Steely Dan

[Big Al]

The fade-out of "Black Cow" is two minutes of sheer bliss for me.

Not that big a fan of "classic" Dan; I've been enjoying and actually prefer Two Against Nature, Everything Must Go, and Fagen's Morph the Cat.

For me, Steely Dan's music makes me feel like I'm in NYC, despite the fact that I've never been there.

[Harold_Z]

For me, Steely Dan's music makes me feel like I'm in NYC, despite the fact that I've never been there.

Steely Dan is very NYC in my book.

[BruceH]

For me, Steely Dan's music makes me feel like I'm in NYC, despite the fact that I've never been there.

Steely Dan is very NYC in my book.

...And environs:

"Drivin' like a fool out to Hackensack"

Edited October 16, 2007 by BruceH

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Yipes! I thought you Organissimites were wacked!

Fever Dreams

[BFrank]

Interesting Steely Dan dates coming up. Entire shows of Aja, Gaucho and also Royal Scam including appearances by Larry Carlton on the Royal Scam shows.

Steely Dan's Rent Party '09

Check it out if you're in the NY, Chicago or LA area (they just played in Boston).

[Shawn]

Anybody know who plays lead guitar on the Donald Fagen song "True Companion" from the Heavy Metal soundtrack? That's a GREAT tune!!!!

[7/4]

Suicide Threats and Midlife Crises at Steely Dan's Beacon Run

Steely Dan's music—stubbornly perfect jazz-rock played by the ablest hands money can buy—is not particularly simple. Nor is it particularly friendly. Donald Fagen's lyrics, for those who care to listen over the licks and fills, are usually about losers redeemed only by other losers, if at all. The music is vain in its complexity. It knows that it's the smartest thing in the room.

This doesn't seem to bother the fans, who respond dutifully and without subtlety. On hearing the opening piano figure to "My Old School," the woman next to me is seized, ejected from her chair, instantly on her feet and already in mid-clap, gyrating. The moment has selected her. Tonight, it's what she exists for.

At the beginning of the show, part of which is dedicated to a top-down performance of 1976's The Royal Scam, the woman's husband leans over to her and says, "The Royal Scam. You have to understand, this was sixth grade for me." I look at the man and try to imagine him, 12 years old, staring at the album's cover: a gothic cartoon of a wan Wall Street hustler curled up under a sky blotted out by clouds thicker than firesmoke, the surrounding skyscrapers crowned with the heads of snarling monsters. What does a 12-year-old make of that? What does a 12-year-old make of the insular, jagged music on the record, or the permanent sneer in Fagen's voice? And why did he choose it over the buttered baked potato of AC/DC?

...more here.

I happen to think Steely Dan is OK, but I thought this was funny.

Edited August 6, 2009 by 7/4

[Shawn]

Anybody know who plays lead guitar on the Donald Fagen song "True Companion" from the Heavy Metal soundtrack? That's a GREAT tune!!!!

ANYBODY?

[BruceH]

Suicide Threats and Midlife Crises at Steely Dan's Beacon Run

Steely Dan's music—stubbornly perfect jazz-rock played by the ablest hands money can buy—is not particularly simple. Nor is it particularly friendly. Donald Fagen's lyrics, for those who care to listen over the licks and fills, are usually about losers redeemed only by other losers, if at all. The music is vain in its complexity. It knows that it's the smartest thing in the room.

This doesn't seem to bother the fans, who respond dutifully and without subtlety. On hearing the opening piano figure to "My Old School," the woman next to me is seized, ejected from her chair, instantly on her feet and already in mid-clap, gyrating. The moment has selected her. Tonight, it's what she exists for.

