Book of Dreams
	Produced by Steve Miller
	Released on May 1977
	US CHART POSITION #2 . . . PLATINUM (6/10/77), 3x PLATINUM (9/16/91) . . . UK CHART POSITION #12
	Find it at GEMM
SO-511630 cover [high resolution photo]

T he stuff that rock ‘n’ roll dreams are made of. Released one year after the hugely successful Fly Like An Eagle, Book of Dreams is the bookend to Steve Miller’s brightest hour. This has everything you could ask from a rock album: classic hooks, mind candy moments and the sense not to take itself too seriously. As I’ve probably written elsewhere, you’d sell your soul to write a song like “Jungle Love” or “Jet Airliner.” Those two tracks alone would have secured Book some small measure of immortality, but this is not a record to be taken out of context: from the opening synthesizer sounds of “Threshold” to the closing chorus of “My Own Space,” it’s all one big, wonderful dream of what a rock record should be. Whether “Winter Time” or “The Stake” might actually be filler ceases to become an issue, since they’re now integral parts of a masterpiece, and we might as well question whether some of the shapes in the background of Mona Lisa aren’t a little poorly drawn. Also included here, and since elevated to the level of classics, are “Swingtown” and (my personal favorite) “True Fine Love.” Yes, you could easily make a case for “My Own Space” as well, but it’s nice that Greatest Hits doesn’t steal all of Book’s thunder. The closing instrumental “Babes In The Wood” is actually a folk rock song more in line with Traffic or Tull than SMB’s earlier work, and has occasioned some listeners to wonder whether Steve Miller Band might not be a prog band dressed in rock clothing. To my mind, this is one of those instances where labeling doesn’t serve any purpose. Prog hardly had a monopoly on medicated minds, and if they chose to sail along with an SMB or Styx or Soft Machine shouldn’t occasion us to whip out our little labeling guns. Besides, the wrong label might turn people off from hearing this record, and I wouldn’t dream of doing that.

SO-511630 back cover	SO-511630 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. THRESHOLD    (Steve Miller)    1:05
2. JET AIRLINER    (Paul Pena)    4:25
3. WINTER TIME    (Steve Miller)    3:10
4. SWINGTOWN    (Steve Miller/Chris McCarty)    3:54
5. TRUE FINE LOVE    (Steve Miller)    2:37
6. WISH UPON A STAR    (Steve Miller)    3:39
7. JUNGLE LOVE    (Lonnie Turner/Greg Douglas)    3:10
8. ELECTRO LUX IMBROGLIO    (Steve Miller)    0:55
9. SACRIFICE    (Curley Cooke/Les Dudek)    5:17
10. THE STAKE    (David Denny)    3:56
11. MY OWN SPACE    (Jason Cooper/Bobby Winkelman)    3:00
12. BABES IN THE WOOD    (Steve Miller)    2:40

CREDITS

BYRON ALLRED -- piano, synthesizer
DAVID DENNY -- rhythm guitar
GREG DOUGLASS -- slide guitar
GARY MALLABER -- drums, percussion
STEVE MILLER -- vocals, guitar, synthesizer, sitar guitar
LONNIE TURNER -- bass
Norton Buffalo -- harmonica (3,10)
Curley Cooke -- acoustic guitar (9)
Les Dudek -- lead guitar (9)
Bob Glaub -- bass (3)
Kenny Johnson -- drums (9)
Joachym Young -- piano (9)
John Palladino -- executive producer
Mike Fusaro -- engineer
Jim Gaines -- mixing
Roy Kohara -- art direction
Kelly and Mouse -- illustration

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