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Steely Dan

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Steely Dan
File:SteelyDan.jpg
Background information
Years active1972 - 1981
1993 - Present
MembersDonald Fagen
Walter Becker

Steely Dan is an American jazz rock band based around musicians and songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

The group's history is divided into three stages. In its first stage, the group was a conventional rock band that toured and recorded from 1972 to 1974; in its second stage (1975–80) the group became a purely studio-based act, albeit still using the name Steely Dan, but now based solely around the songwriting team of Becker and Fagen, and using hired session players on their recordings. The group's third stage was Becker and Fagen's surprise return to recording and performing during the 1990s, with the band reconstituted as a large jazz-rock ensemble that tours regularly and has released several acclaimed live and studio albums.

Musical and lyrical style

The band's heyday was in the 1970s, when they released a half dozen albums, which blended jazz, rock and roll, funk, rhythm and blues, pop and everything in between. Their music, which may at first appear 'smooth' and 'easy listening', is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies, literate lyrics and adroit musicianship.

Their enigmatic, sardonically humorous and topical lyrics add to the appeal of the songs. Although Becker and Fagen might have at first owed a certain lyrical debt to Bob Dylan, they rapidly developed a distinctive style and have since become one of the most accomplished and respected songwriting teams of their age.

Musically, their sound is full of energy, though not an energy of aggression or speed. This comes partly from the tightness of the musicians and partly from Becker and Fagen's deep grounding in and love for jazz and rhythm & blues. Their major musical focus has always been to create a precise mood or 'feel' that underscores (or in some cases humorously subverts) the lyrics.

Long known as perfectionists, they often recorded take after take before selecting the player or performance that made the final cut on their albums. The guitar solo on "Peg", for example, was attempted by four top session guitarists before Jay Graydon's version became the 'keeper'. Additionally, while recording Katy Lied, a malfunctioning tape machine caused the tracks to have poor sound fidelity. This malfunction is most obvious at the very beginning of the track "Dr. Wu", if one listens carefully. Becker and Fagen refused to listen to the final version of the album.

Becker and Fagen favour a distinctly soul-influenced style of backing vocal, which after the first few albums were almost always performed by a female chorus (although Michael McDonald features prominently on several tracks, including the 1975 song "Black Friday" and the 1977 song "Peg"). On several albums they used the famous session trio of Venetta Fields, Shirley Matthews, and Clydie King, who have appeared on many other famous recordings including albums by The Rolling Stones and Boz Scaggs.

The attraction of Steely Dan's music also comes partly from the structure of each song, which often contain counter-melodies and solid but supple rhythms. It also comes from the sound of each instrument, which is recorded with utmost fidelity and attention to sonic detail, and mixed such that all instruments are heard and none are given undue priority. For example, in the song "Parker's Band", two drum kits are used (a technique which was standard in the Big Band era). This gives the song an unexpected drive, without overpowering the sound; it is not even immediately apparent. Their albums are also notable for the characteristically 'warm' and 'dry' production sound, and the sparing use of echo and reverberation -- effects which were often heavily over-used on other rock recordings of this period.

Steely Dan, Pretzel Logic

Lyrically, their songs cover a wide range of topics, but in their basic approach Becker and Fagen's writing can be compared with the observational, novelistic style of Lou Reed, and with songwriters such as Randy Newman, who specialises in creating fictional personae that narrate the song. The duo have said that in retrospect, most of their albums have a 'feel' of either Los Angeles or New York, the two main bases where Becker and Fagen lived and operated (see below). Characters appear in their songs that evoke these cities. Themes of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll appear, but never in a straightforward manner, neither encouraging or discouraging, and many (if not all) of their songs are tinged with an ironic edge.

Some lyrics are notable for their unusual scansion patterns; a prime example of this is their 1972 hit "Reelin' In The Years", which crams an unusually large number of words into each line, giving it a highly syncopated quality, similar to rap:

Your everlasting summer, you can see it fading fast
So you grab a piece of something that you think is gonna last
Well, you wouldn't even know a diamond if you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious I can't understand.

