Steely Dan: "Steely Dan's name has been popping up as a hip musical crush. Remember, this glossy bop-pop was the indifferent aristocracy to punk rock's stone-throwing in the late 70's. People fought

The piano tremelos delight me.

you guys are right its a horrible song

I will never forget the first time I parsed "slow down, I'll tell you when/I may never walk again" and what's actually going on in the song
If you care to, please share with us

― calstars, Thursday, May 16, 2013 4:34 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

i assume it has something to do w/ the line earlier 'you / got the muscle / i got the news'

"warm soulful secret" innit

yeah... i was speculating as to why he might never walk again

or walk like a new born baby colt

I enjoyed the Malkmus and Fagen discussion upthead. In terms of their personalities, they both come across as really smart, and maybe quietly bitter, dudes who smoked so much weed in high school and college that everything becomes filtered through winking and smirking. Even their aforementioned anger in songs is depressed because of that smart-aleck sensibility. And of course musically the jazz, they're record-collector/pop-music history bros (and rock critics will always respect that).

michael mcdonald is sort of like bob nastanovich

That's an overly harsh thing to say about Michael McDonald.

"take it in your hand/all the sirens and the band get to bending my ear"

this Pavement/Steely Dan shit is so sacrilegious, fuck outta here

not Pavement, just Malkmus. There's a useful point of comparison. Obv neither Steve Gadd nor Bernard Purdie ever played drums in Pavement, etc etc

"take it in your hand/all the sirens and the band get to bending my ear"

ee-yah more like

Thank you, Cunga! I like that both the Pave and SD fans hate the comparison--means I'm onto something!

michael mcdonald is sort of like bob nastanovich

Michael McStanovich

Aja = glorious

Aja on bright red vinyl = super neat

and Gaucho is slowly edging its way into my top 20 of all time. magnificent record.

jenny and the ess-dog always seemed like a real steely dan lyrical move by malkmus

William Gibson ‏@GreatDismal 8h
Reading proofs of Donald Fagen's Eminent Hipsters, a work of memoir and criticism. #perksofthejob

Apparently out in October. Very excited.

Wow mega anticipating! Love the hell out of his prose.

Gaucho gold

http://bbchron.blogspot.com/2011/02/steely-dan-lost-gaucho-and-outtakes.html

outtakes! from my favourite dan album too! thanks iago.

I think it was Winston Churchill who said: If you're under 23 and you love Steely Dan, you have no balls. If you're over 30 and you don't love Steely Dan, you have no brain.

Hmmm and I became a steely Dan fiend at exactly the age of 23 (20 years ago ;_;)

yeah I think maybe it was around 28 for me?

"The Bear" is terrific, "The Second Arrangement" less so (sounds tentative).

Somehow I am always underwhelmed by 2nd Arrangement--the whole lost classic thing makes too much out of it

no way, the guitar lick that kicks off "the second arrangement" is all-time

Listening to Pretzel Logic right now and I think it might become my favourite Dan record. There's not a bad moment on it.

Unless I'm mistaken, the Dan don't seem to play much of this one live (except the title track)...

Summer tour announced but fuck if I can afford $75 bleacher seats. Disappointing

^^ play a block from where I live bit srsly

the Dan playing the same day in South Florida as Pet Shop Boys. Hm. May go with the latter.

Sept 30 New York, NY new Beacon Theatre Aja - Plus Selected Hits
Oct 01 New York, NY new Beacon Theatre Greatest Hits Night
Oct 03 New York, NY new Beacon Theatre Royal Scam - Plus Selected Hits
Oct 04 New York, NY new Beacon Theatre Gaucho - Plus Selected Hits
Oct 05 New York, NY new Beacon Theatre Audience Request Night
Oct 07 New York, NY new Beacon Theatre Aja - Plus Selected Hits
Oct 08 New York, NY new Beacon Theatr Greatest Hits Night

they did that whole thing 4 years ago too. the "Rent Party '09" tour. I saw the 'Aja', 'Royal Scam', and 'Gaucho' at the Chicago Theater. 3 shows in 4 days. What a blast that week was

anyway, as long as Keith Carlock is still with them ( I assume he is,) you're all good

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/steely-dan-on-making-new-music-weve-been-talking-20130718

You're welcome!

Speaking of which, does anyone have a link to the Dukes of September tour diary that Donald Fagen wrote? (referenced in the interview, apparently he unloads a lot on his fans, which I find very promising!)

No, we play nice fairs. They have sheep-breeding contests and things like that. I enjoy those. It's fun. Sometimes the audience is all farm animals. That's cool, too. Sometimes it's hard to tell these geriatric people apart from the the farm animals, actually. It's all assisted living.

Still got it

cannot wait to read eminent hipsters

(walter)

But you're the other half of the group. What are your thoughts on the matter?

A group is . . . Yeah, I am half the group. Is two people a group? We're sort of a duo, like Peter and Gordon, more than a group.

Well, the White Stripes were a group. There's just two of them.

Oh, what an unfortunate example.

They're obviously very different, but . . .

Jesus Christ. Go ahead and tear my heart out.

Who gives better interviews than these guys, really?

dylan sometimes if the mood is right...

i have no use for the band but the gallagher bros. antics and shit-talking has always been 100% awesome to me, they are so incredibly dumb though, which i guess is part of the charm

cannot wait to read eminent hipsters

Gonna buy a copy and one each for friends and family

wow, they've rehearsed every song from Countdown and may do the whole thing in some shows this year.

I think I'll be seeing them alone on a Tuesday

Just look at Bob Dylan. His voice is pretty shot.
Really?

I love the guy, but it's not in great shape.
Well, I'd like to quote Jack Nicholson in Rolling Stone. He said that as long as Bob Dylan is alive, he will be the greatest living songwriter.

I totally agree, but that doesn't mean his voice is in great shape.
I don't know . . . Wow. Wow.

pretty disappointed by the book. the 150ish page count seems like a joke. basically nothing about steely dan. $26.95

i never got in the impression from anything about the marketing or press coverage that the book would be a) a thick, substantial tome or b) focused on fagen's own career. hardcovers are expensive, i'll probably wait for the paperback.

more talk about Fagen's book here:

Donald Fagen wrote an article about Ennio Morricone