Not often that I comment on the reaction videos but you two guys are criminally underrated in terms of recognition, understanding, evaluation and interpretation of many wide varieties of music and your taste in the finer music (such as Steely Dan) is anticipated and more than welcome, at least on my part. Your subs should continue to grow leaps and bounds in the near future. Look forward to seeing and listening to you both on a daily basis!
@@CuriousGeorge1111 I third that. Steely Dan reactions brought me here and their reactions are some of the best of all music they have reacted to. Especially Zep and SD (Steely Dan). I hope they continue to check out Progressive music from 30-40 years ago. There is a void in reaction channels for stuff like: Yes, Rush, SD, Bruford, Jazz Fusion: Holdsworth, Brand X, Bob James, Herbie Hancock, and Pat Metheny.
And let's give a big, big shout out to Jeff Pocaro, the drummer. His ability to play ever so slightly behind the beat, and still make it solid is remarkable.
The music was lifted directly from a track from the Keith Jarrett album Belonging with his European Quartet. When Jarrett heard this track, he FREAKED. He immediately contacted SD and successfully sued for thousands. The lyrics were somewhat controversial. DF said the song is tongue-in-cheek. What they saw while living in Calif.
"Sounds like expensive chords!" Yeah, that's right. Real fat, rich, thick, jazzy, extended harmonic structure chords. All put together in a beautiful artful way. And so incredibly tight.
I know Steely Dan since 1979 I was 21 and their sound got me,I love the sound and the music,Gaucho reminds me of when I was in England and I had this girl friend so problematic oh god it was hard but even so she was ever so nice to me although Katty Lied reminds me of when I was still in the states!!!!!god I have so many memories of steely Dan!!!!!!!
I think being producers AND listening on headphones, like I did as a kid (sitting on the edge of my mother's bed, singing into a hair brush...lol) To HEAR the music...all the music. Many reactors don't use headphones...whaaaa
Best song on the album for sure. Amongst so many great moments in the song, and the whole album for that matter, is the very last chord, fading out with the girls doing the most beautiful harmonised aaaahhhhh over the top of it. Kills me every time I hear it.
It's a beautiful piece of music. So rich! The sax, piano, the rhodes, Donald's voice and the harmonies wow. 40yrs listening to this and it never gets old. Donald turned 75 on Jan 10th. There's a video of Donald on YT receiving induction into the jazz hall of fame. He performs. His voice was off but it's still great to watch him.
When the musicians hired first recorded Gaucho, they worked day and night. Walter and Donald then kept only Jeff Porcaro's genius drum track!!! Later, Walter recording bass, guitar with Steve Khan, Fagen on electric piano, Rob Mounsey on piano over Porcaro's drumming. Leslie Miller, the great Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson were the perfect background singers. This song is epic.
The Gaucho was Walter's drug dealer. Donald got pissed off because he would show up at the studio and other places. Walter's drug addiction ended their relationship and the band. Walter moved to Hawaii to get himself clean while Donald did a couple of solo albums. When you know this the lyrics makes total sense.
Makes perfectly good sense why their great partnership went sour. It was well know about Walter’s problems and so sad because Donald needed Walter’s balance to put them onto the top shelf of music in that era!
The intro to Gaucho was inspired by a composition written by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. It was a little too close for comfort, so The Dan had to make a royalty sharing arrangement with Jarrett.
Supposedly Gaucho was so similar to a Keith Jarrett song that he sued the boys. Later, Fagan admitted that he'd been influenced by the song. Again, the Dan used a ton of musicians, 42, like they did with Asia. The album won a Grammy for Best Engineered album and got nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. Unlike almost every other band, Steely Dan has never put out a bad album. Amazing output.
I’ve sung lead on this for 22+years. It took a while to get comfortable with how he was stuffing a ton of syllables so arrhythmically into an 8 bar verse. It’s second nature now, but wow
The drummer on this track is the great Jeff Porcaro. He played on the Katy Lied album. He is mainly known for his drumming with the band Toto (who you should also check out) Also played with Bob Scaggs and played drums on Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
This song has grown on me over the last 4 decades, it was definitely a different vibe than most of the Dan’s work during this period. It’s almost a ballad, if not for the lyrics. And the saxophone arrangement throughout the track has always reminded me of the Saturday Night Live band…😊❤
Tom Scott is the tenor man on this track. He was not a regular member of the SNL band but he was the sax player in The Blues Brothers Band when they started out (he left before the movies were shot due to salary disputes). Scott was the most well-known sax player (and lyricon -- that thing that sounds like a flute) of the '70s. He played on Joni Mitchell, Grateful Dead, Michael Jackson records, among so many others. And wrote TV show themes as well.
