Aja Poll

Josie

wheres option "it was alex in nyc"

black cow... but they're all great. didn't think so at the time. luckily i've learnt that lesson.

x-post: What?

really tough.
everything is great except from Peg, which is also great but played out (though it won the best Dan song in the ilm poll, and will probably win now)
i'll go with my current favourite - Home At Last

"Deacon Blues" but I'll change my mind tomorrow.

Peg 12
Deacon Blues 6
Black Cow 2
Josie 1
Aja 1
I Got The News 0
Home At Last 0

You knew it was inevitable...The Steely Dan Song Poll

The title track all the way for me.

Deacon Blues for sure

"Deacon Blues" no doubt, but I love "Home At Last" and "Black Cow" and "Peg" and "I Got The News" too. I tend to rep for Countdown or Royal Scam as my favorite Dan album since they're a little underrated compared to this one, but Aja really is unfuckwithable.

^ Agree with that post in it's entirety, except to substitute Josie for Peg.

"I tend to rep for Countdown or Royal Scam as my favorite Dan album since they're a little underrated compared to this one"

depends who you ask.Countdown To Ecstasy is the favourite Dan record for many fans, including myself.
Steely Dan themselvs don't like the record so much, and they said somewhere that the people who think Ecstasy is the best Dan record are crazy.

Black Cow this week. But what the hell is it about? A drink?

And if so, what is the recipe?

Ahh, the internet. When I tried to look this up a few years ago I found nothing. Now I am overwhelmed with info. So root beer and ice cream and chocolate source? In a bar?

John Justen and Fluffy Bear Will Drink Your Big Black Cow and Get Out Of Here

Four recipes here, incl. a Green Cow. One of these surely will screen out the sorrow, but where are you tomorrow?

in the corner of my eye, i saw you in
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1267/769783020_c6606269c7.jpg?v=0
you were very high.

Is it too late to change the title of this thread to "Take your big black POLL and get out of here"?

LEARN TO WERK THE SAXUHPHONE

this may be the first time i've ever agreed with geir. the last half is sex.

of 'aja'

the song

I'm at the point of disliking this album, but I vote "Deacon Blues." Other than "Peg," the rest is stuff they perfected on Gaucho

We need a Gaucho poll. Geir, start one!

This is my least favorite Steely Dan album, but it's still not bad. "Peg" and "Deacon Blues" are my favorite tracks.

(I guess Alfred and I see eye to eye on this one.)

I'm at the point of disliking this album, but I vote "Deacon Blues." Other than "Peg," the rest is stuff they perfected on Gaucho

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

I don't hear much of anything on Gaucho that resembles "Black Cow" or "Home At Last" or "Aja," especially not anything better.

I think they took off a bit too much of the disco from Royal Scam to Aja, but they brought some of it back on Gaucho.

It's been said many times on the Gaucho thread, but I'll repeat: they wrote masterfully about ennui, dessication, and despair on Gaucho. I'm not sure what "Black Cow" and "Home At Last" are about beyond their instrumental virtuosity. I mean, they're pretty, I don't skip the tracks, but so what?

Good, I will listen to this today. I have to vote for "Peg," but it's sad that I can't also vote for "Deacon Blues." (Nothing like a Steely Dan poll to bring everyone out of the woodwork.)

Sorry, didn't realize you evaluate songs as if they're text and not music.

black cow seems like it's about a splintering relationship or friendship, i haven't figured it yet.

Sorry, didn't realize you evaluate songs as if they're text and not music.

I didn't realize you wouldn't read my post correctly.

I think he read it perfectly fine...? I mean, why do the songs have to be "about" anything unless you're someone who privileges lyrics?

Songs can't say what they mean through music? My post said nothing about lyrics.

So the chord changes and solos on Aja don't communicate ennui, dessication, and despair as well as they do on Gaucho. Gotcha.

1977 was an off year for the mu major chord.

they wrote masterfully about ennui, dessication, and despair on Gaucho. I'm not sure what "Black Cow" and "Home At Last" are about beyond their instrumental virtuosity. I mean, they're pretty, I don't skip the tracks, but so what?

