Rookie Sang BACKUP on Icon’s 70s Classic-the NEXT Year He went Solo & OUTSOLD ‘em!-Professor of Rock
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2023
- Many have speculated on the real story behind this historic 70s classic. Peg by Steely Dan is an all-time. But the duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have been famously tight-lipped about it. Well, today we try to solve this mystery from the two foremost perfectionists of modern music. The song is historic for myriad reasons. It contained 40 of the greatest musicians in the world. It introduced the world to one of music’s most legendary singers in Micheal McDonald who actually sang backup on it and to top it all off they had 7 of the top session guitarists record the iconic solo before they chose the one that made the cut and then he had to play if for 6 hours before the band was satisfied… a band that was once called sociopaths masquerading as benign dictators.
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#classicrock #70smusic #vinylstory #steelydan
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Steely Dan’s 6th studio album Aja, is regarded by many music professionals as one of the best-produced albums of all time. The record won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording in ’78, In 2010, the Library of Congress selected Aja for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being culturally, historically, and artistically significant.
FORTY of the finest session musicians that money can buy collaborated with Steely Dan founders Walter Becker & Donald Fagen to create that high-fidelity masterpiece. By the time the 3rd studio LP Pretzel Logic was released, Fagen & Becker made the decision to forego the idea of having a core band unit, in favor of enlisting session players.
I’m sure the financial benefits of not having to pay royalties to additional members were attractive to Walter & Donald, but evolving to contracting outside musicians was more about their meticulous nature, and their desire to experiment to find perfect sounds. Hiring the best studio players meant that they could work with inventive artists who had specialized talent.
They could simply audition until they found the player that flawlessly produced the sounds they were looking for. For the two long-time compadres, it was fulfilling to experiment with different combinations of revolving musicians to advance their music into enlightened territory.
When they had an idea for something exciting, they found the musicians who had the skill to turn that idea into reality. The process seemed arduous to some, but the final result was worth the exercise. The lead single from Aja was Peg, an artfully designed track that cleverly blended atonal Steely Dan sophistication with an irresistible pop eurhythmic.
It was a prime example of the discriminating retentiveness of Donald Fagen & the wizard who preferred to stay behind the curtain, away from the spotlight, the late Walter Becker. For the recording of Peg, the duo brought in a group of first-rate musicians, and if they weren’t completely satisfied with what was played, they'd scrap every performance track and bring in new 
Развлечения
Poll: Who is your pick for the GREATEST Duo of the rock era?
I'll nominate Daryl Hall & John Oates.
Daryl Hall and John Oates
1. Steely Dan
2. Tears for Fears
3. Alan Parsons Project
Tears For Fears
Simon and Garfunkel
You listen to Steely Dan, and you think, "Man, I've got great taste in music". They were the whole package, pure class.
Couldn't agree more!
I don’t care what my friends at school think. I care about quality music. THIS is top tier quality music.
That's actually a great perspective mitchellbaker. I like it!!
That's right. Just listen to what sounds good to you.@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980
Thanks.@@allengray5748
I was 12 when Aja was released. Both Peg & Deacon Blues got heavy play on FM radio, & I was just...transported. Everyone else was playing disco or folk music, yet over here you had this rich, complex & satisfying banquet of sound from Fagen & Becker. They were gold. I'm glad I got to see them live a few times, especially when Michael McD opened for them back in '07. You never knew who would be in the line up or who might walk on stage for a song or two, but you knew you'd leave satisfied, having experienced something rare & fine.
When I found out Steely Dan had released a new LP, I immediately went to the record store and purchased it along with The Alan Parsons Project I Robot. Listened to both LPs back to back. It was heavenly.
Two genius bands.
It’s funny, but Alan parsons was a lot like Steely Dan in some ways. You don’t really hear much about Alan parsons anymore but they have a lot of great songs also.
Right on! Me too! I remember Aja was the first LP I had ever bought at my college music store. Around the same time I would listen to the APP at the student union (you could check out tapes and play them using headphones for free). Really takes me back.
This album brings memories of me as a young child. Weekends when my (ex-hippie) parents had friends come over, drink and smoke til late. I would wake up around 3 or 4am to find my dad sleeping on the couch, ashtray filled with Marlboro butts and open bottles of rum. I would turn off the turntable and tell my dad to go to bed. Then turn off all the lights and go back to sleep.
He is still around in his 70s, still falls asleep listening to music on his giant stereo that still has turntable, cds and cassettes.
Thank god my grandparents stopped smoking years before I was born!
I hope you've convinced him to quit the Marlboros. He's lucky he never burned the house down.
It's certainly one of the smoothest songs in pop history. McDonald mentioned in the making of Aja dvd that it was really a challenging exercise for him to sing such close harmonies with himself. Walt and Don even jokingly apologized to Mike for putting him through that. They got the perfect results, as usual.
No question!
I have to watch that documentary interview.
Another mind blowing bit of trivia is that Chevy Chase played drums for Steely Dan early on, before they recorded anything I'm pretty sure, he might even have been their original drummer.
Not a Steely Dan trivia bit but my favorite music trivia is that Toni Tennille, of Captain&Tennille, sang backup on The Wall, she's listed in the credits on the back of the album and even in the credits at the end of the movie, and no it's not someone else with the same name it's actually her, she even talks about it in an interview that's here on RUclips.
My favorite part of her story is Gilmore gave her tickets to one of the LA shows, while she's sitting in her seat waiting on it to start there was a 15 year old boy sitting in front of her who kept turning around looking at her obviously trying to assure himself that it was actually her, Toni Tennille at a Pink Floyd concert, once he knew for sure it was her he turned around and said to her "What are YOU doing here???" as if her presence was going to ruin his rock n roll rebel experience, she looked at him and replied "I'm a guest here, David Gilmore gave me tickets because I sang on the album", well apparently he didn't believe her and said something along those lines to which she replied "I'm in the credits on the album".
His friend that'd come with him was hanging around down by the edge of the stage had an album he'd brought with him hoping that someone would let him backstage so he could get some autographs on it, when he found him and told him what'd happened they looked on the back of the album and to their amazement there was her name, so they beat feet straight back up there and ask her if she'd autograph it for them, consequently they probably have the only Pink Floyd The Wall album autographed by Toni Tennille.
Becker / Fagan … just wow . They actually were a collaboration of souls as
heard in their music. Rare air indeed .
I sang along with the song on the radio, but thought they were singing “Hey.” It wasn’t until I was in my 60’s that a coworker Steely Dan fan told me he thought of me whenever he heard the song. I had NO IDEA the name and lyric was “Peg!”All these years, I could have had my own theme song!
Like you, I came to Steely Dan later in life. As a young metalhead, I didn’t get it,but now with my love for music and my more mature ear I can really appreciate all of it.
I was fortunate enough to be in high school when Can’t Buy a Thrill was released. Been a fan ever since.
Steely Dan has been in my top 5 favs list for as long as I can remember. As excellent today as when first released. Who can ignore the classics like Kid Charlemagne, Aja, Reelin’ in the Years, and Peg-amongst others?
My band played Peg at a large ballroom event about 5 days after it started getting radio airplay and it was absolutely the crowd favorite. They asked us to repeat it 3 times that night. Still one of my very favorites.
This is one of those albums that I could put on a turntable, drop into a comfortable chair with an adult libation and close my eyes and listen all the way through uninterrupted.
No need to use any mind altering substances to appreciate this album.
A headphones listen for sure.
Peg is a masterpiece - so many layers, like you said. The sound quality, rhythm, and unique hooks make this an all-timer!
It’s sophisticated and melodically complex!
They remind me of The Cult. Two geniuses who hired superb musicians to create masterpieces. You're on a roll Professor.
Thanks!
Good comparison. I love the Cult.
More Steely Dan episodes please.Cannot get enough of them.
The percussionist plays a totally different rhythm not typically played at that time, and even to today. It's very different, but very catching. Brilliant...
I was a child when most of their songs were on but I absolutely love how harmonic they sound to this day I listen to many of this songs daily great band
They have excellent harmonies!
Jay Graydon really nailed this solo in every respect-tone, phrasing and mood. Peg's verses are the quintessential example of Steely Dan's signature sound, the "mu chord" (an add 9 to a major triad). Read somewhere that Steve Gadd's incredible drum solo on the title track "Aja" was done on the first take, reading off a 16 page chart he'd never seen before the session! When Donald and Walter played Steve the final mix a few months later, Steve didn't even recognize that he was the one playing on the track!
They overdubbed and layered McDonald's voice like an instrument. Such a great song
They knew his voice was gold.
In the late '70's I had a rented car briefly while my car was in the shop and heard FM radio for the first time. I heard the song "Aja" on it and was mesmerized. My own car only had AM. Long story short - I bought a new car with FM because of that song. True story.
My first exposure to Steely Dan was the song “Deacon Blues” off “Aja” at 12yo it was my absolute favorite song, sang it at full volume every time. Started buying their albums I found tunes like “Caves of Altamira “, “Kid Charlemagne”, “Any World” it made Steely Dan my all time favorites.
You get Michael McDonald to guest vocal on a song, you've got a guaranteed hit. "Peg" is my favorite song from Steely Dan.
You had me at “Aja”!! What a fantastic album! Cool story as usual Professor!!🤘🔥
Rock on!
Aja is one of my favorite albums.
Aja is truly one of the great achievement in the Rock Music Cannon. These guys were at the top of their game when Aja came out. One aspect of this song that you failed to mention is the fact that the great Wayne Shorter plays a really great Tenor Sax solo on the song. Wayne Shorter for heaven's sake! I mean at the time Weather Report was one of the top premier Progressive Jazz Bands of the era (along with Return to Forever, and The Mahavishnu Orchestra). Like Donald Fagen and Walter Becker the two driving forces in Weather Report were Joe Zawinul on Keyboards and Wayne Shorter on Tenor Sax. They always recruited the best musicians for their albums like the incredible Jaco Pastorius on bass and drummers like Chester Thompson and Peter Erskine.
Steely Dan utilized the most criminally under-appreciated members of the music industry and created magic. That, of course, being the session musician. “Peg” is yet another example of expert musicians doing what they do best and they may never get the accolades they deserve, but their work is certainly noticed. Don Fagan and Walter Becker were mad geniuses in doing this and the results are simply phenomenal.
They brought out the best in every musician. That’s what I appreciate about them.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 You’re exactly right! Perfectionists usually don’t do well in the recording industry, but they made it work.
@@jamesbullock9209 They actually put in the effort!
He almost said underrated.....
Professor, you are the most prolific music commentator of all time; do you understand me. I am nearly sixty y.o. and I have been listening to the music you cover since I was 5. I had three older siblings and was constantly exposed to the best of the best in music. I also have been a student of rock and have heard every commentator we have had the pleasure of having on our radios and t.v.s. You, my man, are the best. t.y for your hard work; keep it comin'
Wow, thank you!
I agree with you.
Steeply Dan is so cool because they never compromised. They demanded the best and only brought in the best players that could handle their vision. One of a kind for sure
When I think of Michael McDonald, I think of the SCTV skit with him running all over place and running into the studio to record his vocals.
No kidding! I love that skit!
I've seen that it is hysterical!
I need to watch that!
❤
Ah Steely Dan.
Donald Fagan and Walter Becker....... madmen who were geniuses.
Aja was indeed one of the best albums ever. Josie is a great song.
And Michael McDonald...... great voice as a backup!
Thanks Professor
Have a great Friday!
My favorite was Deacon Blues.
My recollection from the rock press of that era was Fagan and Becket kicked Jeff Baxter and Michael McDonald out of Steeley Dan. Now it’s Michael wanted to go solo. Ha ha ha ….Michael went to The Doobie Brothers and that is going solo???
Thin line between genius and insanity.
@@fnjesusfreak
Very fine, indeed. 🥰
One of the best guitar solos ever! Steely Dan was definitely original. All of their guitarists were awesome!
And bonus points just for having McD on your song!
These 2 men are what I call Mad Scientists of music because this album proves it. This song is my go to in the Touch Tunes Tunes jukebox in any bar that has one in it. Just to have 10 or more grown ups singing Peg is something else. Love the album Aja as well.
Love Steely Dan. I can listen to Countdown to Ectasy through Gaucho, front to back and not dislike one song. Extraordinary musicianship. You can throw the Nightfly in there also.
Steely Dan seems to be one of those groups you either love or hate with no in-between. I've always loved them, when I got my first real stereo system in 1985 when I was 18 a Steely Dan album was one of my first purchases. As for the song Peg the line 'done up in blue-print blue, sure looks good on you" always reminded me of a girl I had a crush on freshman year in college, she had this blue shirt she looked great in. But alas she didn't feel the same for me, but I think of her every time I hear that line.
Omg who could possibly hate them?
When I started taking bass lessons in 9th grade, one of the first tracks that my teacher showed me was Peg, I had never heard it at that point, but it just blew me away!
The great Chuck Rainey!
Lefty Frizzle was the MAN! Great Texas honky-tonk and country artist! 🤠 Great video, Professor. I never thought I'd hear Lefty mentioned on this channel but why not?!? Good music is just good music. No catagories or boundaries.
Anyone else thought they were singing "...it's your favorite bar and movie...." 😆 My fav Steely Dan tune, came out when I was in 8th grade, lots of snow, missed school, reminds of always having radio on in my room. Thanks for the back story, Professor!
I remember going through the Columbia House flyer and finding The Dan's greatest hits album, and thinking that I could remember a couple of good songs by them. Boy was my 16 yo. mind blown by how many fabulous songs there were. Not a dud in that bunch, let me tell you! A brand new discman, new license, and Steeley Dan! Man, that was living! As always 👍 👍
Peg was the gateway that led me down the Steely Dan rabbit hole. It has been quite a rewarding ride. I heard someone describe their music as always having precisely the right amount of notes. I couldn't agree more!
Lucky enough to see them live a little while before we lost Walter Becker, took my when he was 11 and he knew all the words and was singing along. The folks around us were blown away LOL. Definitely a timeless pair.
Would love to hear all the other guitarist’s versions of this solo .
You can hear them in the Making of Aja documentary 😊
I do not know if anyone else is like me but as a kid of the 80s, Steely Dan was just ok, every time I heard Reelin in the years, I would turn the channel but now in my 40s I LOVE Steely Dan and can’t get enough!
Chuck Rainey (bass) used to come in to jam with my band in the late 80s in Dallas. He lived near Greenville Ave and his wife kept hocking his instruments when he'd leave town, so he'd come in to play on my gear. Great and humble man
Michael MacDonald also provided backing vocals on _Katy Lied_ and _The Royal Scam_.
That's right!
Yes.
And “I got the News” from AJA
I remember those days, Professor. For me, Steely Dan was just a little too pop. It's funny, i looked in my album collection, and sure enough, there's Cant Buy a Thrill and Aja. Pulled 'em out and played 'em both. For some reason they sound way better now than they did then. Thank you so much for bringing their music back into my life!!😎👍
Thanks!
Now that you mention it, I think I still have one of their cassettes. Not my go to listening music but I appreciate Steely Dan’s vibe and won’t change the station if one of their songs comes on the radio. I guess I’ve mellowed.
@@treehuggingbuddhist
Me too!
They have aged excellently.
It’s because music is so bad now, even things you didn’t love before sounds exceptional in comparison
As a kid, I believed Fagan was singing "Paiiiinnnn, it will come back to you".
I loved the song, Peg, and Steely Dan's music, as a young child, and would always ask for my mom, or dad, to "turn it up!" Aja is a fantastic album, as is Can't Buy A Thrill.
Fagan, and Becker (a deeply sad loss) have given the music world their talent, bringing us great fun, and joy!!
There are two types of people in this world: those who love Steely Dan and those who are wrong! They will always be among my favorite “bands” and I still use their tracks to test out stereo systems. And, gawd, no! Not Donnie Osmond!🖖🏼
Love it!
I am in the Steely Dan fan club!
Man…this comment sounds as if Dwight Schrute wrote it😂
@@anthonyperotti151 I’m sure if this was complementary or insulting.😂
I was a Steely Dan fan since day 1.. Dirty Work ...a lifelong fan ever since. Their lineup reads like a veritable who's who of some of the best musicians in the business. RIP Walter Becker
One of the regular charms of this channel is the rotating selection of records on the shelf the background. I so love that you've got 'Sesame Street Story Time' in your collection. My first vinyl album was either 'Sing... the hit songs of Sesame Street' or 'Letters...and numbers too' with 'Bert's Blockbusters', 'The Count Counts', 'C is for Cookie', 'Grover Sings the Blues', 'Ernie's Hits', 'Sesame Street Monsters' and 'A Sesame Street Christmas' making up the bulk of my pre-adolescent record collection. They are still on my shelf, with digitized versions going into my nephews' musical collection about a decade ago. I'm now realizing that my parents turned me into a record collector at the ripe age of four.
RIP Walter Becker, you're missed
Agreed!
Indeed.
First album I bought in 1976 first paycheck I bought the royal scam, these guys had so many great songs. Love your show professor.
So cool! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! Rock on 🤘
Growing up in the 60s & 70s I found it hard to get into SDs nonradio-tracks since I was raised on bubblegum music. You know; the Archies, 1910 Fruitgum Co., the Monkees, Tony Orlando and Dawn, so the only SD music I got was Do It Again & Reelin' In The Years.
Until I got older and "Got" SD. Then their music made sense, if their music can make sense.
As a side note, I was in a second hand store my one buddy owns and he brought out a 12" Steely Dan. I'm like " I don't even want to know! "
Thanks for another great show.
Good show Prof. One of my go to artists when I want to put the lights down low, kick back and pour myself a drink and just immerse myself in the sounds of unique musical glory. When I first heard Steely Dan come on the radio, I I'm transported back to that very moment. I knew exactly where I was that day, what I was doing, whether the sun was shining or not. Now thats what I call the gift of good tunes! ❤
Good tunes make one think of good times.
I agree - some songs make you stop in your tracks and transport you back to when you first heard it!
I never in a million years would have believed that there's another person who has Huey Lewis, Jackson Browne, Steely Dan, The Police, and... Lefty Frizzell in their record collection (I don't have the Sesame Street), but damn...here you are! Love your channel!!!
The more I learn about Steely Dan the bigger fan I become. Thanks Professor!
Thanks for always bringing it, Professor!!! ❤
I proudly wear my DAN t-shirt anytime that I go out...such sophistication and class!
Thank you for this channel. It has really inspired me to dig into the classic catalog, and to buy quite a few albums because of your video. Something positive to look forward to during the week!
Keep the great vibes going!!! You do such a great job communicating about the artist. It is evident that you spend much time researching the artist. Your delivery is spot on. I wished I had your voice to listen to back in 70 to 73 while I was in High School. Keep up the great work😊
Ayy yooo these videos are dope. Please continue this. We need this
This is my favorite steely Dan song ❤. Great video. As always great information ❤
They are elite. Love their catalog so much. So many teen memories involve them as well. Keep up the good work, POR! ❤
You hit a Grand Slam with this video. Excellent and creative video compliments the magnificent musical masterpieces painstakingly written and engineered by Fagen/Becker and the many supremely talented musicians', engineers and artist that created, what many believe, is the very best music of all-time.
Genius may be on the top 10 overused words list but definitely applies to SD. McDonald's voice is very unique and not at all hard to pick out as an accompanying compliment...and btw. Very cool to see the Lefty Frizzell album on the rack. 👍👍
I always love checking out the album display!!!
Steely Dan were masterminds.
My favorite band of all time. Thank you for this episode! 👍
"Peg" is an example of how I heard the music of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers during my single-digit years and could pick up the underlying connections (Michael McDonald and later Jeff Baxter) well before I learned how to tell either band from the other. Back then, I couldn't tell where one stopped and the other began, despite how different they were.
Largely unrelatrd trivia: ome of Jay Graydon's co-writers on both "After the Love is Gone" and "Turn Your Love Around" was former Chicago magnet Bill Champlin. Bill was recruited for Chicago just after both singles made the charts. That's not something people are likely to know without being a Chicago fan, particularly since none of Bill's writing efforts became singles.
....a Brother from another Mother, here!! ...ha-HAAA!! ...I was obsessed with the 'Doobs' in '76-80, and connected the same 'dots' you did.....Today's genereation will NEVER know how to build their OWN 'education' like us, Man, lemmetellya....
Thanks Eric!
Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers both made really cool yacht rock!
Thanks POR! You definitely hit the ball out of the park with this one. Steely Dan has always been the music I reach for when I’m not sure what I want to listen too. Thanks for explaining their wonderful nuisances and the lengths they went to to make it right. All hail R&R! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I love these 2. There's so much more to the music than it seems at first listen. True artists
I have to listen to this song a lot more closely now - the team they put together to produce it plus the lyrics are outstanding.
Never realized all the ingredients that went into the musical culinary delight known as "Peg" - great story Prof!
Thanks for listening!
It’s still immaculate years later.
@christineml1476 - The ingredients for "the secret sauce" 😋
Love Steely Dan, my dad loved them so I was exposed to the band very early in the 80's when I was growing up. In college and even today, I have to listen to a little SD on football Saturday's before watching or attending a game, it's become tradition.
One of my all time favorite songs! Whenever I need to get out of a funk this is my go to song. I think Peg was also on the soundtrack of the movie “FM”.
Amazing information. Thanks a lot!
Love your t-shirt!! And, of course, the video ❤
Keep on rockin'!
Rock on!
Great video Professor.
Wow. I just learned a LOT. Whole new respect for Steely Dan. Thank you, Professor! AGAIN!
Your videos are always a treat!
Glad you think so!
I love that you covered my 2 favorite bands in the past week. Steely Dan and Rush, and if you can do my other favorite Jethro Tull I will be beside myself.
I did a program at Trebas Montreal, successfully completed in 1997, Computer Assisted Sound Design. One of the younger students, I was already in my 30’s, said in class “what did the Beatles ever do…” as he didn’t like them. We needed a course in Recorded music history!
Good stuff! I'm in my late 50s and never really examined the lyrics. I just loved the tune and music behind it.
Am a trivia junkie that loves music, your channel is both!! Happy Friday Proff!
A perfect song from a flawless album!!
I was 14 when this came out. I heard Peg and immediately went and bought the album. Still have it.
I love this song, great show, thank you so much, thank you.
Im so happy to see im not the only one who still holds a special place in my heart fof Steely Dan!
Even the Eagles mentioned them in Hotel California. 😊
Thanks for another great episode on the Dan. Mcdonald is a legendary singer. Great musician too. These guys are amazing.
The man with the signature yacht rock voice!
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 He's the yacht rock GOAT.
Great clip.
Music was background for me...Until just a few years ago. Woke-up to the groove and
now have all their albums. Sincerely fantastic creativity and jazziness to raise smooth
movements in transferring the common genius in the ordinary and mundane.
I was 21 the first time l actually LISTENED to a Steely Dan album. I had a manager who LOVED Steely Dan. He pointed out all the intricate guitar, bass and sax parts; how the music just seemed to flow effortlessly. How the Melodies sounded so easy “but you try and sing a line. You’ll be out of breath way before the song ends!” He seriously loves this band. And I guess, indirectly, made me a big fan. Peg is an old favorite, along with all the hits from the 80’s. I even bought the first Donald Fagan solo release just because it was Donald Fagan. He did not fail to “suck me in”. Steely Dan should’ve been a HUGE band back in their “hay day”… another for the Underrated list.
Great video! AJA is my favorite album of all time.
Great lesson on Steely Dan, Professor! Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Thoughtful discussion, thanks. Michael McDonald is a thread running through several Steely Dan tracks, Rose Darling and Time out of Mind come to mind. They had some good chemistry.
I saw them both on YT sitting behind a mixer board and they isolated Michael McDonalds singing for the cut. They just had great ears. They did have some weird songs that I think had a "kink" in them, but for the money "home at last" is my favorite from this album. My brother and I can perform MM's voice. One day we were in his pole barn relaxing and started singing his hits and said "What if he did a Christmas album" and we started popping off "Little Drummer boy" and others and laughed riotously. I said "SHOWTUNES" and blurted out in my best MM voice "Oklahoma, where the wind comes whippin down the plain" and then "I've got a golden ticket...." Bwahaha. I don't even know if my brother likes Steely Dan, but I knew he loved the Doobies. We still laugh about that today.....good times. Like you Adam, it took me until my early 20's to catch what they were laying down. To be fair, when I was 12 my sister bought the soundtrack for the movie "FM". I heard "FM" and the hooks and grooves caught me, so I did like them, but back then FM was just breaking out and I was listening to CKLW and other big Detroit AM stations for pop. About 14 is when I broke out and started hearing our local station WIOT in Toledo, Ohio and on good days you could get WRIF out of Detroit.
I had a room mate when I was 24-26 and he played sax in a local band and knew other musicians. One of those bands played AWB and they had Steely Dan stuck down perfect. That is when I started to explore their discography. When the BMG company offered that cassette, I bought it. I then bought the CD. A few years later, Fagen on his own came out with "The Nightfly" and so many good songs filled that disc. Even "Walk between raindrops" with its jumpy pop rhythms and "Maxine" plus "Ruby, Ruby" are sonic genius. You can always tell a SD song, the timing is right on, the grooves are complex but tidy and you can really understand why Fagen and Becker chose the musicians they did.
When I am cleaning house or just unwinding, I can put on the list I have compiled and it relaxes me and if I close my eyes, I can almost be there in the studio with them (That is why boys and girls, you buy high end stereo equipment, if you place your speakers correctly, you can close your eyes and imagine that percussion in your right front Donald Fagan crooning right in front of you (Center speaker placement) and the bass crawling up your spine and holding the ship down). If you want a treat, watch them all play in the "Dukes of September"!!!
After watching this, it reaffirms my position that Steely Dan was one of the greatest bands of the 70s! This song is one of my faves by them - I bought the 45 back in March of 1978, and the song always takes me back to being a NYC 7th grade kid! I appreciate the entire album, but 'Peg' will remain a classic for all the reasons you mentioned!
I LOVE Steely Dan & Michael McDonald!!!
Both are fabulous. Have you ever seen them live.
Me too.
Steely Dan has always been a favorite band of mine. Even when I didn't understand what the songs were about, I still loved the songs.
Prof. Love your content " You are my "GURU" 😊
I've always been fascinated by the back up vocals in Peg! I can't figure out how they made them sound like they do. They've almost got a rock organ quality to them.
The Steely Dan catalog is a must if I were stranded on a desert island. Have you reviewed “New York Rock and Soul Revue”? You probably have but I’m not a regular viewer. You do great work. Keep it up! CIAO!!!
Funny how Larry Carlton was on most of Aja but not on Peg. Love his work with SD and his solo stuff
They switched up a lot didn't they?
That is odd.
I am kind of in the same boat as PoR. I listened to them growing up, but I didn't really appreciate them until later in life. I guess the older I got, the more mellow I got, and Steely Dan's music now "fit" my persona. The music is really mellow and laid back, easy to relax to, but the lyrics, when you listen to them, can be kind of dark. Not that there is anything wrong with that! Looking back, they were on both AM and FM a lot. I mean a LOT. They had so many songs that got a ton of air play that I never really realized it until, as I said before, later in life. In some ways, they are underappreciated. I certainly didn't appreciate them when I was younger. Well, I didn't appreciate them as much as I should have. I found myself listening to them when I was undergoing cancer treatment. It was rough, but I would listen to them to relax, take my mind off of what I was going through, and just be "somewhere else", if that makes sense. I can always go for some more Steely Dan on this channel. Theu were enigmatic at times, and getting some backstory is always good!
Thanks Greg!
Exactly the type of music you need to escape reality.