Really smart comments, specifically about holding onto "what" groove, many of them populating one piece, but the piece still being cohesive. This is the genius of Steely Dan. Extend the comments about not holding onto the groove to keys. Fagen's famous for making it almost impossible to tell what key they're in (not so much in this song, but typically). Pantonal he calls it. Love that you guys did this one. Features my favorite sax player, Tom Scott. Enjoyed!!! :)
Thanks again. Next song up is "Time Out of Mind" and it was a very popular song in its day, along with "Hey Nineteen" and I sure hope it's the 1st time you guys heard the song, but it would not surprise me if you did. In any event, at the 2:00 mark the song transitions to the instrumental part and that section always gives me the goosebumps. Enjoy!
@@roundtownKen Mark Knopfler provided the lead guitar licks on Time Out of Mind. Knopfler HATED recording with Steely Dan (although he loved what they paid him!), because he's a 1-2 take guy and I'm outta here!
Also, Michael McDonald is on backing vocals on Time Out of Mind. I like Gaucho better all these years later than TOOM, but TOOM is groovalicious. That amazing thing about Gaucho is that the songs that didn't make the album and are still in the can! Second Arrangement (accidentally erased by an engineer, but they tried again), The Bear, Can't Write Home About You, the magnificant Kulee Baba, etc. that can be found today only on RUclips videos of the demos/partially finished tracks. If CDs had existed, 2-3 of these songs could be on the album. Note: Second Arrangement was replace by Third World Man, which was recorded in the Royal Scam or Aja sessions.
I'm not a musician [ took one semester of music in city college -- can I join the club based on that?], but this song sounds complicated. Y'all mentioned that you think there were a lot of takes to get this song just right. Gotta believe that is true. Cool song.
This is a great song for sure. The opening was completely lifted from the great Jazz pianist Keith Jarret's 1974 song - "Long As You Know You Are Living Yours." A judge agreed with Jarrett in a copyright infringement lawsuit so Becker/Fagen shared writing credits with Keith Jarrett. As to the lyrics for this one, the entire Gaucho album is describing the CA scene in early 80s and the Gaucho was a temporary hook-up friend of the singers gay lover who dragged the gaucho into his office and the singer is telling him to get him out of there and do not do that again. Presumably, the singer and his lover and the Gaucho were all caught up on the drug trade scene. At least that's one person's (not mine) interpretation of the lyrics. The entire album took SD much much longer because of their perfection, re-takes, and Becker's troubles with drug addiction at the time. In fact, there is an entire album worth of outtakes from this album that are floating around which were never released as a separate album.
It's about a gay love triangle. A high dealing businessman (who happens to be gay) has a lover/boyfriend who has brought a flamboyant South American plaything to work. This is a spat re: the love triangle.
Man, just enjoy the song and stop trying to tell us what the song "means." Fagen studied literature in college is simply telling a story the way a good storyteller should.
That's Tom Scott on tenor sax (also on Aja: solo on Black Cow and all horn arrangements!). He composed and performed on the TV themes for Family Ties, Starsky & Hutch, underscored Baretta. Played on and arranged Joni Mitchell's Court & Spark.
Time Out of Mind, My Rival and Third World Man follow this classic. Time Out of Mind is killer. The album won the Grammy award for best engineered non-classical album. You should look up the musicians who appeared on this album. It’s like a who’s who of jazz masters. Talk about a band that can do no wrong. I really love your breakdowns of what you are hearing and relating it to other music that you’ve heard.
Couldn't help but notice the Cowboys and Sacramento Kings hoody's. Philly here. We are the center of the pro sports universe at the moment, with the Eagles going to the Super Bowl and the Sixers being the hottest team in the NBA at the moment. That aside, I'm 62 and cut my teeth on Steely Dan. This album, and Aja, are my 2 favorite albums of all time. Enjoy this shit. Its the pinnacle of classic rock and some of the most iconic music to come from this era.
One of the greatest lyrics of what I interpret as an older man whose younger male lover is cheating on him. It’s all so clever and hilarious dressing up in his spangled leather pancho… one of my favorites.
First time comment, long time watcher-You guys are getting the Dan; Perfection and Grace; Your journey continues. Funny story, I had the good fortune to attend High School with some of the greatest players of their era, you just listened to one of them, Jeff Porcaro on drums, the groove master. Jeff along with his bros. Steve and Mike, David Paich and Steve Lukather formed Toto, all my school mates; we had quite a music department! I remember hearing Jeff play in the auditorium, I was maybe 16, he was 17, a pro by then; Lukather playing the Quad at lunch with Steve P., in 1973, Luke was a scrub. There's a rare recording of Jeff double drumming with Jim Keltner when he was 17, Jack Daugherty's Class of 1971, called a supersession of LA studio players, and here's Jeff playing with these guys, most will eventually play on Steely records and all the drummers will, It's on RUclips, it's Big Brass. Jeff got hired by B&F end of 1973 to tour but he recorded 2 tracks on Pretzel Logic before it was finished, Night by Night and Parkers band, double drumming with the great Jim Gordon, one of his idols, he was fucking 19 yo! Full circle and here he is on Gaucho, 6 years later. I have lots of stories, I spent a drunken weekend with Steely Dan in Glendale, CA, smoking with the boys upstairs, literally. Want to hear more? Best part, I'm going to see Tom Scott, Drew Zingg and Keith Carlock this Sunday night in San Diego playing the music of Steely Dan! You just listened to Tom Scott blowing on Gaucho, he played on Black Cow, did the horn arranging on Aja and Gaucho albums and is my sax hero. I first heard him playing backup and arranging for Joni Mitchel, the Miles of Aisles album, Tom Scott and the LA Express, and West Coast Fusion was born. I'll report in.
