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Steely Dan



 
 
Steely Dan is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
-rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 band centered on core members Walter Becker
Walter Becker

Walter Becker is an American musician and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bass guitar and a co-writing half of the duet which make-up the rock music band Steely Dan....
 and Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen

Donald Jay Fagen is an United States musician and songwriter. He is co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the jazz-influenced Rock music musical ensemble Steely Dan....
. The band reached a peak of popularity in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, rock
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
, funk
Funk

Funk is an United States Music genre that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music....
, R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
, and pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."

The band's music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies played by Becker and Fagen along with a revolving cast of rock and pop studio musicians.






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Quotations


Gaucho, Steely Dan, 1980 Dan, Steely

I cried when I wrote this song Sue me if I play too long This brother is free I'll be what I want to be.

Deacon Blues (1977)

I have never met Napoleon But I plan to find the time.

Pretzel Logic (1974)

Katy tried I was halfway crucified I was on the other side Of no tomorrow.

Dr. Wu (1975)

Peg It will come back to you Then the shutter falls You see it all in 3-D It's your favorite foreign movie.

Peg (1977)

She thinks I'm crazy But I'm just growing old.

Hey 19 (1980)





Encyclopedia


Steely Dan is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
-rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 band centered on core members Walter Becker
Walter Becker

Walter Becker is an American musician and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bass guitar and a co-writing half of the duet which make-up the rock music band Steely Dan....
 and Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen

Donald Jay Fagen is an United States musician and songwriter. He is co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the jazz-influenced Rock music musical ensemble Steely Dan....
. The band reached a peak of popularity in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, rock
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
, funk
Funk

Funk is an United States Music genre that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music....
, R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
, and pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."

The band's music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies played by Becker and Fagen along with a revolving cast of rock and pop studio musicians. Steely Dan's "cerebral," "wry" and "eccentric" lyrics are filled with sharp sarcasm which often touches upon such "dark" themes as drugs, crime, and their true-to-life "contempt of west coast hippie
Hippie

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster , and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district....
s." The pair are well-known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio, with one notable example being that Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980's Gaucho
Gaucho (album)

Gaucho was Steely Dan last album before the band's 10-year breakup from June 1981 to October 1991. The album, originally released in 1980, was also the band's last studio album until the 2000 release of Two Against Nature....
 — an album that contains only seven songs.

Steely Dan toured from 1972 to 1974, but in 1975 became a purely studio
Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for Sound recording and reproduction. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustics to achieve the desired acoustic properties ....
-based act. The late 1970s saw the group release a series of extremely successful singles and albums. They disbanded in 1981, and throughout most of the next decade, the duo remained largely inactive in the music world. During this time, the group steadily built and maintained "a cult following
Cult following

A cult following is a group of fan devoted to a specific area of pop culture. These dedicated followings are usually relatively small, and often pertain to items that don't have broad mainstream appeal....
." In 1993, the group resumed playing live concerts; the early 21st century saw Steely Dan release two albums of new material, the first of which earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year

The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer....
. They have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.

History


Early years

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met at Bard College
Bard College

Bard College, founded in 1860, is a small, highly selective four-year Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, New York....
 in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

Annandale-on-Hudson is a Hamlet in Dutchess County, New York , New York, USA, in the Hudson Valley in the Red Hook, New York , across the Hudson River from Kingston, New York....
, in 1967. Fagen was passing by a cafe called The Red Balloon when he heard Becker rehearsing the electric guitar. He would later recount the experience during an interview: "I hear this guy practicing, and it sounded very professional and contemporary. It sounded like, you know, like a black person, really." He immediately introduced himself to Becker, and asked him "Do you want to be in a band?" They quickly realized that they enjoyed similar music, and even listened to the same jazz radio stations; not long after, they began writing songs together.

