Listen: Quicksilver Girl / The Steve Miller Band SteveMillerQuicksilverGirl.mp3

Listen: Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around / The Steve Miller Band SteveMillerDontLetNobodyTurnYouAround.mp3

Listen: Going To The Country / The Steve Miller Band SteveMillerGoingToTheCountry.mp3

They keep coming to me: west coast bands that were guilty pleasures.

Let’s see, there’s Spirit, Mother Earth, Country Joe & The Fish and also The Steve Miller Band. Even the progressive bands tried making commercial singles at the start. Maybe it was record label pressure, maybe not. But they did it. No question, Steve Miller had a knack for hooks. Even later singles, like ‘The Joker’ and ‘Take The Money And Run’ were each like a three minute oasis on Top 40. The above earlier ones never got AM play, but the underground FM’s gave them exposure. Perhaps the role of the 7″ then was to focus the DJ’s on the more pop leaning songs. Seems likely. ‘Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around’ has a guitar line that replicates the vocal line identically. Canned Heat, and a lot of the ‘blues’ bands did this. You just don’t hear that anymore – which is probably for the better. ‘Going To The Country’ was typical lyrical stuff in the late 60′s. Oh dear me, the city is just too much – let’s get out into nature and, uh, be free. Fair enough, it made for something to sing about. Again, guilty pleasure.