Most people don't really talk about Home at Last or I Got the News when talking about this album, but both are gems! Home at Last is one of my favorite songs ever!
The bass player on Peg, said he turned his back during the slapping part in the chirus because they said NO Slapping. But they didn't notice and loved it! ahhaha! Home at Last has the most beautiful chord progression and funky groove. One of the best albums ever! LOVE IT! So subtle and complex and great lyrics. Best melding of jazz and pop/rock. Aja was introduced to me when I was in to Genesis and YES and it took a minute... but amazing. Thanks you!
Home at Last. Think Homer's "The Odyssey", that tired sea song. Odysseus is sailing home from Troy, wants to hear the Siren's song, plugs his crew's ears with wax so they can''t hear the Sirens, and has his crew tie him to the mast so that he (Odysseus) won't be able to have the ship steered into the rocks. So powerful is the song of the Sirens that Ody thinks he is already home. "Hey guys, you can let me down now. No more rocks.. Hey guys! Guys?" Donald Fagan for Musician Laureate!
There was a “classic albums” dvd made around 2000 about the making of this record. You should watch and react to it, it’s on RUclips and it’s incredible especially for musicians and big fans of the band
Chuck Rainy is unbelievable on these tracks... I forgot how great he is. Also, I really, really love the Horn arrangements on all of these tracks. Thanks Doug!
Song for song Kati Lied is a close 2nd, a little more on the seedier side, like come on, Everyone's Gone to the Movies, Gold Teeth II, Any World and the whole side 1.
Doug, you nailed it during “Peg” when you said, “the melodies are diatonic but the way the chord voicings move is really sophisticated.” So many of the legendary guitar solos from Steely Dan that I’ve studied are diatonic and even pentatonic-based like any old rock tune, but the sophisticated chords and voice leading make it really stand out.
The groove in "Home at Last" is called a Purdie Shuffle, named for none other than the man himself. There's great video of him explaining how he does it. It's deceptively complex.
"Almost Gothic" is right up your alley, then? 🙂 BTW, Rachel, I love your ELP stuff. Even have your global "Sheriff" collaboration saved and on my PLEX server, so I queue it up often. That's a genuine pick-me-upper, great stuff.
I Love it: Doug and the Dan :) This had to be the most sophisticated pop music on 70's radio and there was a lot of great music during that time. It's like a homage to 50's jazz with a new flavor mixed with funk. I also love the "Nightfly" which is a wonderful continuation of these themes. I think Doug would like Donald Fagen's solo expression, would like to see that reaction video :)
Aimee Nolte breaks this tune down and shows that Peg is a blues, very interesting. Home at Last is a retelling of the Greek myth of Ulysses. And last, please, if you haven't already, do The Royal Scam! Great tunes and a killer solo by Larry Carlton on Kid Charlemagne.
Just watched her vid about Peg being a blues track. I don’t play piano, I barely play guitar, and I’m weak but not totally clueless on theory, but that was one fascinatin’ breakdown of Peg. This morning this was in my suggestions. Love watching professionals analyze Steely Dan and marvel at how good it really is while explaining exactly what they’re doing on the record. Loved when he recognized it was a blues progression.
I love most Steely Dan songs, but Home at Last just grabbed me, immediately. The illusions to Homer's The Odyssey are intriguing, but it's just glorious, musically.
"Home at Last" is my favorite song on this album, and I'm pleased that it was never released as a single, so it never got overplayed. Lyrically, the song is based on Homer's Odyssey. (Odysseus had his crew plug their ears with wax as they passed the sirens on the rocks, while Odysseus himself, who could still hear, was tied to the mast so that he would not be able to respond to the sirens.) Also, what you read on "I Got the News" was not Becker & Fagen. It was from the liner notes (remember those?) written by critic Michael Phalen. I don't think a member of the band would have said anything that negative about their own song on their own new album. In fact, I'm surprised that comment got into the album notes at all.
One of my favorite albums of all time. Every track is perfection. It’s the kind of album you listen to all the way through each time. A masterpiece of composition, musicianship, and recording, perfectly written, performed, and engineered.
Doug, you're absolutely right. "They write just as good as.they play!" They do indeed Thanks for the great review, and listening as we all did.back in the day, a side at a time.
I Got the News is one of my favorite SD deep tracks...not that nearly every SD song isn't a favorite deep track! There's a LOT going on. So many pieces fitting together.
