Children Of The Future
Steve Miller Band
Capitol Records, 1968
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/17/1997
It would be too easy for me to review any of Steve Miller'spopular works. I could write for hours about how The Joker is one of the best rock albums ever made (and Icould argue for weeks with you on just what "the pompatus of love"means). I could relive the days of my youth and listen to Fly LIke An Eaghe or Book Of Dreams, and sing "Jet Airliner" until my wifethreatened me with divorce.
It would also be a cop-out for me to review these - Miller hasbeen in the industry for almost 30 years, and there are many of hisalbums that have been ignored in favor of the radio-friendly pablum(pablum which I love). So, we head real deep into the PierceMemorial Archives (watch that first step, President Clinton) and goto his 1968 debut release, Children Of The Future.
On this album, Miller and his band are torn between two worlds -one of peaceful psychedelia, where everything lives in spaced-outharmony. The other is the rough, pissed-off world of blues. Had hetried to interweave these two worlds in the songs on this album, wewould have a complete mess on our hands. Instead, Miller nicelyseparates the two halves onto each side of the vinyl slab.
The psychedelic first side is easily the hardest to get through,despite it being relatively short - two of the five cuts clock inat less than one minute. But all the songs interweave into a longjam session which, at times, is a bit painful to listen to. Thetitle track holds the most promise, while the last song on theside, "The Beauty Of Time Is That It's Snowing," has a hint of theguitar work that is to come. The rest of the side, however, is bestleft to the ages.
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