Echoes of an Era

My vinyl copy of this cd was one of only two that I ever wore out. The prosaically titled Number 5 by the Steve Miller Band. Stevie"Guitar" Miller, aka the Gangster of Love, or Maurice, or the Space Cowboy, or the Joker, is one of those rock musicians whose longevity outran his creativity but the first five albums recorded between 1967 and 1969 are fine examples of the kind of magpie experimentation that was coming out of west coast psychedelia. Number 5 was the pinnacle of those albums. Recorded in Nashville, it was originally going to be a return to basic simple country values, semi acoustic with the participation of the Area Code 615 team of studio musicians led by the wonderful harmonica playing of Charlie McCoy. The first half of the album follows that plan and includes just about my all time favourite electric guitar solo on the long fade to "Going to the Country". Miller has always been a fine blues player. The album changed direction radically following the National Guard student murders at Kent and Jackson State universities when they opened fire on Vietnam war protesters. The piece de resistance is the wah wah pedal and echoplex tour de force that is "Jackson-Kent Blues", which eventually subsides with the intriguing reprise of the tune from the carol God Rest You Merry Gentleman which weaves like a ghost through the album at strategic points. "Won't somebody help me 'cos I've got to my shoes, those industrial military complex blues".