At the beginning of the show, part of which is dedicated to a top-down performance of 1976's The Royal Scam, the woman's husband leans over to her and says, "The Royal Scam. You have to understand, this was sixth grade for me." I look at the man and try to imagine him, 12 years old, staring at the album's cover: a gothic cartoon of a wan Wall Street hustler curled up under a sky blotted out by clouds thicker than firesmoke, the surrounding skyscrapers crowned with the heads of snarling monsters. What does a 12-year-old make of that? What does a 12-year-old make of the insular, jagged music on the record, or the permanent sneer in Fagen's voice? And why did he choose it over the buttered baked potato of AC/DC?

...more here.

I happen to think Steely Dan is OK, but I thought this was funny.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I for one can't imagine listening to Steely Dan at the age of 11 or 12.

[7/4]

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I for one can't imagine listening to Steely Dan at the age of 11 or 12.

I was listening to the radio at 12 when they came out with their first albums. I was listening, but had no idea what the songs were about.

[BruceH]

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I for one can't imagine listening to Steely Dan at the age of 11 or 12.

I was listening to the radio at 12 when they came out with their first albums. I was listening, but had no idea what the songs were about.

Actually, at 15 I had a friend who was very into Steely Dan, and he kept playing their stuff for me and I just wasn't ready for it yet. I tried to like them, then decided I hated them (easy to do when I got into the whole punk thing at about 19) then finally came round to liking them for real in my mid-20's. So I have a long, checkered history with Steely Dan, but I like 'em. Really. (Well, there are a few tunes on Aja that I still can't abide, but apart from that...)

[Tom 1960]

I had the good fortune to have listened to 3/4 of the Steely Dan retrospective 1972 - 1980 box set Saturday night on the way back to New York. That must have been one of my shortest rides back to NY since I moved to Maine 3 months ago. Great music. I couldn't help singing along. I guess I have to bring along "Two Against Nature" for the ride back? I also have to make a point of picking up the individual Fagan solo releases. "The Nightfly Trilogy" discs seem to be a bit out of my price range right now. I think I still own "The Nightfly" album on cassette? Anyways, great to come across this thread and see so much love for the Dan out there.

[mikelz777]

I had the good fortune to have listened to 3/4 of the Steely Dan retrospective 1972 - 1980 box set Saturday night on the way back to New York. That must have been one of my shortest rides back to NY since I moved to Maine 3 months ago. Great music. I couldn't help singing along. I guess I have to bring along "Two Against Nature" for the ride back? I also have to make a point of picking up the individual Fagan solo releases. "The Nightfly Trilogy" discs seem to be a bit out of my price range right now. I think I still own "The Nightfly" album on cassette? Anyways, great to come across this thread and see so much love for the Dan out there.

If your heart isn't set on all the extras, the 3 individual original releases are cheap and easy to find.

[sgcim]

Try to find the video they made of the "Two Against Nature, Live, plush Jazz-Rock Party.

IMHO, it's the best video of a live show I've ever seen.

They play some of their old tunes, and some of the new material from Two Against Nature.

They open as powerfully as humanly possible with a horn soli from "Green Earings".

The Highlights:

Rhythm section of Tom Varney on bass, and the late Ricky Lawson on drums(!).

Some dynamite tenor solos by Cornelius Bumpus

Classic backup vocalist choreography by the black chick backup vocalist.

Only Downside:

Too much Walter Becker noodling on that POS Sadowski.

Edited May 26, 2014 by sgcim

[etherbored]

Rhythm section of Tom Varney on bass, and the late Ricky Preston on drums(!).

Ricky Lawson...

[sgcim]

Rhythm section of Tom Varney on bass, and the late Ricky Preston on drums(!).

Ricky Lawson...

Corrected, thanks!

[bluesoul]

Steely Dan’s Walter Becker Passes Away at 67

[bluesoul]

And I'm sure this has been posted here before over the years, but the "How Steely Dan got Wayne Shorter" story is a good one.

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, bluesoul said:

And I'm sure this has been posted here before over the years, but the "How Steely Dan got Wayne Shorter" story is a good one.

Thnx for sharing ....