The two soon began playing in local groups. One of these bands, first known as The Bad Rock Group and later as The Leather Canary, included future comedy star Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase

Cornelius Crane ?Chevy? Chase is an United States Emmy Award comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Born into a prominent family, Chase quickly became a key cast member in the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live, where his Weekend Update skit quickly became a staple of the show....
 on drums. They played covers of songs written by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock music band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards....
 ("Dandelion"), Moby Grape
Moby Grape

Moby Grape is an United States rock music group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country music, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music....
 ("Hey Grandma"), and Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon

William James "Willie" Dixon was a well-known United States blues bassist, singing, songwriter, arranger and record producer. His songs, including "Little Red Rooster", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Evil ", "Spoonful", "Back Door Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "I Ain't Superstitious", "My Babe", "Wang Dang Doodle", and "Bring It on Home"...
 ("Spoonful") along with a handful of originals. Terence Boylan, another Bard musician, remembered that Fagen immediately took to the Beatnik
Beatnik

Beatniks were part of a sociocultural movement in the 1950s and early 1960s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle in the wake of WWII....
 lifestyle while attending college: "They never came out of their room, they stayed up all night. They looked like ghosts — black turtlenecks and skin so white that it looked like yogurt. Absolutely no activity, chain-smoking Lucky Strikes and dope
Cannabis

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa L., Cannabis indica Lam., and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch....
." Fagen himself would later remember it as "probably the only time in my life that I actually had friends."

After Fagen graduated in 1969, the two moved to Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
 and tried to peddle their tunes in the Brill Building
Brill Building

The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway in New York City, just north of Times Square. The Brill Building was intended as a financial office space for brokers and bankers....
 in midtown Manhattan. Kenny Vance, a member of the pop group Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans

Jay and the Americans were a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane , Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne , though their greatest success on the Billboard magazine came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black....
, who had a production office in the building, took an interest in their material that led to work on the soundtrack of the low-budget Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III was an United States comedian, actor and writer.Pryor was a storyteller known for unflinching examinations of racism and customs in modern life, and was well-known for his frequent use of colorful, vulgar and profane language and racial epithets....
 film You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat
You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat

You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat is a 1971 in film comedy film-drama film film directed by Peter Locke. It involves a young hippie and his search for the meaning of life while in Central Park....
 in 1971. Becker later spoke bluntly of the soundtrack: "We did it for the money." A series of demos made between about 1968 and 1971 are available in bootleg form. This collection features approximately twenty-five tracks, and is notable for the stripped down production and decidedly lo-fi nature of these tracks (many songs are just Fagen and his piano) is contrary to many other Steely Dan works. In addition, although some of these songs ("Caves of Altamira", "Brooklyn", "Barrytown") re-recorded for Steely Dan albums, the majority of them were never officially released.

Becker and Fagen joined the touring band of Jay and the Americans for roughly a year and a half. They were at first paid $100 per show, but partway through their tenure the band's tour manager
Tour Manager

A tour manager is the person who organises a schedule of appearances of a band at a sequence of Music venues. The tour manager has responsibilities to the band, their management and to the other members of the team who are involved in a tour....
 cut their salaries in half. The group's lead singer, Jay Black
Jay Black

Jay Black is an American singer, also known as "The Voice," whose height of fame came in the 1960s when he was the lead singer of the band Jay and the Americans....
, dubbed Becker and Fagen "the Manson and Starkweather of rock 'n' roll", referring to cult leader Charles Manson
Charles Manson

Charles Milles Manson is an United States criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-Commune that arose in California in the late 1960s....
 and spree killer
Spree killer

A spree killer, also known as a rampage killer, is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on his victims in a short time in multiple locations....
 Charles Starkweather
Charles Starkweather

Charles Raymond Starkweather was an United States spree killer who murdered 11 victims in Nebraska and Wyoming during a road trip with his underage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate....
.

They had little immediate success after the move to Brooklyn, although Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand is an United states singer and film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, political activist, film producer and film director....
 recorded their song "I Mean To Shine" on her 1971
1971 in music

Events*February 5 - Eric Burdon & War disband. They never performed together again until April 21, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music....
 Barbra Joan Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand (album)

Barbra Joan Streisand is an album by Barbra Streisand, released in August, 1971 on Columbia Records....
 album. Little other significant headway was made by the pair until one of Vance's cronies, Gary Katz
Gary Katz

Gary Katz is an American record producer, most famous for his work in that capacity on every Steely Dan album recorded during the first run of their career, from Can't Buy A Thrill in 1972 to Gaucho in 1980, as well as the Donald Fagen solo album, The Nightfly in 1982....
, moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
 to become a staff producer for ABC Records
ABC Records

ABC Records started in 1955 in music as ABC-Paramount Records, the record label of Am-Par Record Corporation , formed in New York City in 1955. In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent record producer and purchased regionally- released records for national distribution....
. He hired Becker and Fagen as staff songwriters and they flew to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. Katz would produce all their 1970s albums with a collaboration with engineer Roger Nichols.

