Alan Parsons Project vs Steely Dan - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Atavachron wrote:

Uhhh . . . Steely Dan.

Uh indeed. Strikes me as a very odd comparison. Yeah, Dan.

rogerthat wrote:

Atavachron wrote:

Uhhh . . . Steely Dan.

Uh indeed. Strikes me as a very odd comparison. Yeah, Dan.

I explained in the first page the similarities. I don't need to re-post that do I?

Polymorphia wrote:

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Wow, I just come back to look at this now and APP is getting stomped on. Wow.

I called it even before any votes came in. Dan is way more beloved.

You and I were both surprised then.

Steely Dan had less commercial music than APP, and that wins it for me. While it's true that SD's later music after the masterwork Aja started to sound too much the same, they had some great albums that came out before that, more than APP. Now, it is true that Alan Parsons has had an enormous impact on progressive music, mostly in the production and engineering areas, his Project was mostly just too commercial, though that music is nearly flawless. Kudos to APP for Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I Robot, Pyramid and Turn of a Friendly Card, even these albums, except the first, leaned to the progressive-lite side, where Steely Dan were much more progressive, leaning more on jazz than on pop.

Steely Dan gets the vote!

The Dan for sure......

One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin

Critical acclaim, commercial success, and the respect of musicians have nothing to do with it. Steely Dan have just got it goin on.

My Music

Both high-class patinated music, near to easy listening.

More form than substance. APP worked more on musical composition.

But I prefer Steely Dan, they have done music author.

The first Steely Dan are the most spontaneous ones.

Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.

^Thanks for sharing your opinion. Smile

APP

I don't doubt SD's talent but they seemed to have the knack of arranging that made most of their songs stale before they finished playing the first time

Edited by kenethlevine - January 18 2019 at 20:22

Atavachron wrote:

^ Overworked? Yeah that's fair, though I suspect they were just so seasoned by the time they started recording together that the seamless production probably couldn't be helped. You can't go backward.

Well, from watching the classic albums docu about Aja and reading Ian Dury's writings about the band (he loved them), I think it is FAIR to say the duo did make the musicians play it again and again and again until they got what they wanted. Apparently, the musicians had nicknamed Fagen "Mother" for being a real pain in the whatever. So the spontaneity does get sucked out of the final recording. HOWEVER, I don't hear any spontaneity in APP's music either and if anything, the grooves are half-dead if not totally. Only the melodies and Woolfson's serene delivery thereof keep the music going (consequently, some of the more questionable guest vocals suffer in comparison). Whereas, certainly CTE, Pretzel and Royal Scam (esp the last) don't lack in grooves; Green Earrings is practically roaring to my ears.

I have discussed about music a lot with Ken and I can say he is not very fond of ironic or snide music. In that case, you can't really relate to the very soul of Steely Dan because it's pretty much drenched in irony save maybe a Deacon Blues. Me, I love the irony and especially the way Fagen delivers it. Some music is meant to make you laugh, not cry. Apparently, Fagen and Becker would be laughing their ass off all the time at the lines they came up with and it's not hard to imagine that.

Edited by rogerthat - January 18 2019 at 20:47

Poll Question: Which band do you prefer?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Alan Parsons Project	32	[39.02%]
Steely Dan	46	[56.10%]
Both equally	2	[2.44%]
Neither	2	[2.44%]
You can not vote in this poll