The mystery solo instrument on “Home at Last” is a lyricon, which is basically a saxophone based MIDI controller. Remember, this was when they were first starting to try and connect MIDI to everything.
Something I always appreciate when watching reactions to Steely Dan. People who have a musical background or are musically inclined REALLY like/love Home At Last. Those who just like Steely Dan appreciate it but the musical people just speak glowingly about Home At Last. Without fail every time.
I have been a Steely Dan fan for a long time and, in my opinion, this is their greatest album. It is one of those perfect albums that doesn't have a bad song on it. I am not a musician but simply enjoy this as a listener. I am pleased that Doug, who is an accomplished musician, has such great appreciation for it. It validates my feeling that this album, and others by Dan, are something special.
The perversion on Peg when the jilted boyfriend realizes he'll be enthralled by her soft pont picture: "I know I'll love you better." What a classic single and solo. You are correct that Peg is one of those Steely-ized altered blues with jazzy progressions. The title track from Pretzel Logic and Chin Lightning from Katy Lied, and What a Shame About Me from the Grammy winning Two Against Nature are other examples.
Home at last is a phenomenal song with the Purdie/Rainey rhythm section doing what it does. Whilst it is ostensible based on the Odyssey, to me it is about PTSD, long before it was identified, and I do wonder how it must have resonated with everyone who had recently returned from Vietnam.
I believe that this was Steely Dan's Opus Magnus. High end audiophiles to this day still use this album to test out their amplifiers and speakers even though it was recorded on analog tape.
Peg and Josie were both radio hits. I'd be surprised if you'd never heard either one. Amazing chord progressions and solos. I got the News is just unusual and lively and jazzy as hell
You would probably enjoy the documentary The Making Of Aja, where Walter and Donald, among others, go through track by track giving the insights of how and what they did during the writing and recording of the album. It's on youtube but broken into different parts, still, an insightful and interesting experience, there are things in there you could never know just by listening to the album...
Note with the diatonic melody and the voicings and Rick Marotta's drums how Pegs SWINGS. You can really here it in the outtro of chorus repeats. Rock music that swings like jazz. It's nearly miraculous - incredibly complicated music that SOUNDS SIMPLE. Genius.
This was the first album of theirs i owned… on cassette… and i played it until it wouldn’t play anymore. As the age of CD’s dawned, i got the “Citizen Steely Dan” box set… and started acquiring Donald Fagen CD’s
This was the perfect ‘sixth form’ party style music as I recall, along with their first album, Joni’s Summer Lawns and Stevie’s Talking Book. Sophisticated and brilliant all of them. Good memories.
Great to enjoy this great music and your reaction on a Friday. This is one of those albums that winds up on all our mythical 'top 10' lists that actually have more than 10 albums.
Thanks for doing this one Doug. Ahhhh............ my first year of high school. The memories come flooding back every time I listen to Aja. And the title track........... I play that when I'm feeling melancholy and moody. Haha. PLEASE react to more 'Dan. Try Pretzel Logic. It's incredible too !!
Battle apple: Unlike many other of Becker & Fagen's imaginary concoctions, we can be fairly sure about this one since Donald Fagen explicitly referenced it in a July 2011 interview with The Wall Street Journal. Quote: "Walter and I both love inventing slang. For example, in 'Josie', there's a street gang using a weapon called the 'battle apple'. It sounded better than any real weapon we could think of." What exactly a battle apple would look like is left up to the imagination of the listener. Also: The Apple of Discord is a reference to a mythological event in which three goddesses fought over an apple. Ptolemaeus Chennus wrote that the goddesses fought over who would get a man named Melus ("apple") as her priest. Paris decided in favor of Aphrodite.
Next to the title track, Josie is my favorite song on this album. I can't tell you how many times I commuted to work in Brooklyn both via the Staten Island Ferry, and later when I moved to New Jersey - on the Academy Bus listening to this album. It took the stress away.
I remember reading the liner notes as a teenage boy when this came out. The “I may never walk again” popped right out ;) as the “pointlessly obscene lyric.” With a little more, ahem, experience under my belt I concluded it was probably “Spanish kissing, see it glisten”
Now you have to listen to the "lost" Aja song: "FM (No Static At All)". It was recorded during the "Aja" sessions for the movie "FM", using many of the same personnel. On RUclips look for: Steely Dan FM extended version - that's the most complete version. The video description tells the story of how that arrangement came to be. You can certainly hear the Aja stylings in FM, believe me!
