also, how did "turn up the eagles..." not win the lyrics subpoll?
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 April 2014 21:51 (ten years ago) link
In the song "Everything You Did," a lyric says, "turn up The Eagles, the neighbors are listening." Glenn Frey of the Eagles said, "Apparently Walter Becker's girlfriend loved the Eagles, and she played them all the time. I think it drove him nuts. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day and that was the genesis of the line." Given that the two bands shared a manager (Irving Azoff) and that the Eagles proclaimed their admiration for Steely Dan, this was more friendly rivalry than feud.
Later that year in a nod back to Steely Dan for the free publicity, and inspired by Steely Dan's lyric style, the Eagles penned the lyrics, "They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast" in their hit "Hotel California". Frey commented, "We just wanted to allude to Steely Dan rather than mentioning them outright, so 'Dan' got changed to 'knives,' which is still, you know, a penile metaphor."
Timothy B. Schmit, who played bass on The Royal Scam and two other Steely Dan albums, would later join the Eagles.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 21:52 (ten years ago) link
which is still, you know, a penile metaphor
well, yeah.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 April 2014 21:53 (ten years ago) link
This seems like a good spot for the Steely Dan/Eagles episode of Yacht Rock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb_XEwgfmDk
Didn't want to embed it and clutter the thread.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 3 April 2014 21:56 (ten years ago) link
could some audiophile ID that setup? I presume it's historically accurate (1976)?
― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Thursday, 3 April 2014 21:57 (ten years ago) link
imagining Becker-Fagen floating in a space capsule is makin' me chuckle over here
http://i.imgur.com/xdAyLkt.gif
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 April 2014 21:58 (ten years ago) link
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kuPf-3ZGxDI/Uz3ZLKhvINI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/riBpKtpBVTU/w640-h320-no/Throw+Back+the+Little+Ones.jpg
55. Throw Back The Little OnesFrom: Katy LiedReleased: March 1975132 Points, 7 Votes
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:07 (ten years ago) link
Holy crap is that image unsettling.
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:08 (ten years ago) link
a neat template for Kate Bush's first three albums
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:15 (ten years ago) link
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-a2fGCkWGJXU/Uz3eJ5ogkjI/AAAAAAAAAKA/sbKChBgbd_0/w640-h320-no/Through+With+Buzz.jpg
54. Through With BuzzFrom: Pretzel LogicReleased: February 20, 1974143 Points, 7 Votes
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:22 (ten years ago) link
as noted above, the string section adds to the general fucking weirdness
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:26 (ten years ago) link
feels like it began a something Fagen and Becker had written as an exercise or dare--can we write a song that has one-line verses?---and then managed to turn into this wonderfully bizarre little song. love it
― col, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:29 (ten years ago) link
i feel like those short verses and the general structure is very much like a lot of blues songs, but obv the song isn't especially bluesy and they did away with anything like solos or extra repeats of anything and stripping it so bare is a big part of its appeal.
― CANS.... and D? (some dude), Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:39 (ten years ago) link
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w4EnXtWV8aw/Uz3jcO0XLLI/AAAAAAAAAKs/yVYKSfMNxss/w640-h320-no/My+Rival.jpg
53. My RivalFrom Gaucho Released: November 21, 1980156 Points, 7 Votes
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:43 (ten years ago) link
this would have been like 22 or 23.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:45 (ten years ago) link
pplains, these images are awesome
― Sandy, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:47 (ten years ago) link
xpHuh?
― bentelec, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:47 (ten years ago) link
we only turned in a Top 20 but if it was say a Top 30 then it would have placed somewhere around there.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:49 (ten years ago) link
my least favorite Gaucho song
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:49 (ten years ago) link
on my personal ballot i might add.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:50 (ten years ago) link
"through with buzz" was my #2. weird and wonderful. hi-fi guided by voices.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:50 (ten years ago) link
in some ways, i think, guided by voices has spent the past 20 years trying to match "through with buzz," and failing.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:51 (ten years ago) link
and robert pollard could sing "maybe he's a fairy" without the slightest hit of irony, guilt or any second thought at all.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:52 (ten years ago) link
these images are making me impossibly happy.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:53 (ten years ago) link
Man, I could go line-by-line on "My Rival" - they do not put a foot wrong in the lyric, undercutting every noir signifier they introduce. "I'll match him whim for whim!" It's such a great Fagen showcase, too - how his delivery underlines "whining stranger," the punchline of "he weaaaars a heaaaring aid." I love that soap opera organ too, and the cry of the backup singer at the end just melting into the air...
