Steely Dan C or D?

so "nerdy" = "white"?

And having black musicians does not automatically make something funky. Witness Allman Brothers, Hootie, etc

A thousand apologies for mentioning "Allman" and "Hootie" in the same sentence. I'll burn in hell for that one.

And i'm all for reprising the old thread, just wanted to respond specifically to some of these posts first.

I don't see that you really had to repeat it, once was fine, he clearly just doesn't feel like it, who's it hurting to have another thread?

Very sanitized, and deliberately so. They would run the songs into the ground, doing take after take after take, in order to get each note precisely where they wanted it. Becker and Fagen were fanatical perfectionists, and when you strive for that much perfection, and do that many takes, the sound gets washed out. The spontainaiety gets left by the wayside. But that's the way they wanted it... they never had any aspirations to make "rock and roll." Quite the opposite.

That said, I do love this band.

Steely Dan = Smooth Jazz that it's okay to like. But not really that much better musically IMHO.

couldn't possibly be RONGer

steely dan were so cool they actually didn't know who larry carlton or joe sample even were when they worked with them

so ignorance = cool?

Uh-oh, I think res might accidentally cause some controversy!

They're still deathly dull.

This board certainly needs a few forthright opinions like that :)

Plenty more where it came from

NOW you tell us

Steely Dan is like the audio equivalent of some mullet haired 70's cokehead who wears giant brown sunglasses indoors, and tries to clumsily seduce blonde bimbos in his hot tub while bragging about his interest in 'photography.'

Truly, Steely Dan's addition to the cool canon is mystifying.

This board certainly needs a few forthright opinions like that :)

Tell me about it! This board has gotten so sissified and sterilized that posters who say what they think call the authorities to come beat them down. As a longtime lurker, I've noticed over the past few years that people who make straightforward, if perhaps a bit blunt, opinions-- despite contributing extensively to the level of discourse here-- usually end up getting banned because some easily offended posters can't handle criticisms being leveled on their favorite crap-rock bands, and then complain to management that there's a "troll." But, of course, this is only when the stated opinions are unpopular; you can criticize Dave Matthews as much as you want, apparently, and with impunity.

At the end of the day, these are just opinions about music, after all. This isn't life or death.

that's because Dave Matthews suckatility has been scientifically proven

x-post

anotehr in a series of a+ threads

This board has gotten so sissified and sterilized that posters who say what they think call the authorities to come beat them down.

I don't think you actually meant to say this...?

Yeah, the "down" seems wrong somehow

who can I call to come beat them off?

Steely Dan is like the audio equivalent of some mullet haired 70's cokehead who wears giant brown sunglasses indoors, and tries to clumsily seduce blonde bimbos in his hot tub while bragging about his interest in 'photography.'

I don't think Fagen or Becker would disagree with you actually - and you have basically just summarized "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" (except you left out the underaged bit). a lot of people don't seem to grasp that Steely Dan were satirists (see Fagen's comparing them to the Fugs, or discussing the idea behind the sound/arrangement of "Hey Nineteen", etc.)

Typo. I meant that when posters speak their minds, other posters have them beat down by the management. Uh, definitely not beat off.

omg

aw respaws

has everybody seen the Aja Classic Albums thing 'cause the drummer discussing the "Peg" beat, and the bassist discussing how he had to hide his hands so they wouldn't know he was actually slapping, is fucking classic

as is this band

but, yeah, Shakey otm. They were dudes from nyc who ended up finding themselves contemptuous of seventies' l.a. culture. In short, res, you are really taking a lazy read of them...or maybe trolling like a demon

yeah, that vid is classssssique

i just like hearing donald fagen rap...and then later castigating his vocals for sounding like jerry lewis or whatever on the record

(because it's the weakest of their original run)

Seeing as Gaucho was the first SD album I heard and it made fall in love with the band immediately, I don't think you need to worry about listening to it too much

treeship will love gaucho or I will eat my spats

Treeship, I wish I could hear these records for the first time again. Hope you dig them!!!

Pretzel Logic is a really good one to start with, right in the middle of their career & a nice dividing line between the earlier rock-oriented records and later studio muso records.

imo Aja would be the one to check out next. and then Gaucho if you dig the smooth sound... Gaucho is antiseptic, in the best way!

I started w/Pretzel Logic, bc according to what i was reading around the time (conventional wisdom + the RS 1992 album guide) it was their best album.

moved onto Countdown to Ecstasy from there and i think the Royal Scam was next.

the albums i came to a bit later were Can't Buy a Thrill and Katy Lied, for whatever reason. CBAT still seems like the least Dan of the Dan LPs, i mean it's a genuinely classic one, a ridiculously played and confident '70s rock album, but it's not fully instilled with the Fagen/Becker essence. Katy Lied, for some reason that one took a bit to grow on me.

i would go Countdown to Ecstasy next. Brilliant jams, some incredible singles, kind of the perfect combo of all the SD elements in one package.

Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my favorites and they represent the opposite SD streams fully realized.