Great reaction as always - you nailed it with the 80s sitcom vibe! Very astute of you to notice how tricky this song wouldve been to record...It took A LOT of takes and in those days Donald & Walt were maniacal about getting things right (lots of coke fueled decision making). Guitarist Steve Khan gives some in-depth interviews about the Gaucho sessions and needless to say the musicians were often baffled at how many takes were thrown out lol
You said it perfectly that the groove is kinda hard to pin down but somehow works. The whole song is so odd, at certain points the lyrics don’t even rhyme but you don’t notice at all. I’ve heard the song a million times and I never realized there are sections where it doesn’t rhyme until I saw someone pointed it out in the comments of a video one day
A number of the musicians that played with Steely Dan also did session work on TV theme songs. For example Larry Carlton played guitar on Mike Post’s theme song for Hill Street Blues. Mike Post was a dominate TV theme song composer in the 70’s and 80’s. No telling how many of the Dan bullpen of musicians also worked for Mike Post.
Knew Robert before he got big, he toured the NW, he used to play in Arcata, CA where I went to college, Humboldt State U, 1979. He always killed, we'd hang out during breaks in the parking lot, "talking". What a great guy and player. Give Cray a listen to! Eric Clapton can't be wrong, he loves Robert.
You might try some of late-period Roxy Music, if you like it smooth -- More Than This, Avalon, Day for Night -- Brian Ferry sings some smooth R&B for well after dark, over perfect funk/disco tracks
Wait til you hit Katy Lied. There are a few ‘strays’ to discover. Here at the Western World wasn’t on any main album, but included in Citizen Dan compilation. It was from Royal Scam session. Wonder what else was in the cutting room floor.
Remember in that video when Michael McDonald said it's all about word phrase with These guys? this one of those Gems.you guys just got a new subscriber💪
I know I'm late, but this is my favorite steely song because it seems like they're f@!*ing with you by being off beat but it works. Listening again I picture the Elaine dance from Seinfeld and it works perfectly with this song 😂
The third album of this trinity is Fagen’s “ The Nightfly” where he’s a nite jazz DJ commenting on the early 60’s. Brilliant. Patti Austin sang backup for them too.
I love when people get how difficult the production on a track like this really is. Donald Fagen was known as a perfectionist, and i bet most of the songs had numerous takes before he was satisfied with the final product.
Not widely discussed is how much great music was done with studio session musicians. There were and still are tons of great musicians working. Just not widely known.
Ghost notes by legendary drummer Jeff Porcaro. And walter is killing it on the bass. There is a good chance you may have heard the next song, got a good deal of air time just after Hey 19.
Do yall have gear from every sports team?? Loving yalls Steely Playlist. Greatest band ever, no one like them before and no one will ever do it like this again
You guys definitely need to get immersed in Live at Daryl's House. Daryl Hall is the GOAT of blued eyed soul artists. So many great performances. Sara Smile with Smokey Robinson is tops!
Gritty Ken here. Lon, you are right about Gaucho - beautiful as it is - it has more stops and starts than the downtown bus. If you want a groove to hold on to, the deepest well on this album is next... Time out of Mind. Again, their most melodic grooves tied in twisted knots to drug use (heroin here) and other debauchery. Guitarist Mark Knopfler (Dire Straights) sits in here with his distinctive sound. Put your dancing shoes on and clear some space. (Che -Drums by Rick Marotta, drums on Peg and many more. Notice how well the drums are recorded, even for SD.)
Marotta's drums are indeed great, but they were quantisized by WENDEL (computer drum machine) to make them "perfect." I prefer human over perfect, but it is a deep, deep groove and it sounds less like a drum machine than Hey 19 or Glamour Profession.
Steely Dan's edge has always (to me) come from integrating their jazz roots into pop music. Check out Rikki Don't Lose That Number along side Horace Silver's Song for My Father. In the case of Gaucho they went a little too far and had to answer to Keith Jarrett. Still a great song, and glad they came to terms.
Good job, guys! I was wondering how you would handle this one, because I consider Gaucho the least accessible of their later songs--both in theme and composition. I feared you'd be like wtf? Your focus on composition was fun and enlightening. For myself, it took me a long time to warm up to Gaucho, but now I enjoy it. The structure and melody are so strange. It like Don and Walt were seeing how far they could take it. :)
UNREALEASED GAUCHO OUTAKE 'THE BEAR' REMASTERED.... YOU'LL LOVE IT !!!! THERE ARE MANY OUTTAKES AND DEMOS FROM ALL STEELY ALBUMS THAT WERE NOT RELEASED.... YOU'LL WONDER WHY.