Peg. . My favorite song about a dude trying to talk a girl into appearing in a p&rn movie. . YES! That's what it's all about. . "And when you smile for the camera, I know they're gonna love you"
Thanks for this. An album that still mesmerizes me, musically. Includes what is, for me, one of SD's greatest-ever songs: "Home At Last," for me the highlight of this LP and the piece with the most resonance, even 47 years after it was recorded. Your ears and experience are super-legit. You discern & explain the most important elements of the music, e.g., the separation of the produced sound coming from each musician (no one steps on anyone else, and there's usually a syncopation between the kick-drum and the bass pattern); the basic movement of the overall harmonic structure (notwithstanding the complex extended chords that provide color and deception, as well as laying a comfy bed for the sophisticated instrumental solos over them), and more. In terms of guitar soloing on this LP, I've always appreciated Walter Becker's solos, also evident on cuts from "Royal Scam" like "Green Earrings." He plays what I like to call "outlines" of solos, or the "edges" of a solo. He might not wow you with single-string pyrotechnics like a Larry Carlton, but what he does is so tasteful and correct, in service to and advancement of the musical story, and which can be featured without drowning out everything else that's going on and worth listening to. A parallel to him on drums might be Supertramp's Bob C. Benberg. If you listen to the way he constructs a drum track you'll get the idea. BTW, lately I've watched your vids mostly on my TV via the RUclips app. I say that b/c yours is one of the ONLY channels that I will wait for the ridiculously long commercials to complete, when they can't be skipped. But I can't leave comments via a TV app, so I'm sending this from my desktop.
Well said… just listening to Steely Dan makes you feel a quite sophisticated cat. People know you have class and taste. Just as real back in the days, as is true today….🤘🏼😎
The instrument you didn't recognize was the Lyricon, played by Tom Scott. Also, the rhythm played by Bernard Purdie on drums is called "The Purdie Shuffle", as a bonus fact :)
That was great. Love that you covered the whole album. There may be a few who rival Steely Dan's sophistication, but no one surpasses them. Always top tier musicianship. Always.
You should really check out Donald Fagan's solo albums. His Nightly album is just as good as anything Steely Dan did and his Kamakiriad was produced by Walter Becker (with Becker playing all the bass and guitar parts). It is a very under rated album and it is essentially a Steely Dan project.
"Home At Last" is my jam... a very close second behind the title track. Just can't beat the AWESOME drumming in "Aja!"... but, really everything about "Aja"... such a masterpiece!!! The synth instrument that caught your ear in this tune is called a Lyricon played by Tom Scott... this is known not because I have a great ear or I'm a musician, I found this out from "Professor of Rock" RUclips channel.
How have you never heard "Josie?" About as funky as it gets! Anyway, as a Senior in High School in 1980, if you didn't know SD, you didn't know sh*t. I was totally into heavy stuff back then but, they were in your face during the 70's and were, and still, are spectacular. Song writing, recording and producing at its' best. I get complete control of the music at my job and play their complete catalog at least once a week. They're just that good and it never gets old!
Yeah, those backing vocals and vocal harmonies are ALL Michael McDonald. He explains in a video somewhere on the RUclipsS that the chord tones were so close together he'd lose track of which note he was supposed to be singing. All laid down in analog on tape with no Pro Tools,
Thanks Doug this was awesome.....this is a masterpiece, for me Donald Fagen is one of the greatest musical arrangers of our time....I know Walter Becker played a part in this too but Donald was the main arranger.....the choice & placement of the instrumentation is sublime as you pointed out....I would love for you to cover more from Steely Dan as I know you would appreciate its quality....
Loved your reactions on Aja and a couple of the better known SD works. I have a deeper dive challenge you could do in a single session: Your Gold Teeth (from Countdown to Ecstasy) and Your Gold Teeth II (from Katy Lied). The tracks are Related (slightly) lyrically, but on different albums. Two of their very best. If you know you know. Look forward to a reaction on this!!
Great stuff Doug. Listen to Steely Dan albums, From Can't Buy A Thrill to Gaucho to the early 2000's. You won't be disappointed. Also, Donald's first solo album 'The Nightfly' from 1982 is just freaking great. Nice reaction to a special band. Later..
