Steely Dan C or D?

me too. I'll check later. thanks

They are very much active.

Thanks for the heads up.

i like don't know this band much outside of the hits but i started listening to the album "pretzel logic about 15 minutes ago, and am now 15 minutes in, and i like it a lot.

i think it might be really good.

welcome

it's kind of weird though

Sign In Stranger

self xp, but not in a bad way. i will post more when i have something to say that is halfway informed.

Hey Treeship
That's Donald Fagen
He don't remember the King of Snark

I feel like the only album of the initial run that isnt a good intro to the band is maybe Royal Scam. (Mine was Katy Lied)

treeship if you're looking for next dan step, consider aja

Try Can't Buy a Thrill next, save Gaucho for last.

(because it's the weakest of their original run)

Seeing as Gaucho was the first SD album I heard and it made fall in love with the band immediately, I don't think you need to worry about listening to it too much

treeship will love gaucho or I will eat my spats

Treeship, I wish I could hear these records for the first time again. Hope you dig them!!!

Pretzel Logic is a really good one to start with, right in the middle of their career & a nice dividing line between the earlier rock-oriented records and later studio muso records.

imo Aja would be the one to check out next. and then Gaucho if you dig the smooth sound... Gaucho is antiseptic, in the best way!

I started w/Pretzel Logic, bc according to what i was reading around the time (conventional wisdom + the RS 1992 album guide) it was their best album.

moved onto Countdown to Ecstasy from there and i think the Royal Scam was next.

the albums i came to a bit later were Can't Buy a Thrill and Katy Lied, for whatever reason. CBAT still seems like the least Dan of the Dan LPs, i mean it's a genuinely classic one, a ridiculously played and confident '70s rock album, but it's not fully instilled with the Fagen/Becker essence. Katy Lied, for some reason that one took a bit to grow on me.

i would go Countdown to Ecstasy next. Brilliant jams, some incredible singles, kind of the perfect combo of all the SD elements in one package.

Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my favorites and they represent the opposite SD streams fully realized.

Pretzel Logic is an amazing entry point into The Dan because of the strangeness and stylistic diversity. In terms of next steps, here's a handy guide

If you liked the title track, Parker's Band or Barrytown the most, listen to Countdown to Ecstasy
If you liked Rikki the most, listen to Aja
If you liked the creepy character studies (Monkey, Buzz, Charlie Freak) best, move onto Katy Lied
If you loved "Night By Night," check out The Royal Scam
if you preferred "Any Major Dude" or "With a Gun," check out Can't Buy a Thrill

And if you liked East St. Louis Toodle-Oo the most...congrats, you're a weirdo. Check out Gaucho

I started with Katy Lied because duh minutemen

Xp Eastside Toodle-oo maybe secretly my favourite Steely Dan track but don't tell

so favorite you can't even remember what it's called?

I mean no offense to East St. Louis Toodle-lovers, but picking the band's only ever instrumental and only ever cover as your favorite track is an unorthodox choice

Gaucho is probably my favorite these days.

Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my favorites and they represent the opposite SD streams fully realized.

― gospodin simmel, Tuesday, September 19, 2017 2:33 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

SO correct

listen to any album in any order it's all good

otm

people OTM - Pretzel is really the best entry point

Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my favorites and they represent the opposite SD streams fully realized.

― gospodin simmel, Tuesday, 19 September 2017 18:33 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can't Buy a Thrill is easily as good an entry point as Pretzel Logic is, IMO.

CBAT is a great album, but a total outlier. It's a good introduction but it's not really a roadmap

yeah like "Brooklyn Holds the Charmer" is a wonderful song but kind of a fake-out for other 'sentimental' SD songs

Y'see, aside from the presence of David Palmer I don't really get that way of thinking at all. It sounds as much a Steely Dan record as any other Steely Dan record - I don't think it could be mistaken for anything else!

tom

er, otm

I mean yeah it's basically Palmer. thinking of other overtly musically sentimental SD songs that are similar... Any World, Dirty Work, Deacon Blues obv...

Palmer only sings lead on two songs, and you can hear why - as Christgau noted, he "fit in like a cheerleader at a crap game." Even on those tracks - and the one Jim Hodder sings - you can hear the way Donald would have sung them. And I wouldn't call Dirty Work or Brooklyn "sentimental."

Oh I guess you qualified that as "musically sentimental," though I'm not really sure what that means.

there's a nostalgic quality to the choruses of those songs especially

Katy Lied is the best imo

Brooklyn Owes the Charmer is p sentimental - it's about how sweet his cranky old school NY neighbors are!

re: Hodder singing lead - wtf I never even knew this "Dallas" single existed

Palmer only sings lead on two songs, and you can hear why

Yeah. I mean could you imagine him on 'Showbiz Kids' or 'Everyone's Gone to the Movies'!?

I should probably reread the lyrics before arguing these points in the future. SD's lyrics are so much fun to read, too.

xxp

I've spun Dallas a few times, catchy tune

Like a Sunday in T.J.
That it's cheap but it's not free
That I'm not what I used to be
And that love's not a game for three

xpost

Palmer singing lead adds to the creepiness!

with Fagen there's never any question that he's in on the joke

That "It's cheap but it's not free" is just such a fucking brilliant line.

Collective ILX lost weekends in Tijuana bear this out as undeniable truth.