Recorded live between 1973 & 1976. The title of this CD should actually be called "Steve Miller Band Live". As for the quality of these live performances, they aren't bad, and credit should be given for the inclusion of early Miller material like "Going to Mexico," "Going to the Country,"and "Seasons," making this of interest to Miller fans.

Bingo! is the Steve Miller Band's first studio record in 17 years. Thematically, it's a look back at the the electric blues and R&B that influenced him as a young man. Issued on his own Space Cowboy imprint, is also the final recorded appearance of blues harmonica great Norton Buffalo who passed away in 2009. Blues classics by B.B. King, Lowell Fulsom, Otis Rush, Howlin' Wolf, Earl King, Jimmy Reed, and Jessie Hill are here, along with three selections by contemporary bluesman Jimmie Vaughan. What all of these tracks all have in common is Miller's signature approach: he is a stellar guitarist who has no need to show off, a tight arranger, and an intuitive modern producer (with help from Andy Johns).These 14 tunes (all under four minutes) actually extend the electric blues tradition…

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is best known today for a string of (mainly) mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock radio, as well as several earlier acid rock albums. Steve Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band’s landmark contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to 'Steve Miller Band'. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album Children of the Future. They went on to produce albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, Rock Love and more. The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974-1978, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. They continued to produce more albums and in 2014, Steve Miller Band is touring with the rock band Journey.

The two discs of Steve Miller Band: On Tour 1973-1976 feature two Steve Miller Band concerts recorded in 1973 and 1976, respectively, by (and for eventual broadcast on) the infamous King Biscuit Flower Hour. The soundboard recordings are pristine, with each bandmember occupying an equal part of the spectrum. The 1973 incarnation, captured at Shady Grove in Washington, D.C., still holds some connection to the earlier, more blues-based years of the band. As such, the disc contains a good deal of blues-rock jamming, much of which is admirably tight, though it falls prey to some of the era's excesses. Also contained is an early version of "Fly Like an Eagle," which Miller road-tested in several versions before setting it to wax. Following extensive touring around that period, Miller took an extended hiatus from the road, during which time he recorded both Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams, what would prove to be his two most successful albums. Following the recording of those albums, Miller took to the road again, with a new band featuring Gary Mallaber, Lonnie Turner, Norton Buffalo, David Denny, and Byron Allred. The music is different, too. The blues influence is still there, but the band is sleeker and more modern.

Coming off one of the biggest hit singles of his career (the modern rocker "Abracadabra"), Steve Miller seemed re-invigorated, as proven by 1983's Steve Miller Band Live set. Although the majority of the album's 10 tracks are renditions of past classics, Miller fans will undoubtedly enjoy spirited versions of such rockers "The Joker," "Jet Airliner," "Take the Money and Run," "Mercury Blues," "Gangster of Love," and the aforementioned "Abracadabra." Miller and his band choose not to stray too far from the song's original structures, but the audience's presence adds a noticeable sense of electricity and excitement.

Greatest Hits 1974-1978 collects the majority of Steve Miller's biggest hits - "The Joker," "Take the Money and Run," "Rock 'n Me," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Jet Airliner," "Jungle Love," "Swingtown" - plus seven album tracks that received a fair amount of airplay on album rock radio. The collection only covers a total of three albums (The Joker, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams), with the latter two providing the bulk of the material. Because of this, "Living in the USA," one of Miller's biggest hits of the late '60s and early '70s, isn't included, but it's hardly missed, since all of his other hits of the '70s are included. The thoroughness of Greatest Hits 1974-1978 makes it an excellent introduction to Miller, and for many casual fans, it also means that they can contain their Steve Miller collection to one disc.

The Best of 1968-1973 is a solid collection that features many of the highlights from Steve Miller's first five years of recording. This compilation isn't as consistently thrilling as Greatest Hits 1974-1978, and it's not as sharply assembled as 1972's Anthology, but it remains an adequate overview of Miller's early records, especially for fans only familiar with Greatest Hits.

Most definitely a part of the late-'60s West Coast psychedelic blues revolution that was becoming hipper than hip, Steve Miller was also always acutely aware of both the British psychedelic movement that was swirling in tandem and of where the future lay, and how that would evolve into something even more remarkable. The result of all those ideas, of course, came together on 1968's magnificent Sailor LP. What was begun on Children of the Future is more fully realized on Sailor, most notably on the opening "Song for Our Ancestors," which begins with a foghorn and only gets stranger from there. Indeed, the song precognizes Pink Floyd's 1971 opus "Echoes" to such an extent that one wonders how much the latter enjoyed Miller's own wild ride…

It is here, on this 1977 blockbuster, that Steve Miller shored up his "Space Cowboy" moniker and cosmic persona: from the winged horse on the album cover to a judicious smattering of synthesizers in the music, Book of Dreams bridged the gap between blues-rock and the indulgences of prog rock. Things do go awry when Renaissance Faire whimsy takes over clunkers like "Wish Upon a Star" and "Babes in the Wood," but luckily the balance of the record offers a satisfying blend of meaty blues and country riffs and tasteful atmospherics. The well-known suspects include "Swingtown," "Winter Time," and "Threshold," with relatively straightforward rock & boogie highlights coming by way of "True Fine Love," "Jet Airliner," and "Jungle Love"…

Let Your Hair Down is a follow-up to Steve Miller's Bingo! from 2010, and the tracks for this new release were recorded at the same sessions at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch studio with Andy Johns engineering and co-producing, and like Bingo!, Let Your Hair Down finds Miller re-exploring his Chicago blues roots. Miller and his band have always included a few old blues numbers in their concerts, so these are road-tested gems that are obviously close to Miller's heart and soul, and they include the last recordings of Miller's longtime collaborator (and harmonica whiz) Norton Buffalo, who died of lung cancer in 2009 shortly after these sessions. Miller has always had the ability to adapt blues forms into his pop work, but this outing, like Bingo!, is a full-fledged blues record…