They broke up because of Walter's drug habit. His supplier was hanging around the studio and Donald told him it had to stop. The song Goucho is about the drug dealer. So Walter moved to Hawaii to get himself clean while Donald began a solo career. Loved their music for years.
I Got the News is the sleeper track on this release. Victor Feldman makes his mark on this record. What a beautiful statement. The Night Fly comes close. Love your channel. JT
@Doug.Helvering I was hoping you might be able to say what characterizes Becker's guitar playing (the solo at 30:00, and in the fade out), it always sounds unusual and angular to me. Is it modal, or is he using unusual intervals?
Steely dan & Aja- what a masterwork!! A reaction video to kawai kenji ghost in the shell soundtrack would be very nice, especially the track with the long name: kugutsu Uta kagirohi wa yomi ni Mata Muto... There is a wonderful live version on RUclips: kawai kenji- cinema symphony concert 2007, it starts on 1h 14minutes ❤
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your next reaction is guacho probably my second fave album and of course aja is first for me !
Most people don't really talk about Home at Last or I Got the News when talking about this album, but both are gems! Home at Last is one of my favorite songs ever!
I love Home At Last’ So soot. Makes me think of driving late at night in the city.
Yeah, "Home At Last" is easily my favorite song on _Aja_ .
The bass player on Peg, said he turned his back during the slapping part in the chirus because they said NO Slapping. But they didn't notice and loved it! ahhaha!
Home at Last has the most beautiful chord progression and funky groove.
One of the best albums ever! LOVE IT! So subtle and complex and great lyrics. Best melding of jazz and pop/rock. Aja was introduced to me when I was in to Genesis and YES and it took a minute... but amazing. Thanks you!
The great Chuck Rainey....
His double stops on the intro are sublime.
Rainey's playing on all the Steely Dan stuff is a clinic. I recall being a little miffed when Rainey wasn't used as much on GAUCHO.
The thumb FTW!
"you'll have to ask Chuck about the thumb business"... Classic
words cannot express how much I love Josie. Possibly on of the coolest guitar parts of all time in that intro.
Home at Last. Think Homer's "The Odyssey", that tired sea song. Odysseus is sailing home from Troy, wants to hear the Siren's song, plugs his crew's ears with wax so they can''t hear the Sirens, and has his crew tie him to the mast so that he (Odysseus) won't be able to have the ship steered into the rocks. So powerful is the song of the Sirens that Ody thinks he is already home.
"Hey guys, you can let me down now. No more rocks.. Hey guys! Guys?"
Donald Fagan for Musician Laureate!
It's a metaphor for LA.
Donald Fagans first solo album after the breakup, The Nightfly, is pure joy. Please do anything from that masterpiece. Take care🙋♂
IGY is one of my all-time favorites - *_"programmed by fella's - with compassion and vision."_* And this was written in about 1976...
His follow-up, Karmakiriad, might even be a little better (even if it's such a strange name and concept)
After GAUCHO, we assumed SD were done.
Then THE NIGHTFLY was released. Wow, we were thrilled.
TBH, Fagen's followup album didn't really float my boat.
Everything they do it perfect
. Well maybe more like 1981- 1982
There was a “classic albums” dvd made around 2000 about the making of this record. You should watch and react to it, it’s on RUclips and it’s incredible especially for musicians and big fans of the band
That whole series was great!
Uptown baby, uptown baby
Classic Albums was a fantastic show and the one about Aja was (IMO) the best. I had to get a copy on DVD so I could watch it whenever I want.
Yes, that was a great video. Any Steely Dan fan should watch it.
Chuck Rainy is unbelievable on these tracks... I forgot how great he is. Also, I really, really love the Horn arrangements on all of these tracks. Thanks Doug!
One of the best albums ever made tbh
Certainly one of the best produced albums.
Song for song Kati Lied is a close 2nd, a little more on the seedier side, like come on, Everyone's Gone to the Movies, Gold Teeth II, Any World and the whole side 1.
Doug, you nailed it during “Peg” when you said, “the melodies are diatonic but the way the chord voicings move is really sophisticated.” So many of the legendary guitar solos from Steely Dan that I’ve studied are diatonic and even pentatonic-based like any old rock tune, but the sophisticated chords and voice leading make it really stand out.
yeah and why they are so hard to get down with the right feel and timing
Josie was always my favorite Steely Dan track. Just love the groove. 😎
you gotta do royal scam. More specifically:
- dont take me alive
- caves of altamira
- kid charlemange
are all crazy
I believe he already did Kid Charlemagne
Also Green Earrings! Doug has done Kid Charlemagne.