After realizing their songs were too complex for other ABC artists, at Katz's suggestion they formed their own band with guitarists Denny Dias
Denny Dias

Denny Dias is an United States guitarist, most known for being a founding member of Steely Dan....
 and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
Jeff Baxter

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is an United States guitarist best known for his stints in the rock and roll bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s....
, drummer Jim Hodder
Jim Hodder (musician)

Jim Hodder was an United States drummer, best known as the original drummer for Steely Dan.He was born in Boston in 1947. He joined Steely Dan in 1972, but left in 1974....
 and singer David Palmer
David Palmer (vocalist)

David Palmer is an United States singer and songwriter, most noted for his lead vocals on the Steely Dan song "Dirty Work" and as lyricist of the Carole King #2 hit, "Jazzman ."...
, and Katz signed the band to ABC as recording artists. Being fans of Beat Generation
Beat generation

The Beat Generation is a term used to describe a group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, and also the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired ....
 literature, Fagen and Becker named the band after "Steely Dan III from Yokohama
Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kanto region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area....
", a strap-on dildo
Strap-on dildo

A strap-on dildo is a dildo designed to be worn by one partner and used to penetrate another partner vaginally, anally or oral sex, used by both heterosexual and homosexual couples....
 referred to in the William Burroughs novel The Naked Lunch. The addition of Palmer as a second lead vocalist was due to a combination of Fagen's resistance to singing in front of an audience and the label's feeling that his voice was not "commercial" enough. Fagen lacked confidence in his voice and was known to have suffered from occasional bouts of stage fright
Stage fright

Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to performance in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially ....
.

In 1972, ABC sent out promotional copies of Steely Dan's first single, "Dallas" backed with "Sail the Waterway." It is unclear if "stock" copies were ever released to the general public, and if they were, the single sold so poorly that promotional copies are more abundant today (whereas the reverse is true for most releases). Both songs have be re-released only rarely: on a 12in 1978 European EP titled "Plus Fours" (featuring "Dallas," "Sail the Waterway," "Do It Again," and "Haitian Divorce"); and "The Probe Family Sampler", released by Music for Pleasure in the UK, which included "Dallas."

Can't Buy a Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy

Cant Buy A Tcant Buy A Thrill
Their debut album, Can't Buy a Thrill
Can't Buy a Thrill

Can't Buy a Thrill is the first album by Steely Dan. Originally released in 1972 in music, the album was a huge success. It went gold album, and then platinum, peaking at #17 on the charts....
, was released in 1972 and made an immediate impression with the hit singles "Do It Again
Do It Again (Steely Dan song)

"Do It Again" is a song by American jazz-rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their debut 1972 album Can't Buy A Thrill....
", the Palmer-sung "Dirty Work," and "Reelin' In the Years
Reelin' in the Years

"Reelin' In the Years" is a song by jazz rock band Steely Dan, released as the sixth track on their 1972 in music album, Can't Buy a Thrill....
." "Do It Again" and "Reelin' In the Years" reached #6 and #11 respectively on the Billboard singles chart. All three tunes soon became staples of FM radio. "Reelin' In the Years" also features an acclaimed guitar solo by Elliott Randall
Elliott Randall

Elliott Randall is an United States guitarist, most known for being a session musician with popular artists. Randall has played the well-known guitar solos from Steely Dan's hit Reelin' in the Years and Fame ....
.

Because of Fagen's reluctance to sing live, David Palmer handled most of the vocal duties on stage. During the first tour, it became apparent to Katz and Becker that Palmer's interpretation of the material wasn't having the same impact, and eventually convinced Fagen that he was the one who best conveyed the attitude and meaning of the songs. Palmer quietly left the group during the recording of the second album, soon hooking up with Carole King
Carole King

Carole King is an United States singer, songwriter, and pianist. She was most active as a singer during the first half of the 1970s, though she was a successful songwriter for considerably longer both before and after this period....
, with whom he wrote the 1974 #2 hit, "Jazzman
Jazzman

"Jazzman" is a 1974 song performed by Carole King, from her album Wrap Around Joy. King provided the sheet music for the song, while David Palmer wrote the lyrics....
."

