There comes a point for some artists when they realize that their old approach to music isn\u2019t working. Either they have gone as far as they can go in their first genre or they are not selling any records and need to pay the rent. As such, a reinvention of sound is necessary, and most often this is a turn toward the commercial.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not talking about artists like Bowie, U2, and R.E.M., who evolved and changed their sound with each album, but more about artists like Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, and Steve Miller, who turned away from their past and toward a friendlier, more accessible sound. In Miller\u2019s case, this meant dropping the psychedelia and blues of his first five albums for a more straightforward, dumbed down, radio-ready approach.<\/p>\n
It worked \u2013 \u201cThe Joker\u201d was his catchiest song to date, featuring all the things that would become a hallmark of Miller\u2019s music in the \u201870s: inane, trite lyrics, a hummable guitar hook, and an easygoing party vibe. The song itself has become stale over the years, not only for its total lack of substance but for words like \u201cReally love your peaches \/ Wanna shake your tree\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m a midnight toker \/ Sure don\u2019t wanna hurt no one.\u201d Where the song succeeds is its establishment of another persona for Miller, as he name-checks two older songs before going on to reveal why he is just a joker. And, of course, nobody has ever figured out what a \u201cpompatus\u201d of love is, so there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n
That song closes out the first side (first half) of the music. Also present on this first side is the awful, overlong \u201cShu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma\u201d and \u201cSugar Babe,\u201d the opener that establishes Miller\u2019s new sound. It\u2019s not as bad as the title cut, but not up to par with what would come later on Fly Like An Eagle<\/i>. Covers of \u201cMary Lou\u201d and \u201cYour Cash Ain\u2019t Nothin\u2019 But Trash\u201d are bluesy songs with all the blues stripped away, sounding like a jokey party boy making fun of his past. I guess it lives up to the title.<\/p>\n
Things improve on the second half. \u201cThe Lovin\u2019 Cup\u201d is closer to a real blues spirit, with harmonica and a shuffling beat; it\u2019s brief but appealing. A live version of \u201cCome On In My Kitchen\u201d seems to have come from the Children Of The Future <\/i>era with pretty good acoustic work from Miller in a solo turn. \u201cEvil\u201d seems to have come from the same concert. This cut is a true blues crawl with more heart than anything here and a decent solo to boot, similar to what the Allman Brothers were doing around the same time but on a much smaller scale, of course.<\/p>\n
The dual nature presents The Joker <\/i>as an obvious transition album, a way to keep the old fans around while bringing new ones on for the new direction. It doesn\u2019t hold up as a great album because of this dichotomy and the piffle on the first side, but all Miller fans should find at least two songs here they will enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5684],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-42802","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-steve-miller-band","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42802","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\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42802"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42802"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}