Steely Dan is an amazing band

Hitting the weed tonight, OP?

Yep.

OMG that shit!

Yes, well, they're ALMOST in my peer group, harrumph . . .

ohhhhhhh... hello!

More Steely Dan from John Mulaney:

Every time I hear Hey Nineteen, I think of my mom because she loved that song.

Gaucho was my favorite Steely Dan album, r7. That and The Nightfly.

I LOVED Gaucho and still do. But FM is my favorite single.

incredible group. yes they were.

I like "Aja" too. Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac are tied for #1 on my Ultimate Yacht Rock Band List. Followed closely by Boz Scaggs and almost any song off "Silk Degrees"...There is just something about those smooth production values that sparkle and gleam with a patina of the finest uncut mid-'70s cocaine and alcohol excess. Made for yachts.

One of them is dead now, I forget which one. My favorite hit single by them is "Do It Again" - just love it, has such a flow to it.

Here they are back in the day. Walter Becker is dead now.

I LOVE me some Steely Dan! Aas too young to experience them in the '70's but they came to be my favourite band sometime in the '90's....criminally under-rated but hugely influential on other musicians. 'Aja' is my personal favourite and a perfect balance of their obsessive detail-obsessed approach before things started to get rather arid and digital. Always on heavy rotation in this household, indeed we player Royal Scam only yesterday.

It holds up, too. Eternally cool music.

I like listening for Fagen’s lisp, LOL.

Kid Charlemagne is their GREATEST!!!!!!!!!!!

"Peg" is my jam.

I purchased the limited remastered CD "Gold" version of Aja back in the late '80s.

The differenced between the standard CD format and the remastered 'Gold' format is akin to comparing HD TV to analog TV.

“Babylon Sister” is mine.

I sold my super-duper, ultra-special audiophile LP of Aja for $150 last year. I thought I was going to buy another turntable, but I never did. I think I paid $20 or $25 for the record.

I like them a lot, especially their later stuff.

I know a lot of people who like pop are not enchanted with more jazz influenced rock like Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. The guys from Saint Etienne went on and on in a book they wrote about how much they hated them.

But whatever it is that they do, I like it. Of course it's a little nostalgia, too. I heard it on the radio as a kid. And my sister had Pretzel Logic, so I always associate that with her.

Donald Fagen was the one that a few years ago revealed himself to be a member of the Slapaho tribe.

For me it's: 1) Aja 2) Katy Lied 3) Gaucho Truly some of the most sophisticated and intelligent pop music ever created, and, R21 I completely agree with the Joni Mitchell comparison, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns and Hejira, in particular, always sound like West-Coast counterparts to Steely Dan's East Coast jazz-and-irony combination.

I am an elder gay who has loved Steely Dan since the 70s. About 20 years ago, when I was living in Seattle, they played at the Columbia River Gorge, a natural ampitheatre about two hours outside of the city. My friends and I had excellent seats, gorgeous night with the Columbia River in the background. Absolutely fantastic.

When I was a little girl I was lying on the lawn in our back yard. We had just played with the water hose. It was a hot, bright, sunny day with big, poofy white clouds against a blue sky.

While lying on the lawn staring up at blue sky, white clouds and sunshine "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" started on the transistor radio.

That combined visual and auditory experience remains with me. I've loved Steely Dan ever since.

A long drive to work in 1978 my car only had an AM station that played Deacon Blues - then an unlikely hit single that went over 6 minutes. I've loved them since.

PEG!

It will come back to you

"Reelin' in the Years" was one of the first singles I ever bought. Was I an abnormal seven year old?

R25---I have scent/song memories of playing Barbies on the summer lawn, the smell of cut grass and hot vinyl Barbie cases getting soft in the sun while Carpenters songs played (We've Only Just Begun and Close to You) on the radio.

Steely Dan couldn’t do anything another Gaucho fan

Third World Man is nirvana.

The comparison with Joni Mitchell is inapt. She condescended her audiences and was more commercial than she'd ever admit. Steely Dan were a lot less self-conscious and their connection to jazz was much more organic--no jamming with Mingus on stuff that was unlistenable.

I'm enjoying reading this thread while sipping my Big Black Cow

Fabulous- and the occasional Michael McDonald popping up is so satisfying.

Heard an interview of Donald Fagen and the (seemingly young) interviewer asked Donald who he would sing like if he could. DF chuckled, understanding that the implication was that his vocals were unusual and/or deficient. I think the idea of a unique voice was a foreign concept to this kid.

There was so much more space for a range artists back in the day.

r32 I don't know, they had great engineers/producers who really created those vocals in the studio. Any live excerpts I've heard were NOT good, and I'm not talking the 'reunion' type tour$, either.

I do understand what you mean though, and I've always thought that about Joe Jackson.

Dirty Work is my favorite song of theirs. Becker nor Fagan sing lead and all these years later I don't know who did. I know Steve Miller, Michael MacDonald and Boz Scaggs at one time were in the band/contributed.

R31, now get outta here!

The Cuervo Gold!

r34 David Palmer. Now a digital photographer.

The fine Columbian!

Make tonight a wonderful thing!

My least favorite band of all time. I loathe Donald Fagan’s voice.

Drive west on Sunset to the Sea Turn that jungle music down Just until we're out of town ...

R40 Thanks for that helpful contribution.

Are you with me Doctor Wu?

They're alright but I've always found their music cold and sterile.