_Aja_ is Steely Dan's best album, but _Royal Scam_ is my favorite.
@@jml-rj5re YES! Green Earrings, the guitar solo is one of the best ever! Being a guitar player it's always a go to song.
@@mournblade1066 Same for me. Big fan of Katy Lied as well. They[re all great!
One of the GREATEST albums of all time...
Just didn't realize how good we had it back then, with so much great music coming out on the regular.
Home at Last is my favorite Steely Dan song!
I grew up with these songs, but listening to them with you makes me feel like I'm hearing them for the first time!
The groove in "Home at Last" is called a Purdie Shuffle, named for none other than the man himself. There's great video of him explaining how he does it. It's deceptively complex.
I love all the songs!!! I’d love to hear you analyze their Two Against Nature album. Lots of unusual key modulations!
"Almost Gothic" is right up your alley, then? 🙂 BTW, Rachel, I love your ELP stuff. Even have your global "Sheriff" collaboration saved and on my PLEX server, so I queue it up often. That's a genuine pick-me-upper, great stuff.
Thanks. 🤓 2:01
I Love it: Doug and the Dan :) This had to be the most sophisticated pop music on 70's radio and there was a lot of great music during that time. It's like a homage to 50's jazz with a new flavor mixed with funk. I also love the "Nightfly" which is a wonderful continuation of these themes. I think Doug would like Donald Fagen's solo expression, would like to see that reaction video :)
Aimee Nolte breaks this tune down and shows that Peg is a blues, very interesting. Home at Last is a retelling of the Greek myth of Ulysses. And last, please, if you haven't already, do The Royal Scam!
Great tunes and a killer solo by Larry Carlton on Kid Charlemagne.
Jay Graydon has a YT vid breaking down his solo on "Peg"... yes, he mentions it as a Blues, as well.
Altered blues for sure. That was the advice Donald gave Jay Graydon when recording the solo. "think blues." Then he got it!
Just watched her vid about Peg being a blues track. I don’t play piano, I barely play guitar, and I’m weak but not totally clueless on theory, but that was one fascinatin’ breakdown of Peg. This morning this was in my suggestions. Love watching professionals analyze Steely Dan and marvel at how good it really is while explaining exactly what they’re doing on the record. Loved when he recognized it was a blues progression.
Wonderful - more Steely Dan is always a good thing
Alone, lights off, a glass of red wine and this album on pretty loud. Perfection.
Without a doubt.
Loud enough to sound real, and add in a bit of high quality “smoke” for me please. Listen all the way through.
Peg and Josie have been radio staples since they came out. Great stuff!
Have been listening to this album since 1977, could listen to it every day and not grow tired of it.
Jeff Beck’s “Blow by Blow” is the same for me - could listen to it everyday. Agree with Aja!
“She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire.” is such a wild lyric to end a chorus on. Very Steely Dan.
Love Steely Dan, but even more Donald Fagen's solo albums. I would love to see you review the solo albums, especially Morph The Cat.
I bought this on its release and it stayed on my turntable forever!
I love most Steely Dan songs, but Home at Last just grabbed me, immediately. The illusions to Homer's The Odyssey are intriguing, but it's just glorious, musically.
"Home at Last" is my favorite song on this album, and I'm pleased that it was never released as a single, so it never got overplayed. Lyrically, the song is based on Homer's Odyssey. (Odysseus had his crew plug their ears with wax as they passed the sirens on the rocks, while Odysseus himself, who could still hear, was tied to the mast so that he would not be able to respond to the sirens.)
Also, what you read on "I Got the News" was not Becker & Fagen. It was from the liner notes (remember those?) written by critic Michael Phalen. I don't think a member of the band would have said anything that negative about their own song on their own new album. In fact, I'm surprised that comment got into the album notes at all.
One of my favorite albums of all time. Every track is perfection. It’s the kind of album you listen to all the way through each time. A masterpiece of composition, musicianship, and recording, perfectly written, performed, and engineered.
The lyricon was played most famously by Chuck Greenberg of the New Age 80’s group Shadowfax.
Doug, you're absolutely right. "They write just as good as.they play!"
They do indeed
Thanks for the great review, and listening as we all did.back in the day, a side at a time.
Some of the finest music ever produced, B&F are and were musicsl geniuses. Walter RIP.
