The Steve Miller Band struck it big with ‘Abracadabra’. Everyone remembers the song right.. ‘Abra Abracadabra – I wanna reach out and grab ya’. The song went high into the charts, #1 in fact.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Steve Miller Band
ALBUM: Abracadabra
LABEL: Capitol
SERIAL: ST-12216
YEAR: 1982
CD REISSUE: Reissue List ‘Abracadabra’
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Steve Miller – vocals, guitar * John Massaro – guitar * Kenny Lee Lewis – guitar * Norton Buffalo – harmonica * Byron Allred – keyboards * Gerald Johnson – bass * Gary Mallaber – drums, percussion, keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Keeps Me Wondering Why * 02 Abracadabra * 03 Something Special * 04 Give It Up * 05 Never Say No * 06 Things I Told You * 07 Young Girls Heart * 08 Goodbye Love * 09 Cool Magic *10 While I’m Waiting
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The recent 2016 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees saw veteran Steve Miller thrown a gong. For a moment there, I thought he was going to throw it right back at the HoF suits and walk right on out of there! Watching his rant on YouTube reminded me of the time that I (along with many others) listened to his early 80’s material. Not quite in the vein of his superior 60’s and 70’s stuff, but enough for me to piece together a few words about two of his albums during 1982 and 1983.
The Songs
The Steve Miller Band struck it big with ‘Abracadabra’. Everyone remembers the song right.. ‘Abra Abracadabra – I wanna reach out and grab ya’. The song went high into the charts, #1 in fact, for a couple of weeks, only to be toppled, then returning to the top spot once more. For me personally, I don’t think the song is that exceptional.
To me, songs like these represent what the thinking was among the American populous at the time. What was going on in their heads? Who was pervading their headspace like what Donald Trump is doing now in 2016. Surely not Ronald Reagan? A ‘johnny on the spot’ sort of song. You probably remember the video too? With magicians, hats, pretty girls and tricks.. lol! Well, what of the rest of the songs?
Surely this is not a one-hit-wonder? Well, from the history books, it would appear that it was, as the two other singles lifted from the album ‘Give it Up’ and ‘Goodbye Love’ weren’t as successful as the title-track. The opener ‘Keeps Me Wondering Why’ is a decent enough intro, with some insistent synth parts and a catchy chorus, but apart from that, I found the rest of the album to be quite drab, and this didn’t excite me in 1982 as much as Sheriff, Night Ranger and Aldo Nova did.
In Summary
As it is, I have had this album in my CD collection for years but have rarely played it. What does that say? The only good to come of it is that the royalties must be still be rolling in for Miller, so good on him for that. Time to revert to the Steve Miller Band and their 1976 classic’ Fly Like An Eagle’, now there’s a song.
Steve Miller Band on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
