I'm a weird Dan fan anyways - my favorite is The Royal Scam and my least favorite is Aja.
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 23 April 2010 02:49 (fourteen years ago) link
I saw some "Early songs of becker and fagen" record for a couple dollars and didn't pick it upit was gone the next dayif I see it again should I get it?
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, April 23, 2010 12:31 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
did it have like a reel of tape in a metal case or something on the cover?
i bought that once....you're not missing anything great....i ended up selling it back later on....i guess if it's like $2 just to satisfy your curiosity maybe
― m@tt (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 23 April 2010 02:58 (fourteen years ago) link
MTV used to play the New Frontier video constantly.
I'm trying to think of some solo debut albums from lead singers that are better than this, and there aren't many.
When does the Kamakiriad re-evaluation begin? That will be a tougher sell.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 23 April 2010 02:59 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG thanks for reminding me of that "New Frontier" video! Just watched it on YouTube and realized it was one of those videos that had seared images in my young, impressionable brain but could never recall what they were from. That whole animated sequence with "the Reds" just took me back to my childhood.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 23 April 2010 03:06 (fourteen years ago) link
proud that i started this thread... seven years ago...
― by another name (amateurist), Friday, 23 April 2010 08:47 (fourteen years ago) link
That would be...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bHSVCs9rX0A/ShuWRawo87I/AAAAAAAAGQc/wUlsXorepBM/s400/Fagen,+Becker,+And+Diaz+-+1971+-+You+Gotta+Walk+It+Like+You+Talk+It+(Or+You%27ll+Lose+That+Beat).jpg
But there are loads of different releases of those early demos around (search Becker and Fagen at Amazon), so if you miss that one you'll probably see another soon enough. They all have practically the same track list: stuff like Brain Tap Shuffle, Let George Do It, Android Warehouse, etc. Think I got one from FOPP for a couple of quid years ago. Wouldn't have paid any more than that for it though. Vaguely interesting if you're into the Dan, but you'll probably never play it more than twice.
― Phil Will, Friday, 23 April 2010 09:33 (fourteen years ago) link
does that have soul ram on it? that song is the shit.
― 51|)e|-|4x012z (ojo), Friday, 23 April 2010 22:33 (fourteen years ago) link
this album is at least as good as the best of SD's catalogue.
― Throwing Muses are reuniting for my next orgasm! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 April 2010 22:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I could not disagree more strongly.
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Friday, 23 April 2010 23:00 (fourteen years ago) link
true, it's better than the best of SD
― dyªº (dyao), Saturday, 24 April 2010 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Not long ago I interviewed drummer Ben Perowsky, who shuttles back and forth between jazz and indie rock; he also played on the Walter Becker album. He said it was hilarious hanging out with him in Hawaii, because Becker had just installed all this absurdly expensive digital equipment in his house and was basically making the album just to test the equipment, and it kept screwing up and erasing entire takes. Every time it did this, Becker would compose these elaborate, scathing emails to the president of Sony, which he would never send.
― Born In A Test Tube, Raised In A Cage (unperson), Saturday, 24 April 2010 16:39 (fourteen years ago) link
okay, I'm listening to Gaucho right now (the song), and I retract my statement. aerosmith otm
― dyªº (dyao), Saturday, 24 April 2010 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
playing this so much the last two weeks <3 <3 <3
― http://www.ilxor.com/glyloop.mp3 (Aerosol), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
"I saw some "Early songs of becker and fagen" record for a couple dollars and didn't pick it upit was gone the next dayif I see it again should I get it?
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, April 23, 2010 12:31 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark"
assuming you meant the You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It soundtrack, it's worth it for 'Roll Back The Meaning' alone. amazing song
― missingNO, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 04:59 (thirteen years ago) link
So the cover is basically him pretending to be Mort Fega?
― calstars, Thursday, 6 June 2013 13:22 (ten years ago) link
cover of book is revealed:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41bRPFRg0HL._SY300_.jpg
― More Than a Century With the Polaris Emblem (calstars), Saturday, 22 June 2013 02:05 (ten years ago) link
stoked.
― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Saturday, 22 June 2013 02:18 (ten years ago) link
I am giving this another shot.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 24 June 2013 12:14 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFSc0MBz0s
― how do i shot cwmbran? (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 28 September 2013 00:39 (ten years ago) link
Ha! Nice scatting & the band is in the pocket. Not sure about the improvised lyrics.
