Steely Dan Appreciation Thread (3,500 Posts!) - Page 4 - The Lounge Discussion and Review on Literature, Arts, Culture

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Steely Dan Appreciation Thread (3,500 Posts!)

View Poll Results: What is your favorite Steely Dan album?

Can't Buy a Thrill (1972)

9 16.67%

Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

3 5.56%

Pretzel Logic (1974)

9 16.67%

Katy Lied (1975)

3 5.56%

The Royal Scam (1976)

10 18.52%

Aja (1977)

16 29.63%

Gaucho (1980)

4 7.41%

Two Against Nature (2000)

0 0%

Everything Must Go (2003)

0 0%

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08-02-2010 , 04:49 PM

#76

Barcalounger

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 2,456

I think everyone I've ever known who was knowledgeable about music has been very much into Steely Dan. Bands I'm into will frequently list them as an influence. So years ago I decided to get into them. I grabbed every track I could find, spent a few weeks going through the collection, taking in as much as I could handle, and came out the other side very very unimpressed.

Over the following year whenever a random crappy song came up on the iPod or computer, I'd almost always look down to see a "Steely Dan - " preceding the song title. Eventually I just deleted it all. And I'm a guy who doesn't delete anything. Sorry guys. I tried really really hard but it was a complete miss with me. I don't get it.

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08-02-2010 , 07:41 PM

#77

cwicemvp12

Sergei Bobrovsky!

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 22,495

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmpressNina

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".

Kid Charlemagne is my absolute favorite for all the reasons that I put into the op. I think it's pretty close to a perfect song, plus the story behind it is amazing.

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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.

Looking back I'm not surprised that that was pro.hornblo.wer who came in here with that. Re: Zeppelin, I kind of agree that some of their stuff gets pretty unlistenable to after awhile.

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Originally Posted by Barcalounger

I think one of the best sentences in this thread is:

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Originally Posted by Blarg

They expect you to pay attention.

Some people may not get them because they don't take the time to sit down and process what's going on in each and every song. There are usually references or situations that you won't pick up on unless you're actually trying to process everything.

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08-07-2010 , 09:03 AM

#78

THDE

old hand

Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 1,680

CBAT > PL > KL >>>>>> the rest

one of my favourite bands overall

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08-11-2011 , 06:43 PM

#79

hundenapf

enthusiast

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 74

I appreciate this band a lot, also recommending Fagen's and Becker's solo albums The Nightfly, Kamakiriad, 11 Tracks of Wack, Morph the Cat, Circus Money.

The Dan have the Midas touch and just can't go wrong in anything they put their hands on (musically that is).

Being German I only had a chance to see them playing live only once about 10 years ago. That was the greatest live concert I have ever been to (closely followed by Prince). I would love for them to come over here touring Europe again and I would follow them around like a silly teenage groupie girl on many concerts

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08-11-2011 , 07:28 PM

#80

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,828

This was one of the best Lounge threads ever imo.

Steely Dan forever.

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08-11-2011 , 08:41 PM

#81

RJT

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,517

Quote:

Originally Posted by hundenapf

Being American I too have only had the chance to see them once: They haven’t/don’t tour much. They did back to back concerts in Akron, OH at a theater that has incredible acoustics. (Last year.)

The first night they did the entire AJA album in order - start to finish - along with a few classics to fill the entire show. The next night they did The Royal Scam start to finish in order, plus other songs.

I was only able to see AJA. (Scam is actually my favorite Dan album, so I was kind of bummed not to be able to go the next night.) The concert was as you say (perhaps) one of “the greatest live concert(s) I have been to”.

Last edited by RJT; 08-11-2011 at 08:43 PM. Reason: added a few words

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08-11-2011 , 08:52 PM

#82

RJT

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,517

I think Cousin Dupree epitomizes Steely Dan. Am I wrong?

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08-11-2011 , 09:02 PM

#83

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,828

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJT

I think Cousin Dupree epitomizes Steely Dan. Am I wrong?

I don't think any of their post-hiatus songs comes close to epitomizing their work. They have such a varied body of work that even earlier songs would have trouble doing that.

I might nominate Royal Scam as being the best album representation of their work.

I'll guess kudzu might have an opinion here.

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08-11-2011 , 09:23 PM

#84

RJT

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,517

I was thinking mostly of how they can take something like incestuous thoughts of one’s cousin and make a great song of it. Who else could do that? They are so sick. Sick here being a double entendre: sick weird: sick awesome.

Not that the song is their best – it just seems to summarize them.

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08-11-2011 , 09:33 PM

#85

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,828

I'd take Everyone's Gone to the Movies for that perverse vibe.

