Steely Dan: "Steely Dan's name has been popping up as a hip musical crush. Remember, this glossy bop-pop was the indifferent aristocracy to punk rock's stone-throwing in the late 70's. People fought

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x-post yeah, it was just a semi-serious question based on this thread, but in a way, the people who post here are a little more discerning -- or at the very least more analytical -- when it comes to the music they listen to, so i was just curious whether the total non-musicians on ILX have as much love for SD.

― alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 15:05 (eighteen years ago) link

my dad loves them and he doesn't play anything!

― having fun with stockholm cindy on stage (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 15:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Same with my dad, actually.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 16:17 (eighteen years ago) link

our ad sales guy love steely dan.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 16:21 (eighteen years ago) link

As I put on Pretzel Logic for the 1st time, I was like wtf, but since I'd put the album on repeat while computerizing all afternoon I soon caught myself singing along.

Aww innocent times, when I was just getting into this... As it happens, I bought today the Reelin in the Years biography. Oh, and I don't play anything.

― Baaderonixx, born again in Xixax (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 17:06 (eighteen years ago) link

My dad loves "Hey Nineteen." It disturbs me.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 17:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Have you noted his reaction to "Cousin Dupree" yet, Alfred?

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 17:11 (eighteen years ago) link

That's MY song, Redd!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link

nah, ILM doesn't have groupthink.

― Rev. Moon (van dover), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 03:16 (eighteen years ago) link

sign on the window of my local photo-processing store:

http://static.flickr.com/30/98011702_f1b7e0729a_o.jpg

― having fun with stockholm cindy on stage (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 10 February 2006 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link

THEY MUST BE FANS!

― team jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 10 February 2006 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

rev. moon, you pussy

― gear (gear), Friday, 10 February 2006 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Fuck, Aja is so awesome! How could I not have known this before? This is supposed to be my mom's music. Why is it so good?

Is this just a sign that I'm closer to 30 than 20? Am I becoming more of a true ilm-or?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 17 March 2006 05:15 (eighteen years ago) link

"Babylon Sisters" and "Deacon Blues" must be two of the most dazzling arrangements ever.

I've said this before but I suspect the fact that my parents never liked any rock ever has given me a different relationship with classic rock than many North Americans my age.

― Sundar (sundar), Friday, 17 March 2006 05:49 (eighteen years ago) link

What's the hip-hop song that samples Black Cow? Is it that Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz song? (Uptown Baby, Uptown Baby, etc.)

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 17 March 2006 05:53 (eighteen years ago) link

yes. and no, its not yr mama's music.

― chaki (chaki), Friday, 17 March 2006 07:42 (eighteen years ago) link

I love how Fagen starts singing Uptown Baby on the Aja documentary

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Friday, 17 March 2006 07:47 (eighteen years ago) link

haha ya thats awesome that whole doc is awesome

― chaki (chaki), Friday, 17 March 2006 07:49 (eighteen years ago) link

seeing the part where they solo michael mcdonald's background vox on "peg" was probably one of the crowning moments of my life

― bangelo (bangelo), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:34 (eighteen years ago) link

"Let's humiliate him"

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:35 (eighteen years ago) link

lol

― s/c johnson wax (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Naive question : what Steely Dan record should I listen to first ?
Should I trust the canon and start with Aja? Another one ? Greatest Hits ?

― snowballing (snowballing), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link

If not Aja maybe "countdown to ecstacy," if you are fearing the alleged dan "smootheness/slickness". But also I can't in good faith tell you to not listen to Aja, so. Win/win

― bangelo (bangelo), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:15 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't know that Aja is necessarily considered the canonical best album, is it? I don't think they really have one, to be honest.

I think you could do a lot worse than the compilation A Decade of Steely Dan. It's not perfect -- it omits "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" or "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" or "Barrytown" in favor of the inessential "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" -- but it's got a lot of the classics, and it'd help you figure out which era of the Dan you like best.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:20 (eighteen years ago) link

Aja is almost not Steely Dan to me. Aja is this amazing tangent whose heights were never to be equalled again. I recommend an earlier record to get to the truth of Steely Dan. Aja stands apart.

― Dave AKA Dave (dave225.3), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:20 (eighteen years ago) link

if you have a record player, withdraw twenty bucks from your account and just pick up all their albums. you should be able to find them relatively cheap.

i started listening to them when i was 17!

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm amazed that I prefer Gaucho to Aja, even though the arrangements on the latter are "better."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:43 (eighteen years ago) link

OMG I had awkward fumbling making out to Steely Dan when I was 18. I just remembered that. The Steely Dan was her idea, too!

