| CD REVIEW The Steve Miller Band |
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Band : The Steve Miller Band Follow-up to last year's comeback album (first studio album by the band in this millennium) Bingo by this legendary and popular Rock Blues act! If indeed that album already generated a truly warm reception (it was nominated for a “Rock-Blues Album Of The Year” award by the Blues Foundation), it's on the stages that the band's viability was proven, with numerous sold-out venues throughout North America. For the first time in 25 years Miller even took his band across the Atlantic Ocean for a short (only 7 dates in 11 days) but sweet European tour, during which even Belgium (at Antwerp's Lotto Arena) was visited! Well, as rumoured in my review of Bingo (posted at the same time of the review of colleague Erik on 07/07/2010), when the band went into the studio (George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch) in March 2009, he had enough material with him to record two albums, and a good thing it was too, for it would turn out to be the last recording sessions the band would do with Steve's longtime “partner-in-harmony” (songwriting), harmonica player Norton Buffalo, whom died of cancer in October 2009 (but I already told you that, didn't I?). The thing is, Buffalo is featured quite nicely in the 10 songs on this album, and a couple of songs are even driven on his instrument. Also featured on the album is singer Sonny Charles, whom joined the band in January 2008 after the death of his the Checkmates partner Marvin Smith. Joining Miller himself as singers in the band, Charles shines through a bit more on “Pretty Thing” and album closer “The Walk”. Just like with Bingo, the songs on this album are covers (for instance, “Close Together” is a Jimmy Reed/ Buddy Guy classic which Miller has known since the music first came out when he was just a little kid – other material consulted for the album include the songbooks of the likes of T-Bone Walker, Bobby Bland, Jimmy McCracklin, and Roscoe Gordon), re-arranged to comply to the typical Steve Miller's sound. And truly, when you don't know the original material, you would swear all 10 songs to be originals! Regretfully, I found only one full-length available for your pre-buying pleasures: just go to (www.) stevemillerband.com, and scroll down the page to activate the music player. If that ain't enough, I'm sure your trusted online sales sites (iTunes, Amazon, etc...) will provide you with 30-second excerpts of àll songs to sample! Great album, perfect listening material for the hot summer evenings when we're sitting on the porch sipping at a cool lemonade...definitely one of those albums who'll grow to be a classic in a decade! 90/100 Tony. |