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08-11-2011 , 09:43 PM

#86

RJT

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,517

Quote:

Originally Posted by kioshk

I'd take Everyone's Gone to the Movies for that perverse vibe.

Touché.

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08-11-2011 , 10:35 PM

#87

Bdidd

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 11,104

Quote:

Originally Posted by kudzudemon

because, you know, "the South and a lot of stupid people" are the same thing, right?

Then again, you also think Steely Dan is not intellectual, which is about as clueless a statment as
which may have single-handedly blown PHB's credibility to bits.

For the record, even dubious pleasantries like "Through With Buzz" and "With a Gun" are far more substantial than most "mid-70 solid gold type soft rock", which leans closer to Firefall, Little River Band, Bread, and the like. Not that I'm knocking it for what it is, but it hardly jibes with the depth of playability that Steely Dan attained. They brought a cerebral jazz sensibility to rock music (although the more formalized Brubeck stripe than, say, Trane or the Blue Note artists...who, strangely enough, strongly informed the Allman Brothers Band, to cite another group you grossly misrepresented), as well as an ironic discipline that allowed for a more multi-dimensional listen, while maintaining a subtlety and cryptic sense of humor that engenders a more participatory experience.

My own personal Essential Steely Dan :
1. "Doctor Wu"
Ostensibly the title cut of Katy Lied, with that refrain beginning the first verse and paraphrased later, this is one of those impressionistic songs that just seems so malleable depending on the mood. One of my favorite lyrical phrases of all time, "Just when I spent the last piaster I could borrow", a phrase so evocative on it's own that, when it is put into the context of the song, it becomes even more illuminating. And hardly the kind of phrase one would hear from purveyors of anti-intellectualism.

2. "Show Biz Kids"
Yeah, the insistent hookage borders on cloying, but it's still damn magnetic. Cool enough to name check themselves ("they got the Steely Dan T-shirts"), they crafted this ode to shallowness and cultural dishonesty in such radio-friendly fashion, only to happily torpedo it with a sly drop of the eff word towards the end.

3. "My Old School"
I have a bootleg live version of this from their first tour that just flat out burns. They could rock, when they wished, though they kept such behavior segregated in isolated portions.

4. "Any Major Dude"
Those philistines. Those bastions of stupidity. How dare they mention a "squonk" in one of their anthems of simpletonism.

5. "Bad Sneaker"
One amazing melodic demonstration, from the opening instrumental stanza to the spiraling chorus. Plus, Michael McDonald's soaring vocals in the background perfectly counter Fagen's sardonic angularity.

6. "Chain Lightning"
Blues, Dan style. With a sterling solo by, of all people, Rick Derringer.

7. "Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More"

8. "Cousin Dupree"
Joyfully creepy. Plus a melody lifted right offa Chick Berry's "Promised Land". This is the only late-period Dan on the list, although there are several that will probably gain in favor as time goes on.

9. "Pretzel Logic"
I am guessing that the opening refrain "I would love to tour the south land in a traveling minstral show" is where the Steely Dan/stupid south connection was made. For all the talk about the song's intent, Fagen insists it was simply a song about time travel. Yeah, because they were just that obvious and one-dimensional. Sure

10. "Rose Darling"
Kind of a lightweight, straight forward love song, but indicative of their ability to tart up a song to make it more than the sum of it's parts, an example of just how they used the rudiments of pop craftsmanship.

11. "Throw Back the Little Ones"
One of those brilliant throwaways they seem to have lurking on every album. I've heard it said to about a pickup artist, a television evangelist, an executive, and more. The fact that is could be any or all of those is a testament to their impressionistic abilities.

12. "Don't Take Me Alive"
The fluid beauty of the instrumental ensemble underscores the narrative, about some guy with daddy issues who decides to take hostages.

14. Hey, Nineteen
The boring old farts laugh at themselves. And get a few digs in on the whippersnappers, as well.

Now for a confession. I hated Aja. Just despised it. Maybe because it was saturating the airwaves just as I was learning to appreciate the extremes of punk, delta blues, and even heavy metal. As was discussed in the Punk Rock thread, much of punk's primitivism was affectation, not instinct or natural inclination. Steely Dan was the negative image; their sophistication was pure instinct, their mannered sheen an effort to intensify their vocabulary, rather than minimize their attack for more focused intensity. In it's own way, it was as radical as punk rock, if not as fringe-dwelling. But Aja still leaves me cold, even if the groove on Peg is as impeccable as it's reputation suggests.