Another good example of their '70s writing style is "Kid Charlemagne" from The Royal Scam. Although the lyrics are, at first glance, typically oblique and allusive, Becker and Fagen have hinted that it was partly inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley — although it conflates the core story with numerous other images of the Sixties. This is evident in the following lines:

On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home.

The first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, although the last line is clearly a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Furthur, which was used by the Merry Pranksters.

Other themes are also present, such as prejudice, aging, failure, poverty and middle-class ennui, but these are typically seen from an ironic and detached perspective. Many of their songs concern love, but none can be classed as straightforward love songs, since there is inevitably an ironic or disturbing twist in the lyrics.

An example of this can be found in the song "Janie Runaway" (from Two Against Nature). At first glance it reads like an optimistic love song, with the narrator singing the praises of his new love, but a closer examination reveals a relationship between a teenage (and probably underage) runaway and a jaded, wealthy, New York roué who, by song's end, part threatens, part bribes the girl into joining him for an out-of-state 'threesome' weekend with another young woman.

"Gaslighting Abbie" (2000), also from the Two Against Nature album, likewise presents itself at first as a love song, but further examination reveals that the narrator is conspiring with his lover to drive his wife insane. As the title suggests, the song was inspired by the famous 1944 George Cukor thriller Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman, in which the husband of Bergman's character (played by Charles Boyer) attempts to drive her mad.

Steely Dan's lyrics contain subtle coded references, word-games, unusual (and sometimes original) slang expressions and intriguing lyrical choices and constructions, which enable the songs to be analysed in considerable depth. Jazz is a recurring theme, with references abounding in their songs, and there are numerous other film, television and literary references and allusions, such as "Home At Last" (from Aja), which was inspired by The Odyssey.

'Namechecking' is another Steely Dan lyrical device, and references to real places and people abound in their songs. The Two Against Nature album (2000) contains numerous references to the duo's original home region, the New York metro area, including the district of Gramercy Park and the well-known upmarket food business Dean & DeLuca.

The song "Black Friday" (1975) contains one of their more famous 'namechecks', a reference to the town of Muswellbrook in northern New South Wales, Australia:

When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook.

It is believed that Becker and Fagen in fact selected the name from an atlas, primarily because it worked effectively with the next rhyme:

I'm gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book

and also because it allowed them to create the couplets in the next stanza:

I'm gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothin' to do
But feed all the kangaroos.

It is typical of their wry sense of humour that the reference to kangaroos makes no particular sense unless one knows that Muswellbrook is located in Australia.

History

Becker and Fagen met at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (See this lyrical tribute) in 1967 and began playing in local groups; one of these, The Bad Rock Group, included future comedy star Chevy Chase on drums.

After Fagen graduated in 1969, the two moved to Brooklyn and in 1970 they joined the pop group Jay and the Americans, where they worked under pseudonyms (Fagen's was 'Gustav Mahler', Becker's was 'Tristan Fabriani'). They remained with The Americans until mid-1971 when they quit to work on the soundtrack of the low-budget film You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, which was produced by Kenny Vance of The Americans. Around this time they tried to start a group with guitarist Denny Dias, but this was unsuccessful, so Becker and Fagen moved to Manhattan, hoping to establish themselves as professional songwriters.

Demos (1968-1971)

A series of demos made (supposedly) between 1968 and 1971 has been floating around Steely Dan fansites for some time. This collection features approximately twenty-five tracks, and is known as "The Proto-Dan" or simply, "The Demos". The reasons why this group of songs is so remarkable are twofold. First, the stripped down production and decidedly lo-fi nature of these tracks (many songs are just Fagen and his piano) is completely contrary to any other known Steely Dan recording. Second, although some of these songs (Caves of Altamira, Brooklyn, Barrytown, and a few others) eventually were recorded on a mass-produced album, the majority were never released formally. It's clear in these recordings that they're formulating their piano-driven jazz/funk/rock which comes on their first album, Can't Buy A Thrill. Additionally, many would argue that Steely Dan never wrote a real love song, but these recordings show Fagen and Becker at their most romantic. For instance, on the track, "This Seat's Been Taken,"

This seat's been taken.
Don't ask me where she's coming from.
You're quite mistaken.
You know she's gonna be here. I know she's gonna come.