How about buying a collection of good poems instead then?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I like Geir when he's saucy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

drink scotch whiskey all night long

So when's the "Pretzel Logic" one? (my favourite by them besides "Aja")

I'm pleasantly shocked by the landslide for Deacon Blues. Well done, ILM.

Also, Steely Dan totally rocked the Beacon yesterday, great show.

Surprised that "I Got the News" and "Josie" did so poorly. Those would be my 3rd and 4th picks.

Hey- I was at that Beacon show too. Good show - would have liked to hear a few more pre-Royal Scam tunes, but good stuff.

I saw the tuesday night show at the beacon... I wish becker didn't sing on gaucho or do that narrative bit on hey nineteen. both were a little embarrassing. maybe fagen felt he had to throw him a bone since they played one of his solo tracks?

anyway, great show otherwise! and they played more gaucho material than aja, if memory serves. so the dan like gaucho better too!

Beacon Duels

According to my faulty memory this is what they played off each album on Saturday:

Can't Buy: nada
Countdown: Showbiz Kids
Pretzel: Parker's Band
Katy Lied: nada
Royal Scam: Kid Charlemagne, Don't Take Me Alive, The Fez (instrumental bit only), Green Earrings, Royal Scam
Aja: Peg, I Got the News, Josie
Gaucho: Babylon Sisters, Hey Nineteen, Glamour Profession, Gaucho

And they also played "New Frontier" off of Fagen's Nightfly and "Two Against Nature".

how was "Glamor Profession"?

Sounded great. The band was in fine form.

Oh, I forgot they played one non-album track: "FM".

"home at last" way underrated

I'm somewhat surprised at the lack of love "I Got the News" got. Personally I'd take it over "Aja" or "Home at Last."

LOVE "Home At Last"

I was just singing along to Deacon Blues on my way back from the supermarket. It would be my ideal karaoke song if it didn't have such a long sax solo.

I think I missed voting on this poll, probably would have chosen the title track for that sweet Steve Gadd beat during the fade-out.

Alfred if we ever have a few hours to kill together I will explain to you why this is a better album than Gaucho and you will agree by the time I get done.

Deal. As long as we meet in a bar much like the one where The Gaucho hangs out.

Anyone besides me old enough to remember this commercial?

no but I am going to sample "welcome to the land... of Steely Dan" and edit it into the beginning of every single song of theirs

splendid find.

I looked for it a few months ago but didn't find it until last night. I know that by the time of Gaucho ABC Records no longer even existed. But those were the boom years, and I can recall several high-profile LPs getting television advertising.

(First time I'd heard of Steely Dan, incidentally, altho I was familiar with "Do It Again" and "Reelin'" and "Rikki".)

I just realized what that announcer's voice sounds exactly like: Asian Correspondent Tricia Takanawa from Family Guy!

lol I am an ILMer now in every sense of the word XD

lol

ok whoa I think I get "Home At Last" now, and I don't mean the Odyssey references. Have you ever had a funeral for yourself while you're still alive? You thought that you were allowing yourself to be bound just to avoid a passing danger on your way home, but now that the danger is past, you recognize you'd rather be bound: you recognize that this is now your home. You aren't who you were when you set out; in a way you've been ruined. Drugs aren't the only thing that work this way.

Life works that way.

the 33 1/3 on this album is amazing so far

OMG WANT.

Although what I want even more is an entire book about each album written by SD themselves along the lines of their reissue liner notes.

yeah ideally. the author of this book got to interview Fagen, though, so there's plenty of his voice in there too.

I've read mixed reviews -- too "muso" (lots of discussion of diminished chords, etc)

it was way too dry for me but i know very little about music theory so ymmv.

weird, I think it's very engaging and well written and that the theory stuff, which pretty much all goes over my head, is doled out pretty sparingly.

Although what I want even more is an entire book about each album written by SD themselves along the lines of their reissue liner notes.

― Tim F, Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:49 AM (Yesterday)

i only have the "can't buy a thrill" reissue but the shit they wrote there was awesome

i just flicked through the Aja book again and it wasn't quite as technical as i'd remembered, although the line-by-line lyrical analysis and the part where he lists how many bars there are in each section of each song are brutal.

would love to read a book by either of the guys themselves. it's amazing how little has been published about the band really. the Aja book and the Reelin' In The Years biog (which is also very dry) and that's pretty much it i think?

poor show for Josie.

