jack's soul & rock corner

Steve Miller Band
The Joker (1973)
320

I'll admit up front, "The Joker" was the first song by the SMB I ever heard on the radio. Little did I know (it took a while to grow on me) that Steve Miller would become one of my favorites in the music biz. Stripping his repertoire down to R&B, this was Miller's most "pop"-style album at the time-- but it was only a foreshadowing of things to come. My faves include "Sugar Babe" (why wasn't THIS a big hit?), "Mary Lou" (some girls are just BAD news!), "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" (Be-Bop reinvented for the 70's?), "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash" (a novelty tune that refers back to the previous "Gangster Of Love" and "Space Cowboy"--shades of Cab Calloway) and "The Joker" (which in a more musical way does the same while adding "Enter Maurice" and its twisted lyrics to the mix). FUN stuff! A great example of how persistence pays off-- it "only" took 8 albums before SMB really hit it BIG!

1. Sugar Babe
2. Mary Lou
3. Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
4. Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash
5. The Joker
6. The Lovin' Cup
7. Come On In My Kitchen
8. Evil
9. Something To Believe In

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