THE JOKER
The Joker is the eighth album by Steve Miller Band, released in 1973. The album marked a period of significant change for the group as the band abandoned their psychedelic oriented music for a more melodic, smooth rock/blues sound. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also their first solid commercial success due to the strong radio-play of the title track. The title track took 19 days to record. The album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified Platinum in the United States. The artwork of the album is also considered amongst the greatest; for example Rolling Stone would later rank it as one of the “Top 100 Album Covers Of All Time”. (More from Wikipedia)
With their album The Joker (1974), Steve Miller Band showed a major shift in the music – though they had kept trying new things all along – but this also gained them Top Ten singles and strong album sales that had eluded them with their earlier work. Perhaps to acquaint his new listeners with their earlier work, the opening verse of the title song “The Joker” – “Some people call me the space cowboy / Yeah! Some call me the gangster of love / Some people call me Maurice / ’Cause I speak of the pompatus of love” – cited songs and lyrics from their previous albums; “Gangster of Love” for instance is on the Sailor album. Steve Miller Band is continuing to release albums – about a dozen since this one.
(June 2014)
