Polled At Last: STEELY DAN - ILM Artist poll #50

Who is that

― Master of Treacle

I've been out, but in case your question never got answered, the girl in the graphic for FM is Jan Smithers, better known as Bailey Quarters of WKRP in Cincinnati.

It's a perfect song, but not as perfect as most of the previous 20-25 songs in the list.

I couldn't disagree more! So many relative duds so far it's amazing

Waiting for "With A Gun" to take the top spot

boooooooo

Do you respect wood?

do you take me for a fool
do you think that I don't see
that ditch out in the valley
that they're digging just for me

my steely dan saturday: drove down magnolia boulevard (did not notice any fearsome excavations) on the way to a barbecue, where the host's yacht rock-ish pandora station played "midnight cruiser" and fagen's "green flower street" back-to-back.

Has "Any Major Dude" turned up yet...

even if we all do like every single SD song there are some very big differences in SD songs we LOVE. like, i'm baffled by all the Aja love and with Galdston's idea of relative duds (which for him include Night By Night, Razor Boy and Barrytown)

well said

i had no idea before today that "king of the world" was so well loved. it always struck me as a bit of a throwaway musically, and a bit too on-the-nose for becker and fagen lyrically -- kind of like the next album's "charlie freak," which i spent years skipping over -- and I'm still not sure what it adds to the literature of apocalyptic pop. on the other hand, i've always loved the last line of the chorus: "any man left on the rio grande is the king of the world as far as i know." that wonderful qualifier "as far as i know" nearly saves the song for me.

i was not one of the #1 votes for "show biz kids," but i do love that one. i like all the obvious little moments -- the steely dan t-shirts, the show business kids not giving a fuck about anybody else, fagen's hysterically elongated phrasing of "coup de grace" (a move he would perfect a few years later with "is there gas in the car?"). i think the static, repetitious groove builds a momentum of its own that is paid off by the angry release of the "making movies of themselves" bit. i like to think frank ocean was paying homage to this song with "super rich kids," which i love equally.

i screwed up by not voting for "throw down the jam till the girls say when" in the lyrics subpoll. very happy to see the "josie" love.

Steve Gadd/Wayne Shorter breakdown puts this tune over the top IMO.

Shorter's great here, but Gadd's solo is the reason I couldn't vote for this. For me, it's the apotheosis of LA studio hackdom in drumming, the sound of someone who thinks Elvin Jones' approach needs to be tidied up. It's by far my least favorite moment in a Dan song, which is too bad, because apart from Gadd, I love "Aja."

feeling kinda vindicated that it looks like my 2 favorite albums, Countdown and Scam, placed every single track in the countdown (so did Gaucho, but an easier feat at only 7 songs).

this has happened 4 or 5 times so far:

ehh, that song is too high
song gets in head
man, that's an amazing song

^

"king of the world" too low btw

if I stay inside
i might live til Saturday

yeah i spent a lot of time during the voting period making myself listen to and re-evaluate songs that i had long ago decided were not personal favorites, and pretty much all of them i have to admit rule on some level (even if i didn't really change my ballot at all in the process).

best so-called filler of any band as far as I know

i don't like this band but i'm going to try again this week

ehh, that song is too high
song gets in head
man, that's an amazing song

lol this just happened to me yesterday with "Don't Take Me Alive"

Cobalt cigarettes

Going to bed last night, my wife told me she had "Daddy Don't Live in that New York City No More" stuck in her head. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!

i don't like this band but i'm going to try again this week

― markers, Sunday, April 6, 2014 11:19 AM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

mar can i make you a special personalized gateway SD mix?

uh yes!

well we are almost there

starting up? i'd blow off the first semi-day of spring for more results!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KdZpmauAkTs/U0GSu-Wu9aI/AAAAAAAAAtU/reykDhaekuc/w640-h320-no/Dirty+Work.jpg

12. Dirty Work
From: Can't Buy a Thrill
Released: November 1972
806 Points, 36 Votes, 1 Number One

phew. that's out of the way.

good song

Ah ILX, never disappoints

hell of a song, but it's one of the very few I'm burned out on....this spot feels about right to me, actually.
your #1, Iago?

http://eil.com/images/main/Rolling+Stones+-+Dirty+Work+-+Sealed+-+LP+RECORD-476889.jpg

I listened to this a bunch last night. It is really good. I also realized that the beginning reminds me of Fastball's "Out of My Head", which was played to death on my hometown radio station in the late nineties.

I feel like getting all rock-crit adjectival for that cheeze keyboard solo by Fagen.....a "knowing" solo? an "insinuating" solo? "insinuatingly knowing"??

it's like he's mocking Palmer's vocal right behind him.

hell of a song, but it's one of the very few I'm burned out on....this spot feels about right to me, actually.
your #1, Iago?

― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Sunday, April 6, 2014 1:58 PM (3 minutes ago)

Ha, I know, I can't shut up! I don't not like any SD songs, was just listening to this and loved it--#12 just blows my mind is all. This poll feels very....fraught, but in a good way

Really love the vocal on Dirty Work.

somebody should link the "Dirty Work" scene from "American Hustle"....

"Dirty Work" was my only vote from the debut. the sax's mocking too, could segue nicely into "Yakety Sax"

it was not released as a single but sure does look like it was:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7Hq-feXkMSs/U0GaDmiZJII/AAAAAAAAAuA/l9WTJ-yDhCI/w226-h223-no/Dirty+Work+-+Reelin.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qYalWMLigY

I like how they cut away from the song before the big chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNpMC4FslNk

doin my dirty work, much appreciated!

Guess you've found yourself somebody who'll do the job for free

lol

I was the #1 vote fyi

like a king in his castle, Shakey, in a medieval game, i foresee terrible trouble, yet i stay here just the same