Woulda voted "Black Cow."

me too probably. so bummed i didn't have the $$ to see at least one of the shows last year.

i'm bummed that that '77 tv ad is no more

DRINK YOUR BIG BLACK COW AND GET OUTTA HERE

BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCHES!

wheres option "it was alex in nyc"

― and what, Sunday, June 15, 2008 5:40 PM (1 year ago)

SO OUTRAGEOUS

wow, without even reading the recent revive posts, and scanning the results of this, wz about to come here and post that "Josie" got absolutely robbed. piscesx OTM

poor show for Josie.

― piscesx, Monday, April 5, 2010 5:28 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

yep. voted deacon blues but josie comes in a close second in my mind.

"Josie" is the only SD hit that I kind of roll my eyes at and go yeah yeah whatever, I don't need to hear this again

daaaamn.

I love the riff that kicks it off. for about 10 seconds, shit sounds pretty freakin evil.

also when fagen says, "so good"

"Black Cow" is Steely Dan condensed

it has taken many years, but i think i am ready to understand steely dan.

i purchased this album today, and it is good.

"josie" was robbed

shit just got real.

next please search out The Royal Scam or Katy Lied

Yay, found the commercial again!

http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/index.php?c=2901#videoclip-1675

i remember that

there's an hour-long Aja documentary on netflix streaming now. It's making me v v happy.

OMG the bit where they play back the rejected 'Peg' guitar solos in isolation-- so cold, so hilar

yeahhhh, just watched this! recommended, though i feel like it could be an hour longer. i'd dig just an uncut "commentary" cut of fagen and becker going through the album. bernard purdie scenes are super classic, where he's playing the ridiculous beat for home at last as though it's the easiest thing in the world.

there are a ton of these classic album things on netflix streaming now. my wife is already rolling her eyes at me as i describe such fascinating tidbits as herbie flower's double tracked bass on "walk on the wild side."

Yeah! Purdie was such a highlight.

I'm gonna watch almost all these shits, probably. So far just Aja and Paranoid. Probably 2112 next.

The 2112/Moving Pictures one is really good. I recommend renting the actual DVD as it has some really good deleted scenes too.

I watched the Rio one last night.

Oh man I have to see that! My wife might even agree to that one.

cool, yeah i'll watch all of these.
the lou reed transformer one wasn't particularly amazing, but some good bits. nice that reed really goes out of his way to credit mick ronson with a lot of the album's sound (as opposed to just bowie bowie bowie). ronson's comments on lou are pretty funny.

god this album is great, i was sitting here enjoying the hell out of "I Got The News" for a few minutes when it suddenly occurred to me that oh this is the consensus 'worst' song on the album and it's awesome.

haha yeah, it's pretty astonishing

there isn't a day that's gone by recently that i don't get this stuck in my head

In the corner
Of my eye
I saw you in Rudy's
You were very high
(You were high)

I get that, followed by West side, baby/West side, baby

i got the news is so great bc of the michael mcdonald bit.

the original Katy Lied version of "I Got The News" is pretty good too but i really don't know which i prefer

can never hear the 'you were high' verse without picturing Don doing his lyrical walk-thru on the classic album show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nv7Qicg2Og

also classic yeah the Purdie bits. "you done did it, you hired the hitmaker" etc

christ now i'm watching the whole damn show again.

so funny this thread got bumped as i just listened to this album today in my car.

their best but now wondering if i might actually like Gaucho more these days. that doesn't take away anything from this album however.

DRINK THCOTCH WHITHKEY
ALL NIGHT LONG

this album is los angeles for me.

'aja' is the most evocative track because i imagine a cross of the hollywood hills with ojai or something for the chorus and the sex finale. the last minute or so is legit transcendent.

'deacon blues' is viscerally embarrassing because i did a weird-lonely-guy karaoke of it at la cita (and 'life during wartime' by talking heads the same night).

i've still never had a black cow.

josie is maaaaybe my favorite track

(this might have something to do with c0ry skl4r.)

ok, specifically, i remember chaki posting something about that track and then i recognized.

