Steve Miller Band's 'Macho City' - My No. 1 Long Album Track

Circle of Love

You may not have heard of this album, Circle of Love by The Steve Miller Band, but there's a reason why I love it. Can you guess what it might be? Yep, it has my number one favourite, classic, long album track on it, Macho City, but the reason why is a little more involved.

You don't realise it at the time, but you do a lot of growing up in the five years or so between twelve and seventeen. Along with so many other things that's when my musical tastes really started to expand and grow.

This album came out in 1981, but that's not when I started to listen to it. During my teens in the eighties my choice of music really developed. As a child I grew up on tuneful music, with harmonies and melodies and was probably most influenced by my dad and his choice of music.

If we weren't watching Formula 1 on the TV on a Sunday afternoon, we might well be listening to records and indirectly developing my love of variety and choice, from music, to books, films and TV. In terms of music I heard songs from the likes of Steeleye Span to the Carpenters, ABBA to Fleetwood Mac, but as I grew older my love of music grew and I was influenced by much more.

The Teenage Years

In my teens I would listen to BBC Radio 1 and all the current pop songs, and I would be glued to the Top 40 Chart Show on a Sunday evening. However, after the week's number one was announced the programme that followed started to intrigue me. That show was Annie Nightingale's request show and I soon got hooked. Here I was opened up to all types of new music and I even got to hear about bands before they got big and hit the charts - how cool was I? Did you ever feel this way?

It was during this radio show, I guess around the mid eighties, that I first heard Macho City by The Steve Miller Band and I was blown away! For a time Annie Nightingale had a feature where she would play a really long track without any interruptions - for songs that could be over ten minutes long that was unheard of and Macho City was one of those.

At 16 minutes plus, that's some going on national radio, but the listening audience loved it. I'm probably remembering things with rose-tinted glasses, but this track included things like the sound of helicopters and noises fading in from one direction and fading out in another, as well as the song itself and a good beat - a concept album in one track really!

What Macho City means to me

I own this album on vinyl and so there's another element of romance to the whole thing there, but I should mention the rest of the music on it. Side one contains four tunes, the most popular of which is probably Heart Like a Wheel, which was released as a single in 1981 and is probably my favourite on this side, but they're all tuneful songs and you can sing along with them - remember this was the album before Abracadabra so you have an idea.

Side two was dedicated to just one track - Macho City and I loved this fact too.

I guess this could all sound a little dated now, but I'll never forget the amazement and lasting influence Macho City had on me. Somehow, to me, it meant anything - and I mean anything - was possible and whether the music sounds dated or not, this can't be taken away from me and what I felt and began to realise at that important and influential time in my life...