Walter: "It's ah, one of the largest buildings in the world. You know, an extravagant structure with a rotating restaurant on top." Donald: "It only exists in our collective imagination. In the Steely Dan lexicon it serves as an archetype of building that houses large corporations..." Gaucho was the last album Steely Dan did for ABC/MCA records and it was clear during the recording sessions that their relationship with the record company was coming to an end. Having to answer to 'money driven corporate overlords' plus Walter's drug problems and Donald's creative burnout all factored into the subsequent Steely Dan break up.
Don't forget Johnny Mandel who did the strings on FM (No Static) wrote Too Close For Comfort (Ted Knight), and Tom Scott who wrote all the horn arrangements on Aja also composed the main Starsky and Hutch theme (Gotcha!). Donald said in the interview press kit to Aja or Nightfly, I forget which one, just how much he loves slick L.A. TV "Fake Jazz", as he called it. Pete Cristleib the sax player on Deacon Blues was discovered by Donald when he saw him take a solo on Johnny Carson's TV show. Jeff Porcaro was on Sonny & Cher (Jeff's first time on TV in 1973) when he was 19. He toured with Steely Dan the next year in 1974 when they used two drummers Hodder and Porcaro. The Live Version of Bodhisattva with both drummers is on RUclips (audio only) from July 1974 Santa Monica Civic Center.
You’re right about the drum track. It’s Jeff Porcaro. DF had given up on getting what he wanted. Porcaro stayed all night playing a few bars at a time. In the end, they stitched it together to get the final product. And, that’s Walter Becker on bass. A lot of Chuck Rainey in those days, but not this time.
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Not often that I comment on the reaction videos but you two guys are criminally underrated in terms of recognition, understanding, evaluation and interpretation of many wide varieties of music and your taste in the finer music (such as Steely Dan) is anticipated and more than welcome, at least on my part. Your subs should continue to grow leaps and bounds in the near future. Look forward to seeing and listening to you both on a daily basis!
Thank you so much!! We appreciate that!!
Hear hear! Well said, KC. I feel the same: their combination of musical insight and enthusiasm is delightful. Like hanging out with cool friends. :)
@@CuriousGeorge1111 I third that. Steely Dan reactions brought me here and their reactions are some of the best of all music they have reacted to. Especially Zep and SD (Steely Dan). I hope they continue to check out Progressive music from 30-40 years ago. There is a void in reaction channels for stuff like: Yes, Rush, SD, Bruford, Jazz Fusion: Holdsworth, Brand X, Bob James, Herbie Hancock, and Pat Metheny.
And let's give a big, big shout out to Jeff Pocaro, the drummer. His ability to play ever so slightly behind the beat, and still make it solid is remarkable.
The music was lifted directly from a track from the Keith Jarrett album Belonging with his European Quartet. When Jarrett heard this track, he FREAKED. He immediately contacted SD and successfully sued for thousands. The lyrics were somewhat controversial. DF said the song is tongue-in-cheek. What they saw while living in Calif.
The great Jeff Porcaro on drums, who played on countless of sessions and was the drummer for Toto (Rosanna shuffle, anyone?). Great stuff!
I have listened to this song approximately 1 billion times, and have never even considered that it sounds like a TV show theme song. It does.
Generational interpretation of music is truly fascinating. I love watching them react and to what.
This album did come out in 1980. You could maybe argue songs like this influenced TV theme songs of the 80s
"Sounds like expensive chords!" Yeah, that's right. Real fat, rich, thick, jazzy, extended harmonic structure chords. All put together in a beautiful artful way. And so incredibly tight.
It’s nice to see some more brothers appreciating the Dan. They are my favorite band of all time.
This…..💯
The Dan is your favorite band's favorite band.....
Such finesse and almost melancholy - so great
The cherry on top of the cake of Steely Dan albums love it love you!
Such a beautiful, deep song...
The Bass guitar on this is so killer. "Expensive Chords"😂
I know Steely Dan since 1979 I was 21 and their sound got me,I love the sound and the music,Gaucho reminds me of when I was in England and I had this girl friend so problematic oh god it was hard but even so she was ever so nice to me although Katty Lied reminds me of when I was still in the states!!!!!god I have so many memories of steely Dan!!!!!!!
I loved it when you said, expensive chords. Perfectly stated, their harmonic sense was outstanding.
Every Steely Dan song has a story behind it and, there’s a Steely Dan fan out there to tell that story…amazing!
I think being producers AND listening on headphones, like I did as a kid (sitting on the edge of my mother's bed, singing into a hair brush...lol)
To HEAR the music...all the music.
Many reactors don't use headphones...whaaaa
According to the producer, Porcaro played to a click track 85 times and the final mix pieced together 35 edits and that is how the song was saved.
This was my favorite Dan song for years. Tastes change. You're going to love the three remaining songs on this album. I can't wait to see.
Best song on the album for sure. Amongst so many great moments in the song, and the whole album for that matter, is the very last chord, fading out with the girls doing the most beautiful harmonised aaaahhhhh over the top of it. Kills me every time I hear it.
My favorite song by them. The style and harmonies are out of this world
It's a beautiful piece of music. So rich! The sax, piano, the rhodes, Donald's voice and the harmonies wow. 40yrs listening to this and it never gets old. Donald turned 75 on Jan 10th. There's a video of Donald on YT receiving induction into the jazz hall of fame. He performs. His voice was off but it's still great to watch him.
I have listened to Steely Dan for 50 years. In fact they are about the only band I can stand at my age. Brilliant does not cut it.
groovy and something nostalgic, which leads to some perfection !!!❤️👍🔥
When the musicians hired first recorded Gaucho, they worked day and night. Walter and Donald then kept only Jeff Porcaro's genius drum track!!! Later, Walter recording bass, guitar with Steve Khan, Fagen on electric piano, Rob Mounsey on piano over Porcaro's drumming. Leslie Miller, the great Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson were the perfect background singers. This song is epic.
That has been my favorite commentary in a reaction to this song.
Obra Maestra de la Música Contemporánea, así con mayúsculas. Entre mis 3 mejores albums de la historia de la música
Also Gaucho may be their most “studio” album. But it’s one of the greatest recordings ever
The Gaucho was Walter's drug dealer. Donald got pissed off because he would show up at the studio and other places. Walter's drug addiction ended their relationship and the band. Walter moved to Hawaii to get himself clean while Donald did a couple of solo albums. When you know this the lyrics makes total sense.
Wow I didn’t know that. ⭐️
Makes perfectly good sense why their great partnership went sour. It was well know about Walter’s problems and so sad because Donald needed Walter’s balance to put them onto the top shelf of music in that era!
I read he got on drugs after he got hit by a taxi and was confined to a wheelchair.
@@SD-it9ne Walter had a long and dark battle with drugs long before that time.
Wow, thanks David! You just scratched an itch that I've had forever--I figured there was something I wasn't getting.
The musician ship with steely Dan is what makes any musician who hears them like him❤🎉
So true! Nice job recognizing the care in Jeff Porcaro's (RIP) ghost notes!
@@jml-rj5re as a drummer myself, my left hand was always playing ghost notes as to make up for my not being so good with my bass pedal
I hear a Mariachi Band!! Love this SD song. It get's better with age!
The intro to Gaucho was inspired by a composition written by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. It was a little too close for comfort, so The Dan had to make a royalty sharing arrangement with Jarrett.
That's ironic, considering so many artist have sampled their work.
Supposedly Gaucho was so similar to a Keith Jarrett song that he sued the boys. Later, Fagan admitted that he'd been influenced by the song. Again, the Dan used a ton of musicians, 42, like they did with Asia. The album won a Grammy for Best Engineered album and got nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. Unlike almost every other band, Steely Dan has never put out a bad album. Amazing output.
*Aja
I’ve sung lead on this for 22+years. It took a while to get comfortable with how he was stuffing a ton of syllables so arrhythmically into an 8 bar verse. It’s second nature now, but wow
So much soul
The drummer on this track is the great Jeff Porcaro. He played on the Katy Lied album. He is mainly known for his drumming with the band Toto (who you should also check out) Also played with Bob Scaggs and played drums on Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
STEELY DAN , GLAMOUR PROFESSION .
i love these guys
I think this is the most low key sampled band in the biz their shit is in so many songs
Steely Dan is your favorite bands, favorite band
Them and Bob James .
I honestly believe that Steely Dan is the greatest band of our life and times.
Love it, please react to ALL Steely Dan, you won't regret, you will love it all as much as I do
This song has grown on me over the last 4 decades, it was definitely a different vibe than most of the Dan’s work during this period. It’s almost a ballad, if not for the lyrics. And the saxophone arrangement throughout the track has always reminded me of the Saturday Night Live band…😊❤
Tom Scott is the tenor man on this track. He was not a regular member of the SNL band but he was the sax player in The Blues Brothers Band when they started out (he left before the movies were shot due to salary disputes). Scott was the most well-known sax player (and lyricon -- that thing that sounds like a flute) of the '70s. He played on Joni Mitchell, Grateful Dead, Michael Jackson records, among so many others. And wrote TV show themes as well.
Me too!
Expensive chords, love it
One of my favorite track endings of all time. They land so hard! Glitzy as hell.
