Daddy Don't Live No More

[Incandenza]

Walter Becker of Steely Dan has died.

[diggedy derek]

Probably my biggest critical volte face of the last ten years: finally getting Steely Dan. What a mindblowing group. RIP

[Lang Spoon]

Everyone succumbs to the magic of the Dan in the end, derek. RIP

[G-Man]

Fuckfuckfuckfuck

[diggedy derek]

Everyone succumbs to the magic of the Dan in the end, derek. RIP

I didn't realise... and then I did.

G-Man, thoughts (such as they are) are with you today

[ursus arctos]

What G-Man said.

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Home At Last - RIP Walter

[G-Man]

Well, here's a post on Becker's death and a mix of cover versions of Steely Dan songs I've put together today.

[Jon]

Very sad news. So many great songs.

Great post, G-Man. I think the only cover version I know on your mix is the Rickie Lee Jones one.

A couple of brilliant Steely Dan samples spring to mind though. De La Soul sampled Peg on Eye Know. And the Super Furry Animals sampling Show Biz Kids on The Man Don't Give a Fuck.

[G-Man]

And then there was the "Do It Again/Billie Jean" mash-up from 1983.

[Jah Womble]

^Two fine songs that didn't need it, IMO.

RIP, Walter B - I grew up listening to your music, which created the perfect soundtrack for my frequent visits to New York as a kid. When punk came along and changed my musical horizons forever, friends asked me why I still listened to Steely Dan: my answer then was much as it would be now - they didn't operate within the confines of fashion, and were playing with the genres far more than any yawnsome British prog act could/would ever do. Thus, they were as relevant as ever in 1977, and beyond.

1 The Royal Scam
2 Pretzel Logic
3 Can't Buy a Thrill
4 Gaucho
5 Aja

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

I was giving this some thought last night, would the original line up of 10CC be the nearest band to Steely Dan that the UK produced, particularly with the comments Jah makes above?

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Jah's comments I refer to are "they didn't operate within the confines of fashion, and were playing with the genres far more than any yawnsome British prog act could/would ever do. "

[Jah Womble]

I've definitely thought that several times before - and I believe it also came up as a proposal on that 'I'm Not in Love' thread from eighteen-months-or-so ago. Have to say I think that 10cc were clearly more 'chart-geared' in terms of their pop sensibility than Steely Dan (although, yes, yes - I know that the latter scored more US Top 40 hits) but the Dan's music has arguably proven more timeless. (I mean, I still enjoy 10cc's singles, but they sound very much 'of their era' by comparison.)

I'd say that there was definitely a shared 'wider influence' than most of their contemporaries could boast - and one could equally argue the muso case for both 10cc and Steely Dan. I loved both bands as a young teenager, anyway.

[Incandenza]

1. Pretzel Logic
2. Katy Lied
3. Aja
4. The Royal Scam
5. Countdown to Ecstasy

Well done on coming around, derek.

My mom loves Steely Dan and got me in to them. I finally started listening to them again after college.

[Jon]

I genuinely think Can't Buy a Thrill is the greatest debut album ever.

Agreed about the 'timeless' quality. All their stuff still sounds great in 2017. 10CC's stuff really has dated but then I was never a fan. Steely Dan just always had this effortless groove. 10CC, less so, unless sampled by J Dilla.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I guess I'd come down on the 10cc side of that comparison, which is not to knock SD at all. I think I just prefer their sense of "Pop-ness." Not because they had more hits — I don't know that they did. More that their use of pop elements, whether sound effects, or genre parody, was more up my alley. They're also good at treading a cunning line between seriousness, sentimentality and satire which, for me, keeps their old stuff interesting. Even more recent offerings such as beautifulloser.com may be either witty or uncomfortable depending on how I'm feeling. I like being kept off balance that way.

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Without wishing to denigrate SD, from Katy Lied onwards they made use of some of the best sessions musicians available at the time, so would agree with Jon re the effortless groove, whereas 10cc did it all themselves.

Anyway I've already taken this thread away from its original theme.

[Artificial Hipster]

I'll bring it back.

I have two sisters older than me by 14 and 18 years whose husbands had huge record collections which I drew on heavily as a teenager. I borrowed Aja from one of them and hated it and other than catching the better known songs on the radio from time to time I've never returned to Steely Dan since until now. Every cloud and all that, I've had Aja and Pretzel Logic on constant rotation since Sunday and wow! How can records so flawless, so smooth still have such soul? The jazz chords raise even the most conventional of numbers (e.g. the song Pretzel Logic) to another level and an album that to my teenage ears had sounded like nothing more than a boring Sunday when what I was seeking was the heart of Saturday night reveals itself now as so unpredictable in all its perfection it's exciting.

Put me down as another to back up what Lang said then.

[G-Man]

That first side of Pretzel Logic is just wonderful. I have a video of the then 3-year-old G-Boy singing along to "Barrytown". Priceless.

As for the session musicians, yeah, it helps to have brilliant musicians to put into action your arrangements. But these arrangements must first be written and conceptualised. Of course, drummers like Steve Gadd or Bernard Purdie or Hal Blaine could introduce their own syncopatic innovations, but they were part of an ensemble supervised by Becker.

[Ray de Galles]

Didn't quite know where to put this but been listening to a lot of Steely Dan on holiday as I'm always more prone to in warm weather.

It sent me down a wiki wormhole on them and, while I think Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's later career as a mission defence consultant is relatively well known, I've never seen this astounding quote from him before :

"We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles.

My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at."

[Sunderporinostesta]

That’s as bizarre a statement as a pop persons ever made.

Can’t Find A Thrill is their only one I truly love, it’d make my top ten albums ever list.

Anyone know why You Go Where I Go never got beyond the demo bootleg albums stage?

[Jon]

Can’t Find A Thrill is their only one I truly love, it’d make my top ten albums ever list.

Fuck yeah! That album and Fagen's first solo album, The Nightfly, are the only two that I listen to on a semi-regular basis.

[Bored Of Education]

Didn't quite know where to put this but been listening to a lot of Steely Dan on holiday as I'm always more prone to in warm weather.

It sent me down a wiki wormhole on them and, while I think Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's later career as a mission defence consultant is relatively well known, I've never seen this astounding quote from him before :

When you originally mentioned this on another place, I assumed you were taking the piss about the mission defence consultant bit. I didn't realise it was true.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Fuck yeah! That album and Fagen's first solo album, The Nightfly, are the only two that I listen to on a semi-regular basis.

Nightfly would make my top 20. None of their others come near either as a band or solo stuff.