Ojai is a pretty strange and isolated place. I don't know what you mean about Aja. But this album is amazing and I'm glad you sang deacon blues. Deacon blues is the only thing that makes me feel better about the NCAA football championship game

I guess I mean that ojai is strange in a boring way

But c'mon. Peg?

I played "I'm not the same without you" on the jukebox at the James Joyce today. The reception was lukewarm.

i meant 'ojai' in the sense of an apart-y silverlake-y place: "up on the hill / people never stare / they just don't care" and "here at the dude ranch / above the sea." i've never been to ojai and it's obviously not like this.

where is the James Joyce?

I see it now. It is in Santa Barbara.

deacon blues is a fucking masterpiece isn't it?

all of this is prompted by checking out most of the steely dan catalog from the city library and putting it on my computer. because yeah i'm pretty poor.

'i learn to work the sax o phone"

xp yeah!

although when they wrote the song i wonder where it actually was? some hill east of downtown? the hollywood hills? what hill

Dude ranch above the sea can work for ojai. But I feel faaaaaaaar away from the sea there. Deacon Blues is amazing. I learned to play the acoustic guitar chords as an act of devotion, but they are barley audible.

Dude ranch above the sea could work for Santa Barbara, actually.

I think you need to get north of west ho to be in dude ranch territory

i'm co-locating it with zuma just on feel.

ANYONE here ever have a Black Cow? even Don n Walt seemed unsure of the actual recipe but it seems its root beer and milk? sounds revolting tbf.

otm

not sure if it's as bad as this rum and water i'm swallowing atm.

What?

that's the question i always ask after i read everything you post on here to bee really real.

but everyone else seems able to read egyptian english or w/e so i never complain.

I've never listened to the Dan before but this is great! I get what the fuss is about now.

A Black Cow, a.k.a. a Root Beer Float, is usually root beer and vanilla ice cream, though there are regional variations.

drink your big black cow and get out of here

Black Cow can refer to either:
A cow that is black.
A Root Beer Float.
An alcoholic drink (sometimes referred to as a Black Cow #2) featuring Kahlúa, half-and-half, and Coca-Cola.
A 1977 song by Steely Dan on the Aja album, referring to the alcoholic drink.
A candy, a Sugar Daddy bar covered in chocolate.

(c) is more likely

Aja and a lot of steely dans work has a topanga canyon feel, even thought doesn't precisely reflect the music of that area I guess. I feel like the royal scam is the pt of frisson where the 60s dream burns away and melts into late 70s sleaze and Aja and gaucho is the takeover by the survivors who have cashed in but remain fucked up and hanging on to the more base elements of their youth minus the empty idealism. Or at least that's how those albums sometimes sound. Whatever the case they sound like nothing but LA. I feel like I prepared myself pretty well for this city by listening to steely Dan and ice cube, though admittedly the times had changed somewhat since those albums.

I would be tempted to go for I Got The News...not solely because I am contrary but also because it's brilliant.

Aja is my first foray into Steely Dan.

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/06/17/steely-dan-aja-round-68-toms-selection/

What should I get next?

GAUCHO

nah they're all good

Gaucho

Gaucho, Aja, Royal Scam

Steve Gadd on the outro to the title track surely must rank as one of my favourite drumming moments ever - both the playing itself and how the drums sound. Exquisite.

otm

that moment when he finds a totally new cymbal groove and it only lasts like 20 seconds...

Yeah, especially that bit! Superb playing.

title track

maybe because it's the most earnest & sentimental song they ever recorded, & it's a tour de force for all the players involved. that final drum solo at the end is always so so thrilling

Wayne Shorter's solo is nothing to sneeze at either. I love that one ascending part where it feels like he's reaching for the cosmos.

I've been on a bit of a Steely Dan kick the last couple of days, and Aja has been hitting the spot like never before. The first four albums are all long been huge favourites of mine, but I think I'd rank Aja ahead of The Royal Scam now. I still don't really rate Gaucho, even though it's very well produced and engineered (as you'd expect) - I've a little warmed to 'Babylon Sisters' (even though I find it a lesser version of 'Home at Last'), 'Hey Nineteen', the title track and 'Third World Man', but find the rest of the tracks lacking.

