Favorite Steely Dan Record

[ronzo]

Poll question: Favorite Steely Dan Record

I won't be surprised if I'm the only Dan freak around here. Thought I'd try a poll, though...


edit: clarified - album, record, cd, 8track, reel to reel or what have ya.

[bif]

1. None.

Never cared for the group. Too commercial for my taste.

[rucky]

23. YEECH

At the grocery store I work at, they're the only vocal-band that's on the Muzak rotation - if that tells you anything.

[Cocoa]

34. one of the most bizarre Muzak songs I've heard

it was in a grocery store, it was "Only a fool would say that." It was pretty good, it sounded a lot like the original, I stuck around in the store to hear the whole thing.

[GCP]

49. None here, too

I always loathed them.

[MoonAndSun]

2. I love Steely Dan, Aja is my all time favorite of theirs.

the arrangements they do are really good, I do not like jazz but I like the jazzy sound of Steely Dan. Does that sound wierd? Maybe, but that's the way it is.

[Oberst Klink]

3. No Deacon Blues?

What the heck kind of list is that and not include Deacon Blues?

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Deacon Blues is a song on "Aja." the poll concerns albums, not individual

songs.

[Oberst Klink]

7. Ever seen that Bugs Bunny....

... where, say like Elmer Fudd, finally figured out what was going on - there would be a thoughtful pause and then his head would turn into a jackass?

[RandomKoolzip]

4. My favorite Dan tunes are "Any World" and "Barrytown."

Two sides of an emotional coin that I'd bet is too much for the cynical hearts of Becker and Fagen to flash very often. I love the Dan too, and If I had to pick just one album, it'd have to be "Katy Lied," Because it's got "Dr. Wu," "Any World ( aseriously appropriate song for this age)", and "Chain Lightning."

But overall, I think "Barrytown" is an amazing song, maybe my favorite single tune by them...

[ronzo]

21. When they were a band...

When they were a "band", they were making some great music. Pretzel Logic, GREAT album... Katy Lied... great tunes.

Did you ever read this? It's Denny Dias' account of the strange sessions for Katy lied...

http://www.steelydan.com/dennys3.html

[BigBigBigBear]

5. I think

Aja has the best vibe, Katy Lied has the best songs and Royal Scam has the darkest humor.

("Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening...")

I missed their tour this year - but I did see their first two reunion tours, and the first especially was amazing.

Plus - two guys in front of us at Fiddler's Green got into a hair-pulling, fist-throwing, spit-slinging fight right in front of us, during "Third World Man." Fagan looked over his keyboard while singing and grinned madly.

I'll never forget that.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. I Went With Pretzel Logic

Something about that album just flips my whistle. I do like all of them, but i'd say Aja is my least favorite album. There are a couple of wonderful songs on there, but overall the album is a bit too overproduced. Toto guys will do that!
The Professor

[RandomKoolzip]

9. Yeah, I agree widdat!

Even The royal Scam veers a little to close to disco-fusion territory for my tastes, and I've never owned a copy of Gaucho. Heard it once, never needed to hear it again. New Dan sounds like the music they play in the background of Weather Channel updates, but the lyrics (Becker's influence?) remain awe-inspiring.

Everything before Aja rules, tho.

[mitchum]

25. I have a friend who calls that period "easy listening funk"

[mac56]

12. Once again, Professor, you expressed my thoughts perfectly.

"Pretzel Logic" is Steely Dan at their best. "Aja" is just too slick.

[qb]

10. I love all of their stuff

but I picked Gaucho, because that was my first SD album - listened to it all the time during my coming-of-age years.

I don't know anyone else who is even marginally interested in their stuff. I, too like their jazzy sound, but am not crazy about jazz in general.

"The Cuervo Gold, the fine Co-lumbian..."

[ronzo]

11. I love 'em all...

I'll probably be the only vote for countdown, but it's always been a favorite. I think the new stuff is great, too... though I could do without the gratuitous single on the last couple of cds (Dupree and Blues Beach)

Love all of it.

Thanks for participating!

[GumboYaYa]

13. You have to pick some of the earlier stuff,

but I really like Two Against Nature also.

ronzoNOLA, I saw in Offbeat that "Bands Against Bush" are playing at The Mermaid Lounge. Do you know who this is? I also saw that John Boutte and Uptown Okra are playing at Donna's. Man, I miss NOLA something bad.