Really smart comments, specifically about holding onto "what" groove, many of them populating one piece, but the piece still being cohesive. This is the genius of Steely Dan. Extend the comments about not holding onto the groove to keys. Fagen's famous for making it almost impossible to tell what key they're in (not so much in this song, but typically). Pantonal he calls it. Love that you guys did this one. Features my favorite sax player, Tom Scott. Enjoyed!!! :)
the “spangled” chord change at 3:06 is just incredible
Thanks again. Next song up is "Time Out of Mind" and it was a very popular song in its day, along with "Hey Nineteen" and I sure hope it's the 1st time you guys heard the song, but it would not surprise me if you did. In any event, at the 2:00 mark the song transitions to the instrumental part and that section always gives me the goosebumps. Enjoy!
Me too. The horn chart is by Rob Mounsey and features legendary sax royalty- David Sanborn among others.
@@roundtownKen Mark Knopfler provided the lead guitar licks on Time Out of Mind. Knopfler HATED recording with Steely Dan (although he loved what they paid him!), because he's a 1-2 take guy and I'm outta here!
Also, Michael McDonald is on backing vocals on Time Out of Mind. I like Gaucho better all these years later than TOOM, but TOOM is groovalicious. That amazing thing about Gaucho is that the songs that didn't make the album and are still in the can! Second Arrangement (accidentally erased by an engineer, but they tried again), The Bear, Can't Write Home About You, the magnificant Kulee Baba, etc. that can be found today only on RUclips videos of the demos/partially finished tracks. If CDs had existed, 2-3 of these songs could be on the album. Note: Second Arrangement was replace by Third World Man, which was recorded in the Royal Scam or Aja sessions.
@@jml-rj5re the Bear is a great jam. I can only imagine what it would have sounded like…after 113 mixes! Lol
I love that one.
🤭 Not gonna lie. I always think of 'The Greatest American Hero' Theme when I hear certain parts of this song! 😊🐰
I'm not a musician [ took one semester of music in city college -- can I join the club based on that?],
but this song sounds complicated. Y'all mentioned that you think there were a lot of takes to get this song just right. Gotta believe that is true. Cool song.
You cannot go wrong with this group
This is a great song for sure. The opening was completely lifted from the great Jazz pianist Keith Jarret's 1974 song - "Long As You Know You Are Living Yours." A judge agreed with Jarrett in a copyright infringement lawsuit so Becker/Fagen shared writing credits with Keith Jarrett. As to the lyrics for this one, the entire Gaucho album is describing the CA scene in early 80s and the Gaucho was a temporary hook-up friend of the singers gay lover who dragged the gaucho into his office and the singer is telling him to get him out of there and do not do that again. Presumably, the singer and his lover and the Gaucho were all caught up on the drug trade scene. At least that's one person's (not mine) interpretation of the lyrics. The entire album took SD much much longer because of their perfection, re-takes, and Becker's troubles with drug addiction at the time. In fact, there is an entire album worth of outtakes from this album that are floating around which were never released as a separate album.
It's about a gay love triangle. A high dealing businessman (who happens to be gay) has a lover/boyfriend who has brought a flamboyant South American plaything to work. This is a spat re: the love triangle.
Man, just enjoy the song and stop trying to tell us what the song "means." Fagen studied literature in college is simply telling a story the way a good storyteller should.
This used to be the song they would play on SNL when going off the air back in the very early 80s.
That Sax boy, whooo!
Complicated music. I appreciate it because I could never do it
Great reaction. Love the sax. Oh and go BIRDS! 🦅
That sax is so smooth!!
That's Tom Scott on tenor sax (also on Aja: solo on Black Cow and all horn arrangements!). He composed and performed on the TV themes for Family Ties, Starsky & Hutch, underscored Baretta. Played on and arranged Joni Mitchell's Court & Spark.
Gaucho is out of this world.
Time Out of Mind, My Rival and Third World Man follow this classic. Time Out of Mind is killer. The album won the Grammy award for best engineered non-classical album. You should look up the musicians who appeared on this album. It’s like a who’s who of jazz masters. Talk about a band that can do no wrong. I really love your breakdowns of what you are hearing and relating it to other music that you’ve heard.
Mark Knopfler was the guitar solos on this classic.
Piano bit was Sign In Stranger, i think.
Couldn't help but notice the Cowboys and Sacramento Kings hoody's. Philly here. We are the center of the pro sports universe at the moment, with the Eagles going to the Super Bowl and the Sixers being the hottest team in the NBA at the moment. That aside, I'm 62 and cut my teeth on Steely Dan. This album, and Aja, are my 2 favorite albums of all time. Enjoy this shit. Its the pinnacle of classic rock and some of the most iconic music to come from this era.
One of the greatest lyrics of what I interpret as an older man whose younger male lover is cheating on him. It’s all so clever and hilarious dressing up in his spangled leather pancho… one of my favorites.
First time comment, long time watcher-You guys are getting the Dan; Perfection and Grace; Your journey continues.
Funny story, I had the good fortune to attend High School with some of the greatest players of their era, you just listened to one of them, Jeff Porcaro on drums, the groove master.
