{"id":40845,"date":"2008-04-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/book-of-dreams-2\/"},"modified":"2008-04-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-20T00:00:00","slug":"book-of-dreams-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/book-of-dreams-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Of Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Classic rock fans will never dispute that Steve Miller is one of the all-time greatest guitarists. On <i>Book Of Dreams<\/i>, his tenth studio album, Miller stretches a bit by incorporating the synthesizer into his band\u2019s music formula. While there are plenty of straightforward rock tunes to enjoy, there are also some envelope-pushing moments to savor. Making the strongest impression of all is the mind-bending opener \u201cThreshold.\u201d This otherworldly instrumental piece serves as an intro to the hit single \u201cJet Airliner,\u201d which was the first song I ever heard that contained a curse word. I\u2019m sure you remember the immortal line, \u201cI don\u2019t wanna get caught up in any of that funky shit goin\u2019 down in the city\u2026\u201d\u00a0 <o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">1977 was indeed a turning point for music. Punk and new wave were about to give disco the heave-ho, and bands like ABBA and Fleetwood Mac finally had a #1 song here in the States. Classic rock was given a facelift, too, with new releases from the likes of Heart and the Steve Miller Band. What made these two acts particularly noteworthy is the fact that they injected something new and exciting into the floundering folk rock genre. Electronic elements particularly helped to flesh out Steve Miller\u2019s sound, while Heart\u2019s <st1:city><st1:place>Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> sisters showed what you could really do with stringed instruments. Most of this groundbreaking material was fresh and upbeat, two essential components for any record to get played on the radio and reminiscent of Miller\u2019s previous #1\u2019s hits \u201cThe Joker\u201d and \u201cRock \u2018<st1:place>N Me.<\/st1:place>\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The more adventurous souls listening to <i>Book Of Dreams<\/i> will discover lesser-known tracks like the dreamer\u2019s zone-out anthem \u201cWish Upon A Star\u201d and the unexpected thunderous rocker \u201cThe Stake.\u201d Partying teens, at least back in my day, also couldn\u2019t seem to get enough of the edgy \u201cJet Airliner\u201d or the live staple \u201cJungle Love.\u201d If you\u2019re looking for the perfect driving song to turn up the volume to, then \u201cSwingtown\u201d is it. As a matter of fact, it was a car commercial that helped to make that tune so popular. As far as the album\u2019s slow songs go, \u201cWintertime\u201d is a haunting ballad as chilly as its title suggests, while \u201cSacrifice\u201d is one of those tracks that isn\u2019t in much of a hurry to go anywhere. It\u2019s a nice change of pace, however, and helps to break things up a bit.<o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There were two other instrumental pieces tacked on to the second half of the album, but neither one of them really amounts to much because of their brevity. The strangely titled \u201cElectro Lux Imbroglio\u201d is nothing more than an unnecessary intro to \u201cSacrifice,\u201d and \u201cBabes In The Wood\u201d comes eerily close to sounding like \u201cNorwegian Wood\u201d by The Beatles. Nevertheless, the many standout tracks more than make up for such minor bumps in the road, and even though Steve Miller didn\u2019t get to #1 again until 1982\u2019s \u201cAbracadabra,\u201d <i>Book Of Dreams <\/i>still holds up as his finest moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5684],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-40845","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-steve-miller-band","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40845"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}