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Post by Mr Tein on Feb 4, 2015 14:30:06 GMT
On the basis that I always exclude XTc from my discussions... I am of the opinion that Steely Dan may be the world greatest ever band. Okay post Nightfly(It counts as Dan in my book) I think they became dull, but till then they just created great soundscapes and lyrical imagery. AND they were an albums band. You may suggest other bands but I think they will all be singles bands to the majority of listeners. ( Beatles, Stones, Kinks - singles bands!)
Am i wrong?
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 4, 2015 15:55:35 GMT
No.
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 4, 2015 15:57:06 GMT
“We usually get either the Beatles thing, or if not it’s the Steely Dan thing.” Andy acknowledged, “which I think is much too high praise, ’cause basically they sound much more melodically and rhythmically together than we’ll ever be. Comparisons are always flattering, but in a way it makes it scarier, ’cause you know the next thing you write has got live up to it, so it’s best not to think about it, it’s not going to resolve itself.” www.brucepollockthewriter.com/andy-partridge-of-xtc-the-x-factor/
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Post by longinglook on Feb 5, 2015 0:03:39 GMT
Admittedly, there are gaps in my education. Tremendous gaps. I only ever owned one Steely Dan record; I thought it was pretty good. Perhaps this is one of the aforementioned gaps.
However, if you keep saying Steely Dan are better than the Beatles and the Kinks, I'm liable to go all Unabomber on you.
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Post by longinglook on Feb 5, 2015 0:04:12 GMT
What was your mailing address again, Mr. Tein?
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 1:37:34 GMT
Admittedly, there are gaps in my education. Tremendous gaps. I only ever owned one Steely Dan record; I thought it was pretty good. Perhaps this is one of the aforementioned gaps. However, if you keep saying Steely Dan are better than the Beatles and the Kinks, I'm liable to go all Unabomber on you. I wouldn't say "Better." I would say "Comparable." But as with everything, it's a matter of taste. Many people don't like Steely Dan. (Steely Dan doesn't like them, either.) Many of those people can - dare I say - be pigeonholed as being in one of three groups: 1) Don't Like Jazz. "I just don't 'get' jazz, man." 2) Jazz Snobs. "Too 'smooth jazz' for my sophisticated taste. I prefer Eric Dolphy…or Ornette Coleman." 3) Don't Get Irony. "What's an iron?" (This is deliberate sarcasm, NOT a knock at cicadashell or Nonsuch Ned or donovan or any of you other non-Dan fans.)
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 3:11:07 GMT
Donald Fagen RE: DYLAN, MIKE, BOZ, JEWELS AND BINOCULARS, ETC.
Hiya kids –
I did an interview with this guy Andy Greene that appeared in the recent issue of Rolling Stone. You know, the one where they thought it was cool to put the mass killer on the cover. There’s been a little confusion about some things I said (or didn’t say) so I’d like to clarify.
The interview was supposed to be about drumming up business for Steely Dan’s summer tour. Walter Becker and I were originally scheduled to do the interview together on the phone, but it got botched up and we ended up talking to Greene separately.
For a while, it was a typical promo-type phone interview of the sort I’ve been doing for forty years. Greene was asking questions that fans might ask and I was answering as best I could.
He asked about set lists. Because most of the audience is there to hear the popular favorites, Walter and I like to make sure there are a fair number of hits in the show – at least the ones that aren’t too cringe-worthy. Then we talked about how some artists seem immune to audiences’ expectations. Greene brought up Bob Dylan. Because I could tell that Greene loved Dylan as much as I did, I let down my guard, and we started in with the classic fan talk, picking apart his recent work and mourning the fact that his erstwhile astonishing voice has now been reduced to a croak.
For Dylan idolaters, Bob analysis is a real party. We try to mimic his many eccentric vocal styles – folky Bob, psychedelic Bob, post-motorcycle accident Bob, Jesus-freak Bob – it’s fun. In college, we played a Dylan lyrics game:
“Name two items that hung from the head of the mule”.
“Oh c’mon, that’s easy. Jewels and binoculars, of course.”
For a moment, forgetting I was talking to a reporter, I started joking about the recent albums that always seem to have several, long blues-based tunes in minor keys. The lyrics are always great, but the tunes have limited musical interest, perhaps because Dylan needs to accommodate his damaged voice. Because Bob has meant so much to us for so long, because he’s astonished us for so long, maybe we feel we can kid him as if he were family.
Big mistake, as you will soon see.
And it got worse. Greene had read the galleys of a book I wrote, Eminent Hipsters, a collection of pieces I’ve written over the years that’s coming out in October. The most recent is a journal I kept during last summer’s Dukes of September tour. The Dukes are Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and myself singing some of the R&B and soul tunes we grew up with, plus some of our individual radio hits.
The piece is an entirely subjective, jokey view of what it’s like to be on tour. I talk about the stress of doing one-nighters in your sixties, living on buses and in hotel rooms, moving around the country in a state of perpetual exhaustion. I get upset about the lukewarm audience response for the great old tunes we love and fantasize taking out my rage on the crowd. It’s that sort of thing. I also confess my worries about taking prescribed pain-killers for the various aches and pains of aging. There’s almost no personal information about my friends Mike or Boz in the piece.
Greene said he enjoyed the piece and we talked about it for a bit. Mike and Boz never even came up. Nevertheless, the next day, on a bunch of tabloid sites, I see this:
Donald Fagen blasts boring Dylan, McDonald & Scaggs
Cranky Steely Dan star Donald Fagen has blasted Bob Dylan and his Dukes of September tourmates Michael Mcdonald and Boz Scaggs in a new Rolling Stone magazine article.The 65-year-old rocker reveals he has walked out of several Dylan shows because he finds the folk-rock icon "tedious" and admits he took "certain pharmaceuticals" to help him relieve the boredom of touring with Scaggs and McDonald.