[ronzo]

16. That's the first I've heard of something like that in town...

This is bound to get a little press, I'll check it out.

I flipped through offBeat and didn't see it... got a page number handy?

[GumboYaYa]

17. It was on the website.

http://www.offbeat.com/cgi-bin/listings/listings.pl check out Oct. 11 at The Mermaid Lounge.


<ON EDIT> My link takes you to Sept for some reason. Go to www.offbeat.com and click on music listings. Search for Oct. 11 and you will see it.

[ronzo]

18. Here we go...

http://www.bandsagainstbush.org/

cool.


EDIT: looks like they're going to be doing this all over the place Saturday, October 11.
Even in your town, gumbo... or not. my mistake.

[GumboYaYa]

19. Well, St. Louis is not on the list now,

but I intend to forward this to a few club owners and bands I know who are definitely against Bush.

[Richardo]

14. Had to go with "Countdown" - My Old School and King of the World

being two of my favorites.

Like them all, own them all, except the new one "Everything Must Go".
I thought "Two Against Nature" as an album was a little too self-derivative, but the title track is my favorite cut.

What's the DU review on that "Everything Must Go? :shrug:

[BurtWorm]

22. I thought My Old School was on Katy Lied

Isn't Boddhisatva on there too? That would be my favorite Steely Dan album.

[ronzo]

26. songlist: Countdown to Ecstacy

Countdown to Ecstacy (1973)
Bodhisattva
Razor Boy
The Boston Rag
Your Gold Teeth
Show Biz Kids
My Old School
Pearl Of The Quarter
King Of The World

[BurtWorm]

27. Okay then that's the one I'm voting for.

Bodhisattva and My Old School are my all time favorite Steely Dan songs.

[Richardo]

28. Man I must be on Oxycontin: how could I have forgotten Bodhisattva?

It's one of my all-time favorites (yeesh)! And THAT'S why "Countdown" is my favorite album...

:D

[bearfan454]

48. All those are great

[ronzo]

43. EMG, my take...

It's a weird bunch of songs with a few killer tracks. Knowing the Dan mindset, you have to wonder if these were leftovers... there are a few engineers credited other than Roger Nichols, strange. The obligatory single is a real clunker "Blues Beach".
Great tunes:
Last Mall
Things I miss the most
Godwhacker (love it)
Lunch with Gina
Everything Must Go

The title track is great. Parker intro, good groove, timely lyrics. At face value, it's an enron "pigs at the trough" thing from the ceo perspective. Good one.

Couple of dogs on this record, though.

WB makes his studio record singing debut. Hey!

[Richardo]

44. Cool! Beg to differ on the WB vocal debut, tho...

I'm the guy that bought "11 Tracks of Whack" solo effort (including vocals) by Walter from 8-10 years ago.

Pretty uneven effort, but I really like "Surf and/or Die"

[ronzo]

45. I have a copy too, bruddah...

I appreciate what he did there. I really like the vibe and it sounds incredible... he really knew his way around the studio by then. The track on EMG "Slang of ages" sounds like it could've been lifted right off 11TOW. It just doesn't fit on a Dan record.
I should've said "WB's Dan studio debut"
Good to talk to a Dan freak... :toast:

[catzies]

15. I voted for Can't Buy a Thrill. Wore out two cassettes of that.

Have it on CD now.

[ronzo]

20. Yeah!

The weird thing about that record, is a couple of those nixon-themed songs are timely again.
"Change of the guard", "Kings"

Great stuff on that one. My favorite is "Fire in the hole".

[mitchum]

24. I wore out 2 vinyl copies of it...

working on the third now

[Dudley_DUright]

31. I'm with you catzies

Their first is my favorite, but like offspring, I love them all for what they have to offer.

[Terran]

29. Aja is their most "accessible" album

I guess it's no wonder it's the favorite. Musically it's always seemed a little smarmy to me. I love everything else they ever did, though. I voted for Gaucho as my favorite, but they are all so distinct, it's hard to choose.

[Richardo]

30. "Time Out of Mind" on Gaucho is one their best, IMHO...

"I am holding a mystical steeeone....it's di-rect from Lhasa."

