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

F’in yikes

The neighbors are listening.

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide / Call me Deacon (Frey) Blues

I move to dissolve the corporation
In the smell of warm colitas

I'm a fool to do your Henley work

https://www.vulture.com/2023/06/steely-dan-the-second-arrangement-found.html?fbclid=IwAR1TNcC6uxMT1CjzQwW3AzcmwToFEt36ZwQ_oPazo00hFUF7qbdlsnwoznk

awesome to hear a mostly-finished "The Second Arrangement" at pretty decent quality to compare to all the pieced-together versions

Feels weird how both groups only have one founding member left, though in Steely Dan's case, the band was mostly a two-man enterprise anyway.

"Henley and Fagen with Special Guests" wouldn't be wrong but it doesn't have a multimillion dollar ring to it.

I dunno, three-fifths of the current Eagles have been in that band since 1977 (obvs with long gaps for periods when the band had split).

Eagles : Dan :: oil : water

The only credibility this could have is if SD were headlining and eagles were support

Guessing Donald really wants to buy a home near Annandale and this shame is his price

Everyone involved is in their 70s, the Eagles cut several of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Donald Fagen will always be Donald Fagen. Seriously believe no-one involved in this could give a shit about "credibility".

Nah, Donald cares

Donald could sell his dick as billboard space and still be credible, what are you talking about?

It is not like opening for the Eagles will change anything about the quality of the music, except maybe perhaps playing a bit shorter set than as a headliner.

Got to figure the bigger payday might have the Dan pulling a bigger band and/or maybe some classic sidemen for the gigs.

Tend to doubt they will be using a bunch of pre-recorded tracks or other tool many bands use to prop up the fact they cannot play it like they used to.

Not my scene or something I would go see, but I was kinda impressed that Henley went out and got a ringer like Vince Gill to work in the absence of Glenn Frey. Their harmonies are still pretty strong from the bits I have heard on TV.

Donald could sell his dick as billboard space and still be credible, what are you talking about?

The Bangles are great. Oh, of course that was a calstars post.

I mean sure fuck the eagles or whatever but going after Joe Walsh or Susanna Hoffs for not respecting composition or technique is a tall order

Ideally Walsh just sits in on the entire Dan set, fingers crossed

turn up the neighbors the eagles are listening

I am almost certainly out of the loop but why are we even talking about the Bangles? I love the Bangles.

Donald Fagen (and his management team and close associates) can certainly find the old-ass jazzbos who can play things the way he wants them to sound. There are loads of session dudes out there still.

Steve Gadd, Larry Carlton, lots of those doodz are still available, no?

turn up the neighbors the eagles are listening

steve gadd tours with james taylor these days

need a box set of rejected Steely Dan guitar solos & rhythm tracks, though tbf Graydon's solo blows this outta the water

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6yBHFjy04

Deflatormouse I have watched that footage several times, and every time I wonder what criteria they had in mind. Like, how did they decide what the precise right solo was? They just immediately settled on the one we all know now.

But the world would have been fine had they chosen any of the others. I think.

"It speaks for itself really"

lol

there's a world of difference imo. the solo in the video sounds like someone soloing over the track to fill space as though on autopilot and there are some smart moves but they're delicate. the solo on the record sounds like a mini-composition with its own structure and bold dynamic contours.

sure, in the grand scheme of things it's not the answer to our prayers.

like i dunno one is hugging the contour of the track and making tiny little ripples and the other is big, broad gestures.

In the first solo the guitarist soon gets hung up playing the same two notes, it's pretty clear he's spinning his wheels.

yeah and it feels like the second solo is reacting to the changes, not really playing with the changes

like, the solo melody lags a half step behind the band's changes

"wouldn't you hate it if someone did this to you?"

smh at folks itt being so complacent about the dan opening for the eagles. it's almost like they forgot people fought and died

stabbed with steely knives iirc

according to jay graydon donald never even told him that he liked the solo, or that that was the take they would go with. first time he found out was when he heard the song on the radio lol

that's what the money's for, Jay

last time i saw the dan freddie jackson was on bass (he kicked f'n ass). otherwise they have been pretty consistent since the reunion.

I spent some time on a NJ Transit train with Walt Weiskopf, who's been their tenor sax player for a million years. Dan money pays for his jazz career — he's able to maintain two working bands, one in the US and one in Europe, off his touring salary.

Circling back to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4y2y2gTNWw

James Brown finally getting those no-dancing Midnight Special audiences to get up an jam.

Ffw to 22:33 for a David Palmer-assisted "Reelin'..."

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

"wouldn't you hate it if someone did this to you?"

― flopson, Friday, July 7, 2023 3:26 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've seen speculation that one of the rejected "Peg" solos in that clip was played by Becker, which would make this even funnier if true.

love that we finally get to hear what this album would have sounded like with quality production standards

https://t.co/yPCsZPjtad

— lead metro ambassador (@lakersenjoyer) July 11, 2023

pretty solid imho. if you set aside the extremely canned sound of the digital bass and certain other elements, it'd be presentable as "oh, yeah, in the mid 90s, Fagen & Becker briefly reunited to organize an instrumental version of Aja as a PBS fundraiser."

"Dismissed at the time as an adult-contemporary easy-listening curio, it has since developed a devoted following among the particularly audiophilic wing of the Dan's fanbase."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR6OsrzbHHY

^^ Re: the N64 covers. Sounds like they need to get someone else to come in and work on the Peg solo.

this rips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCX635Z7_PE

Becker even gets a shot of his own in this taping.

Becker gets a decent amount of screentime in the earlier clip from the Cosby-hosted ep linked above, also viewable here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC2je7T9pLQ