When I saw them on their first reunion tour, in Nashville, they got furiously booed every time they mentioned the "Crimson Tide" in "Deacon Blue", much to the obvious confusion of Becker and Fagen. Alabama's Crimson Tide had, in their last meeting with hometown Vanderbilt, administered a severe ass-kicking. Welcome to SEC country, Wally and Donnie.

Also, on a personal note, playing on the tape deck as my new bride and I sped away from our wedding twenty years ago? "Haitian Divorce". So far, so good.

And, to conclude, "The Fez" is a rubber. Yes, there's gas in the car. "Gaucho" is about jealousy in a gay romance. And I have no idea where I got those shoes.

As I read this paragraph the voice in my head was Christian Bale from American Psycho

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08-11-2011 , 11:46 PM

#88

kudzudemon

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,560

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bdidd

As I read this paragraph the voice in my head was Christian Bale from American Psycho

What do the voices in your head usually sound like?

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08-12-2011 , 12:36 AM

#89

kudzudemon

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,560

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJT

I think Cousin Dupree epitomizes Steely Dan. Am I wrong?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kioshk

I might.

I think you're both right, actually. Their pre-hiatus work is just so freakin' strong.
I see RJT's point, though. Take a singularly ridiculous and even creepy idea, and write a funky singalo0ng. It is the kind of thing that only they could tackle with such originality.

I voted for Katy Lied, though.

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08-12-2011 , 12:16 PM

#90

MSchu18

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 17,464

I'm in for some SD appreciation, specially since i just got a new Thorens Turntable... booya

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08-12-2011 , 02:10 PM

#91

JasonInDallas

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6,898

About 15 years ago I went to Jamaica with my poolhall friend and we had a pretty wild time, I'm talking The Hangover movie level of debauch. Anyways, we brought a cheap portable CD player and he played Steely Dan 24x7 on it which drove me crazy. I said man, I love SD and you're gonna ruin them for me, he replied it was on purpose and his theory was for the rest of our lives every time we heard SD we'd be reminded of our vacation and that's stayed true to this date.

My fave - Don't Take Me Alive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn_qB8bPnNs

Love the album cover

Last edited by JasonInDallas; 08-12-2011 at 02:22 PM.

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08-12-2011 , 02:14 PM

#92

MSchu18

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 17,464

if you guys want to freak... search what Jeff "the Skunk" Baxter new job is!

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08-12-2011 , 02:16 PM

#93

MSchu18

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 17,464

eh... here you go. I will do the work for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Twg_NpQmk

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08-14-2011 , 09:37 PM

#94

cwicemvp12

Sergei Bobrovsky!

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 22,495

I hadn't realized this thread was bumped. Anyone get a chance to see them this summer? I didn't realize they were going to be near me until the day before a show and I couldn't find anyone to go with. I feel like I'm long overdue to see them again, especially if they keep touring.

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08-15-2011 , 04:00 PM

#95

AKSpartan

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9,931

I haven't listened to much Steely Dan but "Do It Again" is one of my fav classic rock pieces. Such good instrumentation.

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08-15-2011 , 10:00 PM

#96

entertainme

The Poker Mom

Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 8,444

Apparently, I'm schizophrenic when it comes to Steely Dan. Aja was so huge among my friends when it came out, it wiped out most of Steely Dan's other music for me. "Rikki Don't Lose that Number"? Steely Dan? Really?

I actually bought Aja a year or two ago and didn't feel it held up all that well. This will cause me to give it another listen.

1977 was a pretty stellar year for music.

Let the Midnight Special shine it's ever-loving light on you!

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08-15-2011 , 10:25 PM

#97

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,828

Identifying them too closely with the Aja songs is a common mistake.

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08-20-2011 , 12:34 AM

#98

cwicemvp12

Sergei Bobrovsky!

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 22,495

THERE'S FIRE IN THE HOOOOOOOOOLE

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08-20-2011 , 03:09 AM

#99

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,828

This song is so rich and beautiful it makes my eyes roll back in my head.

Steely Dan bender. This one reminds me of the science fiction novel A Canticle For Leibowitz.

Last edited by kioshk; 08-20-2011 at 03:19 AM.

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08-21-2011 , 08:52 AM

#100

JDalla

Total Boar

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 15,537

glad I discovered this thread. My parents always had SD on when I was growing up and owned all the CDs, so I became a huge fan early on. I've probably been to 6 or 7 concerts lifetime and 3 of them were Steely Dan.

My fav album is Royal Scam for sure, but enjoy all their albums.

I tried to make a top 10 list but it's too hard, like too many of their songs. Kid Charlemagne is prob my favorite but also right up there - Time Out of Mind, Reelin' in the Years, Hey Nineteen, Chain Lightning, Babylon Sisters... too many to name

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