Living in the 20th Century
	Produced by Steve Miller
	Released on November 1986
	US CHART POSITION #65
	Find it at GEMM
PJ-12445 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 19.0: M M GOOD. Clapton gets Dali’d, Miller gets Kafka’d and I get the feeling that the package designers don’t even listen to these records. Maybe they got Jimmy Reed confused with John Reed. Anyway, the cover is my only complaint with Living in the 20th Century. This album is what critics call a “return to form.” Not a return to the molten middle (Eagle, Dreams), but to the cooler crust around it (Joker, Abracadabra). Living in the 20th Century avoids the overproduction, synthesizers and thin original material of the last few SMB albums. The recording is spacious, open, relaxed, supple, I’m starting to describe a wine here but you get the picture, right? Miller has always been at his best when he’s being laidback, earnest and bluesy, as he is on 20th Century. Steve is at the center of the music, with backing from familiar faces (Gary Mallaber, Kenny Johnson, Norton Buffalo, Greg Douglass) plus a few new ones (including Kenny G!). (I just like exclamation points.) (And parentheses, apparently.) The songs are split between two different sides; the first features mostly original rock music (“I Want To Make The World Turn Around” and the instrumental “Slinky” are standouts), while the second side focuses on the blues (including two more Jimmy Reed tunes and the original “Behind The Barn”). It seems like a long time since Steve Miller has played the blues. Given what a natural setting it is for his talents, you have to wonder what took him so long. Together with Abracadabra, this is one of the few SMB albums worth salvaging from the 80s.

PJ-12445 back cover	PJ-12445 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. NOBODY BUT YOU    (Steve Miller)    4:01
2. I WANT TO MAKE THE WORLD TURN AROUND    (Steve Miller)    4:23
3. SLINKY    (Steve Miller)    2:40
4. LIVING IN THE 20TH CENTURY    (Steve Miller)    2:58
5. MAELSTROM    (Greg Douglass)    4:03
6. I WANNA BE LOVED (BUT BY ONLY YOU)    (Jimmy Reed)    2:23
7. MY BABE    (Willie Dixon)    2:47
8. BIG BOSS MAN    (Luther Dixon/Al Smith)    2:32
9. CARESS ME BABY    (Jimmy Reed)    3:20
10. AIN'T THAT LOVIN' YOU BABY    (Jimmy Reed)    2:47
11. BEHIND THE BARN    (Steve Miller)    3:36

CREDITS

STEVE MILLER -- guitars, vocals, solo slide guitar, bass, percussion, harmonica, engineer
GERALD JOHNSON -- bass
GARY MALLABER -- drums, percussion, wood blocks
Byron Allred -- strings, keyboards (2,5)
Norton Buffalo -- harmonica (10,11)
Charles Calimise -- bass (10,11)
James Cotton -- harmonica (11)
Greg Douglass -- solo guitar (5)
Les Dudek -- dobro guitar (11)
Kenny G -- sax solo (2)
Kenny Johnson -- drums (10,11)
Kenny Lee Lewis -- bass
Lonnie Turner -- bass (5)
Waheem Young -- piano (11)
David Cole -- mixing, engineer
Rick Fisher -- engineer
Mike Fusarro -- engineer & mixing (5)
Jim Gaines -- engineer & mixing (10,11)
Kosh -- art direction & design

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