-- jaymc (jmcunnin...), March 17th, 2006 11:07 AM. (jaymc) (later) (link)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Pretty sure that was Decade, since that's all I had at the time. She later dubbed me a cassette of Gaucho.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:45 (eighteen years ago) link

i think my dan hierarchy goes something like countdown>pretzel logic>gaucho>katy lied>royal scam>aja>can't buy a thrill, but despite that i still like them all almost equally.

haha i awkwardly hooked up with some cornell u. hippie chick in college while we played 'aja'.

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:47 (eighteen years ago) link

TRUE DAN CONFESSIONS

― bangelo (bangelo), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link

nobody wins until one of these stories involves Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter

― bangelo (bangelo), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:53 (eighteen years ago) link

TRUE DAN CONFESSIONS

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link

I got the Citizen Steely Dan box set (the first 7 albums crammed onto 4 CDs) a couple years ago when I found it marked down to less than $40, one of the greatest purchases I've ever made, especially since before that I'd only had a few Dan albums on vinyl or cassette handed down from my parents.

I still have a hard time figuring out my personal heirarchy, but it's more or less Countdown>Royal Scam>Pretzel Logic>Aja>Can't Buy>Katy Lied>Gaucho.

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:58 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost no shit. I always said that "taxicab confessions" would have gotten me off had it only featured donald fagen and a snake

― bangelo (bangelo), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Countdown to Ecstasy is definitely my favorite.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 17 March 2006 18:05 (eighteen years ago) link

seeing the part where they solo michael mcdonald's background vox on "peg" was probably one of the crowning moments of my life
-- bangelo (bangel...), March 17th, 2006 10:34 AM. (bangelo) (later) (link)
"Let's humiliate him"

-- Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonix...), March 17th, 2006 10:35 AM. (baaderonixx) (later) (link)

And with those two statements, I have a new addition to my Netflix queue.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 17 March 2006 18:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I think the 2CD Showbiz Kids anthology is a better starting point than A Decade of Steely Dan. More tracks, obviously, and some better choices about what to omit.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 17 March 2006 18:57 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm not really into Aja personally - I haven't heard Countdown to Ecstasy yet but given how much I like Can't Buy a Thrill, Pretzel Logic, and Katy Lied, I'm probably in the camp that prefers their earliest period.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 March 2006 19:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Amazon Review of the Citizen Box, or Break Free While You Still Can for God's Sake:

Reviewer: GREENHOUSE EFFECT CLARK "KLAUSE" (SAN DIEGO)
We've all heard these songs 1000 times on the radio but it is for a reason.........to get to the song called; "DIRTY WORK"....ITS a good one, then theres "Any major dude" and lots a' other good clean listening fun here....This band is comprised of great musicians and quality songwriting that can get tedious and old ...but only after 1000 plays so..if yer not familiar with this, then I HIGHLY recommend you get INTO IT...IT WILL CHANGE YOU...IF YER STUCK ON 90'S PUNK ROCK, THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO BREAK FREE AND GROW UP STUPID and get out OF IT...THIS IS STEELY DAN...THIS AIN'T DIRE STRAIGHTS OR MTV OR STING...GET INTO THIS ...and get into Chicago...MAKE THAT BREAK NOW FROM LAME ALTERNATIVE ROCK WHILE YOU CAN ...before it destroys yer life and turns you into a 'life time boy" ...and you wake up at 40 where you WERE AT 26...UPSTAIRS IN YOUR BEDROOM NEXT TO YOUR MOTHER'S ROOM !

― Brakhage (brakhage), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link

otm

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:06 (eighteen years ago) link

its not yr mama's music.

i saw steely dan with my mom, once. she likes them.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Who here has heard "You better walk it like you talk it or you'll lose that beat" ?

As much as I love Steely Dan, it's just of archival interest to me...

― Dave AKA Dave (dave225.3), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought that was a Velvet Underground song.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:39 (eighteen years ago) link

my mom loves the dan. but she doesnt know all the albums like me. im like this Royal Scam/Aja/Katy Lied/Pretzel Logic TIED FOR FIRST Countdown and Can't Buy a Thrill IN A CLOSE SECOND!

― chaki (chaki), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link

same name/ completely different!

xpost

― Dave AKA Dave (dave225.3), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link

snippets:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000011AA/104-8171844-8508707?v=glance&n=5174

― Dave AKA Dave (dave225.3), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:43 (eighteen years ago) link

my college radio had a copy of that. it wasn't very good.

― s/c johnson wax (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link

college radio STATION

― s/c johnson wax (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Do'h .. fuck that shit. I just discovered the Steely Dan Archive:
http://www.steelydanarchive.com/sounds/

― Dave AKA Dave (dave225.3), Friday, 17 March 2006 20:45 (eighteen years ago) link

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