Quotable:
“an album rock landmark of the mid-‘70s” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Album Tracks:
Space Intro
Fly Like an Eagle
Wild Mountain Honey
Serenade
Dance, Dance, Dance
Mercury Blues
Take the Money and Run
Rock ‘N’ Me
You Send Me
Blue Odyssey
Sweet Maree
The Window
Total Running Time: 38:09
Sales:
4 million
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4 million
Peak:
3
11
Singles/Hit Songs:
Take the Money and Run (5/8/76) #11 US
Rock ‘N’ Me (8/14/76) #1 US, #11 UK
Fly Like an Eagle (12/18/76) #2 US, #38 AC. Sales: 1 million
Notes: A 30th anniversary edition of the album added original demos of “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Take the Money and Run,” and “Rock ‘N’ Me” as well as “a bonus DVD containing the album in 5.1 sound, a documentary of the making of the album, and a live performance from the Shoreline Ampitheatre on September 17, 2005” (Erlewine).
Review:
“Steve Miller had started to essay his classic sound with The Joker, but 1976’s Fly Like an Eagle is where he took flight, creating his definitive slice of space blues. The key is focus, even on an album as stylishly, self-consciously trippy as this, since the focus brings about his strongest set of songs (both originals and covers), plus a detailed atmospheric production where everything fits” (Erlewine).
“It still can sound fairly dated – those whooshing keyboards and cavernous echoes are certainly of their time – but its essence hasn’t aged, as Fly Like an Eagle drifts like a cool breeze, while Take the Money and Run and Rock ‘N’ Me are fiendishly hooky, friendly rockers” (Erlewine).
“The rest of the album may not be quite up to those standards, but there aren’t any duds, either, as Wild Mountain Honey and Mercury Blues give this a comfortable backdrop, thanks to Miller’s offhand, lazy charm. Though it may not quite transcend its time, it certainly is an album rock landmark of the mid-‘70s and its best moments (namely, the aforementioned singles) are classics of the idiom” (Erlewine).
4 million
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4 million
