"Quantum Criminals" New Steely Dan Book

[sgcim]

I managed to obtain a copy of this book, which is completely out of stock from the publishers, and there are some great Donald Fagen quotes about Bird and Jazz in it. He goes to sleep every night listening to Bird played at a low volume. It was written by Alex Pappademus.

He curses the music's present day detractors and desecrators. He tees off on Fred Armisen for making fun of jazz on a stand-up special ("I'll never watch him again. I never want to see that guy again. Y'know why? Cause he's an idiot...I now despise the guy.") and Damian Chazelle ("F-ck that Mother f-cker") for "making it seem like white people invented jazz" in La La Land and "confusing stage band student jazz" for the real thing in Whiplash ("He doesn't even know what it is, and yet he's making movies about it? It's disgusting. He must be really dumb").

It's an exhaustive study of their songs, and the author quotes people like Ralph Ellison, Thomas Pynchon, Terry Southern and many others to examine the forty+ year history of this very unusual band.

[felser]

1 hour ago, sgcim said:

 there are some great Donald Fagen quotes about Bird and Jazz in it. He goes to sleep every night listening to Bird played at a low volume.

 

 

[Joe]

Agree. If you can get your hands on a copy of this book, do so. It' both unusual and excellent... kind of like its subject matter.

[sgcim]

8 hours ago, Joe said:

Agree. If you can get your hands on a copy of this book, do so. It' both unusual and excellent... kind of like its subject matter.

You look eerily like Walter Becker in your avatar. Are you sure you're not here to haunt Organissimo for not taking SD that seriously?

If so, haunt all the other members; felser and I always took you guys seriously!

[JSngry]

I took them seriously for decades, and probably still would if I ever again have a need to think of them again.

No guarantees on that one, though. 

[sgcim]

Alright, leave Jim alone, too. I know what you mean, I don't listen to them much anymore, but when you find out what some of their lyrics were saying after reading this book I think I might start listening again.

We used to play poker and listen to stuff like "Everyone's Gone To the Movies" and think it was about a guy and a girl being alone to do their thing together. DF had a completely different story line in mind...

I played Gaucho for my HS class, and one of the kids asked me what the lyrics were about. I had no idea, and just told the kid, "It's about these Latin American cowboys called Gauchos". He said, "Oh".

One time I didn't feel like teaching, because I had a late night gig the night before, and got no sleep, so I just put on "Do it Again" , and it felt like the classroom was levitating...

[GA Russell]

FWIW, I listen to The Nightfly much more often than any Steely Dan album. 

Among them, I listen to Aja the most.

[gvopedz]

3 hours ago, sgcim said:

One time I didn't feel like teaching, because I had a late night gig the night before, and got no sleep, so I just put on "Do it Again" , and it felt like the classroom was levitating...

I am sure I was not one of your students, but in high school I had a math teacher who listened to the Airto/Deodato version of "Do it Again."  Sorry, nobody levitated.

[Joe]

6 hours ago, sgcim said:

You look eerily like Walter Becker in your avatar. Are you sure you're not here to haunt Organissimo for not taking SD that seriously?

If so, haunt all the other members; felser and I always took you guys seriously!

The difference between me and Walter Becker is that reading NAKED LUNCH made my hair curl.

[sgcim]

16 hours ago, Joe said:

The difference between me and Walter Becker is that reading NAKED LUNCH made my hair curl.

LOL! Burroughs is not my cup of tea, either. I go with Gaddis and Pynchon.

18 hours ago, gvopedz said:

I am sure I was not one of your students, but in high school I had a math teacher who listened to the Airto/Deodato version of "Do it Again."  Sorry, nobody levitated.

I'll have to check that out. Love Deodato.

