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

Agreed. I can't hear the greatness through the mythos of the lost classic

The second part of Scott Woods/Vic Perry is up:

http://rockcritics.com/2015/02/27/steely-dan-podcast-part-two/

(I'm still on the first. Scott's podcasts are the Berlin Alexanderplatzes of such endeavours.)

I saw them live recently (a better show than I had expected, and I was looking forward to it) and "Time Out of Mind" was a surprise highlight. I returned to Gaucho and couldn't believe I had dismissed it before. It's like 19th-century decadent literature relocated to disco-era LA.

Missed a few days of this thread so here's a comprehensive response

The Royal Scam hate is here is bananas. It's their best record. Maybe - maybe Aja is better, but The Royal Scam is my personal fav and is to me so obviously a masterpiece

This:

Gaucho was underrated for so long it's almost overrated now

is otm. It's become the Trans of the Steely Dan discography.

Mediocre songs on Pretzel Logic (which remains my least favorite):

"Barrytown"
"East St Louis Toodle-oo"
"Parker's Band"
"Through With Buzz"
"With A Gun"
"Monkey In Your Soul"

The rest are pretty good, but even the good ones - Rikki, Night by Night, Major Dude, Charlie Freak, title track - are not on par with, say, "Kid Charlemagne," "Black Cow," or even "Brooklyn" imo

Sorry for the shit grammar, I'm in a loud room but needed to prioritize this

fully agree w/ that entire post

Who doesn't like Royal Scam? Saw them play it with Larry Carlton a few years back.

Love Royal Scam. And the Gaucho love this poll inspired is still strong. Seeing these dudes in April, and I can't wait.

Don't know how anyone could consider "Barrytown" mediocre. The others on side 2 are more interesting in context, because of the quick abrupt shifts in style.

Don't know how anyone could consider "Barrytown" mediocre. The others on side 2 are more interesting in context, because of the quick abrupt shifts in style.

Their most Dylanesque put down song, right?

Yeah, there are definitely shade of "Positively 4th St" in that tune, but Dylan's version is a lot angrier. Fagen is just like calmly explaining to the guy why he can't be seen with him.

i like "through with buzz" a lotttt, it's so short and odd

like me!

Barrytown is one of my faves. It feels like a lyrical outlier, but it's one of their most beautiful songs

also Through with Buzz is great

Royal Scam is probably underrated in some places (not here) because it doesn't have any recognizable classic rock radio staples. Maybe Kid C got played on your CR station, but not on mine.

xxxp nice explanation. i mainly meant Fagen's phrasing, which sounds almost like an imitation of Dylan

yeah esp the part when he says 'it was there when you came oooout,' can hear Dylan singing that line

I don't think it's a bad song at all, just kinda below them, somehow; subject matter seems too obvious and prosaic for the 'Dan. I liked it better when I thought it had something to do with Barry Goldwater

Also, fun to sing "I can see by the Drew Carey that you come from Barrytown"

I'll rep for Charlie Freak. They probably hate it.

Gaucho, for what it's worth, is one of Christine McVie's desert island discs.

Someone rep'd hard for Charlie freak in the poll and I love it now

Gaucho, for what it's worth, is one of Christine McVie's desert island discs.

― Master of Treacle, Saturday, February 28, 2015 10:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whoa cool! what are the others?

"charlie freak" is fucking awesome

nearly the whole of pretzel logic flows with a... um... logic that transcends the individual tracks, so even "filler" has very real pleasures. that said, i still can't quite figure out what "east st louis toodle-oo" is doing there, except as a tip of their hat to their jazz influences (and just one indication that they'd like to be understood--at least in part--as a member of that tradition)

also rep for Charlie Freak. such a desperate, compact, cold piece of storytelling/songwriting. it does seem like something they'd hate now though. it's pretty straight.

the royal scam is good, but yeah, maybe a shade lesser than the albums surrounding it. took me a while to realize that because it kicks off with Kid Charlemagne which fucking kills. that's the track that got me into them.

"and while he sighed his body died in fifteen ways" never fails to send chills. damn.

Royal Scam is a great bridge between early and late SD. It's not quite airless yet but it's moving in that direction.

TRS is the only Dan album that has yet to reveal its charms to me. I recently deleted it off my phone (have all the other Dan on there obviously). I like "The Fez", though.

For me, aside for the obvious greatness of kicking off an album with "Kid Charlemagne" and "The Caves of Altamira," the triple shot of "The Fez">"Green Earrings">"Haitian Divorce" is just perfect. I also don't dislike a single song on TRS.

I am a huge fan of the first four, but if I could only take one record with me, it would be Royal Scam...

Innaresting.

Don't get all tremulous, Alfred

I liked it better when I thought it had something to do with Barry Goldwater

Apparently it's about the Moonies:

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-obscure-steely-dan-lyrics.htm

Love this, where he shows how much thought goes into such a simple sounding song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_2r9zbaIY

Only tangential, but this is the funniest thing ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOWdp1sOxvA

xxp: That article's a piece of poo. The Moonies didnt' set up shop in Barrytown until after pretzel logic came out. I've always thought it was a letter from a townie to the students of Bard.

Lol those are like the ten LEAST obscure Steely Dan lyrics, and he gets some of them wrong.

What I really want to know is what the Custerdome is.

yeah royal scam is the best

All right, fine. I convinced Bee OK to recount the votes:

http://i.imgur.com/qK92Lmv.jpg

I've recently started to think that Gaucho's title track is secretly the best SD song

i kind of agree. def top 5 for me. probably not new to anyone loitering in this thread, but check it from 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QNK4Pc8W2A

Gaucho might be my favorite SD song. I have a half-baked theory (I forget if I said this upthread) that they were at their best when they let go of any need to make half-hearted gestures toward "rocking." I mean, maybe they actually liked rockin' out, but somehow I get the feeling they didn't really, and that a lot of the rock elements they used were concessions to the times and the audience.

Regardless, I feel like Gaucho (the song) is the apex of their entire aesthetic, compositional approach, lyrical approach, etc.

i totally agree re: the rocking, even though i love many of their early rocking guitar solos.

Sometimes I've thought about starting a separate Steely Dan lyrical analysis thread, does that seem worthwhile?

lol @ pplains

xpost I see no reason not to -- I spent a whole hour in the car recently listening to the second disc of the Showbiz Kids best-of with my mom & we had fun 'close-reading' favorite songs ("Haitian Divorce", "Your Gold Teeth"...)

forgot this thread:
http://ilxor.com/ILX/SiteNewAnswersControllerServlet

This is the thread were you explain Steely Dan lyrics to me

Ok fair enough "Pearl of the Quarter" is probably not the secret best Dan number, maybe I just have a soft spot for pedal steel (courtesy of The Skunk), but with all the Royal Scam love on this thread surely we can all agree that the actual secret best Steely Dan song is "Haitian Divorce"?

For real though, can we talk about Jeff Baxter for a minute?

What I really want to know is what the Custerdome is.

drug den

Think Custer's Last Stand