This may be Steve Miller’s first studio album in 17 years but he’s not been messing with any tried and tested formula. Essentially blues covers, Bingo! is drawn from sessions at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in 2008, which Miller co-produced with the prolific Andy Johns, brother of Glyn Johns who engineered The Steve Miller Band’s earliest recordings.
Bar a handful of songs by Jimmie Vaughan, this is stuff Miller’s been playing all his life, back to when he was providing back up for blues greats Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Buddy Guy on Chicago’s South Side. New Miller Band sidekick Sonny Charles, former vocalist with The Checkmates, shines on the funky Tramp, closer to Lowell Fulson’s original than the familiar Otis & Carla Thomas version.
Miller’s approach is that there’s plenty of gold still to be mined out of the blues. What he adds is sonic polish and a pure joy which oozes out of these fiery, enthusiastic performances, squaring up to ubiquitous guitarist Joe Satriani or sharing vocals with the late Norton Buffalo, whose final sessions these were. Bingo! is released in two formats, with a special edition adding four further blues standards. No surprises, perhaps? No complaints either.
