Steely Dan

[WS82Classics]

Didn't see a topic available for this band, so I thought I'd go ahead and create one.

Some of the 60's/early 70's prog/psychedelic bands can lay claim to introducing jazz sounds into the rock pantheon, but no band melded those sounds together into an appealing and tight musical arrangement better than Steely Dan. They were apparently far more perfectionistic than even the Eagles were(read the Wiki entry for the "Gaucho" album--it's...something). Among their best known songs are "Do it Again," "Dirty Work," "Reelin' in the Years," and "Rikki, Don't Lose that Number."

Would be curious to see how many of our Border faithful also dig this great band. Here's some of my own favourites(all from their latter days and most from LP's I own):

A little bit of...mobster music? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9Xk-VoGqo

Sounds like it could pass for a more elaborately done version of "Outlaw Man." Killer opening riff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-G1Q6qJAe4

This one has an actual Eagles reference. See if you can spot it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPjqteoPHU

A pretty good summation of the live music scenes anywhere you go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLfdaZWYRw0

Serene tranquility, thy name is 'Aja.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWfQTY_K-_o

This one for some reason reminds me of some really pretty young girls I met in Ellijay, GA, a few years back. Ahh, fun memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwqLH-1UWUo

That riff transports me to another dimension every time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSSx72EMhj0

Probably their best known song. Quite fun and bouncy(musically), not to mention a little bit on the creepy side(lyrically). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L523GhmV5u0


On a final note, Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen also had a sizable hit in the early 80's with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg-gTXFgs8Q

[Scarlet Sun]

I only really like the first two albums when they were a real band - especially the first when they had additional lead singers

[LuvTim]

I've always loved Steely Dan. :heart:
That's all from me. :bye:

[Freypower]

I like them enough that I went to see them a few years ago, and they were very disappointing - mechanical and smooth, the way the Eagles were always accused of sounding. Glenn loved them & did a superb version of Show Biz Kids at his Royal Oak show in 2000. I think his son Deacon is named after Deacon Blues, a song which I have tried hard to love but really can't (I feel the same way about Aja).

I can give a Top 10 which is probably very predictable:

1. Reelin' In The Years
2. Do It Again
3. Pretzel Logic
4. Kid Charlemagne
5. Black Friday
6. Rikki Don't Lose That Number
7. Dirty Work
8. Doctor Wu
9. Babylon Sisters
10. Show Biz Kids

But some of it, songs like Peg, Josie, Hey Nineteen, I find just a bit boring & hard to relate to what they are singing about. It's all a bit too clever & self-consciously hip.

I thought their best known song was Rikki Don't Lose That Number, or at least Reelin' In The Years, not Hey Nineteen.

[Jonny Come Lately]

I remember my parents playing Steely Dan's music a bit when I was a kid - they have the 'Then And Now' compilation album which was released in the early 1990s I think. I'm not sure why but it's not something that really passed on to me in the way that say my Dad's love of Dire Straits did. In fairness, it is a long time since I've heard most of the songs from the album and perhaps I was to young to 'get it' then.

My favourite songs were always Reeling In The Years and Dirty Work. I can recall one car journey across eastern Cheshire and Derbyshire when I was about 8 or 9 where they played the album and I distinctly remember hearing the latter song for the first time and really liking the chorus. The only other one I remember clearly was Rikki Don't Lose That Number, but I was never as keen on that one.

[NightMistBlue]

I've always enjoyed their music, in a casual way, but my appreciation increased very much when I saw them play live this past June. They were excellent. The whole damn show was a highlight, especially "Babylon Sisters" and "Kid Charlemagne." Now I'm even checking out their early demos - fascinating stuff.

My perennial favorite song is "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number"; I feel bad mentioning that one b/c it's so obvious but I can't help it, it's just superb, especially the guitar solo and the piano figure they borrowed from Horace Silver. Also digging "The Fez" and "Any Major Dude Will Tell You."

[Annoying Twit]

Steely Dan for me are one of the bands where I bought their greatest hits, and then didn't really search further. So, some of their songs I know very well, but I don't know the original albums that well.

"My Old School" is one of my faves.

[NightMistBlue]

When asked about some of his favorite guitar solos (that he didn't play), Jimmy Page has cited the Dan's "Reelin' in the Years." I don't know whether Page is serious or not, but he's mentioned it more than once so he probably is sincere.

It's a fabulous song, both musically and lyrically (still evoking wry smiles after 40+ years - not bad), and the guitars are great, but the solo is kind of basic, no? Simple.

[Annoying Twit]

I've just played Reelin' in the Years again to refresh my memory. I wouldn't call it the be-all and end-all of solos, but I think it's a good solo and I don't think it's too surprising if Jimmy Page quotes it as a favourite.

