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

afaik in the US Simply Red were considered clown material but in the UK if you were into r&b singles when they were around they are just a band with some good jams.

Loved their version of "Red Red Wine".

Both the Valentine Mix of “It’s Only Love” and the Steppin’ Razor mixes of “Thrill Me” are all-time.

The OG Money Too Tight is better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W-2AK2zLZE

"the right thing" knocked me fuckin flat when it was new and to this day I don't get why UK ppl were like "oh fuck this asshole." a timeless jam to my ears

the Mick Hucknall tweet where he ranks the races inn order of how cool they are is in the running for funniest tweets of all time, also A New Flame rules

Top 5 coolest cultures on planet Earth 1. African Americans (they invented cool) 2. Working Class British Musicians. 3. (A close 3rd) Jamaicans 4. Jewish Americans 5. Flamenco Gypsies

— Simply Red (@SimplyRedHQ) May 21, 2020

Just rewatched the video to the bitchen The Right Thing and was reminded of The Day Today running a "news" story on Hucknall but using a photo of Charlie Drake instead. The resemblance is uncanny.

what is the coolness level of left-handed Swedish flight attendants

inquiring minds wish to know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2JWtuBLelw

What a bizarre choice for such a high profile performance

clearly you did not detect the el supremo

have we done a thread about bizarre/poorly chosen singles?

Baxter just so good there

Good Grief, those backing singers.

This has been kicking around for awhile, but was
recently uploaded in a spiffy restoration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SM_eJKVlzs

"Do It Again" with David Palmer singing lead.

That was great, thanks!

Palmer does quite a good job here, and kudos to Denny for leaving his overalls at home that night.

Baxter just so good there

― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, June 20, 2023 12:48 PM (eight hours ago)

Even better on "Do It Again"

and kudos to Denny for leaving his overalls at home that night.

― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, June 20, 2023 8:05 PM (one hour ago)

Optometrist appointment time? He's wearing them (vegetable-dye shibori style), in fact his entire outfit is an amazing tie dye extravaganza.

True, I was too bedazzled by his shirt to notice the telltale straps.

Even better on "Do It Again"

You think he's a better conga player than guitarist?

aye, check the break at 1m19s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ7bcmrS1U8

Good Grief, those backing singers.

both of them are still with us, which is nice to know. the singer on the right (Gloria Granola) married ex L.A. Dodger Steve Yeager(!).

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/26/the-most-important-cassette-on-the-planet-how-steely-dan-fans-uncovered-their-holy-grail

Was that Midnight Special audience instructed to sit on their hands? The few (brief) glimpses we get of them in that clip, you'd think that was a dinner theatre crowd in La Jolla.

(referring to the Show Biz Kids clip)

Can’t shake the feeling that those backing singing are going for some sort of bizarro Kid Creole/Dr. Buzzard’s thing.

XP Midnight Special audiences are weird IIRC, Jay Leno (who later worked with some Midnight Special people on his Tonight Show) said a lot of their studio audiences in the early were random plucked off the street on weekday afternoons.

xp Though this clip predates both those bands by a few years. The singer with the green head wrap looks like she could have easily slotted into Bette Midler's act at the time.

Yes indeed.

This “second arrangement” brouhaha is a nothingburger imho

My son has reached the steely dan fandom stage of "being surprised/confused about david palmer"

About his existence?

Some kind of Doug Yule thing?

He wasn't familiar w can't buy a thrill, so he was surprised in that Yule way. I tried to explain his presence as I understood it, some combination of record company insistence/fagen lacking confidence in his lead vocals, but I don't recall the exact correct story. Not sure why they had Palmer sing lead there, fagen slays the vocal on CBAT, and palmer is an ill fit.

I believe the standard story is that there are three stages.

Stage one: Fagen lacked confidence in his vocals on the first album, and enlisted Palmer (and a few others) for songs like e.g., "Dirty Work."

Stage two: Fagen became more able to bring it in the studio (mostly) but had stage fright and/or did not have enough confidence in his ability to sing live. Hence Palmer singing on live dates.

Stage three: Fagen said fuck it and decided to be the main singer thenceforward.

So, to omar, Don slayed on the record but (for a time) preferred to have Palmer sing when they were live.

I think I was thrown by not spotting the dates, makes sense palmer would be singing on the earlier broadcast.

Nightfly, by Peter Jones, suggests that Fagen tried to get Loudon Wainwright III to join the band as lead vocalist, but got turned down:

Everyone loved Donald's vocals except Donald. "I didn't think most people wanted to hear a Jew sing", he pronounced a couple of years later.

Wow

Howard Kaylan said he and Mark Vollman were also considered .

Don'n'GlennWalt are dismissive towards Palmer in the CD liners to CBAT, claiming he was a 'late addition' who was given songs in his key to sing.

I think there have been more than a few Jewish persons that we wanted to hear singing songs. Note the careers of e.g. Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, but I digress.

feel like I read somewhere that don also attempted to cajole michael mcdonald into singing lead full-time circa pretzel logic, which might have been interesting, certainly the live clips from that period which include mcdonald are incredible, funny they ceased touring altogether after forming the best live band ever

always thought jim hodder was kinda slept on, sounds real good on midnight cruiser

Royce Jones - percussion, vocals
Jeff Baxter - guitar, pedal steel, percussion, background vocals
Denny Dias - guitar
Walter Becker - bass
Donald Fagen - piano, synthesizer, vocals
Michael McDonald - Fender Rhodes, vocals
Jim Hodder - drums, percussion, background vocals
Jeff Porcaro - drums

in 74?! like c'mon guys save some for the rest of us, what a ridiculous band

Nearly forgot about Royce Jones.

the fidelity on the latest “second arrangement” tape is pretty great, plus an early version of “third world man” thrown in for good measure

https://expandingdan.substack.com/p/second-arrangement-steely-dan-roger-nichols-tape

now get Weird Al to re-do it as Second Arraignment for Trump

Steely Dan's Jeff ''Skunk'' Baxter, Jim Hodder, Denny Dias, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker at the Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California during the recording sessions of their 1973 masterpiece, 'Countdown to Ecstasy' pic.twitter.com/cMRR1PLD0n

— Barney Hurley (@barneyhurley1) June 25, 2023

Those sessions apparently climaxed with Fagen throwing an ARP synthesizer down the studio stairway and then setting it on fire (because of the trouble keeping it in tune)!

did that work?

Whether or not those are folks off of the street attending the Midnight Special, or similarly for Kirschners rock concert, it's also reflective of audiences at rock and pop events in the era having been conditioned to sit passively and often slack jawed while music that would seem to inspire movement is played. You had Beatlemania and early rock and roll connecting to an audience that very literally had no experience handling the physical sensation of music this kinetic, and they went bug shit, and thank goodness for that! And then, from 67 onwards to the slamdance period, the audience then tends to sit down, either in seats or on the floor of the venue, and remains immobile, allegedly to best let the genius of Alvin Lee or Jan Akkerman wash over you. For almost any footage during the time when bands frequently were shot for tv or concert films, it is remarkable how the behavior of the crowds is as sedate and passive as it is (the two guys losing their shit when Sabbath did Kirschners show, or the chicks dancing to Uriah Heep's "the Wizard" on whichever english show it is notwithstanding)… and once the concert business gets its shit together in the late 60s/early 70s, there is no doubt that this state of affairs is what Don Law and his peers preferred. When disco hit hard in 76/77, that people dared to dance instead of passively receiving real music was one of the most heinous crimes the genre perpetrated.