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Can’t Buy An Extended Thrill

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As we all know, Steely Dan recorded that one great album, completed a short tour, and then split up. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had a huge falling out (apparently over the ownership of a Bill Evans album) and never spoke again.

Following Walter’s death, last year, Donald gave his blessing to producer Gary Katz to go through the tapes of those album sessions, to see if there was anything worth saving. What Katz found blew his mind. “Man, we were all smoking so much weed back then that even I don’t remember one day to the next. I had a vague recollection of some song about pretzels but not much else. When I opened the box that Don had sent me the first thing I found was the final master tapes of the mixed album. Below them was another three reels of jams, conversations, rows and Skunk ordering pizzas. Lots of pizzas. Then, right at the bottom of the box was a blanket. I stacked all the tapes on my kitchen table and moved the empty box into the hallway. Man, it was heavy. Too heavy. I stopped and pulled at the blanket. Underneath, I got a glimpse of » Continue Reading.

Steely Dan – which are the Walter songs?

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OK so I suspect many of us have been revisiting the Dan recently in the light of the tragically sad passing of Walter Becker.

One thing that’s missing from the tributes/discussion is any kind of analysis of who wrote what. The Becker/Fagen partnership seems to have been much more collaborative than other more famous songwriting partnerships e.g. the HJH.

Still, I’m curious. It seems to me as a longtime Dan fan that we could possibly assign the major dude in various songs.

Here’s my suggestions for Walter

This is not a definitive list, but I reckon WB was the Principal Lyrical Instigator of these –

Do It Again

Everything You Did

Sign In Stranger

Hey Nineteen

Deacon Blues Janie Runaway

OOAA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPjqteoPHU

Steely Dan at O2 – mingle

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Have other folks hoping to attend this received their tickets yet? We haven’t.

Please advise.

Also, should we try to engineer a mingle at this event? i will have junior and the only teenage girl – my daughter, sauceboxes – in the audience with me.

Again, please advise.

Rundgren and Fagen collaboration

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Haven’t seen anyone posting about this. Not everyday two of my heroes work together, and it has added political piquancy. This, from a recent interview in a Variety:

Variety – Donald Fagen sings lead on the anti-Trump song “Man in the Tin Foil Hat,” but it’s hard to tell who wrote what in the tune, because the chord progressions and biting humor both sound like both of you.

TR – That was one of the more interesting collaborations on the record, because it’s the only one in which me and my collaborator were in the same physical place at the same time. I’ve known Donald since he spent some time living out at Kauai, where I still live, and he just happened to be on vacation on the island in January. We went out to dinner, and I thought, well, geez, why don’t I just spring it on him? The song was primarily driven by our common frustration with what happened in the recent election. It was still pretty fresh, and we were still pretty mad about it, so it happened pretty organically. So who knows? If I’m actually in the room with a collaborator, a lot of things can » Continue Reading.

STEELY DAN KLAXON

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Tix on sale thursday

The idiots cant clarify if this is 28 or 29th October and there are only two date: one date is in Dublin, one in London, but the basic info is thus:

28/ 29 OCT 2017 BluesFest presents Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers

The O2, London

Given they haven’t been here for 8 years, this is probably obligatory – though i hope appeal is sufficiently selective it can be moved to the more intimate Wembley Arena.

Gotta hope Micheal McDonald is back with the Doobies for this one.

http://steelydan.com/

The Dan were no good after the first album.

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Of course I don’t mean that but, hey, got your attention, right? I love every Dan album. They all have surprises, quirks and tweaks. Yes, they all have the odd duffer but, shit, who doesn’t? But the Dan I fell head over heels in love with is the one on Can’t Buy A Thrill. The warm, multi-harmonied rock band. The band I thought would save the world. The band that wasn’t so aware of just how feckin’ good they were. The band that weren’t so knowing. CBAT is packed with warmth, in the sound, the recording, the guitar tones and the drum sound. Everything afterwards, though brilliant, sounds a tiny bit colder. A tiny bit cleverer (is that even a word?) A tiny bit more knowing. There is no duffer on CBAT. I adore all of the references, the nods, the winks. They don’t feel ‘placed’. They feel completely natural, completely real. Can’t Buy A Thrill is the sound of a band at the height of their powers. After it, Steely Dan sound amazing, clever, heroic. But they no longer sound like a band.

You may have your own opinion, so hit me with it.

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Dream gig.

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Keith Carlock, Steely Dan’s wonderful drummer, tweeted this photo, this afternoon. So, you rock up at the beautiful Beacon Theatre, with your Dan ticket in your hand, floating on air. You look up at the billing on the marquee. ‘Special Guest…’

You faint dead away.

http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w479/niallbrannigan/9ebb20a1a235dae6384a82aa6c236036_zpsyi2kcxjm.jpg