Good, I will listen to this today. I have to vote for "Peg," but it's sad that I can't also vote for "Deacon Blues." (Nothing like a Steely Dan poll to bring everyone out of the woodwork.)
― _Rockist__Scientist_, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Sorry, didn't realize you evaluate songs as if they're text and not music.
― some dude, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:22 (fifteen years ago) link
black cow seems like it's about a splintering relationship or friendship, i haven't figured it yet.
― omar little, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:25 (fifteen years ago) link
I didn't realize you wouldn't read my post correctly.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:27 (fifteen years ago) link
I think he read it perfectly fine...? I mean, why do the songs have to be "about" anything unless you're someone who privileges lyrics?
― jaymc, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Songs can't say what they mean through music? My post said nothing about lyrics.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:32 (fifteen years ago) link
So the chord changes and solos on Aja don't communicate ennui, dessication, and despair as well as they do on Gaucho. Gotcha.
― some dude, Friday, 20 June 2008 18:35 (fifteen years ago) link
1977 was an off year for the mu major chord.
― David R., Friday, 20 June 2008 19:09 (fifteen years ago) link
they wrote masterfully about ennui, dessication, and despair on Gaucho. I'm not sure what "Black Cow" and "Home At Last" are about beyond their instrumental virtuosity. I mean, they're pretty, I don't skip the tracks, but so what?
How about buying a collection of good poems instead then?
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 June 2008 21:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Friday, 20 June 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
I like Geir when he's saucy.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 21 June 2008 00:46 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Saturday, 21 June 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
drink scotch whiskey all night long
― PappaWheelie V, Sunday, 22 June 2008 03:29 (fifteen years ago) link
So when's the "Pretzel Logic" one? (my favourite by them besides "Aja")
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 22 June 2008 18:36 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm pleasantly shocked by the landslide for Deacon Blues. Well done, ILM.
― ablaeser, Monday, 23 June 2008 02:11 (fifteen years ago) link
Also, Steely Dan totally rocked the Beacon yesterday, great show.
― ablaeser, Monday, 23 June 2008 02:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Surprised that "I Got the News" and "Josie" did so poorly. Those would be my 3rd and 4th picks.
― o. nate, Monday, 23 June 2008 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Hey- I was at that Beacon show too. Good show - would have liked to hear a few more pre-Royal Scam tunes, but good stuff.
― o. nate, Monday, 23 June 2008 17:06 (fifteen years ago) link
I saw the tuesday night show at the beacon... I wish becker didn't sing on gaucho or do that narrative bit on hey nineteen. both were a little embarrassing. maybe fagen felt he had to throw him a bone since they played one of his solo tracks?
anyway, great show otherwise! and they played more gaucho material than aja, if memory serves. so the dan like gaucho better too!
― original bgm, Monday, 23 June 2008 18:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Beacon Duels
― PappaWheelie V, Monday, 23 June 2008 18:45 (fifteen years ago) link
According to my faulty memory this is what they played off each album on Saturday:
Can't Buy: nada Countdown: Showbiz Kids Pretzel: Parker's Band Katy Lied: nada Royal Scam: Kid Charlemagne, Don't Take Me Alive, The Fez (instrumental bit only), Green Earrings, Royal Scam Aja: Peg, I Got the News, Josie Gaucho: Babylon Sisters, Hey Nineteen, Glamour Profession, Gaucho
And they also played "New Frontier" off of Fagen's Nightfly and "Two Against Nature".
― o. nate, Monday, 23 June 2008 19:04 (fifteen years ago) link
how was "Glamor Profession"?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 23 June 2008 19:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Sounded great. The band was in fine form.
― o. nate, Monday, 23 June 2008 19:11 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh, I forgot they played one non-album track: "FM".
― o. nate, Monday, 23 June 2008 19:14 (fifteen years ago) link
"home at last" way underrated
― deej, Monday, 14 July 2008 18:09 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm somewhat surprised at the lack of love "I Got the News" got. Personally I'd take it over "Aja" or "Home at Last."
― ablaeser, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 00:04 (fifteen years ago) link
LOVE "Home At Last"
― some dude, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 00:11 (fifteen years ago) link
I was just singing along to Deacon Blues on my way back from the supermarket. It would be my ideal karaoke song if it didn't have such a long sax solo.
I think I missed voting on this poll, probably would have chosen the title track for that sweet Steve Gadd beat during the fade-out.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 01:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Alfred if we ever have a few hours to kill together I will explain to you why this is a better album than Gaucho and you will agree by the time I get done.
― J0hn D., Tuesday, 15 July 2008 01:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Deal. As long as we meet in a bar much like the one where The Gaucho hangs out.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 15 July 2008 01:19 (fifteen years ago) link
Anyone besides me old enough to remember this commercial?
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 12 December 2008 08:56 (fifteen years ago) link
no but I am going to sample "welcome to the land... of Steely Dan" and edit it into the beginning of every single song of theirs
― With a little bit of gold and a Peja (bernard snowy), Friday, 12 December 2008 13:28 (fifteen years ago) link
splendid find.
― get that pion down you son (Frogman Henry), Friday, 12 December 2008 13:49 (fifteen years ago) link
I looked for it a few months ago but didn't find it until last night. I know that by the time of Gaucho ABC Records no longer even existed. But those were the boom years, and I can recall several high-profile LPs getting television advertising.
(First time I'd heard of Steely Dan, incidentally, altho I was familiar with "Do It Again" and "Reelin'" and "Rikki".)
