Steve Miller Band - Italian X-Rays

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Italian X-Rays, the thirteenth studio album from the Steve Miller Band. It went to number 88 in Canada and number 49 in Sweden. Here in the US, it spent ten weeks total on the Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 101.

FM (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In April of 1978, Universal Pictures released a film about radio station QSKY, where corporate management enacts an advertising push that the station manager and on-air personalities do not buy in on. The protest quickly escalates when the deejays use the airwaves to stir up the listeners to join in the conflict. The cast of the film included Michael Brandon, Eileen Brennan, Alex Karras, Cleavon Little and Cassie Yates.

While many might not remember the film FM itself, they would certainly be familiar with the songs that appear on the accompanying two-disk soundtrack album. The tracks read like a who’s who of artists that were appearing on album-oriented rock stations at the time. This soundtrack album peaked in the top five of the US Billboard Hot 200, was certified Platinum by the summer of 1978, and won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra

Today (June 15th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Abracadabra, the twelfth studio album from California’s own Steve Miller Band. In the US, the Platinum selling album went to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 and number 40 on the R&B charts. Around the world, it reached number 47 in New Zealand, number 11 in the Netherlands, number 10 in Norway and the UK, number 8 in Austria, number 4 in Canada, number 3 in Sweden and number 1 in Germany.