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Following the 2019 box set Welcome to the Vault, Steve Miller has dipped into his archives once again for a new release. On Friday, May 14, Sailor/Capitol/UMe will release Steve Miller Band Live! Breaking Ground: August 3, 1977, a seventeen-song set, on CD, double vinyl, and digital formats. The accompanying video of the full performance will stream on Amazon Prime Video's The Coda Collection, a channel dedicated to music documentaries and concert films.
Breaking Ground chronicles The Steve Miller Band as they transitioned from playing small venues such as theatres and ballrooms to arenas and stadiums. 1973's The Joker yielded the chart-topping title track while the band took their music to the next level with 1976's Fly Like an Eagle. The quadruple-platinum LP boasted the hit title track (No. 2 on the Hot 100) as well as "Rock'n Me" (No. 1) and "Take the Money and Run" (No. 11). The SMB's most recent album at the time of the concert, May 1977's Book of Dreams, continued the winning streak with "Jet Airliner," "Swingtown," and "Jungle Love." Audiences were growing bigger with each successive album, and so was the sound of the band.
The concert was recorded at Landover, Maryland's Capital Centre (built in 1973, demolished in 2002) on multi-track tape and newly mixed and mastered for this release by Miller and his longtime collaborator, engineer Kent Hertz. The concert featured Miller on guitar, harmonica and lead vocals supported by Norton Buffalo on harmonica and background vocals, Lonnie Turner on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, David Denny on guitar and background vocals, Greg Douglass on guitar, and Byron Allred on keyboards.
"This show from August of 1977 at the Cap Center in Landover, Maryland, captures the band right at the peak after The Joker, and in the middle of Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams, a stream of hits," Miller commented in the press release. "We decided to call it Breaking Ground because that's exactly what we were doing." The CD and LP offer new liner notes by David Fricke who writes, "Breaking Ground captures the Steve Miller Band on stage in one of their biggest years, 1977. They were at a perfect crossroads of psychedelic zeal and progressive, popcraft while staying true to Miller's first love, the blues."
Look for Steve Miller Band Live! Breaking Ground: August 3, 1977 on May 14 from Sailor/Capitol/UMe. You'll find the track listing and pre-order links below.
Steve Miller Band Live! Breaking Ground: August 3, 1977 (Sailor/Capitol/UMe, 2021)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Living In The U.S.A.
- Space Cowboy
- Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
- Come On In My Kitchen
- Wild Mountain Honey
- The Window/Winter Time
- The Stake
- Mercury Blues
- Serenade
- Take The Money And Run
- Jet Airliner
- Space Intro
- Fly Like An Eagle
- Rock'n Me
- The Joker
- Seasons
- So Long Blues
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should be a great live collection. But what is with that terrible cover art? Looks very low budget. Like a title you would see in the $5 dump bin at Walmart or at Big Lots.
The picture is also not from the time when the concert was recorded but from a previous year.
Why not release a dvd of the show?
i never got steve miller. his first 4 lps were spotty but with number 5 he hit bottom. from then on he became so middle of the road he made bachman turner overdrive sound like rock gods.
Don't buy the record then.
Love Steve Miller. His music has been a huge part of my life. I will definitely buy this set.
I recently saw him in Lake Tahoe and Sacramento he is still rocking.
Great band!! I listen to Steve Miller Band just about every day. Can't wait for the release day.
Sailor was one of the strongest, strangest records made in the 60s. (It’s like he created ambient music with Song for Our Ancestors.) Miller is a great guitarist and songwriter who doesn’t always get the respect he deserves. Saw his last tour with Frampton and it was great. I look forward to this release.
This concert had a much different setlist:
Swingtown
True Fine Love
Jungle Love
Living in the U.S.A.
Gangster of Love
Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
Come On in My Kitchen
Wild Mountain Honey
The Window
Winter Time
(Byron Allred Synthesizer Jam)
The Stake
Mercury Blues
Serenade
Take the Money and Run
Jet Airliner
Encore
Fly Like an Eagle
Rock'n Me
Encore2
The Joker
Seasons
So Long Blues
Mercury Blues
No DVD? I don't get it.