Why Did Steely Dan Change Their Sound?
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- Опубликовано: 24 июн 2022
- In today's video I discuss the evolution of Steely Dan's sound from Can't Buy a Thrill (1972) to Aja (1977)
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Steely Dan is one band I never get tired of listening to. Never get burned out on their stuff. Their jazzy beats, clean clean sound, amazing drum licks, wild lyrics, creme de la creme musicians, and quirky subject matter is off the scale.
i agree, im drummer, i love play Steely Dan music
throwing feces at ther wall here, but try these:
That Handsome Devil
Ween
Vulfpeck
Which none of these guys's stuff i ever get burned out on. maybe vulfpeck sometimes.
Well said. My fav.
Spot on, Jesse. Same.
@@glennyates2194 Totally!
I will always be, to my death, a hard core Steely Dan fan. Been listening to them for 45 years and I like them more and more as time goes by.
Yup, Steely Dan always right and never obvious.
There an amazing band with truly unique, hard-to-categorize music. HUGE fan.
They were so brilliant...I hear new stuff every listen. This music is so complex & at the same time, so relatable & funky that I think they were the cream of their time.
Amen.
Can't be helped.
Steely Dan was so unique, so original and so ahead of its time. If you play their music now, 50 years later, it still sounds fresh and new. Becker & Fagen wrote music history together.
Also 100 times BETTER than any current release of music.
If you want to hear a current form of music where people heard Steely Dan and have carried it on, listen to Japanese pop music. I know many people think the vocals are too twee for them. But musically, they completely paid attention to Steely Dan, jazz, classical. Japanese young people mostly now no longer listen to western pop music. They listen to Japanese and Korean music, because there’s no longer much music happening in most western pop music.
Maybe that is because todays music is so bad and bland in comparison. Manufactured vs old 70s not comparison.
I worked in London in 2002, transport for a hospital.A elderly woman we where transporting asked us if we had heard of Walter Becker.
We said yes.She said ,That is my son.I have just read on internet that his parents separated and his mother moved back to the UK
Just remembered this after watching this episode.Weird
You need to work on your English grammar
Hope she found health and or peace
An interview with Donald would simply be amazing, Rick. Would love to see it.
Yes!
I suspect it’s on the way. One can only hope!
Wouldn't that be something?
That would be phenomenal
My parents were neighbors of Don in Tennessee,on a lake in Winchester. Apparently he was a good dude,
Steely Dan's sound is timeless... These gentlemen knew how to write a song and then hire the perfect musicians to create the sound they wanted.
"Thelonious my old friend ... for one more time, let your madness run with mine" Steely Dann are Story tellers first and foremost. They later figured out that their stories could be better told with greater harmonic complexity.
They actually gave the musicians a lot of leeway and welcomed their input, often hiring them to put their spin on it.
@@markgriskey Drummer Jim Hodder, sang that song, so that makes three songs on the first Steely Dan album that were not sung by Donald Fagen
I believe he is actually saying "Felonious"
"Don't Take Me Alive" intro gives me chills, still, everytime I hear it. And Steely Dan was there for me as a teenager.
Larry Carlton man, so damn good.
@@klinkov6393 The way he feels the rhythm on that intro is crazy. No beat behind him or tempo, just lays the arpeggio/slow rake out in a way where he feel a rhythm, then the space between the mute and bend that starts the song is ALMOST in the main tempo, just a little off to really give a build into the first beat of the track. Its insane levels of musician-ship and skill.
That unmistakable sound, the syncopated, la dah... di di dah, phrase. Steely Dan opened my eyes to jazz, fusion, intelligent songwriting, to immaculate musicianship. I will go to my grave believing that Steely Dan's music is some of the greatest music ever recorded
I couldn't agree more, phenomenal music.
Simply nothing like it.
Yep
I hate it. It’s too overproduced and the mix is sooo over-separated.
Rick's enthusiasm for the music is so freaking contagious. I laughed, I cried, I put on an album!
I was just hearing reelin in the years in my head for first few minutes and then he plays it first, interesting connection.
😆 Great line! And Rick is a terrific musician with the heart of a kid.
Yessss
I wouldn't call Fagan the best singer in the world, but he has such a unique timbre and vocal phrasing. Slightly nasally, he comes up from the "bottom" to grab the note. His voice is instantly recognizable, and I think it matches perfectly with the Steely Dan style, which is also instantly recognizable
His multi-tracked harmonized vocals - such as in the chorus of Pretzel Logic - are some of my favorite male vocal recordings. He sings some of the parts in his "verse" voice, and some in a higher register, almost up in Geddy Lee territory. The mix is sublime though, so many listeners may never really notice how many voices there are.
I love Fagen's voice. Honestly, on their debut, I wished he had sung all the songs.
@@rockingbirdey Yup. When you 1st start listening to SD and become accustomed to hearing the signature Steely sound, of _any_ song, you _expect_ to hear Fagan.
And when you don't, it's kinda weird on the ears. Sorta like takin' a big slug of what you think to be your ice cold fresh soft drink, but turns out you grabbed the one that has been there for 3 days with 2 cigarrette butts in it.