I Got the News is one of my favorite SD deep tracks...not that nearly every SD song isn't a favorite deep track! There's a LOT going on. So many pieces fitting together.
The mystery solo instrument on “Home at Last” is a lyricon, which is basically a saxophone based MIDI controller. Remember, this was when they were first starting to try and connect MIDI to everything.
I though it was a melodica.
Something I always appreciate when watching reactions to Steely Dan. People who have a musical background or are musically inclined REALLY like/love Home At Last. Those who just like Steely Dan appreciate it but the musical people just speak glowingly about Home At Last. Without fail every time.
I have been a Steely Dan fan for a long time and, in my opinion, this is their greatest album. It is one of those perfect albums that doesn't have a bad song on it. I am not a musician but simply enjoy this as a listener. I am pleased that Doug, who is an accomplished musician, has such great appreciation for it. It validates my feeling that this album, and others by Dan, are something special.
The perversion on Peg when the jilted boyfriend realizes he'll be enthralled by her soft pont picture: "I know I'll love you better." What a classic single and solo. You are correct that Peg is one of those Steely-ized altered blues with jazzy progressions. The title track from Pretzel Logic and Chin Lightning from Katy Lied, and What a Shame About Me from the Grammy winning Two Against Nature are other examples.
Home at last is a phenomenal song with the Purdie/Rainey rhythm section doing what it does. Whilst it is ostensible based on the Odyssey, to me it is about PTSD, long before it was identified, and I do wonder how it must have resonated with everyone who had recently returned from Vietnam.
Have a listen to Donald Fagen's album "The Nightfly" too!
Ruby!
I believe that this was Steely Dan's Opus Magnus. High end audiophiles to this day still use this album to test out their amplifiers and speakers even though it was recorded on analog tape.
this one and "Red and Orange" from John Abercrombie's "Timeless."
Peg and Josie were both radio hits. I'd be surprised if you'd never heard either one. Amazing chord progressions and solos.
I got the News is just unusual and lively and jazzy as hell
You would probably enjoy the documentary The Making Of Aja, where Walter and Donald, among others, go through track by track giving the insights of how and what they did during the writing and recording of the album. It's on youtube but broken into different parts, still, an insightful and interesting experience, there are things in there you could never know just by listening to the album...
'Home at Last' is pure lyrical genius (as are many, many of their lyrics). Multiple meanings shielded by a 'Homer' hip-fake. Thanks, Doug!
Probably the best recorded pop album ever. The boys' ultra-meticulous nature sure paid off.... Just an amazing recording.
I love Peg. Whenever I hear it, I get nostalgic. It takes me back. ❤
Note with the diatonic melody and the voicings and Rick Marotta's drums how Pegs SWINGS. You can really here it in the outtro of chorus repeats. Rock music that swings like jazz. It's nearly miraculous - incredibly complicated music that SOUNDS SIMPLE. Genius.
Notice Marotta doesn’t use any toms or fills? He said he didn’t like the sound of them so simply avoided playing them. Genius.
This was the first album of theirs i owned… on cassette… and i played it until it wouldn’t play anymore. As the age of CD’s dawned, i got the “Citizen Steely Dan” box set… and started acquiring Donald Fagen CD’s
One of the best albums ever. Got me into jazz.
How I wish I could listen to this album again for the first time. On the other hand it takes many many listens to fully appreciate it.
This was the perfect ‘sixth form’ party style music as I recall, along with their first album, Joni’s Summer Lawns and Stevie’s Talking Book.
Sophisticated and brilliant all of them.
Good memories.
This is a fantastic album. A favorite of mine. You can hear where Snarky Puppy gets some of their inspiration from.
One of the best produced albums in history!!
Great to enjoy this great music and your reaction on a Friday. This is one of those albums that winds up on all our mythical 'top 10' lists that actually have more than 10 albums.
The lyrics from Home At Last are reportedly a commentary/summary about Homer's " The Iliad "
Sounds more like the Odyssey to me...tied to the mast...home at last...
@@underwoodvoice9077 yes, I had a brainfart
*_The Odyssey_,, but yeah 🙂
The Purdie shuffle! Donald and Walter told Bernard they wanted a shuffle but not. He gave it to them. The subject matter is based on the Odyssey.
When you simply get the best session men to play for you, you can request pretty much anything and know they will deliver.
