The Steely Dan Appreciation Thread
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Topic: The Steely Dan Appreciation Thread
Posted By: Biggles
Subject: The Steely Dan Appreciation Thread
Date Posted: November 22 2005 at 18:12
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Easily one of my favorite bands. The first time I heard the Dan on theCountdown to Ecstasy album, I thought it was ok, but not great. But I gave it some time, and soon enough I was digging out all my parents' other Dan albums: Katy Lied, Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam, vynil pressings of Aja and Gaucho, and I went on to buy Can't Buy a Thrill for myself. I absolutely love this band. It takes serious genius to make complex jazz into million-selling pop. The music hooks you in, it's catchy and melodic and it can't really be displeasing to anyone's ears (it may not be your kind of music, but it's almost impossible for anyone to outright dislike it), and yet it's so much more substantial and thoughtful that ordinary pop. And the best thing about them? Consistent excellence. Every single album is packed with gems, absolutely no fillers. I can't think of any Steely Dan songs I don't like, and I've heard them all from Can't Buy a Thrill to Gaucho, although I haven't heard the two recent albums. Between 1972 and 1980 they released 7 albums, each just as good as the last, and I've heard good things about the latest 2 albums and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's solo albums. The more I listen to them, the more I love them, and I've listened to them a lot of times by now. They just never get boring. Anyone else like this wonderful band? ------------- The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe. http://www.last.fm/user/sbonfiglioli/?chartstyle=red"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: ChadFromCanada
Date Posted: November 22 2005 at 19:23
| I really like Do It Again, Kid Charlemagne, and Rikki Don't Lose That Number. My dad has a best of and Aja, they are both good. |
Posted By: Phil
Date Posted: April 19 2006 at 09:58
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Biggles, sorry I missed your thread, yes I too absolutely love Steely Dan, and Fagen's solo albums too. Excellent music and one of the few acts with great lyrics too. Personal favourites - Gaucho, Royal Scam, and fagen's Nightfly. His new album "Morph the cat" is pretty good too. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: April 19 2006 at 12:05
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Hated them during the 70's , but I must say re-listening to trhem in the 90's , I like them now, but not enough to own an album. I hold Jeff Baxter responsible for the first downfall of the Doobie Bros - he came in for Stampede which was their first bad album - but much worse was to come when Michael McDonald came in in Minutes By Minutes >>> A real stinker and sounded like Steely Dan ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Zac M
Date Posted: April 19 2006 at 18:10
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Yes, they are one of the best commercial bands of the 70s by far with
very consistent albums. I don't think I can say anything bad about any
of their releases, all quite excellent from what I have heard.
------------- "Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression." -Merleau-Ponty |
Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 08:42
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Haven't heard so much from them, but I love "Hey Ninteen" and some of their other songs I've heard from them. Im gonna check'em out for sure!! ------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! |
Posted By: Equality 7-2521
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 13:06
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Pretzel Logic is one of my favorite albums, I love the album art too
------------- "One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. " |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 15:21
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I like Fagen's solo albums, if that counts. I put Fagen's new album Morph The Cat on my wishlist (next sunday I'll be ordained officially and next week it's my birthday: I hope someone buys it for me). I haven't heard it but it got good good reviews, even better than the last album. |
Posted By: Zac M
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 15:39
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"Hey Nineteen" is a wonderful song. ------------- "Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression." -Merleau-Ponty |
Bj-1 wrote:Posted By: Jaydubz
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 16:14
Moogtron ~ It's an excellent album, much more in the vein of "Nightfly" than "Kamakiriad" - which suits me jes' fine! I had the pleasure of seeing the DF Band last month at Los Angeles' historic Art Deco Wiltern Theater - that band is so f'ing SOLID! What a killer year for concerts so far this year: Dream Theater - Pantages Donald Fagen - Wiltern (upcoming in May/Jume) Spock's Beard - The Galaxy "Zappa Plays Zappa" - Wiltern
------------- "Music is the best." ~ FZ |
(Huge DanFan since '72)Posted By: kenmeyerjr
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 17:07
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I have been into the Dan since, oh, a senior in high school around '75...I think I had Katy Lied and I sorta mentally tied it into this girl I had a crush on (unrequited). At that time, they sounded really mysterious, strange (in a good way), and sometimes like many other bands in spots. Since then, I have heard virtually everything they have done (except the last two, and the last two solo albums), including a rare pre-Dan release, 'You gotta walk it like you talk it or you're gonna lose that beat.' For me, everything after and including Aja is much less interesting than the previous albums. More keyboards and less guitars just made it less interesting for me. But those first, what, five? Those are classics, every one of them. ------------- If you like art of musicians, check my site (the music section) and tell me what you think! http://www.kenmeyerjr.com |
Posted By: Mikerinos
Date Posted: April 20 2006 at 23:02
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I only have Aja and it's really good. I'd like to get some more stuff by them sometime in the future...
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Posted By: Bulbous 45
Date Posted: April 23 2006 at 14:53
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My personal favorate would hane to be Countdown to Ecstacy ------------- all toasters toast toast |
Posted By: Arsillus
Date Posted: April 24 2006 at 21:23
| Steely Dan pwns- I haven't heard a bad Dan album (because there isn't). Becker and Fagen are genious and have quite a personality. |
Posted By: mrgd
Date Posted: April 26 2006 at 20:17
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AS I posted on a related thread , any SD fan must get the 2 AGAINST NATURE DVD. It has a great mix of their finest tunes magnificently executed in my view. So cool! Please, just get it if you don't have it already. ------------- Looking still the same after all these years... mrgd |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: April 26 2006 at 21:19
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I appreciate them. Intelligent, finely-crafted, radio friendly blue-eyed soul.  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: April 27 2006 at 11:53
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The wife told me yesterday that Steely Dan is going to tour with Michael McDonald this summer. I plan to get tickets because I've never seen the Dan live and I know MM puts on a great show. Anyone else heard this tour news? ------------- "Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain |