It really is a tremendous LP. It's as good as Steely Dan. Does that answer the question? Thanks for the video. You're very informative. I'd love to pour you a Cuban Breeze. The one's that really resonate with me are the title track (Lester in the wee small hours ..) and I.G.Y which was sardonic, yet achingly poignant, even on first listen in 1982 about the loss of youthful optimism. 40+ years forward, it aches even worse. I won't essay on how bad things have become since then (but they have...). There's nothing on this LP I don't like a great deal, though (including the track you chose). If anyone sidles up to you and suggests that you have "a touch of Tuesday Weld" it'll be me. Please don't karate kick me into Wednesday. Re jazz Don was a big Henry Mancini fan according to his Eminent Hipsters book. "Fun, bouncy, catchy" like you said. Smart too.. The new live LP version is pretty good. I enjoyed it a lot.
@@briangray00 Is this the live Dan record that recently came out? If so, the solos on "Bodhisattva" were just feral. The whole thing was so fast! Loved it. I'd love to read Eminent Hipsters - I'll have to get my hands on a copy before I get to S. 😉
Hard to separate Steely Dan from Fagan other, just as it’s hard to separate the Beatles from Lennon or McCartney or the Eagles from Henley. Re: getting exposed to music, as a preschooler I absorbed Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. In the early grades it did seem that the music died until the Beatles arrived.
I loved your take on this album, how you not only list off the vital facts but also succinctly manage to provide your own unique insights. The algorithm keeps sending me towards your videos, and I know this will be your year! Keep up the excellent work.
I apologize for any previous remarks I made about you getting into Steely Dan before I found out that you were a musician yourself and you would obviously be familiar with the greatest jazz rock (rock jazz?)band of the 70s and 80s. I hope you didn’t have into the earlier albums particularly anything after the Royal Scam. I discovered the Dan in college when they first entered the scene of course recommended by my records door dealer-a New Yorker no less. My life was never the same. Of course I do remember getting under my desk at primary school for a nuclear bomb protection and the later adolescent jokes about bending over and kissing my a$$ good bye. I’m proud to say I spent almost 40 years of my life trying to prevent that from happening. I appreciate your remarks on Beatles records and I am now a subscriber.
Another profound essay (on a near mythical entity). Also saw the 2007 show, in an intimate outdoor setting, which was a happy bookend to my maiden SD voyage 35 years earlier. Love to hear from Maureen, sis, parents. You're the best!
Happy to have discovered your channel, Love your record collection and what you have covered so far. Steely Dan, ELO, Beatles, Doobies, CSNY are all faves of mine. Looking forward to watching them all. I see a David Crosby video on your channel. I love the song “Rodriguez for just one night” on his last album that Donald Fagen wrote with him. Great song! Anyway, it warms this Aussie’s heart, who lives in the Bay of Plenty, to see such terrific music discussion and analysis from an awesome kiwi channel. All the best to you Nancy and well done! Brad from BOP via NSW. 😊👍🎸
The Royal Scam was the last rock album Steely Dan released. With Aja and all releases after that included Fagen's solo work they stayed with that sleek horn laced and smooth guitar sound.
Hi Nancy. Sorry I'm so late to this video. Been ill and just now getting to watch. Love all the background info on what was going on with the Steely Dan before this album came out. Really liked this sentence... "And they would occasionally emerge from their studio cave with this... shimmering, glorious, magical piece of music - and then disappear again. Loved your story about the album cover. Brilliant... as usual. 9:20 That was some fine chair dancing. To me... the lyrics to the song are just the guy (Fagen) chatting up a girl he fancies (based on her looks and the fact that she also likes Brubeck) - and trying to get her to spend the night with him in a small bomb shelter. Let's pretend that it's the real thing And stay together all night long And when I really get to know you We'll open up the doors and climb into the dawn Confess your passion, your secret fear Prepare to meet the challenge of the new frontier So they spend the night together. When they come out the next morning - She can confess her passion (that they have been intimate) and her secret fear. I see 3 possible ideas for her "secret fear"... 1. That she will be seen now as a "loose woman", a "bad girl" for spending the night with him. 2. That after giving herself to him - he will toss her aside and she will be left heartbroken. 3. That her secret fear was that there would really be an atomic war - and she thought she might die before ever having made love. So she is glad that they got together - and now she is hopeful that they will emerge from their night together in the shelter... as a new couple - facing the future together. In each scenario... spending the night with him has changed her world. After sleeping with him - she will have to face the challenge being in a world where she is now... 1. looked down on as a "tramp". 2. a young girl trying to recover from being used and trying to live through a broken heart. 3. a new couple that is ready to face whatever challenges the world has ahead for them. I never saw the lyrics as having any larger - or great deeper meaning... that you seem to be giving them. I also don't see Kennedy's speech as being about anticipating "upheaval". To me... he was just talking about the future having lots of challenges ahead. It always has... and it always will. But at this particular time... the threat of a nuclear war was a huge deal. Don't relate to the teen lethargy you mention. Pretty much unlimited energy for me. Did not have that lethargic side to it that you mention. 22:30 The look that came over your face after you said... "Presumably a consensual tryst. He's not going to like lock her in the bunker." OMG - so funny. "Scrumptious chords"... Your words make me smile. Great to see Donald saying those nice words about teachers. Thanks for sharing that in your video. "Home taping is killing music."
Well, Fagen and Becker might not be as innocent as we would like them to be. Listen to the beginning of "Ricky Don't Lose That Number" and the beginning of "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver. Hopefully the duo compensated Mr. Silver for the riff which which is so prominent in their song. Setting that aside I really like a lot of their music. To me this is another SD album.
It stands completely on its own!! Fantastic album, and I absolutely love this song. Larry Carlton is incredible, the lyrics are perfect, and that harmonica, phenomenal. The end of the song is from another world and the few last chords on the electric piano (I guess, or the Rhodes?) are perfect, magnificent, wonderful. I don't have enough words to express how much this album is almost perfect. Fagen never did better after that, in my opinion. I would even rate it higher than some of the previous Steely Dan albums, not Aja or Gaucho obviously, but Countdown or Pretzel for example. I always had an unclear relationship with Pretzel Logic, Rikki and Night By Night are fantastic but after that... Anyways. Thanks for this video!
I’d love to hear your take on “I.G.Y.“ from the same album. I always thought songs like “New Frontier” were his way of trying to make a different sound, but IGY sounds just like a Steely Dan song. I think it has the famous ‘Mu’ chord in it.
The Royal Scam is the last rock album Steely Dan released. With Aja and other releases including Fagen solo work they stayed with that slick jazzy keyboard, smooth guitar solos sound.
I only came to this album last year. First impression was that it is diet Steely Dan but still very enjoyable. It has grown on me and I think stands up on its own two feet. My copy is an original pressing although it doesn't have the home taping is killing music message. I am a bit jealous about that.
i'm seeing your enthusiasm and by your breakdown seeing how this song was put together but shoot that track was 6 mins 25 seconds long! as a seductive approach it's pretty distasteful to drag in nuclear armageddon, i hope she took a raincheck LoL. i've got a brain the size of peas ( lot's of peas but jumbled up). I see nancy that this could almost be considered within the steely dan frame of reference and I saw that l they had a song that attacked lennon's imagine for it's lack of empathy with the truly dispossessed. in a society like the uk where privilege has plenty to say for itself lennon's example was a challenge to all those attitudes that would restrict the aspirations of ordinary people. you said you'd love to play a session on bass with this band? well then i would watch and listen: if you'd let me in that is. (😮 let me in fathom's playing)
Good episode! Fagen is ultra cool. Walter Beckers „11 tracks of whack“ is equally musically impressive, playful and entertaining. And then: On to Randy Newman, my favourite solo artist, who never made a weak album or song, who combines intellect and musicality like noone else (since Cole Porter) - and who is, thus said, certainly one of the most underappreciated acts in recorded history 🤔
Is this album Steely Dan Lite, or does it stand on its own as a great piece of art? I look forward to reading your takes!
It really is a tremendous LP. It's as good as Steely Dan. Does that answer the question?
Thanks for the video. You're very informative. I'd love to pour you a Cuban Breeze. The one's that really resonate with me are the title track (Lester in the wee small hours ..) and I.G.Y which was sardonic, yet achingly poignant, even on first listen in 1982 about the loss of youthful optimism. 40+ years forward, it aches even worse. I won't essay on how bad things have become since then (but they have...). There's nothing on this LP I don't like a great deal, though (including the track you chose).
If anyone sidles up to you and suggests that you have "a touch of Tuesday Weld" it'll be me. Please don't karate kick me into Wednesday.
Re jazz Don was a big Henry Mancini fan according to his Eminent Hipsters book.
"Fun, bouncy, catchy" like you said. Smart too.. The new live LP version is pretty good. I enjoyed it a lot.
@@briangray00 Is this the live Dan record that recently came out? If so, the solos on "Bodhisattva" were just feral. The whole thing was so fast! Loved it.
I'd love to read Eminent Hipsters - I'll have to get my hands on a copy before I get to S. 😉
I think it's both. It's not quite a full bodied Steely Dan... but it does stand on its own as a fine piece of work that many love.
Hard to separate Steely Dan from Fagan other, just as it’s hard to separate the Beatles from Lennon or McCartney or the Eagles from Henley.
Re: getting exposed to music, as a preschooler I absorbed Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. In the early grades it did seem that the music died until the Beatles arrived.
I loved your take on this album, how you not only list off the vital facts but also succinctly manage to provide your own unique insights. The algorithm keeps sending me towards your videos, and I know this will be your year! Keep up the excellent work.
Thank you for watching! 😁
We used to discuss getting welding goggles to watch “…the big one and see what happens.” Thanks Randy Newman!
Thank you for translating the music meticulously into sign language for the deaf (not).
I apologize for any previous remarks I made about you getting into Steely Dan before I found out that you were a musician yourself and you would obviously be familiar with the greatest jazz rock (rock jazz?)band of the 70s and 80s. I hope you didn’t have into the earlier albums particularly anything after the Royal Scam. I discovered the Dan in college when they first entered the scene of course recommended by my records door dealer-a New Yorker no less. My life was never the same. Of course I do remember getting under my desk at primary school for a nuclear bomb protection and the later adolescent jokes about bending over and kissing my a$$ good bye. I’m proud to say I spent almost 40 years of my life trying to prevent that from happening. I appreciate your remarks on Beatles records and I am now a subscriber.
Another profound essay (on a near mythical entity). Also saw the 2007 show, in an intimate outdoor setting, which was a happy bookend to my maiden SD voyage 35 years earlier. Love to hear from Maureen, sis, parents. You're the best!
Happy to have discovered your channel, Love your record collection and what you have covered so far. Steely Dan, ELO, Beatles, Doobies, CSNY are all faves of mine. Looking forward to watching them all.
I see a David Crosby video on your channel. I love the song “Rodriguez for just one night” on his last album that Donald Fagen wrote with him. Great song!
Anyway, it warms this Aussie’s heart, who lives in the Bay of Plenty, to see such terrific music discussion and analysis from an awesome kiwi channel.
All the best to you Nancy and well done!
Brad from BOP via NSW. 😊👍🎸
The Royal Scam was the last rock album Steely Dan released. With Aja and all releases after that included Fagen's solo work they stayed with that sleek horn laced and smooth guitar sound.
Hi Nancy. Sorry I'm so late to this video. Been ill and just now getting to watch.
Love all the background info on what was going on with the Steely Dan before this album came out.
Really liked this sentence... "And they would occasionally emerge from their studio cave with this... shimmering, glorious, magical piece of music - and then disappear again.
Loved your story about the album cover. Brilliant... as usual.
9:20 That was some fine chair dancing.
To me... the lyrics to the song are just the guy (Fagen) chatting up a girl he fancies (based on her looks and the fact that she also likes Brubeck) - and trying to get her to spend the night with him in a small bomb shelter.
Let's pretend that it's the real thing
And stay together all night long
And when I really get to know you
We'll open up the doors and climb into the dawn
Confess your passion, your secret fear
Prepare to meet the challenge of the new frontier
So they spend the night together. When they come out the next morning - She can confess her passion (that they have been intimate) and her secret fear. I see 3 possible ideas for her "secret fear"... 1. That she will be seen now as a "loose woman", a "bad girl" for spending the night with him. 2. That after giving herself to him - he will toss her aside and she will be left heartbroken. 3. That her secret fear was that there would really be an atomic war - and she thought she might die before ever having made love. So she is glad that they got together - and now she is hopeful that they will emerge from their night together in the shelter... as a new couple - facing the future together.