Several other songs, such as "Oh, Wow, It's You" and "Come Back Baby," would also fit the bill in this department. Many longtime Dan listeners will be shocked to hear some out-of-tune singing on these recordings (the rendition of "Parker's Band" in particular). This collection is the raw genesis of the surgical and sardonic musical style that Steely Dan would become known for.

Although they had a few notable successes—Barbra Streisand recorded their song I Mean To Shine—they made little significant headway until they met Gary Katz, who had just become a staff producer for ABC Records in Los Angeles. He hired Becker and Fagen as staff songwriters and they flew to Los Angeles. Katz would produce all their 1970s albums and from the first album on they commenced a long and successful collaboration with engineer Roger Nichols, who has since worked on every Steely Dan album, and the duo's solo projects.

After realizing their songs were too complex for other ABC artists, at Katz's suggestion they formed their own band with guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder and singerDavid Palmer, and Katz signed the band to ABC as recording artists. The addition of a second lead vocalist (Palmer) was due to a combination of Fagen's resistance to singing in front of an audience and the label's feeling that his voice was not "commercial" enough. Fagen lacked confidence in his voice and was known to have suffered from occasional bouts of stage fright. Ironically, it would soon become obvious that Fagen's voice was in fact ideally suited to their material.

Can't Buy a Thrill (1972)

Produced by Katz and recorded by Roger (The Immortal) Nichols at The Village Recorder, their debut album, Can't Buy A Thrill, was released in 1972 and made an immediate impression with the hit singles "Do It Again", the Palmer-sung "Dirty Work" (later covered by Max Merritt), and "Reelin' In The Years", all of which soon became staples of FM radio. "Reelin' In The Years" also features what many consider to be one of rock's all-time great guitar solos (performed by Elliott Randall).

Because of Fagen's reluctance to sing live, David Palmer handled most of the vocal duties on stage. During the first tour, it became apparent to Katz and Becker that Palmer's interpretation of the material wasn't having the same impact, and eventually convinced Fagen that he was the one who best conveyed the attitude and meaning of the songs. Palmer quietly left the group during the recording of the second album.

Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

Countdown to Ecstasy, was released in 1973 but failed to obtain the same level of success as the first album. Becker and Fagen blamed this on having to rush-record the album between tour dates and they weren't entirely happy with some of the performances on the record. The album's singles included "Show-Biz Kids" and "My Old School", both of which failed to make a significant entry into the charts. "My Old School", however, became a minor FM Rock staple as years passed, and remains as such to this day.

Pretzel Logic (1974)

Steely Dan returned to prominence with their classic third LP Pretzel Logic in early 1974, a diverse but superbly realised set that produced another huge hit single, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", a US Top Ten hit which became yet another enduring FM rock radio staple. It is also notable as the only Steely Dan album to contain a song by another composer—their cover of Duke Ellington's "East St Louis Toodle-oo".

During the tour for the previous album, the band had added highly-rated session drummer Jeff Porcaro (later a member of Toto) and also added singer-keyboardist Michael McDonald for back-up vocals. Both would become prominent on this and future Steely Dan recordings and would illustrate the duo's increasing reliance on session musicians.

A rift between Becker-Fagen and the other members of the group (particularly Baxter and Hodder) began to develop when the latter two seemed more intent on touring. Becker and Fagen hated touring and wanted to withdraw from the road to concentrate solely on writing and recording. The other members also felt discouraged by their diminishing roles in the studio and gradually left the group, although Dias stayed on for some Aja tracks and McDonald continued to contribute vocals up to the 1980 Gaucho set (where he figured on "Time Out of Mind"). Baxter left to join The Doobie Brothers, where he was later joined by McDonald, and they went on to enormous success of their own with that band.