Absolutely the best for the job - fitness for purpose is perfection. Kinda tautological I guess.
Fagan has excellent phrasing and great control. He also has character and instant recognition. You hear him sing a phrase and you know it's him (if you're previously familiar with his voice). Take that in your band over technical excellence that has no feel any day of the week.
I remember when CDs first arrived on the scene and just about EVERY music equipment store had SD on repeat because it sounded so clean and perfect.
Steely Dan has been my favorite musical act since I was a kid. There has never been another that produced the quality or quantity of stunning, complex, gorgeous, brilliant music. There also aren't adjectives to describe how great they were. The pinnacle of music of any genre and era.
Steely Dan is like that 100 year old scotch that you keep on the top shelf. It’s like fine wine that improves over time. It’s like no other music, no other band.
Precisely.
And you can drink it every day!
"Don't Take Me Alive" always my favorite Steely Dan song. But it was the Aja album that was my gateway to jazz and greatly expanded my musical universe.
I was already "onto" jazz, but I thought it meant popular music was heading in that direction. 50 years later, pop still has not. Every once in a great while...
I love “Don’t Take Me Alive” but not sure it’s my favorite. Thinking back to Aja, I gave a copy to my girlfriend of a little over year when Aja came out for Christmas. She is now my wife of 38 years and our love of Steely Dan music has not only expanded our musical universe but our grown children’s musical universe as well! I also own one of Walter Beckers guitar amps now.
With the current mass shootings, l wonder what goes on in murderers people's heads. Agents of the law. Luckless pedestrians. I know you're out there with rage in your eyes and your megaphones...
ORAGONE
Aja may be a masterpiece. Gaucho will always be my favorite. It’s so quirky but refined at the same time. And the sound quality is unreal.
Certainly agree on the sound quality of Gaucho!
As a s d fan
Always though gaucho was their masterpiece
The guitarists and their musicianship on Gaucho are astounding.
Really? My least fav of the 6
@@patsfan4life your 6 may be upside down. Or are there 3 of their studio albums that are just off your list for some reason?
Hello, just a note: Jimmy Hodder (drums) sang Midnight Cruiser. I subbed for Jimmy in his own band on Maui for six weeks in 1977 and the last two weeks of our engagement, Jimmy flew in from England (having recorded and toured with David Soul) the day we opened for George Benson's 'Breezin' tour at the Lahaina Amphitheater. Pressure? I was 22 years old and Jimmy and Benson's drummer, Denny Davis gave me some good-natured ribbing as my "how bad do you want this" sort of thing. Jimmy came up to jam on the drums but mostly liked singing with us as he had been a lead-singer back in his Long Island/Boston early years. A very sweet guy, powerful and skilled drummer, he was generous with his time, lessons, and career advice, so much so that I moved to California 6 months after they went back home. RIP, Jimmy...a really terrific guy.
Nice story. Great to hear what kind of guy Jim Hodder was from someone who really knew him. It's always been disappointing to me how this guy who drummed on some of the band's classic tracks--Reelin' in the Years, Do It Again, Show Biz Kids, Bodhisattva, My Old School--never really got the credit he deserved. Once Jeff Porcaro came along, Hodder became an afterthought, if that. Of course Porcaro was a legend. But Jim Hodder's drumming holds up as solid, tasteful, and always musical. He never overplayed. He was an integral part of Steely Dan's early sound. He deserves more respect for his contribution to their legacy.
@@61moonshine Jimmy really liked Jeff Porcaro and saw him as a real comer. He said that they called him, "The Kid". Jeff and I are exactly the same age which blew me away and made me work harder. On Pretzel Logic, they bought in Jim Gordon (another favorite) and I believe it's Jeff and Jim playing together on Mr. Parker's Band. I'm sure Jimmy was disappointed when they got rid of him and the rest of the band but he didn't show it. His bona-fides are on tape for all the world to hear and he did an excellent job, IMHO. Steely Dan is one of my favorite bands and Jeff spoke of the sessions with them as "playing some of the most prestigious music in my history of doing sessions". I heartily concur. Peace.
Wow!
Also, Hodder sang lead vocal on Steely Dan's first single, "Dallas".
I could listen to Mr Beato talking about Steely Dan for hours and hours and hours and hours.
I learned so much in 41 minutes. Phenomenal
Did you know that Steely Dan "broke up" because Walter Becker's girlfriend (Karen Stanley) OD'd in their NY Apartment during the making of Gaucho? After the Gaucho sessions Walter moved to Hawaii to clean himself up off of drugs and that was the end of the band. I have Karen Stanley's RIAA Gold Record for Pretzel Logic from 1974 hanging on my wall.
@@billiondollarbaby3276 wow!
I remember after Aja came out the local Detroit area rock stations played Deacon Blues a lot. I had the album and loved that song in particular. At first I didn’t think there was anything odd about hearing it in-between, say, Aerosmith and AC/DC. But then I started teaching myself guitar and soon realized, “Hey, one of these things is not like the others!” ☺️ Still amazes me that the late ‘70s rock format was flexible enough to allow such a tune to hang with the stadium fillers. We didn’t know how good we had it.
We do now, though, that's for sure!
Wait, I knew how good we had it! In 1973, Elton John was a headliner for one of the grandstand shows during the Iowa State Fair. The show included 3 groups before Elton, with the 3rd group being Steely Dan. Elton was riding high on his "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour", and "Countdown to Ecstacy" had been released only a month before. I wanted to see Steely Dan, though Elton sold the place out. Steely Dan didn't play!!! I recall the reason was due to the previous acts playing longer than planned. Shows at the Fairgrounds had to end by 10:00 pm due to residential neighborhoods not even 1/4 mile from the stage. However, commentary over the years on other SD videos claim the 2nd act used SD equipment and blew out their amps. Even though I was thoroughly impressed by Elton's show, especially with how hard he rock and rolled, to this day, I'm still disappointed I didn't get to see Steely Dan.
WABX was dope!
This also took place in Winnipeg on 92 CITI-FM in the summer of 78. It had just adopted a rock format in the spring of that year. Even as a high school kid, I picked up on the magnificent world-weariness in Deacon Blues.
I heard Peg a lot on Detroit radio back then as well.
Katie Lied is their most underrated album - and it gives hints to how they would evolve and do Aja.
It is under-rated as is Countdown To Ecstasy. Still, although I love the song Everyone's Gone To The Movies, it reminds me of Steely Dan's fellow label (ABC Records) mate, Jimmy Buffet. It does a bit and I'm not a Buffet fan.
I mean if you listen to the Katy Lied demos a demo version of Black Cow is on there
I agree.
Before the song "Aja" there was "Your Gold Teeth II"
100%
Steely Dan's sonic landscape was undiscovered country in the 70s. Nothing like it had ever been heard. The keys, the rhythms, 50 years on it still sounds fresh.
I never really considered Steely Dan a rock band. Steely Dan is...well, Steely Dan. They're their own genre.
Amen! Second that wholeheartedly!
I always regarded them a pop band, with heavy influences from rock&roll, blues, country, soul, gospel, funk, jazz, and singer songwriter styles.
But their first album was pretty straight ahead poppy RnR
They were something along the lines of an aesthetic. Becker and Fagen wrote the music/lyrics. There are a few songs, I believe, and it’s only Fagen on vocals. Becker sitting in the booth working the board, studio musicians handling the music.
@@herrbonk3635 when you declare Steely Dan a pop band it humbles them. I know many people view Steely Dan as iconic and deservedly so. The album “ Aja” is a masterpiece similar to to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. I always thought of Steely Dan as fusion. Aja and Gaucho seem jazzy fusion to me. But labeling them as just a pop band seems like they were also radio friendly and commercial as well as innovative.
Steely Dan's style did evolve over those 7 years, but their catalogue is brilliant from the very beginning, up to and including Fagen's solo work.
And Becker’s! 11 Tracks of Whack is criminally underrated
Pay anything to see that!!!
@@meatwad61 i love the lyrics on 11 tracks. circus money is good too. so glad you mentioned Walter
The Nightfly is flawless. To this day one of the best albums I've ever heard.
there are more and more "creepy" songs the more current the albums get, though. almost the entire album Two Against Nature, in fact. in the past steely Dan songs have a sarcastic twist to them, but these sound like they're written from personal experience, not a sarcastic parody of somebody
When people ask me for my fave all time band and I reply The Dan, I usually get puzzled looks or, "Oh, yeah, I remember them." Finding true Dan Fans isn't that easy, but when you meet one, conversational sparks fly. I've been listening to them daily for at least 50 years.
I was surprised a couple of years ago to learn that some people can't stand Steely Dan.
@@wheatonna Yep, I was one of them but its music for grown ups so when I got older I could appreciate it
I know an 60ish year old 80's rocker type guitarist who doesn't think SD should have ever made it, I figure that's because he has no idea on how to play their styles!
Yes, but how many of them just never trust you? ("Katy lies...")
I'm a Dan fan. Good to meet you!
Love the way Denny Diaz ends his solo in Do it Again. Nobody else would have chosen to do it that way. Likewise Elliott Randall with his solo work on Reeling in the Years and Jay Graydon's solo on Peg. Highly original, quirky approaches from all of these players. Then there is the jaw dropping work of Larry Carlton on Kid Charlemagne. Mind numbingly great stuff.
All carried by the inimitable Purdie shuffle....
Yes, they are one of a kind.
Denny is pure perfection. His phrasing and timing is exquisite.
All these years, I didn't know Larry Carlton worked with Steely Dan! I loved Larry's solo work back in the day.
Kid Charlemagne & Dont Take me Alive are my two favourite for music. Caves of Altamira for the lyrics and feel.
I was a Freshman in high school when "Can't Buy A Thrill" came out.
It seemed a very important album.
Like there were great things ahead.
There were.
Steely Dan’s entire catalog is absolute treasure. Love all their fascinating incarnations.
Jim Hodder’s lead vocals on Midnite Cruiser is beautiful. One of my favorite tracks.
It truly baffles me when people don't "get" The Dan. Their version of Rock is timeless and so tunefull. Their music connects to a place in me that sparkles pure joy and exaltation.
I just leave them to it. The complexity is too much for their brains...
@@podlou9939 I've thought about why people mightn't like Steely Dan, the only valid criticisms I have heard is that some of their mixes are a little too "thin", or "sterile", I don't completely agree, but it's interesting to hear critique. To me, Steely Dan are THE perfect band.
The worst takes are the "It's elevator music", those people can go you know where!
@@jeffsirnameSteely Dan elevator music?! Them's fighting words!!😄
It’s the same reason many people dislike good classical music. Often these are people who don’t care as much about music as a whole, and the impact of colorful chords. Either they’re casual listeners who have never been exposed to ‘colorful’ chords through classical/jazz/classic pop, or they’re musicians who love punk/basic rock, who legitimately dislike anything that isn’t power chords. The latter category may come around to more colorful music later in life, the former may never.
Nothing wrong with people liking what they like. I do get annoyed when they act like Steely Dan empirically is bad music, some of the top musicians in the world in a diversity of styles are obsessed with Steely Dan, has been like that for a couple of generations now. I don’t like Taylor Swift’s songs but I wouldn’t say she just sucks, because clearly she’s doing the work to do her own thing. People should enjoy what they enjoy, but man do people say some stupid things about Steely Dan.
The responses to this question are a big reason why people dislike “The Dan”. It’s snob rock or the perception of that especially when they stoped functioning as a rock band. I love their first three albums because they were a band and that’s important when it comes to rock. When they stopped being a rock band, while the music was good/great, to me it was just a bunch of session guys nothing organic like a band going in and making that music. Aja is a great album but it doesn’t register as a rock album for me. I just can’t shake the penny loafer Volvo driving polo shirt wearing guy driving around playing later era Steely Dan. It can be snobby just like classical music.
It was 1977 and I was 7 years old and going through my moms record collection which was in several wicker baskets. I got to Aja- it was still in the wrapper - the cover was fascinating to me and elicited much curiosity. I unwrapped it and put it on the turntable. I knew I was hearing something special. My obsession with recording started that day.
had same experience but album was Desolation Angels
The joy of Steely Dan is that the music still excites you after all these years. It’s just beautiful.
Thank you Rick. and .. Thank you Steely Dan for not blocking their amazing work you are recalling for the one's who need to know this music history.
Aja was a monumental album. I would put it in my top 10 along with the Beatles Abbey Road.
The Denny Dias observation from "Do it Again" is dead on. The phrasing of that solo is incredible. Like, there's phrasing and then there's PHRASING...
First heard Aja back in my hang gliding days, usually while making the long drive home from the mountains. To this day I think of flying while listening to it. Pure magic.
I always come back to Steely Dan for music that always sounds fresh , as a musician I just love all this , Thankyou 🎸👍
'Do It Again' off the first album has big pre-echoes of Aja, the cool jazz-Latin vibe, quirky instrumentals, and obtuse lyric. Masterpiece.
Do It Again might be my favorite Dan song of all time. It's Genius!
I was born in 76 “we’ll be a ok” in Hanalei, Kauai. My mom was the lead singer/songwriter of a 9 piece jazz all girl band. My dad shaped surfboards and fished. Steely Dan was always on the radio and playing in peoples houses at that time. Their music was the backing track to my early life in Hawaii in the 70’s, and in the early 80’s when we moved to San Diego. Steely Dan is n my DNA, and I could listen to you talk about their music for days. Thank you Rick for all the amazing content you gift us with 🤙🏽
I bet it brings back your Kauai days! Too bad you had to move.
sounds like awesome life
I was born in 1963... I grew up in a world with the greatest music ever... Then it got shittier and shitter ;} lol ...
@@kualua6612 It does. I moved back in 2008 for a year. It’s not the quite the same place these days
@@JJJJJVVVVVLLLLL It has been, aside from my Mom getting MS and dying slowly, bedridden in a hospital for 20 years, never being able to play music again. Having to drop out of highschool to care for her, then ending up doing heroin with my Dad on and off for 20 years till he died on 4/20 age 69. Finally got my sh together, starting a business I built over 5 years from being homeless. Then the pandemic shut down my business, ended up homeless and on drugs again. Doing much better now 😁
I love Rick’s enthusiasm. He’s a master of his craft and also a humble fan.
Same
Rick, you take our enjoyment of this music to another level. Much appreciated.
Rick is just one of the most interesting follows on RUclips. Such a talented guy and brings so much info.
A g r e e d .
Absolutely!!
I remember hearing "Do It Again" on the radio when it first came out. I was blown away. I bought the single (anyone else remember 45's?) and the B-side was "Reeling In The Years" and I was like Whoa! These guys are great! So different from everyone else at the time.
As much as I looked forward to hearing SD's tunes on the local rock radio stations back then, the obvious sophistication in the writing and lyrics suggested the music was intended for an audience somewhat older than me and my mid-teens friends- we loved the music but the lyrical references and contexts were largely lost on us. I do appreciate Steely so much more now!
@@RTDF516 I was 20 when I first heard them. My drummer was a DJ at the FM station and he was playing stuff from Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, as well as various obscure and famous rock bands. More variety than anything a few years later (when more FM stations followed and program directors started getting told what "the station's format" had become). At the time, the music was up to the DJs. A much more interesting approach.
Excellent comment. I'm grateful to be "of an age" where Steely Dan's music has always been in my life. Those early singles were like nothing else on the radio in the early '70s, and I got to follow along as they got even more sophisticated and arguably even better, if that's possible. They're utterly unique.
Yup! and Yup!
I thought it was Santana when I first heard it.
Learning steely Dan on guitar took my guitar playing to an entire different level. If you’re a guitarist who’s in a rut, learn those songs. Peg is a great one to start off on.
I’ll bet that’s true with piano too
@@ChrisIn2010 Not to mention song composition, lyrics, sound engineering, scouting studio talent ...
Tony,me too, I forced myself to do it for that very reason...and I love Steely Dan! Also was the same for piano, made me a totally different musician...never thought I'd play jazz chords. They taught me!
I got the entire tombe OF their chords ,music and lyrics.,, i thought RUSH were difficult!!. 3 months later our mostly covers band 1 hour set at nearby pubs managed to add Josie & pretzel logic. The latter easier but few songs without more chords than bars! The mind melting Bb major 9 add 11 or... hard to believe inventions/inversions or "dislocations" to be medically apt. While attempting vocal harmonies..??. haha! Fun. Not for the main(drinking) audience Certainly great memories. Serious Respect to any guitarists or bands able to pull it off👍😎
I had a similar experience learning God Only Knows on guitar. Many of those chords are difficult to play on guitar and I had to learn them of a couple weeks. Once I learned them they became part of my routine when trying to find new progressions. There are so many layers to the GOK record, sometimes the chord progression gets under appreciated.
I love all of Steely Dan's work. However my favorite album has to be The Royal Scam, Larry Carlton's work on some of those songs was just flawless. It was their best guitar album out of the bunch in my opinion.
Yes. However, not just guitar: the music, the lyrics, all of the musicians. Royal scam is the album (of any album) I would choose on an island if I could only have one album
Royal Scam, the song, plays in rotation at a restaurant I frequent. I pointed it out to the 23 year old waitress, and told her what the song was about. Her response of disinterest did not bridge our 40 year difference in age; however, I do know youngsters who do appreciate great music. I won't give up with sharing my appreciation and the pleasure I derive from music with anyone interested.
Totally agree, the best
Scam is my favorite too. Don't take me alive -- good Lord, Mr. Carlton! Green Earrings just transports me. I love The Fez -- Boz Scaggs said it has a groove so wide you could drive an 18-wheeler on it! 😂
I've been a loyal fan since the debut album...they are all absolutely amazing...from beginning to end. RIP Walter Becker.
This is such a wonderfully self indulgent video. I could listen to analyses of Dan material for weeks on end. Great job, Rick!
I heard Donald say in an interview that he and Walter prepared two notebooks with different songs when they were starting out. The first one had all the pop songs in it and it was the one they showed the record labels. The other one was called "dynamite".
love the dynamite shout haha
I love that idea, and can totally see it! Clearly, they knew what they were doing. The whole time!🤟😎
Steely Dan was the band in the 1970's that really blew my hair back as kid... The guitar work on "Katy Lied" was amazing, and then of course their ultimate Album "Aja" changed everything and opened my mind into new musical tastes and experiences,
I was about 16 and just started driving.
We had a giant Buick Riviera cruiser with a great stereo for the time. It was perfect harmony whenever an Aja song came on the FM radio. ✨
"Babs and clean Willy were in love they said, so in love, the preacher's face turned red!" - The Dan has such an eclectic mix of weird-ass lyricism and flat out brilliant musicianship that at times it seemed they were poking fun at just about everything else out there...
Love the reggae vibe.
The best lyricists pack more into a single line than others do in a whole song.
@@reverb.deluxe "Now we dolly back. Now we fade to black." The best directors always leave the nasty bits to the imagination.
They were poking fun at everything
Last year I finally got around to learning the chords to a Black Cow, I’m a better man for it…the world is a better place because of that song….outrageous
My favorite off Aja
'In the corner . . . . of my eye' 👁
Rudy's is a real dive bar in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.
@@seeburg10 yes! I made a little pilgrimage there back in 2018 , I couldn’t be in Manhattan and not go there, is that weird ? 😅
@@Phoebedumplings not at all! My local friend took me there for the same reason. I liked it on its own merits too.
I Respect Aja and Gaucho and I enjoy them but I just love the rawness of "Pretzel Logic" and all the earlier albums They're just so unique , Steely Dan is the best band I have ever listened to " My Old School" is prob my favorite the brass the solo the piano the arrangement the melody and ... I could just go on and on!
Wow. Haitian Divorce (my all time favorite song) on The Royal Scam (my all time favorite album). Even if you take away the mixed in talk box effect that guitar ride-out by Dean Parks STILL gives me goose bumps.
Royal Scam is a masterpiece!
The Royal Scam is also my favorite album.
My friends FORCED me...........
That is a great song. My favorite on that album.
Yeah Ajah has to be one of the best albums ever composed. How were they ever expected to better that! But they still remain one of the best bands on the planet.
It's "Aja
no "'h' at the end.
So glad you didn’t skip over Night by Night. Such an underrated gem of a song that usually gets overlooked even by long time Steely Dan fans
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They played it at Chastain Park in Atlanta this past month June 2022. Loved hearing it as the opening Dan tune of the show.
the song that made me an sd addict. making pretzel logic the first album i bought when i left home to join the military and lost access to my familys record collection. next day i went and bought the lot. that was over 25 yrs ago. now i've seen them 3 times (i live in england. lol. if american i'd follow them round. i got all my girlfriends into them. crowbar them in with a tune you know they'd like. my last g/f got really serious into music and i woke one morning to her actually listening to one of my charlie parker albums. can't help but love them. best lyricists ever with music that makes your body move. love home at last. charlie parker was the sound track to heroin. steely dan finished it off with music and lyrics. love home at last. love em all. literally saved my life. their music got me through countless detox's. daddy don't live in that new york city no more. larry carlton.
It could be a scam don't trust it
@@jamesreding6336 that's quite a name, I must say
Aja was my introduction to jazz and I haven't left since. My musical preference is eclectic, but always fall back on jazz - it's a part of my soul and Aja helped me get there. Thank you for covering Steely Dan!
My favorite band. On some days it’s the Beatles or The Beach Boys but most days if I had to take one bands catalog to the desert island, it would be this band- You just never get tired of the music. It’s so exultingly fresh!
This was really cool. Steely Dan is the only group I know where every one of their albums is different than the rest, yet they are the same at the same time.
Meaning that each is stylistically different, but they all sound like Steely Dan.
Give Ween a listen. Start with quebec or white pepper. Then their 12 golden country greats. Song to song album to album they touch every genre and keep changing. Very creative, very underated, but always recognizable. I thInk Rick don't like them. I've never heard him mention them once. SD, black sabbath, ween, the Beatles and Jethro tull is my top 5 go to bands.
@@leeadickes7235 I gave Ween a bunch of listens many many years ago and they weren't really up my alley then, but I'm older now and my musical tastes have evolved & matured, so Ween probably deserves a deeper investigation now on my part.
Which 3 Ween albums should I start with and in what order should I listen to them?
Study The Beatles… same… they broke new ground with every album and took us to a new place every time… and yet there was no mistaking who the band was.
Congratulations on reaching 3M, Rick! Rick, don't lose that number. Here's to the day that they pay YOU to play their music instead of demonetization. :)
We see what you did there!
Idk how to explain it properly, but I feel like you can definitely hear the jazz influence all the way back from Can’t Buy a Thrill, but man does Aja just blow everything out of the water imo. Such an incredible album and nails the sound they had been building up over the albums.
It’s their masterpiece.
Steely Dan is one of those bands with their songs 🎵 that bring me back to driving late at night 🌉🌙 in my youth. Powerful
Steely always had the best studio guys. They had a new band for every song, practically. Then they went to California for Aja & Gaucho had an all-star cast of L.A. heavyweights. Steve Khan and Mark Knopfler on Gaucho, Larry C on Aja & Royal Scam. Dave Grolnick on keys for Babylon, Pete Christlieb on sax for FM and Deacon Blues, Gadd, Marotta & J Keltner on Aja. Michael McDonald background vocals. Victor Feldman Black Cow solo. These individual performances are solid gold and Steely had them on every album. Engineer Roger Nichols has always been an unspoken hero in the Steely sound as well.
My favorite Dan tune is off of CBAT it's Turn That Heartbeat Over Again. Great songcrafting.
That one doesn't get enough recognition. It's actually pretty ambitious in its structure, and I think if it was arranged differently it could very well be a great fit for Aja.
These guys were engineers or architects of song writing. So technical i dont know anyone who aplies such perfection except maybe pink floyd
For CBAT I'd say midnight cruiser or dirty work.
The Royal Scam was the first Dan album I heard, then Don Fagen’s The Nightfly, which has New Frontier, probably my all time favourite song, and then I devoured them all! Gaucho has to be my most played album though! Had the privilege of seeing them play live in the early 2000s……
Love The Nightfly!
Gaucho is my favorite as well
Gaucho is my favorite SD album, Night Fly is one of my fav sings as well
When I bought a new cartridge for my record player the Nightfly was the record he used to demonstrate. That album sounds phenomenal and I love I.G.Y.
IGY is also a phenomenal song!
Dirty Work is such a good song all the way around, especially the story/ lyrics . Do it again was a song from my childhood, and so its a favorite of mine also. The Dan has such a great body of work, that even those of us who cannot read music can really appreciate their talent more and more, as time goes by !
Dirty Work chorus always reminds me CS & N.
I just love how rock bands were so rich on vocals back in the 70s. Never get tired of that, and I was born in '85.
They had to get us rockers hooked on the earlier stuff (you know, stuff we could actually play in our college band) so that we'd have a chance to get more sophisticated along the way and appreciate Aja and Gaucho for the musical masterpieces that they were. Have to admit though, my favorite section of any of Steely Dan's songs, the one that always cracks me up, is when the horns play California tumbling into the sea from My Old School.
I love that bit too!
The Royal Scam is thee masterpiece. 👍🏾👍🏾
Brilliant song My Old School. For that matter, I don't think there is a single band, including the Beatles, who produced less filler per album than Steely Dan. Every damn song they made was great.
