I really like Two Against Nature, it might be my second favorite, or at least in a tie with Can't Buy a Thrill. I ended up buying Fagen's Nightfly, it's pretty awesome. I'm definitely going to work on improving my Fagen/SD collection. I haven't heard Becker's latest either, and would also be interested if anyone has any insight.

I love how Fagen sings the "gas in the car" lines in Kid Charlemagne, so stylized. He is such a unique singer, playful but also intense.

If the people down the hall knew who you were you would probably sing it similarly.

I don't have the book in front of me, so I'm going to butcher this little tidbit, but according to Spencer Ante in his biography of Georges Doriot on the founding of the venture capital industry, he mentions a now well known technology company sharing a building with Owsley Stanley in their early years.

I don't have the book in front of me but apparently "the people down the hall" for a while was a company like Tandem or Seagate. I have no idea if this was known to Fagan or part of the reference in the song.

It wouldn't surprise me if he knew it, their lyrics are genius for a reason.

Years ago, when Two Against Nature was released, Letterman's top 10 list was "Reasons it took Steely Dan twenty years to make an album". My favorite was "It took them that long to come up with a rhyme for marsupial".

Gold Teeth II is a lot better than the first Gold Teeth.

Okay: after reading through this thread, I broke out the old albums (cd's, actually) and used S.D. as the soundtrack to a roadtrip (L.A. to Phoenix).

Well, despite the fact I think Fagen and Becker are genius, especially with lyrics, their stuff just did not hold up well. In fact, I thought most of it sucked. Of course, there were bits and pieces of brilliance, but the rest of the song would fall flat.

Early works. I think this stuff is their best, especially the lyrics. However, these songs somtimes seem to border on gameshow music. For example, "King of the World" has everything great about it, but then the break sounds like the end of the Leonard Nimoy show "In Search Of" or some other 70's show. Also, "Razor Boy" has too much of this as well.

I think the way to do these songs now, is to tone them down like what was done on the soundtrack of "Me, Myself, and Irene."

The later stuff is basically S.D. overlaid with disco. Its almost impossible to listen to.

Also, anything with Mike McDonald is ruined by him.

Anyway, I still appreciate the music and love the stories within the songs like "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again," but I think I'd rather do this without listening to it.

Man, I disagree completely. I've been drowning in Steely Dan this last week. Katy Lied and Royal Scam to death. (Kudzu was right about Katy Lied, goddamn him to hell)

Doesn't hold up? It's ****ing eternal truth and rich sound and so unique.

There are a number of SD songs I'm happy to skip, but it's that way with every band.

Okay. This is more towards what I meant to say. Before, I would hardly skip any songs. Now, I'm skipping about 80%. Of course, my apparent disinterest could come from the fact I listened to most of their albums dozens and dozens of times over the years. However, since 2001, I have not been listening.

I'd almost get the urge to dig em out when I hear them played on Me, Myself and Irene, but I didn't get around to it until I saw this thread.

I will give it another go in a few weeks.

Soon everybody knew the thing was dead. He shouts. She bites. They wrangle through the night.

I had this going in the car today too. Reminded me of Tommy Herr and "his", ahem, son.

Is this because of overexposure or never liking a particular track. I can understand skipping "Peg" or "Do it Again" after having heard them 1000+ times on FM, but to my mind, Steely Dan stands out as a band where every track is quality and there aren't really any I skip (well, maybe East St. Louis Toodle-oo). That the poll is so well distributed is testament to this consistent quality.

This is blasphemous. You are lucky though that Duke Ellington would probably find it in his heart to forgive you.

Even though the Pretzel Logic album is one of my favorites I always skip Rikki Don't Lose That Number.

wtf

This is one of those songs that I have heard so much that I don't have to play it to hear it.

I've gone in and out of being able to listen to that song because of having heard it so much. It's on permanent approval status now.

To me it's kind of like Freebird. I just want the singer to STFU and let the band play.

In the early '90s my favorite Candlestick Park homemade banner was "Ricky don't lose that Football" inspired by a certain running back's propensity to put the ball on the grass.

This. I haven't been listening to them as long as most of you guys, but I don't see them ever getting old. I go through phases with a lot of bands, but I don't think I'll go through many where I'm going to skip 80% of the Steely Dan songs I hear.

Rock and roll is often full of energy, but it can drift off into paper-thin simplicity. Many would say that the essence or rock and roll is that childish, light-headed, groin-driven grrr and thump. I love that Steely Dan's stuff is generally written for adults.

There's just so much different stuff going on in every song, it's so hard to keep up with. But I love it just the same.

If any of the youngsters out there wonder what the old people be listening to, this is a great place to start. Steely Dan is where it's at. Have there ever been more intelligent lyrics put to such interesting music? ****, I don't know, but this is the goods.

Why would anybody listen to some flavor-of-the-month crap instead of good stuff like this?

I don't know the answer to that.

Seeing as kioshk and I were both snooping around this thread today, I'm going to bump it with a little Charlie Freak from Pretzel Logic. Great song that just personifies their use of dark undertones in many of their songs all the while having the music sound impeccable.

Edit: Well, I guess he beat me to it.

Perhaps Jim Morrison said it best, people are strange. And I can't emphasize how right you are re: the lyrics and the music. Steely Dan continues to have the most interesting/intelligent lyrics of any band I've ever heard, and their sound just blows you away. I find that I can't stop listening to their songs, because I hear something different every time I do.

I saw this thread pop up and wet myself a little.

Steely Dan has got to be one of the most polarizing bands ever. I've heard more Steely Dan hate than any other band, and it's usually really passionate and well thought out. I'm actually surprised that they weren't better arguments against them in this thread. The one I've heard most (greatly boiled down) is "too many notes for Rock and Roll".

I can't think of a Steely Dan song I don't love, but my more obscure favorites would be "Kid Charlemagne", "Only a Fool Would Say That", "Showbiz Kids" and "Everyone's gone to the movies".

I find the whole lumping in of the Doobie Bros., Allman Bros., SD, and comparing them to Led Zep interesting. I enjoy them all, but the difference between Led Zep and the first three is that the first three are absolutely amazing live. I had the Song Remains the Same as a teenager but that album just doesn't hold up unless you're stoned (which we were every time we listened to it). Their whole catalog is kind of hit-and-miss too - some of Houses of the Holy is just unlistenable to me now.

In my mind I put Steely Dan in a weird way with another band I adore - Little Feat. Both bands mixed rock with other genres, had great lyrics, and were just very hard to pigeonhole and therefore market.