I was going to play an extended Steely Dan best-of that included songs that I don't know well. However, I've just noted that SD released a new album this year; I'm going to listen to that instead. EDIT: I've just realised that this album "Android Warehouse" is a repackaging of pre-Steely Dan recordings by Becker and Fagen. I feel deceived :)

[MortSahlFan]

I love Steely Dan a little more than the Eagles. I saw him 4 times in 3 states, but I also had a band in 2009 that played at least 20 Steely Dan songs (and about 12 others)..

I love their 70's stuff. After that, I'd recommend "The Lost Gaucho Tapes" - "Kind Spirit", "The Bear" are great songs, as well as many others. My favorite released song is "Don't Take Me Alive"

[NightMistBlue]

I've just played Reelin' in the Years again to refresh my memory. I wouldn't call it the be-all and end-all of solos, but I think it's a good solo and I don't think it's too surprising if Jimmy Page quotes it as a favourite.

I was going to play an extended Steely Dan best-of that included songs that I don't know well. However, I've just noted that SD released a new album this year; I'm going to listen to that instead. EDIT: I've just realised that this album "Android Warehouse" is a repackaging of pre-Steely Dan recordings by Becker and Fagen. I feel deceived :)

I admire your bravery and open-mindedness. Most people would have just gone for the greatest hits and most popular albums when checking out an unfamiliar band.

Mort, you didn't refer to Steely Dan as "him"! I'm sure you're being droll or hit a stray key or two.

[Annoying Twit]

I admire your bravery and open-mindedness. Most people would have just gone for the greatest hits and most popular albums when checking out an unfamiliar band.


I do think that a number of bands and singers have produced some quite good work in later parts of their career, but not as many people are as aware as they might be. Case in point: Long Road Out Of Eden. So, I do like checking out most recent albums as well as the hits.



Mort, you didn't refer to Steely Dan as "him"! I'm sure you're being droll or hit a stray key or two.

"Oh by the way, which one's Pink?" :D

[NightMistBlue]

I could never get my mom to stop referring to Fleetwood Mac or Led Zeppelin as "him," no matter how many times I pointed out that they are groups.

My toes quietly curled when a woman in my office referred to U2 as "him" - I knew she was talking about Bono, but come on. What are they thinking?!

[Jonny Come Lately]

I must admit when I first heard of them I assumed Dan was the name of the lead singer. I was somewhat surprised, to say the least, to discover the real origin of the name and what it meant!

I never got confused with Fleetwood Mac, even as a child - I think I'd seen photos of the band and having a combination of male and female singers meant I always knew they were a band. I can totally understand the confusion with Pink Floyd (hence the Have A Cigar lyric AT quoted!).

[WKMB55]

I seem to remember TBS saying he sang on 3 Steeley Dan albums.

[Annoying Twit]

He did. Including my favourite album (so far), Aja.

EDIT: I've just listened to Donald Fagen's 2012 solo album "Sunken Condos". I think it's a good album and very much in the Steely Dan style. It may be unfair of me to say so after one listen, but I think the tracks would be 'good album tracks' on an album such as Aja. However, the 1970s-early 80s albums would have a few standout tracks such as 'Peg' or 'Josie'. None of the tracks on 'Sunken Condos' stood out like that.

I can see Steely Dan fans being very pleased with the album. But, I miss the lack of obvious 'singles'. Just my opinion, and one based on a single listen.

EDIT2: I've started listening to Fagen's previous solo album 'Morph The Cat'. The second song 'H Game' is more 'immediate' and single-like than anything on 'Sunken Condos'. However, I won't be able to listen to the whole album now as I have chores I don't want to leave and the shops open soon.

EDIT3: Spotify thinks it's a good idea to advertise Britney Spears' new album when someone's listening to Donald Fagen?

[NightMistBlue]

Yeah, Spotify is always trying to sell me hip hop and I never listen to that rubbish.

Fagen is very critical of his voice (always has been, apparently) but he sounds great. His speaking voice is surprisingly youthful as well. I recently listened to his audiobook, Eminent Hipsters, which he narrates himself. It's a collection of essays. I particularly enjoyed his 2012 tour diary, which some people found mean-spirited but I thought was hilarious. It wasn't a Steely Dan tour; he toured with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald for a summer.

[MortSahlFan]

I admire your bravery and open-mindedness. Most people would have just gone for the greatest hits and most popular albums when checking out an unfamiliar band.

Mort, you didn't refer to Steely Dan as "him"! I'm sure you're being droll or hit a stray key or two.

LOL. Don't know how I did it, but I spotted it before anyone else did as I came to re-check.

[Annoying Twit]

I'm enjoying 'Morph The Cat'. As well as 'H Gang' which has been getting stuck in my head, 'Security Joan' is damn catchy and the album is full of good songs.

[NightMistBlue]

I see that the Dan is doing a month-long (April) residence in Last Vegas - not exclusively, they also have shows in San Diego that month.