Katy Lied (1975)

The 1975 LP Katy Lied saw the duo using a diverse group of session players, including Porcaro and McDonald, as well as guitarist Elliott Randall, famed jazz saxophonist Phil Woods, bassist Wilton Felder, percussionist-vibraphonist Victor Feldman, keyboardist (and later producer) Michael Omartian and guitarist Larry Carlton, with only Dias remaining from the original group. The album went gold on the strength of the songs "Black Friday" and "Bad Sneakers", but Becker and Fagen were dissatisfied with the sound of the album (caused by a faulty DBX noise reduction system) and for years refused to listen to the album in its final form.

The Royal Scam (1976)

The Royal Scam was released in 1976 and is considered the group's most guitar-oriented record, in part due to Carlton's contributions, and it also features legendary session drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. Like "Katy Lied", it sold well without the strength of a real hit single, although "Kid Charlemagne" and "The Fez" (in which keyboardist Paul Griffin earned a rare co-writing credit) would become two fan favourites. "Haitian Divorce" became a surprise minor hit in the UK.

Aja (1977)

Although some doubted that they could last as a studio-only group, Becker and Fagen proved their critics wrong in spectacular fashion with the 1977 release of their sixth LP, the dazzling, jazz-oriented Aja, which saw them using the services of top-notch jazz and jazz-rock and soul musicians including Larry Carlton, Wayne Shorter, Steve Gadd, and Chuck Rainey.

Regarded as one of the best (and best-recorded) albums of the period, it won a slew of awards, shot into the Top Five in the U.S. charts within three weeks of release, and was one of the first American LPs to be certified 'platinum' for sales of over 1 million albums. It cemented the duo's reputation as songwriters, as well as their legendary reputation for studio perfectionism. The story of the making of the album has been documented in an episode of the popular TV and DVD series Classic Albums.

Soon after the success of Aja, Becker and Fagen were asked to contribute the title track for the movie FM. The movie was one of the year's worst box-office disasters but the song was another hit, barely missing out on the Top 20 in the US and was another minor hit in the UK, and the group still perform it today.

Post-Aja troubles (1978-1982)

Becker and Fagen took most of 1978 off before beginning to write songs for the follow-up to "Aja". The project would become plagued by technical, legal and personal problems and ultimately cost them their partnership for many years.

In March 1979, ABC was bought by MCA, and for most of the next two years they were caught in contractual problems that prevented them from releasing the album. Becker and Fagen had planned on leaving ABC for Warner Brothers and wanted to release the next album on it, but MCA claimed ownership of the material and blocked Fagen and Becker from putting it out on any other label.

The first track completed for the album was "The Second Arrangement". It was one that Becker and Fagen were very proud of. But one night, Nichols was horrified to discover that all but a small fraction of the song had been accidentally erased by an assistant engineer. Nichols quickly tried to find Katz, and eventually found him eating dinner at a restaurant. It was Nichols who also broke the bad news to the band. When Fagen was notified, he simply walked out of the studio without saying a word. Attempting to re-record it proved to be too discouraging, so they abandoned the song.

Becker was also having personal difficulties. His girlfriend at the time, Karen Stanley, was found dead in their shared Upper West Side Apartment, of a drug overdose. Becker was hit with a $17 million wrongful death suit, later settled out of court in his favor, but he was hurt by the accusations and the tabloid press coverage that followed. He also had his own substance abuse problems to deal with. Not long after, Becker was hit by a taxi while attempting to cross a Manhattan street, shattering his right leg in several places and forcing him to go about on crutches.

Another lawsuit dogged the band, this time regarding the title track for the album. Jazz composer Keith Jarrett claimed that the song had been based on one of his own compositions, entitled "Long As You Know You're Living Yours". Fagen later admitted he'd loved the song and was strongly influenced by it. Jarrett sued for plagiarism and eventually won a co-writing credit as well as royalties on future pressings.

