Steve Miller Band

Attention fellow classic rock fans (and custom van enthusiasts): we are old. Chances are good that a 30-year anniversary reissue for Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle might make us feel the lines in our smile. But the Mill's synth-laden tailgate party songs still rock like they did in 1976 and the remixed surround sound will feather your hair. Bonus cuts include a funked-up title track, a twang folk version of "Rock 'N Me" and a demo of "Take the Money and Run" wherein Miller mashed the lyrics into the instrumentation of "The Joker."

Miller's eccentricity--James Cotton harp amid the Sam Cooke amid the technologized ditties--has no center or even epicenter except for the pastoral antimaterialism so common among exurbanite rock tycoons. But in the end his borrowed hooks and woozy vocal charm are an irresistible formula. Finds good covers, too--"Mercury Blues" (copyright 1970 by K.C. Douglas, whoever he is) fits right in. (Grade - B+)