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 12 December 2008 19:51 (fifteen years ago) link
I just realized what that announcer's voice sounds exactly like: Asian Correspondent Tricia Takanawa from Family Guy!
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 15 December 2008 05:11 (fifteen years ago) link
lol I am an ILMer now in every sense of the word XD
― goodbye pork pie scarf (The Reverend), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:55 (fifteen years ago) link
lol
― 20 HOOS poppin steens on kawasakis (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 23 March 2009 08:02 (fifteen years ago) link
ok whoa I think I get "Home At Last" now, and I don't mean the Odyssey references. Have you ever had a funeral for yourself while you're still alive? You thought that you were allowing yourself to be bound just to avoid a passing danger on your way home, but now that the danger is past, you recognize you'd rather be bound: you recognize that this is now your home. You aren't who you were when you set out; in a way you've been ruined. Drugs aren't the only thing that work this way.
― Euler, Thursday, 4 February 2010 14:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Life works that way.
― _Rudipherous_, Thursday, 4 February 2010 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
the 33 1/3 on this album is amazing so far
― some dude, Thursday, 4 February 2010 15:08 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG WANT.
Although what I want even more is an entire book about each album written by SD themselves along the lines of their reissue liner notes.
― Tim F, Thursday, 4 February 2010 15:49 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah ideally. the author of this book got to interview Fagen, though, so there's plenty of his voice in there too.
― some dude, Friday, 5 February 2010 02:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I've read mixed reviews -- too "muso" (lots of discussion of diminished chords, etc)
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 February 2010 02:13 (fourteen years ago) link
it was way too dry for me but i know very little about music theory so ymmv.
― jabba hands, Friday, 5 February 2010 02:57 (fourteen years ago) link
weird, I think it's very engaging and well written and that the theory stuff, which pretty much all goes over my head, is doled out pretty sparingly.
― some dude, Friday, 5 February 2010 03:06 (fourteen years ago) link
― Tim F, Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:49 AM (Yesterday)
i only have the "can't buy a thrill" reissue but the shit they wrote there was awesome
― rasta batman gigolo (k3vin k.), Friday, 5 February 2010 05:15 (fourteen years ago) link
i just flicked through the Aja book again and it wasn't quite as technical as i'd remembered, although the line-by-line lyrical analysis and the part where he lists how many bars there are in each section of each song are brutal.
would love to read a book by either of the guys themselves. it's amazing how little has been published about the band really. the Aja book and the Reelin' In The Years biog (which is also very dry) and that's pretty much it i think?
― jabba hands, Friday, 5 February 2010 05:26 (fourteen years ago) link
poor show for Josie.
― piscesx, Monday, 5 April 2010 04:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Woulda voted "Black Cow."
― queen frostine (Eric H.), Monday, 5 April 2010 04:43 (fourteen years ago) link
me too probably. so bummed i didn't have the $$ to see at least one of the shows last year.
― hobbes, Monday, 5 April 2010 05:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I've never really warmed up to I Got the News
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 22 March 2024 15:42 (one month ago) link
On the doc it’s the only song not discussed at gets played during the end credits lol
― calstars, Friday, 22 March 2024 16:40 (one month ago) link
I’ll admit the first 30 seconds are underwhelming but when McD comes in all is forgiven
victor feldman does his thing on that song
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 22 March 2024 16:43 (one month ago) link
What’s “Spanish kissing”anyway
― calstars, Friday, 22 March 2024 16:48 (one month ago) link
Not sure but it glistens. Yuck.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 22 March 2024 19:31 (one month ago) link
It's the "Green Earrings" of this record, just a chance to give the musicians an opportunity to show off.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 22 March 2024 19:33 (one month ago) link
Green Earrings is much better
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 22 March 2024 19:35 (one month ago) link
broadway duchess you monsters
― brimstead, Friday, 22 March 2024 20:10 (one month ago) link
why they always gotta give McD the weirdest lines to sing in his weird voice
― calstars, Friday, 22 March 2024 20:23 (one month ago) link
This is the Dan album I never feel like listening to but it's still fine
― Morris O’Shea Salazar (Noodle Vague), Friday, 22 March 2024 20:25 (one month ago) link
brimstead otm what is this madness. I Got the News is incredible
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 22 March 2024 21:04 (one month ago) link
BLAAAAAAAAAAH - tss-pa-tss-oom-pa-tss-oom-papa - BLAAH BLAAH - tss-pa-tss-oom-pa-tss-oom-pa papatapa
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 22 March 2024 21:48 (one month ago) link
Steve Gadd karaoke
― calstars, Friday, 22 March 2024 22:18 (one month ago) link
*ed greene karaoke.
fun fact, each track on aja has a different drummer
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Sunday, 24 March 2024 14:20 (four weeks ago) link
Doesn't Purdie play on both "Deacon Blues" and "Home at Last"?
― Wreckless Erik Satie (SlimAndSlam), Sunday, 24 March 2024 23:42 (four weeks ago) link
you’re right, six drummers for seven songs
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Monday, 25 March 2024 02:36 (four weeks ago) link
not really backing vocals, are they? he only turns up during the bridge and sings lead on a couple of lines
The Michael McDonald backing vocals on “I Got the News” are the best and worst thing on the album.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 25 March 2024 14:47 (four weeks ago) link
ha i did listen to the song a couple times to see if i could catch any stray mcdonald harmonies during the verses
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Monday, 25 March 2024 14:53 (four weeks ago) link