[felser]

My favorite Steely Dan albums are 'Countdown to Ecstasy' 'Pretzel Logic', and 'Katy Lied'.  I'm not a fan of 'Aja' or 'Gaucho', always sounded kind of antiseptic to me, and I did not keep up with their work after reforming in the 90's.  I like the 'Can't Buy A Thrill' and 'The Royal Scam' also, but don't think they hold up to the first three I mentioned.   My favorite cut is probably the title track to 'Pretzel Logic'. The chorus, "Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago" is part of my vernacular, especially as I age, and I love the cut musically.  I would really enjoy parts of the book about lyrics to that song and others, but don't know when I would find the time to read it.  But I'll definitely keep it on my radar.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[JSngry]

Aja seemed then, and now, to be the culmination of an increasingly creative musical arc (especially that damn near cinematic Side one).

After that, not so much. 

[sgcim]

One of the funniest parts of the book is when they talk about Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq using Joe Sample's intro to Black Cow for Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)their independent release. They signed a million dollar record deal with Sony to re-release Deja Vu on Sony, but they had to clear the Black Cow sample with Fagen and Becker, who were willing to authorize their use of it- in exchange for 100% of the publishing royalties, sole writing credit, and $115,000 in cash.

Tariq and Gunz agreed to SD's terms, figuring that this would be mere bump at the beginning of a long career. 20 years later, there was Gunz on VladTV talking about how he and Tariq handed over all the rights to what would end up being the only hit song from their one and only album. Meanwhile there's a video on you tube of Becker in his home studio, hanging out, grinning and showing off a plaque he was awarded for the impressive sales of "his" song, Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)". Fagen jokingly referred to it as l'affaire Gunz in the the Classic albums documentary on Aja.

[jazzbo]

I was into the Dan in the 'seventies and when Aja and Gaucho came along those were the pinnacle for me. Great stuff. I don't own any Dan material any longer though. Like many things from that time their work was over-played around me and I just don't need to actually hear it any longer.

[gvopedz]

1 hour ago, jazzbo said:

Like many things from that time their work was over-played around me and I just don't need to actually hear it any longer.

Hearing "Peg" and "Hey Nineteen" over and over is what made me say goodbye to Steely Dan.

[Joe]

Maybe some day Fagen wil authorize the re-release of this pre-COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY single.

 

[sgcim]

13 hours ago, sgcim said:

One of the funniest parts of the book is when they talk about Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq using Joe Sample's intro to Black Cow for Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)their independent release. They signed a million dollar record deal with Sony to re-release Deja Vu on Sony, but they had to clear the Black Cow sample with Fagen and Becker, who were willing to authorize their use of it- in exchange for 100% of the publishing royalties, sole writing credit, and $115,000 in cash.

Tariq and Gunz agreed to SD's terms, figuring that this would be mere bump at the beginning of a long career. 20 years later, there was Gunz on VladTV talking about how he and Tariq handed over all the rights to what would end up being the only hit song from their one and only album. Meanwhile there's a video on you tube of Becker in his home studio, hanging out, grinning and showing off a plaque he was awarded for the impressive sales of "his" song, Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)". Fagen jokingly referred to it as l'affaire Gunz in the the Classic albums documentary on Aja.

Fagen rapping "Uptown Baby, Uptown Baby at 1:03 into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKq61QkulZo&list=PLOWxWZ_V0ieRNPrkkWByUU0p1NNhYFn_K&index=4

[randyhersom]

Tempted by this but surprised by the number of other Steely Dan books showing up on Amazon.  Are any of them better than this one?  Steely Dan was an indelible part  of my adolescence.

[sgcim]

On 11/13/2023 at 7:41 PM, randyhersom said:

Tempted by this but surprised by the number of other Steely Dan books showing up on Amazon.  Are any of them better than this one?  Steely Dan was an indelible part  of my adolescence.

All I've read are Eminent Hipsters by Fagen (which I recommend) and the one by Brian Sweet (which I don't).

This one is good, but the others might be better. I buy very few books. I got this one from Columbia University's library The only new book I bought was Phil Woods' autobiography. Everything else I've either bought used from library book sales, or gotten from the NY public library system or Columbia's library.