Soft rock, elevator music.

Tonight when I chase the dragon, the water may change to cherry wine.

R45 I've listened to that song for years but for whatever reason, it was only in the last few years I realized what it was about - chasing the dragon, duh!

R40 You're a nasty schoolboy with no place to go. Try again tomorrow.

I still remember my eyes burning from watching Donny and Marie perform "Reelin' In The Years".

Sadly the clip was deleted from YouTube.

r48 Deleted on health grounds, presumably?

My favorite album is Katy Lied. You can listen to their songs a hundred times and still hear things you never heard before.

R49 Maybe. It scarred me for life.

R34, I’m 48 years old and had NO IDEA until last month that “Dirty Work” was Steely Dan. How that fact escaped me, I’ll never know. Listening to it now, it makes sense.

Who did you think it was by, r52?

It's perfection and grace

Thelonius my old friend Step on in and let me shake your hand So glad that you're here again For one more time Let your madness run with mine

R52 Dirty Work does sound different, because it's the only hit of theirs with a different singer.

I think initially the idea was for Fagen and Becker to be more like some of the bands of the 60s with rotating singers, but it didn't work out that way, I guess.

Would you take me by the hand?

You walked in, and my life began again, just when I'd spent the last piastre I could borrow.

Initially the idea was that Becker & Fagen would just write songs for other artists. This never really worked out (Barbra Streisand recorded one of their early songs on her 1971 album, though I'm not aware of any others) but when they formed Steely Dan to record their own songs it was still thought that Fagen wasn't a strong enough vocalist, so they hired a lead singer (David Palmer). He only sang a couple tracks on the 1st album before they realized Fagen's voice was better suited to the material after all. Hence "Dirty Work."

Thank you R59 - did not know that about La Streisand.

David Palmer - any Emerson Lake and Palmer connection?

Phil Hartman designed the album cover for Aja.

Like them a lot. Almost went to see them, but they're coming back (Vegas) in September, so maybe...

I think the Vegas tickets started at $55

r63 Coming back? Is there a giant ouija board on stage?

Yes, they were a great band. They made intelligent music that has stood the test of time.

I'm sure he can get more $$$ touring under the Dan name than solo. Steely Dan was mostly Fagen + Becker + studio musicians, anyway, so really not much of a change.

r67 I know, it just pisses me off that he's using the name because I'm anal.

I get ya. It kinda bugged me at first too. But I figure if he's playing Steely Dan songs he might as well call himself Steely Dan.

Reelin' in the Years is my favorite.

Oh, come on. Why shouldn't he play in a band called Steely Dan? Walter Becker might be gone, but Donald Fagan isn't, and he was the vocalist.

r61, Carl Palmer was the Palmer in ELP and is English, David is American. Don't think there's a connection other than last name.

Hey Nineteen was my favorite

bought Countdown to Ecstasy in a pile of cassette tapes in 1975 at a 2nd hand store / I'd never heard it, hooked ever since.. remember how you'd discover new tunes.... seems a century ago...

Check out the rarities on YouTube. Love this song, great bassline.

Katy Lied and Aja are their best albums.

"Little men with stick pins leave you high and dry, soul ram"

"Baby let it grow, she's got a soul ram in her hand. Never knew she dug the heavy stuff, Steely Dan. Play it rough, back door man."

Steely Dan is a dildo.

R78 I know.

Sterile is right. It's white people getting lit off of Bartles and James amd showing off their new $1200 compact disc player.

I was a teen in the 70's and heard their songs constantly and loved them. I was aware Aja was a huge album at the time but never bought it or knew the songs on it. FM was a constant radio staple in the eighties but it wasn't until 2 years ago when I realized all those great sings were by one band. And yes my discovery coincided with obtaining my medical marijuana card. It was was discovering heaven. Thanks, Steely Dan!

Sorry, r80, I'm not white.

Plenty of hip hop artists have sampled Steely Dan. I bought Greatest Hits after hearing "Peg" sampled on a De La Soul record.

"Hey, Nineteen, that's 'Retha Franklin.

She don't remember 'The Queen Of Soul . . ."

I’m surprised none of you bitches mentioned the Gaucho’s gay lovers spat!

[quote]It's white people getting lit off of Bartles and James amd showing off their new $1200 compact disc player.

I've never heard Bartles and James, but two CDs that convinced me the $300 Kyocera CD player sounded exactly the same in my system as the $800 Kyocera CD player were Gaucho and The Nightfly.

Just re-watched the Classic Albums documentary about the making of 'Aja'. A really fascinating insight into Fagen/Becker's working methods and the creation of the album, along with a host of the musicians who played on it. It also shows their fabulous, totally dead-pan humour which is one of the things that makes Fagen's lyrics so rich and rewarding:

I was 9 years old and grooving to My Old School and Reelin in the Years. I convinced myself even then that I was a weird kid. I kept the fondness of those songs a deep secret for years.

master tapes burned in UMG fire in 2008

"Charlie Freak" on Pretzel Logic is a miniature gem of a morality tale that is way more complex than it seems on the surface. My favorite song by them is "The Caves of Alta Mira."

“She takes the taxi to the good hotel, bon marche as far as she can tell.”

Clean this mess up ‘else we’ll all end-up in jail...

...the test tubes & the scale, just get it all outta here!

Is there gas in the car?!

Yes there’s gas in the car !!

I think the people down the hall know who you are!!

Get along.

Get along.