Steve Miller Band Album: «Greatest Hits 1974-78»

- Customers rating: (4.4 of 5)
- Title:Greatest Hits 1974-78
- Release date:1990-10-25
- Type:Audio CD
- Label:Capitol
- UPC:077774610124
- 1 Swingtownimg 3:57
- 2 Jungle Loveimg 3:08
- 3 Take The Money And Runimg 2:51
- 4 Rock 'N Meimg 5:11
- 5 Serenadeimg 3:12
- 6 True Fine Loveimg 2:40
- 7 The Stakeimg 4:00
- 8 The Jokerimg 4:05
- 9 Fly Like An Eagleimg 4:43
- 10 Thresholdimg 1:07
- 11 Jet Airlinerimg 4:26
- 12 Dance, Dance, Danceimg 2:18
- 13 Winter Timeimg 3:13
- 14 Wild Mountain Honeyimg 4:51
If I was Steve Miller, i would have been appalled with the way the record company edited down all of these great tracks. What the heck were you thinking Capitol? Every song is edited even the classics like "the joker" and "jet airliner". The best part of "jet airliner" is the awesome opening guiitar solo, well thanks to Capitol Records they edited most of it out.It sounds terrible.
Don't waste your money on this highly edited album.
If you want Steve Miller Band's greatest hits, I suggest you get
Steve Miller Band "young Hearts"-the complete Greatest hits.
Yes It might cost you a few bucks more BUT you get the full length versions of all songs and it is digitally remastered in stereo
The Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-78 is a lively and catchy collection of blues-based rock songs from the mid- to late 1970's. The fastest upbeat music (Swingtown comes to mind) lends itself to some great dancing. This musical period took place after front man Miller's bluesy days of Haight-Ashbury, and it was when some of his most popular blues-rock music, such as "The Joker" and "Fly Like An Eagle," became popular hits.
Some of the tunes on this CD are catchy; you will start singing along and moving with the music of the blues-based pop rock. For me, this album brings back a time when a lot of great bands such as The Eagles, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and more entered the music scene.
My favorites on this CD are Swingtown, The Joker, Fly Like An Eagle, Dance Dance Dance, and Wild Mountain Honey. Dance, Dance, Dance makes me think of a time when my granddad would take my grandmother to a country barn dance. Wild Mountain Honey is my favorite. When I listen to it, I can escape the daily routine of life in the big city and my mind floats away to the Smoky Mountains of my youth.
If you like good blues-based rock that brightens your mood and makes you want to dance, Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-78 is worth purchasing and adding to your audio library.
Steve Miller only had two albums - "Fly Like an Eagle" and "Book of Dreams" - plus one song (The Joker) that comprise this collection. Still though, it's worth it. Just like Creedence Clearwater before him, he was a singles artist, so a Greatest Hits is perfect. It's filled with classic mid '70s rock that you'd have to be crazy not to love.
1) Swingtown -- Not my favorite, but still a great long, slow good time rocker.
2) Jungle Love -- After the 'Space Invaders' intro, this becomes one of the harder rocking tracks, and a very fun, uptempo one at that.
3) Take The Money and Run -- A somewhat bluesy pop/rocker with a great story about 'Two young lovers' who go on a crime spree and 'Billy Mack', the Texas detective who does his best to capture them. It plays like a very interesting episode of "COPS."
4) Rock 'N Me -- Another blues tinged poppy rocker, this time about girls. A more typical rock & roll subject. Despite the overplaying of this one, it's a classic I'll never get sick of.
5) Serenade -- Not a great tune, but far from bad. This isn't as pop as some of the others. A slight throwback to his earlier pre-radio days, with it's spacey mid tempo beat.
6) True Fine Love -- The extremely underrated hit that got away! A breezy, happy, poppy 70's spirited rock tune about simply 'Finding me a true, fine love' and settling down. I'll just say that if you're mad before you hear this song, by the time it's over, you'll be a little less ticked.
7) The Stake -- The blues kick in even more here. Another one that could've fit on Steve's earlier albums. On it's own, it's okay, but I just like the previous song too much that it seems boring coming right after it.
8) The Joker -- SM's first hit, and still a rock radio staple. Honestly, who has never heard this humorous, easygoing rock tune?
9) Fly Like an Eagle -- A long, spacey rocker with a lighter tone. Also, one of his biggest hits, and as of lately, I'll always think of the Postal service when I hear it.
10) Threshold -- Just the instrumental, synthesized opening to...
11) Jet Airliner -- Which is one of my all time favorite songs, no kidding. The story of a guy who wants to 'Be movin' on' but keeps getting drawn back home. It's set to a happy, slightly hard edged rock beat, which seems to be a precursor to 80's rock. Put simply, if you like stuff like Journey, Foreigner or Genesis, you'll definately love this.
12) Dance Dance Dance -- The quality of the album drops here. By no means is this a bad song, but it's decidedly much slower paced, and almost sounds like straight country music. It's still an okay, fun listen.
13) Winter Time -- Another slow pop tune which really recalls the space/blues of the early Steve Miller. Not terrible, but far from great.
14) Wild Mountain Honey -- Very similar to the last song, but even more mystical and slow. Still passable, though.
The only flaws with this collection is including a couple lackluster tunes toward the end. Also, Steve's early 80's hits "Heart Like A Wheel" "Give it Up" and especially "Abracadabra" are missing, obviously, since this collection came out before those songs did.
That's still hardly a detractor from one of the best classic rock collections of all time. One that's fairly timeless for its age.
You love Steve Miller, your vinyl is wore out. Why not get the greatest hits on CD? They put the old radio cuts on this release. "Take the Money and Run" is shortened. And "Jet Airliner" is censored. Did the producers think we wouldn't notice?
Finally after some twenty odd years, Steve Miller has updated this collection. The new CD, Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits contains virtually everything on this album and more!
It goes back before 1974 and includes Living In the USA and Space Cowboy, then moves past 1978 to include Abracadbra and Wide River.
You can find the new compilation by entering B0000C0FEQ in the Amazon.com Search field. Yeah, it costs a coupla bux more.
It is SO worth it.