofy fun all around.

Rock 'N Me- "Keep on 'a rockin' me baby" says it all. Memorable guitar riff, too.

Serenade- Not the best song, but good by most standards.

True Fine Love- Cute ballad with a nice little swing to it.

The Stake- A slow-burning pop classic.

The Joker- This is from 1973, so its inclusion is dubious. But guess what? The song is one of SMB's most enduring and pivotal tracks. If "Maurice" followed by a guitar-made whistling-like sound doesn't ring a bell, there's something wrong with you.

Fly Like an Eagle- A mellow paean to freedom embossed in some fine electronic atomospherics. One SMB's other key songs.

Threshold- Not really a song at all. It's an intro to...

Jet Airliner- Pop rock about being a celebrity. Great chorus.

Dance, Dance, Dance- More country than anything else. Good thing they stuck it at the end, because I always skip this cold fish.

Winter Time- Doesn't do anything for me.

Wild Mountain Honey- Dull.

Now, as you might've noted, a great many of these tracks garnered quite a bit of praise from me. That's because the music itself is quite awesome. However, this set does have some weaknesses:

*Nothing (aside from "The Joker") outside the 74-78 range. That means you don't get any of SMB's early classics or the early 80s cheesball "Abracadabra" track.

*Original issue CD, which means the sound quality is rather low.

*Not a lot of songs. Given that this compilation was originally released on an LP, we can understand why we don't get that much music.

*Better compilations are out there. "Young Hearts" offers more songs than this, and the sound is better. BUT,if you're looking for a concise overview of hits, you might be interested in this one. If you down mind less tracks and low audio quality, this compilation will work for you. It'll probably cost you less, too.

Overall, this compilation was great for its time. But in this day and age, it seems rather outdated. Fantastic tunes, though!

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