OMG, that story makes me want to cry! So glad you saved that song. I still to this day LOVE that album….probably more than any of their others, mainly because of all they were going through on a personal level, AND with their record company, plus it was the follow up to Aja, so they must’ve been feeling some incredible pressure to come up with something great, and THEY DID! 👍🏼🎸🎼❤️😎
Shows you just how important your collaborators are. Sometimes even genuises need others to save them from their tunnel vision. Thank you Gary, Roger and of course the absolute legend himself Jeff P.
Well thanks for saving Gaucho. Because it really is one of the best SD tunes there is. The space in there, the stars, the groove, the Sanborn sax, the last piano note before the sax solo. This song always takes me back to driving down the interstate at night with nothing but the truckers out there for company as well as whatever moon and starlight there is. Glad you could talk some sense into Donald!
Gary . . . so glad you saved it. It's so much part of the album as a whole. I've played the album on a regular basis since 1980 when it was released in the UK. Sheer bliss.
On a podcast Donald describe their methods to crafting music as "miserable", it dispels the notion that creating great art is this big transcendent experience
I think this is the song that the new york times critic was talking about when he referred to the album as coming down from heaven from the Lord himself or something to that effect...
Their perfectionism ended up paralysing them musically. The Wendel situation in particular, and the quality of the songs they ordered cut from the record was proof that they started setting that bar too high to keep an artistic mission to continue. I also believe they realised just how much of a magnum opus Aja was and that they may well live in its shadow.
85 takes? That’s even less professional than the Beatles making 70 takes of a song. Compare to Frank Sinatra. Frank usually did one take, maximum three takes. Even Karen Carpenter would only need to sing a track once. Karen was so good, the guiding vocal track was used on some songs.
You might not know this but…Jeff Porcaro is often known as THE 1 take or at most 2-3 takes guy in the LA Session scene…so that goes to show how impossible the Steely Dan standards are
For a full year in the early'90's, I listened to "Gaucho" and "The Nightly" in my car.
A Maxell II-S cassette on autoreverse.
OMG, that story makes me want to cry!
So glad you saved that song.
I still to this day LOVE that album….probably more than any of their others, mainly because of all they were going through on a personal level, AND with their record company, plus it was the follow up to Aja, so they must’ve been feeling some incredible pressure to come up with something great, and THEY DID!
👍🏼🎸🎼❤️😎
Shows you just how important your collaborators are. Sometimes even genuises need others to save them from their tunnel vision.
Thank you Gary, Roger and of course the absolute legend himself Jeff P.
Well thanks for saving Gaucho. Because it really is one of the best SD tunes there is.
The space in there, the stars, the groove, the Sanborn sax, the last piano note before the sax solo. This song always takes me back to driving down the interstate at night with nothing but the truckers out there for company as well as whatever moon and starlight there is. Glad you could talk some sense into Donald!
Gary . . . so glad you saved it. It's so much part of the album as a whole. I've played the album on a regular basis since 1980 when it was released in the UK. Sheer bliss.
It’s a masterpiece.
This is the most powerful thing I've ever seen.
He should’ve been saving “The Second Arrangement”, “The Bear” & “Kind Spirit”. Those tracks would’ve made Gaucho as good as Aja.
Would love to hear all those out takes! There isn't a bad (or even mediocre) song on the album. Probably my favorite SD album.
Never got the accolades that Aja received. But just as spectacular in its own way.
Thanks Gary! That album was in my collection & on the charts my whole high school time & I still love to listen to it.
Jeff Porcaro helps save Gaucho, it figures. He was the best.
❤
Damn! What a story. What a song. I have performed this song hundreds of times. Never to Jeff's level, but always to my best. So glad you saved it.
And it became the title track of the album.
Producing for Becker and Fagan--that sounds like it must have been ounces of fun! The results were probably all that made it worth it .
On a podcast Donald describe their methods to crafting music as "miserable", it dispels the notion that creating great art is this big transcendent experience
I propose that the intro horn riff on Gaucho is one of the great horn riffs in rock n roll.
Such a great jam
Enjoyed video thanks..... Have you ever recorded with Blood,Sweat And Tears?... As a musician???
Thanks Gary.....
HOLY COW. Hoooo Leeee Cooooow.
Anyone know where to find the full interview
That song breaks my heart every time. I'm not even sure why. I'm much more a fan of the pre-Aja songs, but that one... Damn.
More Gary more……
I think this is the song that the new york times critic was talking about when he referred to the album as coming down from heaven from the Lord himself or something to that effect...
What or where is the citation/credit/attribution or source of this interview, Alex Preiss?
The clip was given to me by engineer Roger Nichols' daughter Cimcie Nichols. I believe it was filmed as part of a yet-unreleased project.
Not Jeffrey Baxter is it?
Porcaro pretty sure.
Porcaro
Their perfectionism ended up paralysing them musically. The Wendel situation in particular, and the quality of the songs they ordered cut from the record was proof that they started setting that bar too high to keep an artistic mission to continue. I also believe they realised just how much of a magnum opus Aja was and that they may well live in its shadow.
Hey whatever it takes to get the result...I actually didn't like the song much, but happy many people did.
So is he saying that Jeffrey is the person playing all the instruments on the album recording of Gaucho?!
Drummer.
No he's saying they stayed up all night with Jeff Porcaro to create a perfect drum track which then everything else would be overdubbed to.
Jeffrey who?
Jeff(rey) Pocaro (drummer) and Chuck Rainey (Bass)
@@johnblanksby6054 Thank YOU!
Gaucho is probably my favorite SD album, but the title track is the weakest. I always thought that was ironic.
85 takes? That’s even less professional than the Beatles making 70 takes of a song. Compare to Frank Sinatra. Frank usually did one take, maximum three takes. Even Karen Carpenter would only need to sing a track once. Karen was so good, the guiding vocal track was used on some songs.
You might not know this but…Jeff Porcaro is often known as THE 1 take or at most 2-3 takes guy in the LA Session scene…so that goes to show how impossible the Steely Dan standards are
He’s not talking about 85 takes of singing though
It’s weird how many conspiracy theory videos you have mixed in with your Motown favorites, comrade