Steve Miller Band

"Take the Money and Run," the winking title of one of Steve Miller's '70s megahits, seems to sum up the blithely commercial drive of this genial radio artiste, but his early work was trailblazing -- and even his trifles sound great in the car. Forming his first professional outfit in San Francisco in 1966, the Wisconsin-born guitarist/singer deftly sidestepped the flashier excesses of shopworn psychedelia and concentrated on clean rockers and supple blues. Helped out greatly by Boz Scaggs on vocals and guitar, "Living in the U.S.A.," "Quicksilver Girl," "Dime-a-Dance Romance" and the bulk of Children of the Future and Sailor are steady, effortless rock & roll. (Living in the U.S.A. packages the two records together.) Anthology is also pretty terrific: "Space Cowboy," "Seasons," "I Love You," and "My Dark Hour," an interesting, heavy thumper featuring Paul McCartney, are melodi-cally astute and very catchy. The collection also renders Number Five, Rock Love, and Recall the Begin-ning . . . A Journey From Eden (the last two out of print) unnecessary.

With its ultraclean production and the absolute efficiency of its songs, The Joker was a record made for radio success -- and it reaped it in spades. The title track has become Miller's signature tune, and it shows his complete mastery of the single: punchy bass, a nifty guitar motif, and witty lyrics delivered with laconic assurance. His next two records, Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams, form, with The Joker, the essential big-time Miller trilogy. As Stephen King does with horror stories, so Miller does with Top 40 rock; that is, he delivers, in such hits as "Rock'n Me," "Jet Airliner," and "Jungle Love," surefire pleasures, triumphs not of originality but of craft.

With infinitesimal shifts in tone and style, Miller continued in the vein set by those three albums. "Abracadabra" was a tasty smash, even if the album that bore its title was fairly perfunctory. Only on the deleted Italian X-Rays did the formula show signs of real exhaustion; a ditty like "Bongo Bongo" sounds like Miller parodying himself. Miller's gift -- and it's a subtle one -- is making the familiar sound fresh. Miller's most recent album of new material, 1993's inconsequential Wide River, is no longer available. But his oeuvre has been satisfyingly gathered on the 1994 box set Steve Miller Band, compiled by the artist himself, and 2003's Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits, a solid single-disc sampler. (PAUL EVANS/BUD SCOPPA)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide