Newly Remastered by Steve Miller and Kent Hertz

The career of Steve Miller and the various incarnations of his band runs parallel with the development of classic American rock music. Texan born Miller migrated to California to play hard electric blues with Barry Goldberg before catching the prevailing psychedelic trend in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Steve Miller Band were pretty much an instant success, partly because they were tighter and more proficient than most of the jam rambling competition. Miller's first albums are masterpieces of the emergent acid rock movement, but they also rely on a cool bedrock of blues structure and some wildly innovative electronic treatments. In the early-70s Miller flirted with a more introspective soulful style before discovering a renewed interest for his work via a string of smash hit singles and albums that turned him from a successful cult figure into a total superstar.

As debuts go Children of the Future was immaculate but follow-up Sailor may be even better. The 1969 albums Brave New World and Your Saving Grace did the trick again while 1970's Number 5 took a side trip to Nashville and marked the end of an era for the group. There now follows a brace of under-appreciated albums: Rock Love (1971) and the utterly beguiling Recall the Beginning...A Journey from Eden (1972). If the former combines slick live electric blues with fiery poppy moments, the latter is an extended amalgamation of Miller soul, enigmatic lyrics, thoughtful arrangements and the best melodic breakdowns known to West Coast music. The evolution of the album on side two is assisted by Jim Keltner's drumming and regular cohort Ben Sidran's ability to fuse his keyboards to Miller's languid singing and immaculate guitar prowess.

2018 marks 50 years since the Steve Miller Band's first two Capitol Records albums were released in 1968, and to commemorate the golden anniversary Miller and Capitol/UMe present remastered reissues of the legendary group's first nine studio albums.