Fly Like an Eagle (30th Anniversary Special Limited Edition)

iTunes Review

With his 1973 album The Joker, Steve Miller transformed his blues-based rock sound into a compact FM radio punch. In light of his success, Miller spent three years building his own recording studio and laying down the tracks that would comprise his next two studio albums, the 1976 classic Fly Like An Eagle and 1977’s equally impressive Book of Dreams. Both albums established Miller as a master pop craftsman, and his tight, in-the-pocket rhythms, his seamless layers of guitar and harmonies, and his lazy stoner lyrics made for immediate radio hits that flew over the airwaves as effortlessly as a Frisbee. The title track with its space effects and trippy keyboards practically invents a warm weather breeze, while the album’s other hits, “Take the Money and Run” and “Rock n’ Me” build on driving rhythms and absurd rhymes (“Taxes” and “Facts is” anyone?). Those obvious crowd-pleasers aside, the album has many other essential stops, such as the sonically lush keyboard noodling of “Wild Mountain Honey,” the smooth organ moves of the space-aged “The Window,” the sincere Sam Cooke cover, “You Send Me” and the tight dance grooves of the R&B-based “Serenade” and countrified “Dance, Dance, Dance.” The 30th Anniversary Edition features stunning, evolutionary demos of “Take the Joker and Run” (an early draft of “Take the Money and Run” that recalls “The Joker” in its pacing) and a slow, completely different take on “Rock n’ Me.”