Pretzel Logic is the only stepchild in the SD discography for me

Really? Why d'you say that? Because it's their most concise/poppiest record?

Wayne Shorter's solo is nothing to sneeze at either. I love that one ascending part where it feels like he's reaching for the cosmos.

― Moodles, Tuesday, September 12, 2017 3:05 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's just astonishing

xpost

I would have to go look at the tracklist but it's the only one that has real lulls for me. Obv it has some immortal stuff on it.

'Any Major Dude...' is one of my all-time favourite Steely Dan tracks.

Oh definitely. Maybe top 5 for me.

i don't think there's a dud on Gaucho, the ones you didn't mention (Glamour Profession, My Rival, Time Out Of Mind) are all pretty close to the equal of the four you like!)

btw re: the title track, never knew about the Keith Jarrett lawsuit (I'm sure it's been covered here), but damn I guess he had a good case...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QNK4Pc8W2A

Yeah, I don't really like either 'My Rival' and 'Time Out Of Mind' ... 'Glamour Profession' sounds great for its first minute but then I find myself tuning out... it's probably the weariest sounding "disco" tune I've ever heard, but weary sounding disco was probably what they were going for.

yeah it definitely was, I can see how you could see that song as conceptually or intellectually interesting but not enjoyable musically. it's probably my favorite SD song, but only if i can have the demo where Fagen sings the chorus & it sounds like a C90 bounce.

That's prrrrobably my favorite SD lyric

Glamour Profession is the essence of Gaucho for me and one of the greatest things they ever did

I like the way Fagen sings "Barbados" as "Barbadeuce" ...

I totally agree with the above re: Glamour Profession. Perfect portrait of a specific type of hanger-on cretin that you'll no doubt meet in the drug world & in LA. I love the second verse so much, the last line is amazing in the context of the song: "I drove the Chrysler / watched from the darkness while they danced."

I still have a dream of making a cool house track out of Glamour Profession samples, but I haven't been able to make it work so far

brut and charisma poured from the shadow where he stood

Jack with his radar
Stalking the dread moray eel

Scam has one foot in LA / "elsewhere" but the album art is so overt with the Chrysler building reference that to me it's an NY album

They hated that cover, though, and it was originally created for an unreleased Van Morrison album.

I don't mind it, but it's still one of my least favourite Steely Dan sleeves... Can't Buy a Thrill is probably their worst.

The sleeve to Katy Lied is my favourite.

even so, it captures the atmosphere of the record perfectly... all i see is steam & grit & smog & slime... definitely a new york record

this is neat, haven't heard it in a while, don't remember the audio quality being this good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7EkDDzpPrk

wow...very nice! sounds like Gadd on drums?
and that staccato part ~~~~~~~
whole thing almost like a sister to aja.

mp3
https://ufile.io/lt3n4

Am I the only fan of this band that doesn't care for Deacon Blues at all?

nope, same here.

come on the lyrics alone make it classic

Love it, but I actually don't care that much for Josie.

Yeah, I love the lyrics to 'Deacon Blues' ... the first two lines are such a fuckin' funny way to open a song.

I used to think that I Got The News was the only dud here, but I've learned to love the herky-jerk rhythm and Victor Feldman's piano

yup the piano makes that track

'I Got The News' rules.

aw man, when Michael McDonald comes in on that one, so good

Glamour Profession, My Rival and Time Out Of Mind are my favorite Gaucho songs. „Show me my rival, I'll match him whim for whim now“ is the quintessential Steely Dan battlecry

Yeah those three are heart of gaucho for me as well

weird, i would rate the other four tracks ahead of those

I don't dislike any of the songs on Gaucho, but side 1 is perfect.

I mean, same goes for Aja though

I used to think that I Got The News was the only dud here, but I've learned to love the herky-jerk rhythm and Victor Feldman's piano

I'm not particularly bothered by it today but I do think I see his point. The part is not in the same league as songs on the rest of the album.