Jeff along with his bros. Steve and Mike, David Paich and Steve Lukather formed Toto, all my school mates; we had quite a music department! I remember hearing Jeff play in the auditorium, I was maybe 16, he was 17, a pro by then; Lukather playing the Quad at lunch with Steve P., in 1973, Luke was a scrub.
There's a rare recording of Jeff double drumming with Jim Keltner when he was 17, Jack Daugherty's Class of 1971, called a supersession of LA studio players, and here's Jeff playing with these guys, most will eventually play on Steely records and all the drummers will, It's on RUclips, it's Big Brass.
Jeff got hired by B&F end of 1973 to tour but he recorded 2 tracks on Pretzel Logic before it was finished, Night by Night and Parkers band, double drumming with the great Jim Gordon, one of his idols, he was fucking 19 yo! Full circle and here he is on Gaucho, 6 years later.
I have lots of stories, I spent a drunken weekend with Steely Dan in Glendale, CA, smoking with the boys upstairs, literally. Want to hear more?
Best part, I'm going to see Tom Scott, Drew Zingg and Keith Carlock this Sunday night in San Diego playing the music of Steely Dan! You just listened to Tom Scott blowing on Gaucho, he played on Black Cow, did the horn arranging on Aja and Gaucho albums and is my sax hero.
I first heard him playing backup and arranging for Joni Mitchel, the Miles of Aisles album, Tom Scott and the LA Express, and West Coast Fusion was born. I'll report in.
Give the Horns sum!..lol..Steely Dan on the speakers in the back yard with the smoker going...man I'm ready for Spring!
The word that comes to mind with SD is "nostalgia". They always bring you somewhere vaguely familiar..🤔. Mood music for sure.
Great reaction as always - you nailed it with the 80s sitcom vibe!
Very astute of you to notice how tricky this song wouldve been to record...It took A LOT of takes and in those days Donald & Walt were maniacal about getting things right (lots of coke fueled decision making). Guitarist Steve Khan gives some in-depth interviews about the Gaucho sessions and needless to say the musicians were often baffled at how many takes were thrown out lol
You said it perfectly that the groove is kinda hard to pin down but somehow works. The whole song is so odd, at certain points the lyrics don’t even rhyme but you don’t notice at all. I’ve heard the song a million times and I never realized there are sections where it doesn’t rhyme until I saw someone pointed it out in the comments of a video one day
Great reaction, every time! Thanks gents!
only the best of the best...for Steely
A number of the musicians that played with Steely Dan also did session work on TV theme songs. For example Larry Carlton played guitar on Mike Post’s theme song for Hill Street Blues. Mike Post was a dominate TV theme song composer in the 70’s and 80’s. No telling how many of the Dan bullpen of musicians also worked for Mike Post.
Robert Cray ~ "Right Next Door".... You guys will love it...!
Knew Robert before he got big, he toured the NW, he used to play in Arcata, CA where I went to college, Humboldt State U, 1979. He always killed, we'd hang out during breaks in the parking lot, "talking". What a great guy and player.
Give Cray a listen to! Eric Clapton can't be wrong, he loves Robert.
Whole album please please treat yourself play the whole thing drive somewhere!! Love y'all keep digging
You might try some of late-period Roxy Music, if you like it smooth -- More Than This, Avalon, Day for Night -- Brian Ferry sings some smooth R&B for well after dark, over perfect funk/disco tracks
The last 3 songs are my favorite, and I loved the 1 st 4
Best song ever!
I was jamming out to the Katy Lied album earlier thinking about you two cats getting into the for the first time. Some unbelievable songs on that one.
Wait til you hit Katy Lied. There are a few ‘strays’ to discover. Here at the Western World wasn’t on any main album, but included in Citizen Dan compilation. It was from Royal Scam session. Wonder what else was in the cutting room floor.
Remember in that video when Michael McDonald said it's all about word phrase with These guys? this one of those Gems.you guys just got a new subscriber💪
I know I'm late, but this is my favorite steely song because it seems like they're f@!*ing with you by being off beat but it works. Listening again I picture the Elaine dance from Seinfeld and it works perfectly with this song 😂
The third album of this trinity is Fagen’s “ The Nightfly” where he’s a nite jazz DJ commenting on the early 60’s. Brilliant.
Patti Austin sang backup for them too.
Sound like the theme song of Taxi
This is a strange one for sure at first listen. Believe me, it'll grow on you. It took me a long time to warm up to it. Now it's one of my favorites.
I love when people get how difficult the production on a track like this really is.
Donald Fagen was known as a perfectionist, and i bet most of the songs had numerous takes before he was satisfied with the final product.
Another good vibe
Not widely discussed is how much great music was done with studio session musicians. There were and still are tons of great musicians working. Just not widely known.
For a long time, I've been thinking that this song might be an internal monologue in three parts.