In each scenario... spending the night with him has changed her world. After sleeping with him - she will have to face the challenge being in a world where she is now... 1. looked down on as a "tramp". 2. a young girl trying to recover from being used and trying to live through a broken heart. 3. a new couple that is ready to face whatever challenges the world has ahead for them.
I never saw the lyrics as having any larger - or great deeper meaning... that you seem to be giving them.
I also don't see Kennedy's speech as being about anticipating "upheaval". To me... he was just talking about the future having lots of challenges ahead. It always has... and it always will. But at this particular time... the threat of a nuclear war was a huge deal.
Don't relate to the teen lethargy you mention. Pretty much unlimited energy for me. Did not have that lethargic side to it that you mention.
22:30 The look that came over your face after you said... "Presumably a consensual tryst. He's not going to like lock her in the bunker." OMG - so funny.
"Scrumptious chords"... Your words make me smile.
Great to see Donald saying those nice words about teachers. Thanks for sharing that in your video.
"Home taping is killing music."
Welcome back! I'm sorry to hear you've been unwell. I like your speculations about the "secret fear". I hadn't considered that!
Well, Fagen and Becker might not be as innocent as we would like them to be. Listen to the beginning of "Ricky Don't Lose That Number" and the beginning of "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver. Hopefully the duo compensated Mr. Silver for the riff which which is so prominent in their song.
Setting that aside I really like a lot of their music. To me this is another SD album.
XTC, Steely Dan and The Beatles, the holy three bands. Good chanell
Maxine!
It stands completely on its own!! Fantastic album, and I absolutely love this song. Larry Carlton is incredible, the lyrics are perfect, and that harmonica, phenomenal. The end of the song is from another world and the few last chords on the electric piano (I guess, or the Rhodes?) are perfect, magnificent, wonderful. I don't have enough words to express how much this album is almost perfect. Fagen never did better after that, in my opinion. I would even rate it higher than some of the previous Steely Dan albums, not Aja or Gaucho obviously, but Countdown or Pretzel for example. I always had an unclear relationship with Pretzel Logic, Rikki and Night By Night are fantastic but after that... Anyways. Thanks for this video!
Better than Pretzel?! How very dare you, sir? 😆
@@fathommusicnz we will resolve that matter when the letter S comes! 😈
@@Anarchouettisme It's on. 😈
I’d love to hear your take on “I.G.Y.“ from the same album. I always thought songs like “New Frontier” were his way of trying to make a different sound, but IGY sounds just like a Steely Dan song. I think it has the famous ‘Mu’ chord in it.
The Royal Scam is the last rock album Steely Dan released. With Aja and other releases including Fagen solo work they stayed with that slick jazzy keyboard, smooth guitar solos sound.
I only came to this album last year. First impression was that it is diet Steely Dan but still very enjoyable. It has grown on me and I think stands up on its own two feet. My copy is an original pressing although it doesn't have the home taping is killing music message. I am a bit jealous about that.
I have several albums with that strange little insert. I wonder whether it was a New Zealand thing?
Testing
i'm seeing your enthusiasm and by your breakdown seeing how this song was put together but shoot that track was 6 mins 25 seconds long! as a seductive approach it's pretty distasteful to drag in nuclear armageddon, i hope she took a raincheck LoL.
i've got a brain the size of peas ( lot's of peas but jumbled up).
I see nancy that this could almost be considered within the steely dan frame of reference and I saw that l they had a song that attacked lennon's imagine for it's lack of empathy with the truly dispossessed. in a society like the uk where privilege has plenty to say for itself lennon's example was a challenge to all those attitudes that would restrict the aspirations of ordinary people.
you said you'd love to play a session on bass with this band? well then i would watch and listen: if you'd let me in that is. (😮 let me in fathom's playing)
Always look forward to what you have to say, Alan.
Good episode!
Fagen is ultra cool. Walter Beckers „11 tracks of whack“ is equally musically impressive, playful and entertaining.
And then: On to Randy Newman, my favourite solo artist, who never made a weak album or song, who combines intellect and musicality like noone else (since Cole Porter) - and who is, thus said, certainly one of the most underappreciated acts in recorded history 🤔