Band of the Month: Steely Dan
This month, the band of the month is Steely Dan. Not the typical fare for rockists like those that populate the virtual halls of CCC, especially on first listen. In fact, I can’t imagine liking these cats as a young buck. But the band is addictive, a major habit.
It’s like cigarettes or alcohol. You gotta want to like ‘em at first. Then, it’s all to easy. (Note: This version of MOB traces the career of SD Mach I).
Most of you who have spent anytime in a car w/ FM radio will be familiar w/ the majority of tracks from this album. “Reelin’ in the Years”, “Do it Again”, “Dirty Work”, etc. are all long wave warhorses, and deservedly so. But the album is chockablock w/ deep cuts. Released in 1972, a year in which Nixon was reelected in a landslide, I think I hear some voodoo going on in “Kings” and “Changing of the Guard” — must have worked, ‘cuz Watergate broke shortly thereafter… I listen to “Kings” now in 2009 and get a good feeling about a recent “Changing of the Guard.” Hard to imagine it was the hey-day of Glam Rock with a joint like this going off.
The album title is great Americana. The record is my favorite (also said to be Fagan’s). “My Old School” is irresistible unless you were one of “those guys.” “Pearl of the Quarter” was covered by CCC. This is where their literary, V.U. meets Bukowski lyrics really start to get salty and here they are matched by the grinding, winding, insinuating tunes inimitably.
My Old School
Pearl of the Quarter
AMG has this as the Dan’s best. I dunno. It is easy to listen to. The songs are compact, stylistically distinct. It’s an album. I guess this is the band showing that it can do it all. “Charlie Freak” has a great ramble-tamble piano hook climbing up and down over an interstellar guitar lead. Sleigh bells top it off. Tight. “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was apparently a big hit for he dudes. Is it possible that it was the inspiration for Phil Collins’ insipid “Don’t Lose My Number” ? When you are atrocious as Phil, anything is possible, no jacket required.
4. Katy Lied
Queer album cover w/ some sort of funky insect (Katydid?) checking you out. “Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More”… what can I say? You can hear the fingers flying on the guitar lead and you don’t hear it equaled often. Hand claps. Swelling keys. Damn, son. “Everyone’s Gone to the Movies” is a vibed-out joyride until you digest the lyrics. Pedophilia anyone? How many other bands can make you feel so creepy about tapping a toe?
Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More
Everyone’s Gone to the Movies
This one is a major grower. The album cover is atrocious and just gets worse. “Kid Charlemagne” is the ultimate tune, retelling the story of the tragicomic psychedelic 60s through the figure of Owsley Stanley, who first synthesized LCD on a large scale for the hippies of San Francisco. Like the Gimme Shelter film (“People…”) or Vineland, it details the failure of the hippie “counter-culture” to achieve any lasting social-political value: “look at all the white men on the street.” Indeed. When will we be free from these hypocrites? “Haitian Divorce” is an anti-love story set to a fantastic reggae-esque arrangement. I love the intense wah-guitar character mocking the whole affair.
Kid Charlemagne
Haitian Divorce
5. Aja
People are nuts about this record. I know a girl whose parents thought it worthy of their daughter’s name. You might also. Jazz musicians dig it. A triumph for Steely Dan, I guess, but for me (a jazz non-fan) not so much. Kind of aimless and self-absorbed in the same way I receive the genre (jazz). I suspect this album is responsible for a lot of the “smooth jazz” misery I’ve experienced in various dentists’ offices. Trauma. “Deacon Blues” has some great lyrics though, another classic (jazz) rock jab at Alabama. Lynerd Skynyrd weren’t equipped to respond to this one, obviously.
6. Gaucho
This was like the “Loveless” of the seventies, I gather (tho’ technically released in 1980): cost a sh*tload of money, took a long time, everyone on drugs and it pretty much ruined the band. Give it to me Wiki:
The pair are well-known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio, with one notable example being that Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980′s Gaucho — an album that contains only seven songs.
Too bad it isn’t close to being a Loveless or a Pet Sounds or whatever freakout album you prefer. Its essentially more of the smooth jazz rock pioneered on Aja — pretty much as far from freakout as you can get. Sounds decent enough in the background, cooking something gourmet in the kitchen maybe. Here’s a track that gets used as a segway lots on Fresh Aire w/ Terry Gross, detailing the glitzy life & times of an LA coke dealer to the NBA stars. Maybe I’ll understand these last two Dan albums some day.
James Lafayette Delgado ("Jimmy") Riggs