GESTALT IS A GOOD SUMMATION OF HOW TIGHTLY KNIT THESE MUSICIANS MELDED TOGETHER TO MAKE SUCH EPIC MUSIC.
So many great highschool memories attached to this band and this album in particular. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Thanks for doing this one Doug. Ahhhh............ my first year of high school. The memories come flooding back every time I listen to Aja. And the title track........... I play that when I'm feeling melancholy and moody. Haha. PLEASE react to more 'Dan. Try Pretzel Logic. It's incredible too !!
I call it great because it is. Such a wonderful group. Thanks for covering this epic album. Each song is a visit from your best friend. Amazing!
This must be music in heaven. Dan is perfection
Battle apple: Unlike many other of Becker & Fagen's imaginary concoctions, we can be fairly sure about this one since Donald Fagen explicitly referenced it in a July 2011 interview with The Wall Street Journal. Quote: "Walter and I both love inventing slang. For example, in 'Josie', there's a street gang using a weapon called the 'battle apple'. It sounded better than any real weapon we could think of."
What exactly a battle apple would look like is left up to the imagination of the listener.
Also: The Apple of Discord is a reference to a mythological event in which three goddesses fought over an apple. Ptolemaeus Chennus wrote that the goddesses fought over who would get a man named Melus ("apple") as her priest. Paris decided in favor of Aphrodite.
Next to the title track, Josie is my favorite song on this album.
I can't tell you how many times I commuted to work in Brooklyn both via the Staten Island Ferry, and later when I moved to New Jersey - on the Academy Bus listening to this album.
It took the stress away.
I remember reading the liner notes as a teenage boy when this came out. The “I may never walk again” popped right out ;) as the “pointlessly obscene lyric.” With a little more, ahem, experience under my belt I concluded it was probably “Spanish kissing, see it glisten”
Now you have to listen to the "lost" Aja song: "FM (No Static At All)". It was recorded during the "Aja" sessions for the movie "FM", using many of the same personnel. On RUclips look for: Steely Dan FM extended version - that's the most complete version. The video description tells the story of how that arrangement came to be. You can certainly hear the Aja stylings in FM, believe me!
Peg. . My favorite song about a dude trying to talk a girl into appearing in a p&rn movie. .
YES! That's what it's all about. . "And when you smile for the camera, I know they're gonna love you"
Thanks for this. An album that still mesmerizes me, musically. Includes what is, for me, one of SD's greatest-ever songs: "Home At Last," for me the highlight of this LP and the piece with the most resonance, even 47 years after it was recorded.
Your ears and experience are super-legit. You discern & explain the most important elements of the music, e.g., the separation of the produced sound coming from each musician (no one steps on anyone else, and there's usually a syncopation between the kick-drum and the bass pattern); the basic movement of the overall harmonic structure (notwithstanding the complex extended chords that provide color and deception, as well as laying a comfy bed for the sophisticated instrumental solos over them), and more.
In terms of guitar soloing on this LP, I've always appreciated Walter Becker's solos, also evident on cuts from "Royal Scam" like "Green Earrings." He plays what I like to call "outlines" of solos, or the "edges" of a solo. He might not wow you with single-string pyrotechnics like a Larry Carlton, but what he does is so tasteful and correct, in service to and advancement of the musical story, and which can be featured without drowning out everything else that's going on and worth listening to. A parallel to him on drums might be Supertramp's Bob C. Benberg. If you listen to the way he constructs a drum track you'll get the idea.
BTW, lately I've watched your vids mostly on my TV via the RUclips app. I say that b/c yours is one of the ONLY channels that I will wait for the ridiculously long commercials to complete, when they can't be skipped. But I can't leave comments via a TV app, so I'm sending this from my desktop.
I absolutely the backing vocals in the chorus of Peg. They made MM sound so much cooler by layering the chords together.
Well said… just listening to Steely Dan makes you feel a quite sophisticated cat. People know you have class and taste. Just as real back in the days, as is true today….🤘🏼😎
Meticulously crafted doesn't begin to describe this album. It really was a remarkable achievement in writing, recording and performance.
The instrument you didn't recognize was the Lyricon, played by Tom Scott. Also, the rhythm played by Bernard Purdie on drums is called "The Purdie Shuffle", as a bonus fact :)
This album is on the top of my list. A list of Records that has no bad songs -there's not a lot of those around, but there are some and this is one!
