Sometime between late 1969 and early 1970, Jimi Hendrix ordered two left-handed Fender Stratocaster guitars from Manny’s Music in New York. He died before he could take them, tragically. But then Steve Miller (not the evil one) came in one day, being a close friend of Manny’s owner Henry Goldrich. Steve saw the two Stratocasters, one black and one white, and Henry let Steve buy them. But Steve was not left-handed like Hendrix was, so he had to re-string the guitars. And when his eponymous band released their album Fly Like An Eagle in May 1976, Steve was on the cover posing with the black Stratocaster. Sadly, that guitar was stolen soon after the album’s release, but at least he still has the white one. That’s probably a metaphor for something.
Anyway, the album was a huge hit. It was certified four times Platinum in the U.S., off the strength of three hit singles: “Take The Money And Run” (which peaked at #11 on the Hot 100), “Rock’n Me” (which peaked at #1), and the title track (which peaked at #2). I firmly believe that the title track should have been a #1 hit. It’s easily the best of the three singles, not to mention the best song on the whole album. I don’t know why “Rock’n Me” was the #1 hit. Steve Miller did not sound great trying to hit the high notes.
That’s kind of true of the whole album, honestly. Steve in general does not have the most powerful singing voice, which makes me wonder why he did a Sam Cooke cover for the album. Steve did himself no favors reminding people of a better singer. Also, some of Steve’s lyrics are a bit weak, like on “Take The Money And Run.” With that being said, the music on this album is consistently incredible and incredibly varied. There’s everything from blues, country, pop, and even “space rock.”
But to give an honest summary, while there are individual songs that are great (the title track, “Wild Mountain Honey” and “Sweet Maree”), most of the album is nothing special. Not awful, just a bit lacking.
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