― bentelec, Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:56 (ten years ago) link
TOO LOW
― °ㅇ๐ْ ° (gr8080), Thursday, 3 April 2014 22:59 (ten years ago) link
haha yeah on the soap opera organ
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:00 (ten years ago) link
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CpvhLBlDblo/Uz3m4YXjLHI/AAAAAAAAALU/qeaZX6d6S3I/w640-h320-no/Kings.jpg
52. KingsFrom: Can't Buy a ThrillReleased: November 1972171 Points, 9 Votes
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:05 (ten years ago) link
wasn't there some ancient ilx thread where someone was doing lolcat-style steely dan macros and a picture of don & walt with the caption "MY RIVALS - SHOW ME THEM"? it's stupid but that still cracks me up.
― CANS.... and D? (some dude), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:06 (ten years ago) link
wow, didn't expect "Kings" to make the cut
― col, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:07 (ten years ago) link
hot licks and rhetoricdon't count much for nothing
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:08 (ten years ago) link
"Kings" very narrowly missed my ballot. it sounds like a preview of some of their grander later songs with the slightly more limited band they had in the early days, which gives it its own kind of charm.
― CANS.... and D? (some dude), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:08 (ten years ago) link
"My Rival" is the first of my 20 to place. the groove and lyrics are gold. sounds like it would've fit and been by far the best track on two against nature had they saved it for some reason.
― Belgian Flanders Albums Chart (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:09 (ten years ago) link
i still recall when i first heldyour tiny hand in minei loved you more than i can tellbut now it's stomping time
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:09 (ten years ago) link
"my rival" might have been my first steely dan love
― °ㅇ๐ْ ° (gr8080), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:13 (ten years ago) link
Guitar solo on "Kings" is all-time.
― J. Sam, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:14 (ten years ago) link
It is. CBAT was the last classic-era SD fan I bought, and to hear what was an essence a songwriting collective feel their way towards finding the right arrangements and players for the material made the album sound special. This and Aja are the transitional albums for me: there's another Dan beyond those albums powerless to be born or something.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:17 (ten years ago) link
feels like it began a something Fagen and Becker had written as an exercise or dare--can we write a song that has one-line verses?---and then managed to turn into this wonderfully bizarre little song.
judging from that fagen instructional piano video someone else posted on the voting thread, "chain lightning" also occurred as a result of an exercise, which iirc is "what if we wrote a blues that never arrived at the iv chord"
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:17 (ten years ago) link
i really like "kings", but I probably like pplains' picture more.
― Belgian Flanders Albums Chart (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:22 (ten years ago) link
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uYbbfP1YK7c/Uz3rWfAZDwI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Dxax6EaZgWc/w640-h320-no/Jack+Of+Speed.jpg
51. Jack Of SpeedFrom: Two Against NatureReleased: February 29, 2000176 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:25 (ten years ago) link
haha my number one
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:28 (ten years ago) link
interesting. will have to spend some more time with this one.
― Belgian Flanders Albums Chart (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:30 (ten years ago) link
he's gone — he walks through the old routines but he's gone — guaranteed
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:30 (ten years ago) link
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson)
Brad!
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:30 (ten years ago) link
Amazing song, #8 on my ballot
― CANS.... and D? (some dude), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:32 (ten years ago) link
kinda curious to hear what you guys' stories are re TAN. Did you buy it in 2000?
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:33 (ten years ago) link
I've never paid much attention to My Rival beyond the "Jolly Roger" chorus, but the story is kind of hilarious (Mike Powell called him "a pirate w a hearing aid" in a Stylus piece on Gaucho). Cool synth solo too.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:33 (ten years ago) link
so that concludes the bonus 10 songs. reasons why i added these. first, two nights before this started i was looking at some other artist polls that were done and saw a bunch of these had more than a Top 50. second, the "My Rival" picture was already made up as both pplains and i thought is was a lock for making the Top 50. third, the "Second Arrangement" story. fourth, "Jack of Speed" getting a number 1 vote.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:34 (ten years ago) link
some of pplains best work were in those pictures, the last bunch he made up. not to say what is coming up is not great because it's actually is but i especially liked a few of those.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:39 (ten years ago) link
Kings was one of the final songs I had to cut
― Sandy, Thursday, 3 April 2014 23:42 (ten years ago) link