Dan annex

[tory]

A space for Dan chat. My son is playing this incessantly atm. Good lad.

He prefers the Dan over the Beatles - this is proof of their supposed superiority.

[tory]

I've been playing this a lot - it's shit hot

[Reactionary Rage]

I saw them early last year, minus Becker obv and it was fabulous. I was grooving like a bastard.

One of my very favourite bands. They never age and I never get bored of them. They're just so....rich and so perfectly realised.

One of those bands where if I meet somebody who likes 'em I'm always like "dude!".

[Deleted]

Jan 7, 2020 19:51:00 GMT tory said:

I've been playing this a lot - it's shit hot

My neck o' the woods. I remember when they announced it - everyone I knew wanted to go.

[loveless]

[loveless]

I like bits from throughout their initial run. The sort of dark, piano heavy Katy Lied is a firm favorite, and the surrounding period (Pretzel Logic and the more sinister sounding The Royal Scam) is nearly as great.

In terms of the two really "going for it" and actually standing on the very top of the mountain breathing the most rarefied air for seven and a half minutes, I definitely consider "Deacon Blues" the absolute summit of their endeavors - their "Good Vibrations", if you will. There is something so satisfyingly perfect about the song, the sound, the recording, the performances - it manages to land in a state of glorious slickness without veering into antiseptic sterilization. The premise is inspired, the sort of never ending cycle of "non obvious chords each resolving into the next, equally anticipatory chord"...it's like a series of airplane landings that never quite concludes. I said something many years ago on BCB about the sort of gloriously narcotic sounds of "70s hi fi magic", those phased guitars and electric pianos just gliding through Dark Side of the Moon and Court and Spark. This song may be the peak of that sound and feel.

It was the inescapable muzak of my middle childhood (specifically 8-10 years old), and it conjures a vivid sense memory of that "key party generation".

So sayeth Walter Becker: "I remember the night that we mixed that one thinking that it was really good and wanting to hear it over and over which is never the case."

So sayeth Tonight Show saxman Pete Christlieb: "They told me to play what I felt. Hey, I'm a jazz musician, that's what I do ... so I recorded my first solo ... we listened back and they said it was great. I recorded a second take and that's the one they used. I was gone in a half hour. The next thing I know I'm hearing myself in every airport bathroom in the world."

Drink it in.

[Sneelock]

"Do it Again" was all over the place and a bunch of my friends had that first record. it was the next record that really won me over and I've pretty much stayed won over.

A friend took me to see them while Becker was still kicking. All the jazz guys do a hot warm up in lieu of an opening act. I am shocked that Don & Walter come out & open Steely Dan Proper with my favorite song from that album.

[fange]

A fave deep cut, 'Here At The Western World'. Love the little guitar break.

[fonz]

My faves for the last couple of years have been Boston Rag and Razor Boy.

Donnie’s vocals on Razor Boy are sublime. For a guy who has such an odd voice. Definitely a big selling point for me. I harboured the idea for a long time, that, if he can be the singer in a multi platinum band, then I can definitely MAKE IT on the big stage! But, idiosyncratic as his voice is...he can still sing...

["BING E BONG"]

Oh, I love 'Razor Boy'. They lose me after that album, but that one is a total joy.

[fange]

I was listening to CTE today while out walking, and just drinking in how good it was.

'The Boston Rag' in particular really had me singing to myself in the street, and air guitaring like a loon; that fucking solo, man, it's just INSANELY good.

And the vibes touches on Razor Boy, and the lap steel on Pearl, and the... shit, i could go on and on. A mothertrucker of an album.

[Charlie O.]

I've been revisiting the Dan myself lately.

CTE has always been my favorite (with PL a close second). As great as those later-'70s albums are - and they are great - I can't help but think I'd love them more if that original line-up had featured on them (though with "specialist" guests, as always). The playing on those first three albums in particular just feels more "lived in" - like the musicians have something personally invested that a session ace, however formidable, just isn't gonna have.

I'm aware of what Becker and Fagen (and probably most of their fans) would make of this notion. (I think CTE is/was B&F's least favorite.)

[Sneelock]

well, it's still "a rock band" at that point, isn't it? I mean, there's rocky stuff to come (like 'don't take me alive') but, on the whole, the players become pretty much session players like Zappa's guys were - regardless of how frequently they were used.

I think by "Pretzel Logic" it's pretty clear who was calling the shots and "Rikki" was goddam everywhere.


I was reading something Joni Mitchell is supposed to have said about "Gaucho". Supposedly she thought it was their best and thought critics basically dumped on it because it came after "Aja". She supposedly said that if it had come first and Aja second that she thought the critical consensus might have been reversed.

I'm not sure I agree but there might be something to it.

[Reactionary Rage]

Gaucho is wonderful but then all their albums from that period are either very, very, good or great.

CTE has that live band in the studio cooking on gas feel. Just really sharp, on it performances complete with some great songs.

I still think it might be their best but like Led Zep you can make a strong case for a number of their albums being their best just because they were so goddamn consistent.

[Charlie O.]

Apr 25, 2022 16:17:03 GMT Sneelock said:

well, it's still "a rock band" at that point, isn't it? I mean, there's rocky stuff to come (like 'don't take me alive') but, on the whole, the players become pretty much session players like Zappa's guys were - regardless of how frequently they were used.

I feel quite the same way about Zappa's bands - much more so, in fact. Again, not a view held by Zappa himself or by the typical fanatic.