Does anyone know if they are still going to tour this summer? I don't see any dates scheduled and the year is getting on.

[Delilah]

Donald Fagen issued a statement in memory of Walter Becker. I guess it answers my question in the RIP thread about what will happen to the band.


Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm. 



We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood - I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter. 



His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.

"Walter Becker, Steely Dan Guitarist and Co-Founder, Dies at 67" Sept. 3, 2017 - Billboard (https://apple.news/ANC0smJSdRv250tjdBOZowA)

[MaryCalifornia]

Yes, I heard on Sirius radio yesterday and today that Donald Fagen and the band will continue to tour as Steely Dan. He doesn't seem to have any guilt or moral dilemma about it. I wonder if their fans hate them touring without their founding member Walter Becker. Probably some do.

The band's timeline is so similar to the Eagles its crazy. Formed in 1971, ended in 1981. Reformed in 1993. They were on the same schedule haha!

[New Kid In Town]

Hi Mary ! Wow, that's crazy. I never knew their founding/break up were so close together. Small world.

[Annoying Twit]

It seems that Donald Fagan is suing the Becker Estate for full ownership of Steely Dan. It appears that there is some very strange legal agreement about what happens when members leave Steely Dan, including by passing on.

https://music.mxdwn.com/2017/11/23/news/donald-fagen-of-steely-dan-sues-fellow-band-member-walter-beckers-estate/

I do think this is sad, and it makes me feel that it's good that Eagles and the Frey family have come together as they have.

[MaryCalifornia]

Well that is a really sad, unfortunate state of events. Thank goodness something similar is not happening with our guys. “Spin writes that Fagen is suing “in an effort to keep the band’s name alive” even with the passing of Becker”. I can’t believe Stely Dan didn’t have this issue locked down tight in their legal documents.

[Delilah]

Going to the original source, Spin Magazine, can provide a clearer picture of what’s going on.


At the center of the lawsuit is a 1972 buy-sell agreement signed by the original bandmembers when Steely Dan was incorporated. According to the complaint, which was filed Tuesday in L.A. County Superior Court, the contract provides that whenever a member of the group quits or dies, Steely Dan purchases all of that member’s shares in the group.

“By the 2010s, Fagen and Becker were the only remaining shareholders and signatories to the Buy/Sell Agreement,” writes attorney Louis “Skip” Miller in the complaint. “Four days after Becker’s death, on September 7, 2017, the Becker Defendants sent Fagen a letter stating that ‘We wanted to put you on notice that the Buy/Sell Agreement dated as of October 31, 1972 is of no force or effect.’ “


The buy-sell agreement is really not that unusual. Lots of times co-owners want the business entity to stay in the hands of those who know the ins and outs of the business, and family members don’t always fit the bill.

Judging from this alone, the signed contract trumps a letter which seems to be based on nothing more than the Becker Defendants’ wishes.

”Steely Dan Singer Sues Bandmate’s Estate” Spin, Nov. 22, 2017 (https://www.spin.com/2017/11/steely-dan-singer-sues-bandmates-estate/)

[MortSahlFan]

Very sad to read this.... I'm sure it's about money..

It's never enough, is it? Man, they should revert to their old notebooks making $80/week at CBS.

[Delilah]

The latest from Donald Fagen about Walter Becker’s death and the lawsuit. He explains why he is using the “Steely Dan” name for future shows.


If it were up to Fagen, he wouldn't refer to the post-Becker touring incarnation of the band as "Steely Dan." "I would actually prefer to call it Donald Fagen and the Steely Dan Band or something like that," he says, noting that promoters have so far insisted that he call it Steely Dan for commercial reasons. "That's an ongoing debate. To me, Steely Dan was just me and Walter, really – it was like a concept we had together."

(my emphasis)

”Donald Fagen Discusses the Loss of Walter Becker and Steely Dan's Future” Rolling Stone, Dec. 19, 2017 (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/donald-fagen-on-walter-beckers-death-steely-dans-future-w514440)

[NightMistBlue]

Miss D., thank you kindly for that (43 minute!) audio. Very interesting.

Confidentially, when Mr. Fagen says "Live Nation" insists on him touring under the name Steely Dan rather than his own name, he means Irving Azoff. There's a running bit about that in Fagen's hilarious 2012 tour diary.

[MaryCalifornia]

Interesting. Maybe this is why Timothy is billed in some of his solo shows as "Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles." I mean, I think that's sort of embarrassing. Maybe the venues and investors require it. (And Irving if he has any skin in the game). I had not noticed this billing in prior solo tours.

[Delilah]

You’re welcome, NMB. I haven’t had a chance yet to listen to the audio though.

MC, my ticket to Timothy’s show billed him as “Timothy B. Schmit (of the Eagles)” but my program just listed his name. Meanwhile Don F generally gets billed “formerly with the Eagles” after his name. I’m sure the promoters have something to do with it.