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Steve Miller had been recording since the late 60’s forming
the first version of the Steve Miller Band with fellow musicians
such as Boz Scaggs. By the time of 1973’s “The Joker” Miller
began a break through to a new broader audience. Miller took
the unusual tact of taking a break. He went back to the studio
and worked on new material for a year and a half. The resulting
album “Fly Like an Eagle” became Miller’s biggest album establish
his unique brand of space rock. The album generated 3 top
ten singles and established Miller as a major artist during
the 70’s.
Image quality on the documentary and concert are both
extremely good. The former because it’s a more controlled
environment looks better but even the concert looks extremely
sharp. Audio for both is extremely good as well. --- Special
Features: Featuring the original album remixed and remastered
for stereo as well as 5.1 Dolby Digital some of the production
touches might be a bit dated but the album itself still sounds
terrific and is among Miller’s best albums. The stereo remix
features three bonus tracks an early version of “Fly Like
an Eagle” from 1973, “Take the Joker and Run” another early
track which features lyrics from one song with music from
the other” and a slow version of “Rockin’ n Me” from 1976.
***
The only flaw is that the 5.1 version of “Fly Like an
Eagle” is missing the bulk of the “Space Intro”. I’m a bit
surprised that this was overlooked during the mastering phase.
In addition to the original album we get a DVD with a 30 minute
documentary on the making of the album. Featuring San Francisco
Chronicle music critic Joel Selvin interviewing Miller we
get to hear bits of early demos for the album (that Miller
has downloaded to his iPod) as well as get to see vintage
footage of Miller and his band performing. There’s also footage
from the concert included on the same disc of Miller performing
with his current band from a 2005 concert performance. Guests
include Joe Satriani, George Thorogood and Norton Buffalo
performing with Miller.
Final Words:
Still one of Miller’s crowning achievements “Fly Like
an Eagle” has never sounded better (well the DCC version mastered
by Steve Hoffman sounds terrific as well) on CD. Although
the 5.1 mix on the DVD disc is flawed because “Space Intro”
isn’t included (although it’s listed it’s the brief transition
between that song and “Fly Like an Eagle” that is included).
Hopefully later pressings will have this issue corrected.
The DVD is a nice plus with great material on it and behind-the-scenes
stories that fans will appreciate. When Paul McCartney reissued
his “Band on the Run” album a number of years ago this is
how he should have done it. Even the Pink Floyd reissue of
“Dark Side of the Moon” should have been put together with
as much care as went into this package.
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