That was great. Love that you covered the whole album. There may be a few who rival Steely Dan's sophistication, but no one surpasses them. Always top tier musicianship. Always.
You should really check out Donald Fagan's solo albums. His Nightly album is just as good as anything Steely Dan did and his Kamakiriad was produced by Walter Becker (with Becker playing all the bass and guitar parts). It is a very under rated album and it is essentially a Steely Dan project.
Home At Last is about Homer’s Odyssey, when he ties himself to the mast to avoid the “danger on the rocks” (sirens).
This is one of those rare times that I get to really enjoy saying "I told ya so!" I told you that you were in for a treat with this one!
"Home At Last" is my jam... a very close second behind the title track. Just can't beat the AWESOME drumming in "Aja!"... but, really everything about "Aja"... such a masterpiece!!! The synth instrument that caught your ear in this tune is called a Lyricon played by Tom Scott... this is known not because I have a great ear or I'm a musician, I found this out from "Professor of Rock" RUclips channel.
How have you never heard "Josie?" About as funky as it gets! Anyway, as a Senior in High School in 1980, if you didn't know SD, you didn't know sh*t. I was totally into heavy stuff back then but, they were in your face during the 70's and were, and still, are spectacular. Song writing, recording and producing at its' best. I get complete control of the music at my job and play their complete catalog at least once a week. They're just that good and it never gets old!
One of the greatest albums in the history of history!
Yeah, those backing vocals and vocal harmonies are ALL Michael McDonald. He explains in a video somewhere on the RUclipsS that the chord tones were so close together he'd lose track of which note he was supposed to be singing. All laid down in analog on tape with no Pro Tools,
Thanks Doug this was awesome.....this is a masterpiece, for me Donald Fagen is one of the greatest musical arrangers of our time....I know Walter Becker played a part in this too but Donald was the main arranger.....the choice & placement of the instrumentation is sublime as you pointed out....I would love for you to cover more from Steely Dan as I know you would appreciate its quality....
Loved your reactions on Aja and a couple of the better known SD works. I have a deeper dive challenge you could do in a single session: Your Gold Teeth (from Countdown to Ecstasy) and Your Gold Teeth II (from Katy Lied). The tracks are Related (slightly) lyrically, but on different albums. Two of their very best. If you know you know. Look forward to a reaction on this!!
I loved them due to their unusual chords/harmonies.
Great stuff Doug. Listen to Steely Dan albums, From Can't Buy A Thrill to Gaucho to the early 2000's. You won't be disappointed. Also, Donald's first solo album 'The Nightfly' from 1982 is just freaking great. Nice reaction to a special band. Later..
There's a two part RUclips video on the making of "Peg". This song is so much more complex than just a pop/blues song.
Gaucho is amazing !
They broke up because of Walter's drug habit. His supplier was hanging around the studio and Donald told him it had to stop. The song Goucho is about the drug dealer. So Walter moved to Hawaii to get himself clean while Donald began a solo career. Loved their music for years.
I Got the News is the sleeper track on this release.
Victor Feldman makes his mark on this record.
What a beautiful statement.
The Night Fly comes close.
Love your channel.
JT
Steely Dan! Your favorite bands favorite band 🔥🤘✌
~20:03 It's Clydie King on backing vocals. Not "Kind". 😊
@Doug.Helvering I was hoping you might be able to say what characterizes Becker's guitar playing (the solo at 30:00, and in the fade out), it always sounds unusual and angular to me. Is it modal, or is he using unusual intervals?
Excellent Vocals on your sonic I.D. Doug!
This album, man.... What a masterpiece
“Danger on the rocks has surely passed still I remain tied to the mast” is a reference Greek mythology. Ulysses.
The two "Steely Dan" are New Yorkers but went to Los Angeles to have the very best studio musicians work on Aja. The two of them did the mixing magic.
It’s just perfect
Steely dan & Aja- what a masterwork!!
A reaction video to kawai kenji ghost in the shell soundtrack would be very nice, especially the track with the long name: kugutsu Uta kagirohi wa yomi ni Mata Muto...
There is a wonderful live version on RUclips: kawai kenji- cinema symphony concert 2007, it starts on 1h 14minutes ❤
Doug - Please can you review one of Donald Fagen's solo albums - e.g. "The Nightfly"?
I heard a rumour that Rona Barrett was the "Broadway Duchess" in "I got the News".
Chuck Findley, Lou Mccreary, Dick Hyde brass