ARTIST: Steve Miller Band 
TITLE: Brave New World
YEAR RELEASED: 1969
CHART ACTION: #22
SINGLES: My Dark Hour (#126)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Space Cowboy.
LINEUP: Steve Miller, Lonnie Turner, Ben Sidran, Tim Davis. Glyn Johns plays a lot on the album, and Paul McCartney famously contributed to one song.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Shedding the overt psychedelic sound towards a more straight-forward blues rock foundation.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Two members left the Steve Miller Band after 1968, including Box Scaggs, and Miller re-focused his work more towards blues and rock, and came up with a winning album.
“Seasons” and “Celebration Song” still have some of a hippie vibe but definitely more in a traditional rock (and folk for “Seasons”) feel, and “Space Cowboy” became a Miller signature and it’s truly where the band gels, but the final track – a true duet between Miller and Paul McCartney – is the highlight.
“My Dark Hour” not only introduced a very familiar guitar riff to the Miller lexicon, but the presence of McCartney forced Miller tor really up his game, which resulted in a fantastic performance. This is a solid album from beginning to end – worth the exploration for sure.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: “My Dark Hour” came about after McCartney was the sole member of the Beatles left after a huge argument regarding their management. Miller was in the studio as well, and they started to jam.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: A-: A gem of an album that more Miller fans should know.