Also worth noting that I believe Roger Nichols didn't have the same involvement in the engineering of this record as compared to the others, which helps explain Aja didn't *sound* quite as lush as the records before and after it (tho it is certainly every bit as smooth if not more so).

Side one of Aja takes a great steaming shit all over side one of Gaucho.

Counterpoint: no it doesn't

the real answer might be that whatever Steely Dan album out of the first 7 is your favorite, you're right (mine changes all the time.)

I agree with nomar.

xp to naive teen idol

that's really interesting. i wasn't talking about the drum performance in particular (which I agree is not the best) but the rhythm of the song in general as defined by the bassline. keeps the whole thing off-balance and makes the lyrics seem even weirder than they already are

man "Stand by the Seawall" is niiiice

Glamour Profession, My Rival and Time Out Of Mind are my favorite Gaucho songs. „Show me my rival, I'll match him whim for whim now“ is the quintessential Steely Dan battlecry

― gospodin simmel, Thursday, September 14, 2017 11:45 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah those three are heart of gaucho for me as well

― harbinger of failure (Jon not Jon), Thursday, September 14, 2017

dude "Third World Man"

Gaucho the song is the defining moment of their career for me. The perfect climax right near the very end of their first run.

Yes

Let me be clear, I consider gaucho a perfect album and I love every song on it, but those three songs I love especially madly

Whenever I put Gaucho on, which admittedly isn't often and mostly when it crops up in conversation, it's very rare that I make it to the end of side one, finding myself wanting to turn it off about a couple of minutes into 'Glamour Profession' ' if I do make it to side two, then I find myself wanting to switch it off after the title track. It's a shame that 'Third World Man' is buried at the end.

Mark Knopfler is on Gaucho, but I find Brothers in Arms a more engaging record.

Not enough FPs in the world...

https://youtu.be/Ghp88V3Qm8w

Jay Graydon breaks down his solo on Peg

nice clip, thanks for sharing. love watching virtuoso guitar dudes talk with a guitar in their hands, it's like half words half licks.

The solo is great but holy shit when he toys around playing the rhythm around 5m55s is a fucking revelation... how he makes those stacked gospel chords sounds so effortless in standard barre chording... shows you how amazingly talented he is.

I'm also amazed that he can remember his exact setup including the levels on his amp, it was only 40 years ago

https://youtu.be/DP_2r9zbaIY

^ Newly uploaded clip of Donald playing the Peg chords !

I’ve been going pretty Peg crazy lately

"newly uploaded" my ass, lol

Me drinking scotch whiskey all night long: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

Me dying behind the wheel: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

— ｂｏｓｓ (@bosscrood) July 17, 2022

Anyone heard the 45 rpm version?

You’ve always been able to play it at 45 if you wanted. They have played us for absolute fools.

The Michael McDonald backing vocals on “I Got the News” are the best and worst thing on the album.

not really backing vocals, are they? he only turns up during the bridge and sings lead on a couple of lines

I've never really warmed up to I Got the News

On the doc it’s the only song not discussed at gets played during the end credits lol

I’ll admit the first 30 seconds are underwhelming but when McD comes in all is forgiven

victor feldman does his thing on that song

What’s “Spanish kissing”anyway

Not sure but it glistens.

Yuck.

It's the "Green Earrings" of this record, just a chance to give the musicians an opportunity to show off.

Green Earrings is much better

broadway duchess you monsters

why they always gotta give McD the weirdest lines to sing in his weird voice

This is the Dan album I never feel like listening to but it's still fine

brimstead otm what is this madness. I Got the News is incredible

BLAAAAAAAAAAH - tss-pa-tss-oom-pa-tss-oom-papa - BLAAH BLAAH - tss-pa-tss-oom-pa-tss-oom-pa papatapa

Steve Gadd karaoke

*ed greene karaoke.

fun fact, each track on aja has a different drummer

Doesn't Purdie play on both "Deacon Blues" and "Home at Last"?

you’re right, six drummers for seven songs

not really backing vocals, are they? he only turns up during the bridge and sings lead on a couple of lines

The Michael McDonald backing vocals on “I Got the News” are the best and worst thing on the album.

ha i did listen to the song a couple times to see if i could catch any stray mcdonald harmonies during the verses