:thumbsup:

[Terran]

41. I think I like Gaucho because

it represented a maturing of viewpoint. They were no longer doing the personas of east coast frat boys in trouble, but had moved on to a sunny middle age in LA ("Babylon Sisters")--a combination of cynical and trenchant that appeals to me. I see LA, my home town, all over that album. Plus the music is just so damn good on Gaucho!

[ronzo]

32. anyone else?

punt.
:kick:

[BigBigBear]

33. Aja

is a terrific record, full of melancholy. "Deacon Blues".

I have always loved the 'slickness' of that record - it presaged the WAVE jazz thing, and I think suffered badly because of the shallowness of the music that came after it. It hasn't got the bite of Royal Scam or Katy Lied, but is quite a bit more subtle in some ways.

Gaucho has "Third World Man", title track to Royal Scam is awesome...but, sorry, "Doctor Wu" (which I used to play on my radio program in the late seventies, in college) can still bring me to tears.

It also has quite probably the most perfect sax solo (courtesy Phil Woods' alto) ever committed to a rock album.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

35. Katy Lied

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

36. I bought the boxed set years ago...

So I really don't know which songs are on which album. I just put one in the player and drive...
But I did buy "Two Against Nature" and "Everything Must Go".

And after I bought the boxed set, I found out just how many songs of theirs I really liked.

But I guess I have to be the only one on this poll to vote for "Two Against Nature". I liked the dark lyrics on several songs; it really threw me off when contrasted to their musical style.

On edit: Hey, I just hit 100 posts! (for the second time. It's a long story.)

[NightTrain]

37. Steely Dan represents most of what I hate about rock music

On the other hand, though, I still enjoy some of their more accessible material, i.e. the singles. "Do It Again," "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number," and "Reelin' in the Years," for example.

And I can't help but grin when I think of how they got their name! :evilgrin:

[ronzo]

38. Cool, that subject line begs for an explaination, though...

"Steely Dan represents most of what I hate about rock music"

I'm sincerely interested in your opinion. :)

[NightTrain]

39. Remind me tomorrow. It's 1:30 a.m. and I need to get to bed!

n/t

[ronzo]

40. Me too!

I'll kick it tomorrow.

[Terran]

42. Hey, I'm reminding you

What is it about rock music that SD represents that you hate? I don't hardly even think of them as rock, myself, and they have always seemed very atypical of what rock bands usually do.

Dirk

[NightTrain]

46. Since you asked....

In his 1989 book, THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL: THE 1001 GREATEST SINGLES EVER MADE, critic Dave Marsh wrote an eloquent essay on Steely Dan, which sums up my feelings about the group quite well. As such, rather than attempt to paraphrase Marsh, I'll simply quote him verbatim. To wit....

"If there were such a thing as anti-singles rock, Steely Dan would be its exemplar. To start with, instead of a band with a rhythm section, Steely Dan was a group consisting of two composer/performers (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen) and a record producer (Gary Katz). A rock band with no regular drummer or bass player is already pretty anomalous and it's interesting that, during the group's lifespan, much more comment was made about its neglect of touring, a far more logical outgrowth of studio precision and now a commonplace career track.

"Katz, Becker, and Fagen spurned singles not so much because their vision could only be expressed through long suites of music (until quite late in its career, Steely Dan's compositions tended to be quite discrete) but because singles created a mass context--immediate, hasty, casual--that not only didn't interest them very much but actively subverted many of their most precious ambitions.

"As songwriters, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were the ultimate wry, obscurantist postcollegiates. A number of their songs use their years at tiny, avant-gardish Bard College as a backdrop; almost all reflect an interest in the modish, academically centered 'minimalist' allusiveness of contemporary fiction writers like Donald Barthelme and quasi-surrealist work like that of Jorge Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The group even took its name from a milk-squirting dildo used by a lesbian to bugger males in William Burroughs' hallucinatory 'Naked Lunch.' Steely Dan songs were often puzzles, filled with elliptical jokes, and musical and verbal puns. After a while, those lacking a taste for working sonic acrostics lost interest."

That last sentence particularly hits home with me.

I like rock 'n' roll that is energetic, danceable, and fun, not intellectually pretentious and overly self-absorbed. As such, I think you'll understand why I don't particularly care for Steely Dan.

[ronzo]

47. Well, I get your point. If you look at them as a rock and roll band...

Well, I get your point. If you look at them as a rock and roll band making singles, I can see where you may be dissapointed. They were totally AOR. Thanks for responding.