I do love that cynical verse "California...that'll be the day..."! I loved it when I was 11 years old and had no idea what he meant.
I always felt similarly, on top of their frankly being ‘allowed’ to
I grew up listening to the Dan and Nightfly. Now 30 plus years later I still feel youthful because of this timeless music. So many fabulous tracks every single album just keeps on giving. Thank you Don and Walter x
The songwriting and musicianship is perfect
Walter Becker.. not mentioned much but definitely one half of the brain that forms Steely Dan.
Don't overlook the lyrics. Always great, evocative, insouciant. And they could tell a great story (Kid Charlemagne, Haitian Divorce).
It is incredible how popular they are, really special music. Really versatile.
Every time I tune into a Rick video I never know what he's going to cover.... but I'm never disappointed. His breakdowns of music are endlessly fascinating.
Been literally listening to a ton of Dan lately. Simply the best musicians of a century combined with that smooth sound. Your interview with Purdie was top notch.
I loved that band from the moment I heard the opening lick to Reelin' in the Years on an AM radio when I was a lad.
Literally? Like you put the music on a scale and weighed it, and it weighed a ton?
Don’t take me alive is one of my favorite tunes. It’s just so damn grooving. As a drummer it’s a dream to play
If you wanna define Steely Dan by Aja... have at it... The Steely Dan I love is ALL of it... period. They didn't change their sound, they just developed in an organic way as they grew. All good! And WHO could ever be bored with Kid Charlemagne?
yes!
Yeah! Caves of Altamira, Pearl of the Quarter, East St. Loius Toodle-oo, Dirty Work... My Rival, Third World Man, Home at Last, on and on... Greenbook, Just West of Hollywood, Negative Girl, Pixeleen... and my FAVE:
(the title cut!) Gaucho
"Bodacious cowboys, such as your friend, will never be welcome here - high in the Custerdome"
What was that?!! Oh,... "somebody screamed somewhere"...
Yeah I wouldn't say "Steely Dan CHANGED their sound," as if they just woke up one day and decided to do everything differently.
It evolved over time and was always varied, due to the rotation and shuffling of musicians who appeared on the albums.
Keep in mind that Pretzel Logic is the transition point from the original band line-up to using the LA studio pros like Parks, Paich, Porcaro, Purdy because that’s when they moved from NYC. Katy Lied was all studio cats with Diaz, Becker and Fagen. I think the influence of using West Coast pros had a profound influence on their chord quality. Gary Katz is also the unsung hero of Steely Dan. He deserves as much kudos as George Martin has with the Beatles. Rick you missed the best part of Night By Night which is Skunk Baxter’s ripper guitar solo.
I’m surprised that Rick didn’t break down any songs from Katy Lied. I think there is a natural progression from songs like “Doctor Wu” to the material on Aja. I like The Royal Scam just fine, but to me it’s a step back into rock/blues/funk territory.
The cats could play the chords.
@@davidzack8875 My thoughts exactly. And Michael Omartian's piano is the key connection between Katy Lied and Aja. When Royal Scam came out I thought, cool rock sound but kind of harsh. Where's the smooth complexity of Doctor Wu or Bad Sneakers? The former would fit on Aja as--is; Bad Sneakers with a slightly different arrangement would fit too.
They actually moved to LA to record their first album, Can't Buy a Thrill. They got a job at ABC Dunhill records as songwriters through Gary Katz, who was a staff producer at ABC Dunhill and eventually Katz told them to form their own band. So they sent for Dias, Baxter, Hodder and David Palmer, who were in New York. Their transition began during Pretzel Logic sessions when they started to use LA studio ace players.
Night by night is the cool smash hit - I get shivers even writing about - and I know there are so many 🤗😂💪🏼
I love Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's bluesy guitar solo on "Rikki don't lose that number." Today's modern musicians don't even come close! I've been a SD fan since 1974.
Me too. To my ears it's Skunk's take on Jimi, especially "The Wind Cries Mary."
Totally agree…also the solo on “Boston rag” from CTE is ,for me , mind altering…Skunk is right up with the best.
Been a Dan fan forever and ever.
3.1k comments! Amazing! 50 years since Can’t Buy A Thrill! Incredible! It’s so cool to hear the stories behind the soundtrack of my life… Steely Dan!
Your unabashed joy, thrill of licks, breaks, music is magnificent! A delight and privilege to experience. Thank you Rick. 🤸🏽♂️🫶🏼🖖🏽
When my friends and I heard Song for My Father (Horace Silver) at the beginning of Rickie Don’t Lose That Number, we all knew where Steely Dan was headed.
I was a sophomore at university when Can't Buy a Thrill was released. It is one of a very few "perfect" albums, in my opinion. There are no bad songs, nothing to ship. I still love playing it today.
Rick Beato! I love your videos! Keep them coming! You talk about stuff that musicians can understand. We can’t discuss these things with our non-musician friends. In fact, I can’t think of any of my musical friends who are advanced enough to understand this stuff! You fill the void some of us are missing for deep musical conversations!
