The song The Joker was my introduction to Steve Miller in 1973. While it is now almost a standard it marked a change in style and emphasis for the band as it changed from a psychedelic blues band to a slightly quirky pop rock band. Anyone new to the band, familiar with all the later hits and buying the album The Joker on the strength of the title track will be a bit taken bacj by much of the rest of the album. And it is a pity that the song has almost become a standard and its originality and quirkiness now lost.
There is a great aggressive take of Come on In My Kitchen, one of my favourite Robert Johnson songs. Similarly blues inflected and oriented are Steve Miller's own Loving Cup (not to be confused with the Stones' song of the same name) and Evil.
Ironically it is his cover of Jesse Young's Mary Lou that points most directly to where he was going. Some fans fell away but many more followed.
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