Steve Miller, your parents’ favorite picker/grinner/lover/sinner and maybe yours too, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Steve Miller Band’s blockbuster album The Joker this year. Out in September, J50: The Evolution Of The Joker goes behind the scenes with demos and outtakes that reveal how songs from the album developed. Today’s offering, known as “The Joker Suite,” shows how the album’s chart-topping title track came to be, via a studio recording, a homemade demo, and a radio session.

All told, J50 contains 27 previously unreleased tracks plus liner notes from Miller and journalist Anthony DeCurtis. It’s available in 2xCD, 3xLP + 7″, and digital formats. Hear “The Joker Suite” below.

TRACKLIST:

LP1 SIDE ONE
Steve Miller Commentary 1
Children of the Future (Live)
Brave New World (Live)
Dear Mary (Live)
Space Cowboy (Live)
Ginger Man (Live)
Nothing Lasts (Live)

LP1 SIDE TWO
Steve Miller Commentary 2
Sugar Babe (Early Version)
Sugar Babe (Live)
Sugar Babe (Album Version)
Mary Lou (Early Version)
Mary Lou (Album Version)

LP2 SIDE ONE
Steve Miller Commentary 3
Hat (Live – Pre Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma)
Say Hey Ray (Pre Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma)
White Elephant (Pre Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma)
Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma (Early Version)
Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma (Album Version)

LP2 SIDE TWO
Steve Miller Commentary 4
Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash (Early Version)
Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash (Album Version)
Lidi (Twang Guitar)
Lidi (Studio)
Lidi/Travelin’ (Harmonics – Looking for a Chorus for The Joker)
Travelin’ (Looking for a Chorus for The Joker)
The Joker (Album Version)

LP3 SIDE ONE
Steve Miller Commentary 5
Lovin’ Cup (Live)
Lovin’ Cup (Album Version)
Come On In My Kitchen (Live)
Come On In My Kitchen (Album Version)
Evil (Studio Demo)
Evil (Album Version)

LP3 SIDE TWO
Steve Miller Commentary 6
Coupe De Ville (A Cappella)
Something to Believe In (Early Version)
Something to Believe In (Tough Crowd – Live)
Something to Believe In (Album Version)
I Don’t Mind (Hotel 4-Track)
I Don’t Mind (Studio)
Mama Church (A Cappella)

7” SIDE A
The Joker (Single Version)
Lidi/Travelin’ (Harmonics – Looking for a Chorus for The Joker)

7” SIDE B
I Don’t Mind (Studio)
Lidi (Studio)

J50 is out 9/15 via Sailor/Capitol/UMe.