The Joker
	Produced by Steve Miller
	Released on October 1973
	US CHART POSITION #2 . . . GOLD RECORD (12/6/73), PLATINUM (7/8/87)
	Find it at GEMM
SMAS-11235 cover [high resolution photo]

I usually waffle between whether this is a good album or a great one. No waffling on the albums after (so maybe The Joker is merely good) but this is still markedly better than the albums before it (if you agree that Eagles and Dreams were his creative peak). The title track is perfect, timeless and flat-out charming; “Something To Believe In” only slightly less so (shades of “My Dark Hour”). The rest of the record is a mixed bag, some of it pointing to the road ahead (“Sugar Babe”), some to the road behind (“Come On In My Kitchen,” “Evil”). Not owning all the albums in between, I don’t want to label this a transitional record. The early albums (I’ve heard two) were psychedelic blues rock experiments; the new wrinkle in the onion is the laidback country-rock posture of “The Joker” and “Sugar Babe.” Miller also wrote some nice riffs for this album, with “Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma” and “Sugar Babe” a sign of things to come. I guess my knock on The Joker is that it doesn’t provide a true point of contemplation; as you can see, my gaze goes backwards or forwards, never regarding this album as a destination unto itself. In fact, don’t expect any help from critical quarters here: some people love this record, some hate it, some (myself included) rendered ineffectual by our own ambivalence. If you enjoyed Eagle and Dreams (and who didn’t?) and want “The Joker” at your beck and call as well, buy Greatest Hits. But if your curiosity runs deeper than that, you’ll draw more from The Joker than the post-Dreams landscape.

SMAS-11235 inner gatefold	SMAS-11235 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. SUGAR BABE    (Steve Miller)    4:32
2. MARY LOU    (Hawkins/Magill)    2:24
3. SHU BA DA DU MA MA MA MA    (Steve Miller)    5:40
4. YOUR CASH AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT TRASH    (Charles Calhoun)    3:14
5. THE JOKER    (Steve Miller)    4:26
6. LOVIN' CUP    (Steve Miller)    2:10
7. COME ON IN MY KITCHEN    (Woody Payne)    3:58
8. EVIL    (Steve Miller)    4:35
9. SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN    (Steve Miller)    4:40

CREDITS

GERALD JOHNSON -- bass
JOHN KING -- drums
STEVE MILLER -- guitars, vocals & harmonica
DICKIE THOMPSON -- organ & clavinet
Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel (9)
Lonnie Turner -- bass (8)
Jay Ranellucci -- engineer, mixing
Greg MacCarthy -- engineer (7,8)
Norman Seeff -- photography, design
John Hoernie -- art director
John Van Hamersveld -- design

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