Gaucho was finally released in November 1980 and, despite the problems that had gone into recording the album, it was another major success. The first single, "Hey Nineteen", peaked at #10 on the pop chart in early 1981, and "Time Out of Mind" became a moderate hit in the spring.

But Fagen and Becker had run out of steam. The strain of trying to re-capture the success of "Aja", coupled with the personal turmoil surrounding them, had simply left them spent. Becker and Fagen announced the temporary suspension of their partnership in June 1981. Becker subsequently retreated to the Hawaiian island of Maui to escape the temptations of the L.A. scene, beat his addictions and raise a family. The two tried writing together again in the mid-1980s but were unhappy with the results.

Time off

In 1982 Fagen released his groundbreaking solo album The Nightfly, which was favorably compared to his Steely Dan work although it failed to match the wide audience appeal of the two previous Dan albums. Interestingly, it included the only other song in the entire Steely Dan oeuvre that was not written by Becker and/or Fagen—a cover of Leiber and Stoller's "Ruby Baby".

After the release of his album, Fagen began to suffer from writer's block, so he withdrew from writing and recording for several years. He occasionally did production work for other artists, as did Becker; one notable credit was British group China Crisis, who were strongly influenced by Steely Dan.

Many fans believe that Fagen and Becker took the first steps toward reconciliation in 1986. That was the year that their best-known producer, Gary Katz, oversaw an album by a new A&M artist, former model Rosie Vela. "Zazu" was strongly influenced by both Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan. Both Becker and Fagen are featured on that album, and it is believed to be the first time they performed together since the breakup.

Two key events led to Becker and Fagen getting back together as Steely Dan. The first was on October 25, 1991, when Becker attended a concert by Fagen, who was at the time performing as part of the New York Rock and Soul Revue, which Fagen co-founded with his partner, producer and singer Libby Titus (who was for many years the partner of Levon Helm of The Band) and who would later become Fagen's wife.

The second event was Becker's production of Fagen's second solo album Kamakiriad in 1993— Fagen later nominated it as the most satisfying recording experience of his career. (It also features Titus and Helm's daughter Amy on backing vocals). Returning the favour, Fagen then produced Becker's first solo album 11 Tracks Of Whack (1994).

Alive in America (1993-1994)

These events finally led to a reformation, and the mounting of a U.S. tour in 1993 to support Fagen's album (which sold poorly, even though the concerts were extremely well-reviewed). With Becker now mainly playing lead and rhythm guitar, they put together a band that included an additional keyboard player and lead guitarist, three female backing singers and a four-piece horn section. They toured to great acclaim during 1993-98, performing mainly songs from the later Steely Dan albums plus a selection of re-arranged Dan classics, and they released a live CD compiled from recordings of several 1993 and 1994 concerts, Alive In America in 1997.

Two Against Nature (2000)

Finally, in 2000, they released their first studio album in twenty years, Two Against Nature. It was not only a brilliant return to form but proved to be one of the surprise successes of the year, and in February 2001, it earned them four Grammy Awards. They won in the categories for Best Engineered Album - Non-Classical, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal ("Cousin Dupree"), and Album of the Year. Their win for Album of the Year came as a shock as they defeated Eminem and his highly controversial album The Marshall Mathers LP. In March 2001, the original members reunited on stage for the first time in decades when Steely Dan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Everything Must Go (2003)

In 2003 Steely Dan released another album, Everything Must Go, and toured America thereafter. Becker and Fagen went for a looser approach in the studio and attempted to capture a more live feel. Walter Becker would sing on a Steely Dan album for the first time since sharing the vocal on "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" on Can't Buy A Thrill, taking the lead vocal for the song "Slang of Ages". Also, it is the first Steely Dan album since 1973 to feature the same drummer (Keith Carlock) on every track. Jim Hodder was the sole drummer on 1972's Can't Buy a Thrill and 1973's Countdown to Ecstasy.

Long-serving Dan saxophonist Cornelius Bumpus (who previously played with The Doobie Brothers and Moby Grape) died of a heart attack in February 2004. Mindy Jostyn, another frequent musician who played with the Dan, died in March 2005.