They have so many songs in regular rotation on the radio. No artist has that many songs currently on radio. Not in NYC. There's gotta be 6 steely Dan songs you could hear any day of the week. I'm almost 50 and I don't own any of their albums but I like a Lot of their songs.
There are so many great songs on all of their albums.It's well worth listening to all of them.
@@philliesfan1971 and Rick gets it!
And passes it along to us.
ain't it a wonderful life?
I live in Florida, and unfortunately the band with that many songs on the rock stations (it after all, mostly nu-country) is The Eagles 😔
I just saw them on Father's Day near Chicago. Killer setlist and great show. Snarky Puppy opened.
Cool
Saw them in cinci
BOOM!
Yes, if you get a chance to experience a live show, It can be life changing. Absolutely the best live show ever, I have seen, & I have seen mostly all the greats of the classic rock era.
That must have been awesome
Reading the comments and glancing at the chat replay, there's probably 50 different "favorite songs" mentioned.
I think that sums up why they were so great.
I think I could listen to “Don’t Take Me Alive” a dozen times a day and not get tired of it.
Rick, Larry’s solo on Everything You Did is incredible and never gets mentioned! It’s a lesson in perfectly in tune bending!
Gaucho contains some of the best Dan songs ever.
The title track, Hey 19, Babylon Sisters and the epic Third World Man.
Ain't no filler here !!
I agree. Rick's assessment of Gaucho is bizarre. It's like he has never listened to the album. Maybe he hasn't.
it was a major drop in quality from Aja. is it a good album? Yes. Is it a great album like Aja? No.
@@jamesrudd8705 "Major Drop"? Hardly.
Are you a musician perchance?
Not a big fan of Hey 19, but Time Out Of Mind is one of their very best, IMO.
@@casparuskruger4807 no, actually Rick's assessment is right. the single best thing about Gaucho is the cover! Nice painting of a couple dancing a tango. The only musical highlight is Larry Carlton's guitar playing. The lyrics are pointlessly obscure and even juvenile. I wasn't surprised when they broke up after that awful album. It was so disappointing to me that when the Nightfly came out I almost didn't buy it. But I liked the single I.G.Y. so I went ahead and bought the Nightfly - and found it to be head and shoulders above Gaucho. Ever since i've wondered if Gaucho was a "contractual obligation" type of album. And now I know I'm not the only one who suspects that.
Steely Dan had major crossover appeal. Even as a hard rock/grunge/metal guy, I always liked Steely Dan and had some of their records (CDs).
I'm a big metal head and I own every Dan CD. They're so good.
Rick, you're just like me. I love to analyze root note movement and chord changes in a song. Steely Dan has DELICIOUS ear candy chord changes and inversions that makes me love their music from the get go. Their sus2, sus4, minor 7th, and major 9th chords are legendary - mu chord anyone? :) But, it's because of their jazz background that allows them to cleverly sub chords and add subtle substitutions throughout, not to mention to pepper their songs with countless enharmonic chords and inversions. Of course later on, their album 'Aja' became synonymous with tightly woven jazz harmonies - 2nds, 9ths, inversions, minor11 , 13 chords - along with brilliant musicianship. Those tight harmonies were made prevalent in the horn and guitar arrangements. I have a classical and jazz background and years of music training. Steely Dan feeds my audio soul and are fodder for the things I learned musically. Thank you for another GREAT video. This was wonderful.
Except jazz players don't put it together that way! I am a long time jazz and Steely Dan fan. I think SD has come up with a whole new vocabulary with it's own syntax, related to, but not really jazz.
Rick, thank you for making this video. The song Aja by Steely Dan now holds a special place in my heart. The last conversation I had with my dad before he passed away in May of this year was telling him this song was jazz rock heaven with the playing of Larry Carlton, Steve Gadd, and Wayne Shorter.
Steely Dan always had a broad and rich texture in their music, even on the very first album. It's like there was always a deep Rhythm bed that supported everything above it and made each of their songs unique. I think Donald Fagan and Walter Becker had a vision of how the music should sound before they even started their band/project, but of course that's just mere conjecture on my part. I hope to see Rick in Seattle, excellent subject as always!
Aja is my go to record when I add or subtract speakers or other gear to my circa 1979 Technics receiver. It’s just sounds sooooo great.
Gaucho works equally well - especially for guitar work.
I'm convinced that Rick's knowledge of AOR/Classic Rock from the 60-90s is UNPARALLELED! Love listening to him analyze songs!
I just got tickets for Steely Dan. I have never seen them live. I cannot wait.
Steely Dan was so good.....many memories were created with my Dad listening to them.
"Midnight Cruiser" was my FAVOURITE Steely Dan song for years! It was one of those tunes that always seemed to sum up my life at points. I'm so glad I'm not alone in appreciating its brilliance.
Those chords are just so recognizable and such a Steely staple! You just can’t get enough, at least I can’t! Love the analysis on the evolution of the Dan sound! Ur the best Rick!
I never get tired of their stuff. I have played their music so much, I can "play" their albums song for song in my mind now & sometimes one gets stuck & I hear it for days. But it never gets old.
Their music just puts you in such a rocking, chill mood.
My favorite Steely Dan song...whichever one I'm listening to.
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