Dylan wrote:

Mayfair wrote:I was never a Steely Dan fan. The closest I came was watching a great homage band called Project Dan many years ago... gave me insight into the songs and arrangements that I hade never seen or heard due to the shiny, high gloss, waterproof production of the records.

Awwww, quit it....

True story!

"Rikki Don't Lose That Number"- they're telling Rikki not to lose that joint (you know, "roll a number"). A great many Steely Dan songs are drug-related, most of them harsher than "Rikki." "Time Out Of Mind" is about a heroin addict, for instance.

I think of Steely Dan as an incredibly successful conceptual art project, maybe the most successful one ever. They purposefully utilize robotically perfect, smooth, mostly bland musical arrangements in the service of their cryptic, often clearly vicious, misanthropic lyrics. Their sinister messages have sunk into millions of people (including/especially our parents) subliminally through the shiny surfaces of their songs, not just on the radio/stereo, but in airports, department stores, dentists offices, etc.

I've heard the Donald Fagen solo song "I.G.Y" a million times on Muzak. He has that chorus ("what a beautiful world this will be/what a glorious time to be free") which is all anybody takes from the song, but the actual lyrics are a totally angry, sarcastic satire on the bullshit promises of technology and futurism.

Brilliant. N/C

Oh man...
So NOT CRAP.

Playing porno on tv's in the studio while recording to get that seedy feel:
NOT CRAP.
General misanthropic tendencies/Creepy as all hell:
NOT CRAP.
Fagen looks like a vampire:
NOT CRAP.
James Brown like musical Fascism while recording:
NOT CRAP.
The fact that about 50% of the population's skin crawls about the Dan:
NOT CRAP.

They've written some crap songs and they seem like assholes (which makes me like em more), but a friend of mine told me a story about how his dad was in a band that played with the Dan once. Here's how it went down.

Friend's Dad: "Hey."
D. Fagen: "You guys must really practice a lot."

Awesome.

Oh yeah and Fagen's acceptance speech for the grammy for that shitty 2 against nature album, went along the lines of:

D. Fagen: "Thanks."
Also awesome.

Faiz

i like the album art for katy lied.

same wrote:i like the album art for katy lied.

Yeah, that's a nice one.

same wrote:i like the album art for katy lied.

Part of the appeal is the frozen negative. A good trick!

Angus Jung wrote:"Rikki Don't Lose That Number"- they're telling Rikki not to lose that joint (you know, "roll a number"). A great many Steely Dan songs are drug-related, most of them harsher than "Rikki." "Time Out Of Mind" is about a heroin addict, for instance.

i heard a Muzak version of "time out of mind" at the dentist's once. what a great song. that whole record is perfect from start to finish.

yours is a good characterization of the Dan. i agree: they use their innocuous bar rock to slip all that fucked up shit under your door. a close if unlikely parallel, i'd say, would be Devo (who actually made Muzak versions of their own songs before anyone else could).

I always thought Rikki Don't Lose That Number was about homosexual men.
I liked Steely Dan because half the time you didn't know what the hell they were singing about.
Oh well, I listened to Pretzel Logic allot.

Hmmm, they did waste many good drummers with bad drum sounds.

Asia and Can't Buy A Thrill are good, though...

Ok, not crap. I need some syrup for these waffles over here!


Jay

it was wonderful, i just heard rikki... on the radio on the way home from work today. man, it is *definitely* about enticing a guy into a little gay lovin. there's a verse that's kinda a dead giveaway, to me anyways, with lyrics that involve the expression "slow hand" and "play games"

check this shit out...

-------------------------

Rikki Don't Lose That Number
( Steely Dan )

We hear you're leaving, that's ok
I thought our little wild time had just begun
I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run
But if you have a change of heart

Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home

I have a friend in town, he's heard your name
We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row
We could stay inside and play games, I don't know
And you could have a change of heart

Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home

[break]

You tell yourself you're not my kind
But you don't even know your mind
And you could have a change of heart

Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home

Rikki, don't lose that number
(Rikki, don't lose that number)
Rikki, don't lose that number

-----------------------------------------

man, that second verse is like the gayest thing i've ever heard!

A friend of mine, my roommate, whose opinion I respect, swears by Steely Dan. Basically, he says that conceptually they're similar to Pavement, but better. We've come home late at night, after the bars have closed, and he's done a big Steely Dan presentation. We listen to Greatest Hits; we discuss. I can never get into it. I like Pavement. What can I say? They seem more of our time. Though they haven't aged well with me. Steely Dan has fared worse.

Musically, they remind me of Sea and Cake. They're probably better than Sea and Cake. I enjoy that band as much as anyone who's spent the 90s in Chicago; but I never connected with them.

I don't know. People have made compelling arguments for SD. I'll listen again. But, for now, I vote CRAP; with a high waffle factor.