Various Artists: Fly Like An Eagle – An All Star Tribute To Steve Miller Band

Before we get started here, let's rewind a few months to the Nektar covers album A Spoonful Of Time, also released on Purple Pyramid and also with ex-Yes man Billy Sherwood having a strong say in the end results. In short the results were disappointing verging on awful. Well, Fly Like An Eagle – An All Star Tribute To Steve Miller Band is basically a sequel, gathering together a huge array of progressive and melodic talent to somehow suck all the prickly life out of one of the most enigmatic songwriters the charts has seen. I mean even if you're not a huge Steve Miller fan (and I'm not particularly) it is hard to mistake his compositions for anyone else's, however the versions presented on Fly Like An Eagle (which doesn't really explain why there's an oddly robotic winged horse on the cover...) could be written by anyone. A flick through the liner notes reveals that they are in the main the handy work of Sherwood, with him laying down the majority of the drums, keys, rhythm guitars and bass across the album and it has to be said that for an artist whose CV is exemplary and whose solo work is universally excellent, what is laid bare here is thoroughly uninspired stuff. As with the Nektar release every single one of the tracks here fails to burst into life, instead plodding and meandering aimlessly with no sense of direction or purpose.

The stars are rolled out, John Wetton (Asia, UK, King Crimson) croons "Jet Liner", John Parr rasps and wriggles "Abracadabra", Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple) writhes and gasps about "Jungle Love" and Jimi Jamison (Survivor) oddly lounges his way through a horizontally laid back take on "Space Cowboy". There's no getting away from the feeling that these performances are decidedly "dialled in", but then with them fronting such lumpen backing tracks, that may not actually be their fault. Vocals isn't the only department where the stars line up to add little to tracks which already possess not a lot, with the Yes link being strengthened through cameos from Tony Kaye, Rick Wakeman, Geoff Downes and Peter Banks, while Dream Theater keyboard players past (Derek Sherinian) and present (Jordan Rudess) also show up. Add to that stints by Colin Moulding, Steve Stevens, Martin Turner, John Wesley, Steve Morse, Rod Argent and Steve Hillage and the class on show really should win through, even against the odds. In truth there's little to recommend about any of their contributions. Then to add insult to injury, the album closes with the track that gives this collection its name, with "Fly Like An Eagle" being lifted directly from the Nektar album that started this whole thing off....

Hopefully FLAE-ATTSMB isn't the second in a long line of these "tribute" efforts with Sherwood at the helm (his time would be MUCH better spent on another solo album), as both he, the artists involved and those being covered have seldom sounded less celebrated.

Track Listing
1. Take The Money & Run - Colin Moulding (XTC) & Tony Kaye (Yes)
2. Jet Airliner - John Wetton (Asia) & Steve Stevens
3. Living In The USA - Fee Waybill (The Tubes) & Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater)
4. Abracadabra - John Parr & Rick Wakeman (Yes)
5. Swingtown - Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash) & Geoff Downes (Yes / Asia)
6. Winter Time - Sonja Kristina (Curved Air) & Peter Banks (Yes / Flash)
7. The Joker - John Wesley (Porcupine Tree)
8. Jungle Love - Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) & Steve Morse
9. Space Cowboy - Jimi Jamison (Survivor) & Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)
10. Rock'n Me - Steve Argent (Argent) & Steve Hillage (Gong)
11. Fly Like An Eage - Nektar with Geoff Downes

Added: September 2nd 2013
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Cleopatra Records
Hits: 2353
Language: english

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