Now you know why the musicians were interchangeable to Becker &Fagan, they drove permanent members crazy with the meticulous perfectionry x
Cannot wait for "Time out of mind"
On the way
Cheers
Ghost notes by legendary drummer Jeff Porcaro. And walter is killing it on the bass. There is a good chance you may have heard the next song, got a good deal of air time just after Hey 19.
You'll love Gaucho
more than their first, although their first had most of their big radio "hits.
Do yall have gear from every sports team?? Loving yalls Steely Playlist. Greatest band ever, no one like them before and no one will ever do it like this again
You guys need to check out larnell lewis and his performance with ghost note at zildjian live.
❤❤
You guys definitely need to get immersed in Live at Daryl's House. Daryl Hall is the GOAT of blued eyed soul artists. So many great performances. Sara Smile with Smokey Robinson is tops!
U guys should react to Chicago's 1st album esp. INTRODUCTION, BEGINNINGS, I'M A MAN...
Gritty Ken here. Lon, you are right about Gaucho - beautiful as it is - it has more stops and starts than the downtown bus. If you want a groove to hold on to, the deepest well on this album is next... Time out of Mind. Again, their most melodic grooves tied in twisted knots to drug use (heroin here) and other debauchery. Guitarist Mark Knopfler (Dire Straights) sits in here with his distinctive sound. Put your dancing shoes on and clear some space. (Che -Drums by Rick Marotta, drums on Peg and many more. Notice how well the drums are recorded, even for SD.)
Marotta's drums are indeed great, but they were quantisized by WENDEL (computer drum machine) to make them "perfect." I prefer human over perfect, but it is a deep, deep groove and it sounds less like a drum machine than Hey 19 or Glamour Profession.
I think Patti Austin did vocals & background vocals with so many top musicians
Steely Dan's edge has always (to me) come from integrating their jazz roots into pop music. Check out Rikki Don't Lose That Number along side Horace Silver's Song for My Father. In the case of Gaucho they went a little too far and had to answer to Keith Jarrett. Still a great song, and glad they came to terms.
Good job, guys! I was wondering how you would handle this one, because I consider Gaucho the least accessible of their later songs--both in theme and composition. I feared you'd be like wtf? Your focus on composition was fun and enlightening.
For myself, it took me a long time to warm up to Gaucho, but now I enjoy it. The structure and melody are so strange. It like Don and Walt were seeing how far they could take it. :)
UNREALEASED GAUCHO OUTAKE
'THE BEAR' REMASTERED....
YOU'LL LOVE IT !!!!
THERE ARE MANY OUTTAKES AND DEMOS FROM ALL STEELY ALBUMS THAT WERE NOT RELEASED....
YOU'LL WONDER WHY.
YES. Also, Kulee Baba, The Second Arrangement, demo of I Can't Write Home About You, etc.
@@jml-rj5re YOU KNOW IT AS WELL.
I still don’t know what “high in the Custerdome” means. Steely Dan just doesn’t miss.🖖🏼
I thought it was "clusterdome", but anyway they got high.
It’s about a gay throuple. The Custerdome is a gay club.
Walter: "It's ah, one of the largest buildings in the world. You know, an extravagant structure with a rotating restaurant on top." Donald: "It only exists in our collective imagination. In the Steely Dan lexicon it serves as an archetype of building that houses large corporations..." Gaucho was the last album Steely Dan did for ABC/MCA records and it was clear during the recording sessions that their relationship with the record company was coming to an end. Having to answer to 'money driven corporate overlords' plus Walter's drug problems and Donald's creative burnout all factored into the subsequent Steely Dan break up.
@@rc1363 Exactly. This is a gay lover spat in a large corporate building. Walter and Donald though the juxtaposition was amusing.
Steely Dan were deeply influential to TV shows and movie scores. You can hear them in Steve Dorff, Lalo Schifrin, Mike Post, David Foster.
Don't forget Larry Carlton co wrote HIll st Blues and also did Whos the boss.
Don't forget Johnny Mandel who did the strings on FM (No Static) wrote Too Close For Comfort (Ted Knight), and Tom Scott who wrote all the horn arrangements on Aja also composed the main Starsky and Hutch theme (Gotcha!).
Donald said in the interview press kit to Aja or Nightfly, I forget which one, just how much he loves slick L.A. TV "Fake Jazz", as he called it.
Pete Cristleib the sax player on Deacon Blues was discovered by Donald when he saw him take a solo on Johnny Carson's TV show.
Jeff Porcaro was on Sonny & Cher (Jeff's first time on TV in 1973) when he was 19. He toured with Steely Dan the next year in 1974 when they used two drummers Hodder and Porcaro. The Live Version of Bodhisattva with both drummers is on RUclips (audio only) from July 1974 Santa Monica Civic Center.
You’re right about the drum track. It’s Jeff Porcaro. DF had given up on getting what he wanted. Porcaro stayed all night playing a few bars at a time. In the end, they stitched it together to get the final product.
And, that’s Walter Becker on bass. A lot of Chuck Rainey in those days, but not this time.