This is SMB's 6th album, and thanks to the tendency of music critics to completely "ape" each other, it is his least popular of their first 10 albums. The album gets a bad rep possibly because it is half studio half live recordings, but it is a diverse album with memorable moments. Don't believe all the negative hype behind this record, it is still classic SMB and should be regarded much more highly than it is. The live songs show the side of Steve Miller that later blues/rock guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan would become famous for. The studio tracks are all strong and the tune "Rock Love" is almost pure pop perfection. I am stunned that none of these tracks were released on SMB's box set a few years back, they really don't deserve to be this obscure. I found a copy on Soulseek and it was ok but had too much noise reduction and not enough stereo separation, so I remastered that copy quite a bit, and re-ripped it to LAME 3.98. The artwork was also tweaked a bit, but comes pretty close to the original. I hope you will agree that this is a good album that does not deserve to remain out of print forever.Rock Love LP in LAME
4 comments:
I've had this Original LP for years... had to special order from "Peaches" record outlet in Hartford CT back in 1975.
The Blues without Blame cut is Steve's Best... SMB fans don't care for it cuz this was before SM turned into a Pop Star... which was too bad, he learned his chops pretty well ( from Les Paul) when he was a kid.
Bluesman_NY
The live material on this album is some of the best live material recorded(IMHO).
I agree that the studio material is also undeserving of the trash written about this album when originally released.
Thanx for this!
Nice BLOG! Keep up the great work!
KDNYfm
Thanks for the comments kidneyaj, it's nice to get encouragement.
I don't understand the negative reviews I've read about this record. I found it in a thrift store in the Catskills and was intrigued as I'd never seen it before. I find it to be the perfect bridge between old Steve and mega-star Steve. Great guitar playing, fine singing. No buyer's remorse with this LP.
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