[mjzee]

On 11/11/2023 at 12:23 AM, sgcim said:

One of the funniest parts of the book is when they talk about Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq using Joe Sample's intro to Black Cow for Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)their independent release. They signed a million dollar record deal with Sony to re-release Deja Vu on Sony, but they had to clear the Black Cow sample with Fagen and Becker, who were willing to authorize their use of it- in exchange for 100% of the publishing royalties, sole writing credit, and $115,000 in cash.

Tariq and Gunz agreed to SD's terms, figuring that this would be mere bump at the beginning of a long career. 20 years later, there was Gunz on VladTV talking about how he and Tariq handed over all the rights to what would end up being the only hit song from their one and only album. Meanwhile there's a video on you tube of Becker in his home studio, hanging out, grinning and showing off a plaque he was awarded for the impressive sales of "his" song, Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)". Fagen jokingly referred to it as l'affaire Gunz in the the Classic albums documentary on Aja.

Upon reflection, this is a very cold anecdote and doesn't reflect well on Steely Dan.  They're fabulously wealthy, yet can't empathize with Tariq and Gunz's bad fortune.  At some point, SD should have nullified the contract and kicked back some money to T & G.  Especially considering that, unless SD wrote every note that Sample played, Sample probably had some compositional input too.

[sgcim]

5 hours ago, mjzee said:

Upon reflection, this is a very cold anecdote and doesn't reflect well on Steely Dan.  They're fabulously wealthy, yet can't empathize with Tariq and Gunz's bad fortune.  At some point, SD should have nullified the contract and kicked back some money to T & G.  Especially considering that, unless SD wrote every note that Sample played, Sample probably had some compositional input too.

They wrote the intro. Sample was playing what they wanted him to play. He had NO compositional input. This was one of the first cases that required that rappers have to legally clear their 'samples' with the people that actually composed the music. It was T&G's decision to sign the agreement. The joke was on SD, because T&G found out that Sean Combs was going to include that 'sample' in one of his songs. SD could have made millions of dollars off of it, but didn't.

T&G got a million bucks for clearing their 'sample' of the work of another artist. The fact that they couldn't sell anything after that is not SD's fault.

Before cases like this, it was like the Wild West in rap music; they could steal/sample anything they wanted to, and not pay a cent for doing it.

[randyhersom]

Yes, Looks bad in conjunction with their appropriations of Horace Silver and Keith Jarrett.  Keith's success in court does seem to fit the definition of Karma.  Still, not close to a deal breaker for me.

I'll grab Eminent Hipsters next time I need something else from Amazon.

[sgcim]

15 minutes ago, randyhersom said:

Yes, Looks bad in conjunction with their appropriations of Horace Silver and Keith Jarrett.  Keith's success in court does seem to fit the definition of Karma.  Still, not close to a deal breaker for me.

I'll grab Eminent Hipsters next time I need something else from Amazon.

Yes, the author goes into that. Horace just enjoyed that he was remembered by a rock band, but as you said, Keith was the Karma.

However, SD is the most sampled white rock band in the history of music, and they quote Fagen saying, "Oh, we've got thousands of lawyers working on that stuff right now".

BTW, this is written in conjunction with an artist, who draws pictures of every character in Fagen's 'stories' contained in their songs, as well as drawings of many musicians, producers, managers, and anyone else involved with the fascinating story of SD. The author dedicates the book to WB, whom the author apparently had a very strong connection to, and was literally destroyed by WB's death. Fagen answered the question that everyone always wondered about concerning what role WB actually had in the actual writing of the songs. Donald would write the songs completely by himself. When he was done, he'd send it to Becker, and Becker would make one little change in some aspect of the song; maybe the lyrics, maybe a chord change, maybe a melody note, and then DF would consider the song finished.

That's coming back to haunt him now, because Becker's estate is suing him for whatever they can get.

[felser]

What is the Jarrett connection/story?

[JSngry]