Keep your powder dry, y’all.
DF July 20 ‘13
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 3:34:01 GMT
(This is deliberate sarcasm, NOT a knock at cicadashell or Nonsuch Ned or donovan or any of you other non-Dan fans.) Okay, maybe a little tiny one.
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Nonsuch Ned
Administrator
Phil?... Phil Connors?
minimum bling
Posts: 1,123
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Post by Nonsuch Ned on Feb 5, 2015 3:45:16 GMT
Crappy Dan can't help myself, must post again Donald Fagen Defends Steely Dan To FriendsFagen tries to convince colleagues that Steely Dan doesn't "suck hard."NEW YORK—While having drinks with friends at a local bar Monday, Donald Fagen, 60, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and cofounder of the multiplatinum-selling American rock band Steely Dan, was once again forced to defend his appreciation for the multiplatinum-selling American rock band Steely Dan. "Look, I understand. It's an acquired taste," Fagen said after putting his group's 1978 hit "Deacon Blues" on the bar's jukebox. "I wasn't that into it at first, either. But when you really listen to the unbelievable production values and the wry, perfectly crafted lyrics—it's just great art, okay? You should definitely give 'the Dan' a shot." Fagen went on to cite additional evidence in defense of his admiration for the music, including the disparate jazz, R&B;, and blues influences that pervade the band's music, and the ultraclean sound that became the group's hallmark. "No one attained that level of perfection in the studio," Fagen said. "Do you know how many guitar players tried and failed to nail the solo on the song 'Peg'? Six. Six professional session guitar players. That's commitment to a vision, if you ask me." "Not to mention almost ruining Michael McDonald's voice just to get the background vocals on that track," Fagen added. Though Fagen remained effusive about Steely Dan throughout the debate, he did eventually concede that the song "True Companion" from the Heavy Metal soundtrack was "really gay." He was quick to point out, however, that the track was not technically a Steely Dan composition, but rather a Donald Fagen solo project. "No way you'd be saying this crap if you'd seen Steely Dan play live as many times as I have," Fagen reportedly told his companions after purchasing them a second round of drinks. "Plus [Steely Dan cofounder] Walter Becker is a super nice guy." In an attempt to enlighten his friends and possibly pique their curiosity to the point where they would accept his standing offer to burn them copies of Steely Dan's 1974 album Pretzel Logic, Fagen went so far as to bring up some of the more esoteric trivia pertaining to the group. "Everybody knows that Steely Dan is named after a dildo, but were you aware that Chevy Chase played drums when the band was called the Leather Canary?" said Fagen, referring to his formative musical years at Bard College in upstate New York. "Of course, that was way before he went on to Saturday Night Live fame." Even after his acquaintances roundly dismissed Steely Dan as "pussy music," Fagen vehemently maintained that the band has contributed significantly to the rock and roll genre, and described his and Becker's unorthodox instrumentation choices and song arrangements as "bold." "God forbid someone take a chance by having more than three chord changes in a song," Fagen said. "You can't just write it all off as 'shitty jazz fusion' because there are a few horns in the band. And what about 'Bodhisattva' and 'Show Biz Kids' on Countdown To Ecstasy? Don't sit there and tell me that those tunes don't rock." Though Fagen remains loyal to Steely Dan and more or less has reverence for the band's entire catalog, he said that he is the first to admit the shortcomings of the music. "No one knows better than I do that this stuff can get extremely self-indulgent," Fagen said. "And, yes, I realize that all the preciousness and apparent awe at its own cleverness can be a little too much to stomach sometimes. Hell, some of Gaucho is even too goddamned smooth for me." "It's no Dire Straits, I'll give you that," Fagen added.
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 4:04:14 GMT
You forgot the attribution - THE ONION.
A long haired thrash metal guitarist who called our stuff 'pussy music' heard: "Says the guy who looks like a chick from the back."
Interestingly, waiting for one of their sessions to finish one night, I was changing acoustic guitar strings in the lounge. I pulled a string out that still had a few wraps around the pole, and it whipped out and went through my fingertip. (Luckily my right hand.)
"Oh damn, can you grab the needle nose and pull this out for me?" I calmly asked my friend. These thrash metal guys sitting there were getting all squeamish and grossed out. I told them, as my friend pulled the string out: "Hey, I got hit by a car in Germany. This is not a big deal compared to that."
Sometimes appearances are completely against reality.
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 4:06:16 GMT
The best "Steely Dan Revenge" was having Simp's son Riley diss them - only for him to discover that one of his favorite rap tunes was built around a sample of theirs.
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 4:28:47 GMT
And "Deacon Blues" is from 1977.
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Post by cicadashell on Feb 5, 2015 17:30:49 GMT
1) Don't Like Jazz. "I just don't 'get' jazz, man." 2) Jazz Snobs. "Too 'smooth jazz' for my sophisticated taste. I prefer Eric Dolphy…or Ornette Coleman." 3) Don't Get Irony. "What's an iron?" three straw men for the price of one! i call that a bargain.
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Post by Jeff Truzzi on Feb 5, 2015 20:05:22 GMT
The Tin Man and Cowardly Lion are way overrated.
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Post by lostjockey on Feb 5, 2015 22:35:00 GMT
I do love The Dan but I find most of the albums (with the exception of Aja) rather chokka with what McCartney would call "work songs". Moments of genius interspersed with hmmmm.
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