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

many xps @nomar, i also grew up listening to the dan in northern IL (rockford and freeport) during the 90s, lots of fond memories. honestly, i'm surprised by how sad I've felt about Becker's death.

Such a humble and life-affirming tribute from McDonald

Are there any good books on the Dan?

There's this Barney Hoskyns edited Dan anthology coming out soon that looks pretty good - contributors include Charles Shaar Murray, Robert Palmer, Ian MacDonald, Bud Scoppa, Penny Valentine, Fred Schruers, Sylvie Simmons and Michael Watts:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472127552

Ooh yes, that would hit the spot, I guess - love a lot of those writers' work

I was at a deep house night in L.A. around 1999-2000 and Doc Martin dropped a house remix of "New Frontier". It was revelatory for me at the time. I went from "fuck that shit" to "grooooovy mannnn".

Guitars and Gear Belonging to Steely Dan’s Walter Becker to Be Sold at Auction

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/guitars-and-gear-belonging-to-steely-dans-walter-becker-to-be-sold-at-auction

And the circle closes - today on Pitchfork, retrospective (favorable) reviews of Can't Buy a Thrill, Katy Lied, The Royal Scam, Aja and Gaucho.

Yup, I immediately thought of this thread when I saw that pitchfork was giving them the deluxe 5-album retrospective treatment.
It's official.

all they had to do is LISTEN to Steely Dan for God's sake

So does this mean Steely Dan has regained their crown as hipster scumbags or is Pitchfork now officially the music site for yacht-rock granddads?

Either you die a Dan hater, or you live long enough to see yourself become a Dan fan

piece on the royal scam is good as hell

Piece on Aja is great, too, if only for the link to a Rolling Stone interview by Cameron Crowe from around the time of its release. And for once they got the rating right too. 10.

Sorry but Steely Dan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the vast majority of so-called punk rock music.
― o. nate (onate), Thursday, February 12, 2004 8:00 PM (fifteen years ago)

yep
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, February 12, 2004 8:01 PM (fifteen years ago)

The Royal Scam prompted the most inspired writing, and for once the historical context serves a review.

I'm jealous I wasn't asked to write about Gaucho, though.

PK otm

For anyone with actual knowledge of how records are made, this line from the Gaucho review is...not as damning as it's meant to sound:

During a visit to the studio in summer 1980, Palmer watched [Fagen] sit with Katz and Nichols, “inhaling a cigarette in spasmodic gulps” while endlessly retooling the fade-out at the end of “Babylon Sisters,” eventually spending four hours fiddling with fifty seconds of music.

I was asked to contribute to this, apparently because I haven't made it a clear enough how much I fucking despise steely dan and their entire ripple effect throughout the music world/constructions of what music is considered good, tasteful, or worth thinking about

I would love to have read your taking down one of their albums

For anyone with actual knowledge of how records are made, this line from the Gaucho review is...not as damning as it's meant to sound:

During a visit to the studio in summer 1980, Palmer watched [Fagen] sit with Katz and Nichols, “inhaling a cigarette in spasmodic gulps” while endlessly retooling the fade-out at the end of “Babylon Sisters,” eventually spending four hours fiddling with fifty seconds of music.

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, November 20, 2019 9:57 AM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk if it's meant to be damning as much as an illustration of just how obsessive they were.

they apparently spent 6 hours mixing the 'well the' on 'home at last': https://www.jazzwax.com/2011/07/how-steely-dan-got-wayne-shorter.html

and kudos to them cause that 'well the' is the greatest 'well the' in the history of recorded sound

katherine, my curiosity is piqued, although I assume you don't want to argue about it on here.

xp

I took it as an illustration of how nervous Fagan was to be working on this stuff without Walt.

you are correct in that assumption

Donald Fagen spending four hours fine-tuning something is the equivalent of almost any other musician spending four seconds fine-tuning something.

I fucking despise steely dan and their entire ripple effect throughout the music world/constructions of what music is considered good, tasteful, or worth thinking about

I like Steely Dan, but this is exactly how I feel about Steve Gadd's slick, empty, flumpfy "Aja" solo.

"empty"

it's the notes he *doesn't* play

slick, sure. "flumpfy," ok, you've invented a word

but i've seen that drum part played live (not by gadd) and it's staggering

Tarfumes' post should be a finalist for the Wrongness Monument design proposal

Make sure whoever designs it incorporates Traditional Grip, and can play a ratamacue.

I was asked to contribute to this, apparently because I haven't made it a clear enough how much I fucking despise steely dan and their entire ripple effect throughout the music world/constructions of what music is considered good, tasteful, or worth thinking about

― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Wednesday, November 20, 2019 10:29 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I would love to have read your taking down one of their albums

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, November 20, 2019 10:31 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

me too

i like steely dan but i sometimes have a whiney-like response to the amount of WOOOO STEELY DAN Y'ALL GOTTA LOVE THAT SLICK 70S SOUND that i hear

Damn, Steve Gadd's playing on "Aja" is absurdly good, that whole track is like a Steely Dan symphony.

And Wayne Shorter's solo takes it to the cosmic level.

appreciating this erasure of Brent DiCrescenzo's influence from Pitchfork but it won't be complete til they revisit Two Against Nature.

Two Against Nature is alright actually. Not a patch on the 1970s stuff, but that's to be expected. The moment had passed. It's a nice little lap of honour for them 20 years on.

Everything Must Go is the real turkey. I can't think of a single decent track on it, it really is a (mild) stain on their legacy.

wrong on both counts imo

two against nature is turned way inward songwriting-wise, though i’d say “jack of speed” and “west of hollywood” stand with the rest of their catalog. everything must go is way more consistent and hooky and contains the tremendous title track

Brad otm. The last half destroys me.

Walt Weiskopf is the star.

I hate it. Sorry. Even more tedious than Morph The Cat, which made me think for a while that Fagen had lost it for ever.

I'm with you on Morph the Cat.

but not the extent to which it signaled loss of imagination or power.

It came hot on the heels of Everything Must Go. Two clunkers in a row. Very disheartening at the time.

I was slightly surprised when Sunken Condos turned out to be great.

I've never heard either 2AN or EMG all the way through, and have no plans to do so. (Same goes for Kamakiriad and Becker's solo work. I have heard Morph the Cat, unfortunately.)

2AN is fine. It's up there (almost) with The Nightfly IMHO. Some great singles (or "catchy" tunes) surrounded a few deep cuts and filler. EMG I've never been able to warm up to.

Today is the first time I’ve ever sent my dad a Pitchfork.com link.

Becker's solo albums are both great imo