― o. nate, Saturday, 28 September 2013 02:24 (ten years ago) link
listening for the first time, and whoaa- completely classic. up there with gaucho and aja
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 02:40 (ten years ago) link
otm
― combination hair (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 03:50 (ten years ago) link
feels like what would naturally have happened after gaucho but less cynical. even "the goodbye look" plays it sweet. it's in the class of great SD albums but Aja is an unattainable pinnacle for me tho
― combination hair (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 03:52 (ten years ago) link
Multitracked Fagen on "Ruby Baby" is godhead
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 03:54 (ten years ago) link
the title track kills me
I've got plenty of java And Chesterfield Kings But I feel like crying I wish I had a heart like ice Heart like ice
there were these DJs I would hear really late on the weekends, these older AM radio guys who were pushed to the 3 AM slot and would spin Sinatra and big band and '50s-'60s classic jazz (nothing fancy or experimental, only as wacky as mid period tony bennett perhaps?) this album reminds me of them I guess.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 03:58 (ten years ago) link
so you say there's a race of men in the trees - you're for tough legislation?thanks for calling. wait all night for calls like these.
― combination hair (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 04:00 (ten years ago) link
Classic no question
anyone read Eminent Hipsters yet
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 24 December 2013 13:35 (ten years ago) link
The whole album is a classic, but I consider "I.G.Y." in particular to be one of my all-time favorite tracks ("New Frontier" is also great, definitely a worthy follow-up single)
― Frontier Psychiatrist, Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:44 (ten years ago) link
Big fan of "Maxine" over here
― Ornate Coleman (Moodles), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:14 (ten years ago) link
Classic no questionanyone read Eminent Hipsters yet― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, December 24, 2013
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, December 24, 2013
yeah, didn't like it at all...someone should have told him to skip the nasty tour diary that takes up the last 80 pages...the rest are essays already published(?). felt like a ripoff
― Iago Galdston, Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:17 (ten years ago) link
I think that Steely Dan may be my ultimate example of 'band whose music I like but whose main members I hate'.
― that's you, that is (snoball), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:46 (ten years ago) link
Ugh. Tour diary seems very un-Dan/Fagen
― Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 25 December 2013 02:22 (ten years ago) link
Steely Dan....On The Road.
Dear god no
― Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 25 December 2013 02:24 (ten years ago) link
Didn't care for the book at all but I bought it for a friend; he can hash it out.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 03:49 (ten years ago) link
the book couldn't have been more disappointing
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 04:29 (ten years ago) link
Ian Penman's long, meandering review of Eminent Hipsters is fantastic - http://www.city-journal.org/2014/bc0119ip.html
― Merdeyeux, Monday, 20 January 2014 10:20 (ten years ago) link
Epic.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 20 January 2014 14:03 (ten years ago) link
Thanks for the link, brilliant piece
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 20 January 2014 16:51 (ten years ago) link
Nice essay - I wonder if the book is as good as he makes it sound though.
― o. nate, Monday, 27 January 2014 15:58 (ten years ago) link
it's not
― Iago Galdston, Monday, 27 January 2014 17:13 (ten years ago) link
and it's not Annie Hall he should be referencing, more like Stardust Memories...the contempt he shows for his fans is a real turn off
― Iago Galdston, Monday, 27 January 2014 17:14 (ten years ago) link
http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/07/21/donald-fagen-the-nightfly-round-70-not-grahams-choice-but-forced-in-to-it-by-toms-selection-system/
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 12:03 (nine years ago) link
suggest ban
― jamiesummerz, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 12:11 (nine years ago) link
ha!
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 12:19 (nine years ago) link
Anyone heard the comedy album by Tom Schiller and Donald Fagen, "Tom and Don"? I started listening to it on Spotify the other day.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 14:29 (nine years ago) link
Nick listened: I don’t remember finding this offensive at all, or all that bland or alienating etc etc. But at the same time, I don’t remember ANYTHING about it at all.
Often posited as a negative, but is it? Does something have to be memorable to be good? If you went for a 3 hour walk in the woods, how much of that would you remember?
― saer, Tuesday, 22 July 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
I generally have a hard time remembering concrete things about music if I haven't listened to it several times.
― odd proggy geezer (Moodles), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 18:01 (nine years ago) link
I'm not sure things needs to be remembered!
― saer, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 12:29 (nine years ago) link
Like Aja, it sounded too clean, too smug, too lift musak.
c'mon, this is sorta the point. just look at the album cover! i can understand why someone wouldn't like it, but it's like criticizing thrash metal for sounding aggressive.
― Spectrum, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 13:10 (nine years ago) link
how is it smug? The sensibility is very different from Steely Dan's!
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 13:26 (nine years ago) link