Beginning in 2005, an Internet-based comedy series of video shorts called "Yacht Rock" has fictionalized the smooth songwriting exploits of the LA-based groups and producers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Donald Fagen & Walter Becker are secondary characters on the show. Fagen is portrayed as an incomprehensible speaker, though the other characters understand, and sometimes translate, his unique language. The series can be seen on Channel101.com[1].

Steelyard "Sugartooth" McDan and The Fab-Originees.com Tour (2006)

The band will embark on a 32-date tour in the summer of 2006,[2] partially in support of Fagen's first solo album in 13 years, Morph the Cat. Also featured on the bill is former collaborator Michael McDonald and his band. The name of the tour is an homage to the fictional "inventor of the blues" presumably created by Becker and Fagen.[3] As of May 2006, Fab-Originees.com is simply a mirror of SteelyDan.com.

Use of unusual harmonies and chord sequences

Steely Dan are famous for their use of chord sequences and harmonies that explore the area of musical tension between traditional pop music sounds and jazz. They were part of the jazz fusion movement of the 70s. To conventional rock listeners, this sometimes seemed to be avant-garde music. In particular, they are known for their use of the mu major chord, often simply known to rock musicians as the "Steely Dan chord".

Trivia

  • Fagen and Becker decided to name the band "Steely Dan" after a steam-powered dildo in the William Burroughs novel "Naked Lunch", a nod to the two being avid readers of 1950's "Beat" literature. Fagen once explained, "We just wanted to give the band a little more thrust than most other bands." Fagen and Becker were introduced to Burroughs by a magazine interviewer and had a cordial tête-a-tête, although Burroughs later confided that he was less impressed with their artistry than they were with his. In the excerpt of Naked Lunch in which Steely Dan is introduced to readers, the song "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" is playing.
  • On 1976's "Everything You Did," a lyric says to "turn up The Eagles, the neighbors are listening." Interpreting the reference as a compliment (the actual intent was less positive), the next year the Eagles penned the lyrics, "They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast" in their hit "Hotel California" as a nod back to Steely Dan for the free publicity. However, the "steely knives" could also be interpreted to mean hypodermic syringes stabbing "the beast" of drug addiction, or as the establishment politicians of California ("in the master's chambers, they gather for the feast") looting California but failing to win. (*they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast").
They've got a name for the winners in the world.
I want a name when I lose.
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide,
Call me "Deacon Blues".
The song has been part of the school marching band's repertoire ever since.
According to urban legend, the song was actually written about the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons, but in a Rolling Stone interview, Donald Fagen said "Walter and I had been working on that song at a house in Malibu. I played him that line, and he said, "You mean it's like, 'They call these cracker assholes this grandiose name like the Crimson Tide, and I'm this loser, so they call me this other grandiose name, Deacon Blues?' " And I said, "Yeah!" He said, "Cool! Let's finish it!"[4]
  • The Scottish band Deacon Blue took their name from the Steely Dan song.
  • The obscure and sometimes teasing Dan lyrics have given rise to sometimes considerable efforts by fans to explain the "inner meaning" of certain songs. Even the actual words used are fought over; the track "Show Biz Kids" on Countdown to Ecstasy contains a chorus line that has variously been interpreted as "Lost Wages", "Las Vegas" (a Dan favourite), "Las Wages", "Not Sweetest" and "Not Sleeping". The Dan themselves appear reluctant to make a final ruling on the matter.
  • In its March 24, 2006 edition, Entertainment Weekly details a return trip to Bard College by Fagen, in which he describes a raid by sheriff's deputies. Fagen, his girlfriend, Becker, and some 50 other students were arrested. Charges were dropped, but the harassment was the origin of the grudge alluded to in "My Old School". The same article speculates that a Bard professor's wife, Rikki Ducornet, was the inspiration for "Rikki Don't Lose That Number".
  • Mark Knopfler played guitar on the song "Time Out of Mind" from the album Gaucho.

Discography (as officially listed by the band)

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