Pretzel Logic is an amazing entry point into The Dan because of the strangeness and stylistic diversity. In terms of next steps, here's a handy guide

If you liked the title track, Parker's Band or Barrytown the most, listen to Countdown to Ecstasy
If you liked Rikki the most, listen to Aja
If you liked the creepy character studies (Monkey, Buzz, Charlie Freak) best, move onto Katy Lied
If you loved "Night By Night," check out The Royal Scam
if you preferred "Any Major Dude" or "With a Gun," check out Can't Buy a Thrill

And if you liked East St. Louis Toodle-Oo the most...congrats, you're a weirdo. Check out Gaucho

I started with Katy Lied because duh minutemen

Xp Eastside Toodle-oo maybe secretly my favourite Steely Dan track but don't tell

so favorite you can't even remember what it's called?

I mean no offense to East St. Louis Toodle-lovers, but picking the band's only ever instrumental and only ever cover as your favorite track is an unorthodox choice

Gaucho is probably my favorite these days.

Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my favorites and they represent the opposite SD streams fully realized.

― gospodin simmel, Tuesday, September 19, 2017 2:33 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

SO correct

listen to any album in any order it's all good

otm

people OTM - Pretzel is really the best entry point

Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my favorites and they represent the opposite SD streams fully realized.

― gospodin simmel, Tuesday, 19 September 2017 18:33 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can't Buy a Thrill is easily as good an entry point as Pretzel Logic is, IMO.

CBAT is a great album, but a total outlier. It's a good introduction but it's not really a roadmap

yeah like "Brooklyn Holds the Charmer" is a wonderful song but kind of a fake-out for other 'sentimental' SD songs

Y'see, aside from the presence of David Palmer I don't really get that way of thinking at all. It sounds as much a Steely Dan record as any other Steely Dan record - I don't think it could be mistaken for anything else!

tom

er, otm

I mean yeah it's basically Palmer. thinking of other overtly musically sentimental SD songs that are similar... Any World, Dirty Work, Deacon Blues obv...

Palmer only sings lead on two songs, and you can hear why - as Christgau noted, he "fit in like a cheerleader at a crap game." Even on those tracks - and the one Jim Hodder sings - you can hear the way Donald would have sung them. And I wouldn't call Dirty Work or Brooklyn "sentimental."

Oh I guess you qualified that as "musically sentimental," though I'm not really sure what that means.

there's a nostalgic quality to the choruses of those songs especially

Katy Lied is the best imo

Brooklyn Owes the Charmer is p sentimental - it's about how sweet his cranky old school NY neighbors are!

re: Hodder singing lead - wtf I never even knew this "Dallas" single existed

Palmer only sings lead on two songs, and you can hear why

Yeah. I mean could you imagine him on 'Showbiz Kids' or 'Everyone's Gone to the Movies'!?

I should probably reread the lyrics before arguing these points in the future. SD's lyrics are so much fun to read, too.

xxp

I've spun Dallas a few times, catchy tune

Like a Sunday in T.J.
That it's cheap but it's not free
That I'm not what I used to be
And that love's not a game for three

xpost

Palmer singing lead adds to the creepiness!

with Fagen there's never any question that he's in on the joke

That "It's cheap but it's not free" is just such a fucking brilliant line.

Collective ILX lost weekends in Tijuana bear this out as undeniable truth.

That bit on the Aja documentary during the 'Black Cow' segment where Fagen suddenly starts rapping "uptown baby, uptown baby" cracks me up every time.

Also that yes, it's absolutely great.

he seems to do that regularly, he did it in that clip of them driving around Vegas in a cab too

Babylon Sisters strikes me as sentimental and cynical but I attribute that more to the protagonist than SD.

"If john go and writes another book, why must I trudge through it? Let George do it."

With words that just won't quit!

DUD!

"Easy" by Jesse Green, from the expanded edition of Nice and Slow sounds a lot like the Dan, but i like it much better than anything Fagen and Becker put out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjp3cpC_woQ

Seeing them in a few weeks. Looked at setlists, saw they’re doing some Walter solo songs. Excited for the show, but I know it’s going to be sad. Saw them at the same venue 3 years ago.

Damn... I had tickets so see him at a jazz festival a few weeks ago and he cancelled it citing fatigue. Granted it was halfway across the world but still. Is this current "Steely Dan" band the same as "The Nightfliers"?

running the world's best unofficial steely dan lyrics twitter account
@steelydanlyrics

i get some real interesting ats and replies

wkiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FpOETPa458&app=desktop

Guitar nerds should know that the estate of Steely Dan’s Walter Becker is auctioning off his entire collection of instruments. Here’s a teaser from the preview. pic.twitter.com/izpkqfbZBW

— Randall FAIR CONTRACT NOW Roberts 🦅 (@LilEdit) October 14, 2019

I interviewed Becker and Fagen about 20 years ago. Becker was one of the nicest musicians I've ever encountered, contrary to his slightly sour reputation, and even told the record company woman to go away for a while when she came in to say my allotted time was up. (Fagen was polite but slightly phoning it in, and left well before Becker did.)

Lol at the guy at the top of this thread 16 years ago claiming the Dan were one of the whitest bands ever. Their music is JAZZ-rock, ffs!