My dentist in Nutley in the late 1990s was a Steely Dan fan. I brought him some stuff he didn't have before and from then on most procedures were painless.
In the same vein, Tracy cut her Steely Dan teeth on 'Aja', with a particular favourite being 'Deacon Blues'. By the time they recorded that album, Steely Dan had gone from being a sort of normal touring band to just the original pair of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen doing studio only work and bringing in session musicians and guests as and when needed. This is a prime example of that, using up to 40 additional people including Michael McDonald on the track 'Peg'. Michael was a real part of Steely Dan for a bit as well as being with the Doobie Brothers.
If you go back far enough, to the late 60's early 70's, one group Becker and Fagan played in called Leather Canary had Chevy Chase on drums !!
There are people around who swear blind that they don't like jazz. They don't understand it, they can't follow it, they have no patience for it. However, those same people probably have one, two or more favourite Steely Dan tracks. Jazz takes lots of forms and much of Steely Dan's work is very jazz-rock oriented, giving it a distinctive sound, instantly recognizable as their music.
When fitting their songs into a genre, they also became an early candidate for that later development, Yacht Rock. I mentioned Yacht Rock back in June 2020 when reviewing Boz Scaggs and he falls under the same heading of music with R&B, jazz and folk rock roots.
Between 1972 and 1980 Steely Dan had 17 charting singles and 7 successful albums. This 1985 compilation 'Reelin' in the Years' really is a "best of" in the truest sense of the term. From early tracks like 'Do It Again' and 'My Old School' to their most popular single 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number' right through to 'Hey Nineteen' this double album has all the classics. About the only thing missing from MY playlist would be 'FM' but if you're willing to supplement your vinyl with a CD there are later compilations that include the odd non-album single.
On a scale of one to thank-you-very-much, Steely Dan are high on my rotation. Some deeper album tracks miss the mark here and there, but the popular radio plays were, and still are, just that. Popular. Good music for those laid-back days.
No comments:
Post a Comment