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

Yeah, that whole "one-take" garbage is just myth-building.

The journo even mentions Graydon's "Peg" solo, which in reality was a series of takes which he was motivated to finish because he was getting exhausted:

http://popdose.com/anatomy-of-a-song-jay-graydon-discusses-steely-dans-peg/

what does he mean by "three punch-ins?" or "a few passes?" is he talking about attempts at the solo, overdubs, just a few tweaks? I'm a little confused.

anyway, looking it up some more everything I read about the gadd story sounds more true than not. It sounds like it really was one take. he may have been called back sometime later to touch up the solo, but it's unclear if he actually did anything else, or if any other work was used.

Wayne Shorter's part was reportedly two takes, and he and gadd were never in the room together.

haha Gadd what a hack having to take TWO WHOLE TAKES

if that’s what it takes ...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/If_That%27s_What_It_Takes_%28Michael_McDonald_album%29.jpg

drums on that one: Steve Gadd (mostly)

what does he mean by "three punch-ins?" or "a few passes?" is he talking about attempts at the solo, overdubs, just a few tweaks? I'm a little confused.

I read the interview and here's what I got:

He spent an hour or so playing various things, none of which Becker and Fagen liked. After a break, Fagen said to play something bluesier, so he did, and four bars of that was deemed good enough for the first section (of three) that would make up the final solo.

He did something similar, but slightly different, for the second section.

For the third section, he played something else, faster, that would lead into the return of the vocals.

So it was not a single continuous solo, but three short pieces culled from a full day's fishing around.

Makes sense. That was pretty standard operating procedure for a lot of stuff from that era.

I just watched the VH1 Classic Albums episode on Aja last night, as it turned out. And it answered none of these questions.

I've seen that - they don't cover the title track much at all, but I _LOVED_ hearing the alternate solos for "Peg." The one on the record is cool but I wonder what butterfly-effect impact it would have had on the universe if they'd gone with whichever one had the tasty envelope filter.

Maybe in that timeline we're all healthy and out and about; the White Stripes never happened but unfortunately Jack White is the Secretary of Agriculture.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2176/9085/products/Steely_Dan_1512x1512.jpg

love it

Would wear.

haha nice

On an unrelated note--and I'm sure I'm late to the party--if anyone hasn't heard the 1974 Live at the Record Plant bootleg, check it out ASAP. High-octane run-throughs of material from the first three albums plus one unreleased track and an early version of Your Gold Teeth II. Good sound quality too via radio broadcast. Definitive proof that the OG lineup absolutely slayed live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8DoIC5tJw0

this indeed rips, thank you

is that fagen singing 'any major dude'? if so, damn...

awesome set! thanks j

is that fagen singing 'any major dude'? if so, damn...

It's not Fagen, it's Royce Jones who sang backup and occasional lead on the 74 tour.

yeah further listening made that clear haha. thank you tho.

that’s a fun set. skunk’s solos during “king of the world” yowza

I'm really really tempted to buy that T-shirt upthread for my dad, even though he won't get the Sonic Youth joke.

(he went to h.s. with Skunk Baxter, btw - sez he was hot guitarist even back then)

Traffic’s “low spark” sounds like a Cant Buy a Thrill b side

chorus kinda like “midnight cruiser”?

And the piano figure during the verse

Saxy breakdown

The list I put together a few years ago.

A tape of the "lost" song "Second Arrangement" (from the Gaucho sessions) has been found.

I WANT I WANT I WANT

For a few years there I was hoping that Don & Walt would pull a Van Halen and fabricate a new record from fully-realized recreations of 70s demos. Most hardcore fans of bands apparently don’t want things like this (see “Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE.”) But I did.

I'm obsessed with Kings right now. This is definitely getting played when you-know-who moves on.

Always wondered if that song was a Nixon-Kennedy allegory

i was first getting into steely dan when the big poll ran. i missed it. :( i suppose i'll be here again when the 20th anniversary of the ILM poll comes up

Which probably wouldn’t make sense since King Richard of America came after King John. But the 1972 release date makes you wonder. That’s early Watergate territory - was anyone prescient enough then to see the writing on the wall?

Give us your list dude!

can’t believe they found second arrangement, praise be

I don’t get it. They erased it but there were prior copies? The engineer brought them home but didn’t tell Fagen he had those backups?

It's a take home reference mix on a C-90, so obviously not up to the Dan's exacting audio standards.

yeah, in that case I don't get the fuss, either. How much better is this likely to sound than the rough mix that has been circulating on bootlegs for decades?

The c90 would be the original performance and rough mix, not the complete recreation of the performance from scratch post-erasure, which is the version we all know.

I have identified the 10 best Steely Dan songs. You're welcome.

hard to argue with any of those inclusions!

and holy cow, i didn't know about the Jarrett lift for "Gaucho." the original track is super lovely, i'm gonna seek out that LP.

also, i like the point about how few of their protags are people i'm straightforwardly rooting for - though i'd say that Kid Charlemagne has a kind of doomed underdog quality, the world's changed out from under him, and while the Dan are sneering at the earlier sense that the good times would never end, it's not clear that they're siding with the formerly-hip or the cops.

a thing i really like in their songs is this blend of unsentimental recognition of failings and pretensions, laid out brutally in the lyrics, with a measure of empathy that i think actually comes through more in the arrangements and performance somehow.

Agreed, great list.

i haven't actually heard gaucho though i was obsessed with aja for a while when i lived in l.a., so those two gaucho tracks have a sound i associate with a very specific, happy time of my life - riding down sunset on the bus at twilight, trudging manically drunk down long, foggy, empty l.a. sidewalks, etc. i thought "gaucho" the song was going to be relatable since it's from a gay pov but those kinds of rich daddy stories just dispirit me tbh. gorgeous song though. i should really get copies of gaucho and aja. never cared as much for the shaggier stuff tbh. i don't really know why i stopped going with steely dan, other than i wasn't getting as much out of their social universe as i used to when i first discovered them, when it was like going to a fancy college and having intelligent, sophisticated friends for the first time.

those kinds of rich daddy stories just dispirit me tbh

It's one of their saddest songs, really.

yeah, like, that poor kid. sad lol

My reading of it is Donald's breakup song to Walter for his junk habit and the colorful characters that accompany such a habit.

haha. if i hear any 70s song with a gay pov i inevitably imagine it's david geffen.

Steely Dan were probably the first band where I collected all their records (that existed at the time). This is a worthy list, but I've always absolutely hated Gaucho the song from the moment I heard it (I don't like the Jarrett song either). It's complete self-parody to me, and the one song where they actually tip the balance into the mid-afternoon 70s talk show themes that haters accused them of. The lyrics are nothing special and the scenario doesn't inspire me either.

My actual favourite song might be Boston Rag. Best song of the reunion years is Lunch with Gina.

I'm entitled to be smug about my affection for Gaucho on this message board.