The lineup of Can't Buy a Thrill and its follow up, Countdown to Ecstasy, were very band oriented. Denny Dias handled the rhythm guitar as well as the famous electric sitar solo on "Do It Again," and Jeff Baxter handled lead guitar duties. Jim Hodder played drums as well as singing on one track, "Midnite Cruiser." As for Becker and Fagen themselves, Becker played bass and sang some sparse backup vocals while his partner Fagen played all keyboards (piano, electric piano, organ) and sang lead on every track but three.
Steely Dan Countdown To Ecstacy
Countdown to Ecstasy
Countdown to Ecstasy

Countdown to Ecstasy was the second album by rock music group Steely Dan in July 1973. The album was written and recorded in rushed sessions between live concerts and produced two Billboard Hot 100 hits, "Show Biz Kids" and "My Old School," which have continued to be popular both on radio and in concert....
, released in 1973, failed to match the level of commercial success of the first album (probably to the surprise of few, as it was much more jazz/blues oriented than its predecessor). Becker and Fagen blamed this on having to rush-record the album between tour dates and they weren't entirely happy with some of the performances on the record. The album's singles included "Show Biz Kids" (curiously chosen to release as a hopeful hit) and "My Old School," both considered "classic" Steely Dan by fans and critics alike, but failing to make any significant impact on the charts. However, "My Old School" (and, to a lesser extent, "Bodhisattva") did become a minor FM Rock staple as years passed, and remains so to this day. "Bodhisattva" was also notable as the only readily available live recording of Steely Dan for many years (as the B-side of the 1980 single "Hey Nineteen").

Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied

Pretzel Logic Album
Steely Dan returned to prominence with their third LP Pretzel Logic
Pretzel Logic

Pretzel Logic is the third Steely Dan album, originally released in 1974. The album's opening song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", became the band's biggest hit, reaching #4 on the charts soon after the release of the album....
 in early 1974, a diverse set that produced another hit single, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Rikki Don't Lose That Number

"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is a single released in 1974 in music by rock/pop/jazz group Steely Dan. Featured as the opening track of their third album Pretzel Logic, it became the group's highest charted record, peaking at #4 on "Billboard" in the summer of 1974....
", a US Top Ten hit (#4 on the Billboard chart) which became yet another enduring FM rock radio staple. It is also notable as the only Steely Dan album to contain a song by another composer—their note-for-note transcription of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
's and Bubber Miley's "East St Louis Toodle-oo". This song also holds other importance as the only instrumental ever done by Steely Dan, the only Steely Dan song to feature a banjo, and the only song on which Donald Fagen is credited with playing the saxophone (he also plays the piano solo). Album cuts "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" and the title track would go on to be fan favorites.

During the tour for the previous album, the band had added Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher

Sonny & Cher were an United States pop music duo, made up of husband and wife team Sonny Bono and Cher in the 1960s and 1970s. In their career Sonny & Cher had sold 80 million records worldwide....
's young session drummer Jeff Porcaro
Jeff Porcaro

Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro was a highly regarded Session musician drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto . While already an established studio player in the 1970's, he shot to national prominence as the drummer on the Steely Dan album titled Katy Lied, one of the few Steely Dan albums on which the same drummer played...
 (later a member of Toto
Toto (band)

Toto was an United States Rock music Rock band founded in 1977 by some of the most popular and experienced session musicians of the era. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the 1980s, beginning with the band's Toto , released in 1978, which immediately brought the band into the mainstream rock spectrum of the time....
) and also added vocalist-percussionist Royce Jones
Royce Jones

Royce Jones is a Grammy-winning American musician best known for his work as a touring vocalist with the bands Steely Dan Ambrosia . In the studio, Jones contributed vocals to David Pack's Anywhere You Go, Odyssey 's self-titled release, Bruzer's Round 1 and Stephan Cohn's self-titled release....
 and vocalist-keyboardist Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)

Michael McDonald is a Music recording sales certification and Music recording sales certification United States R&B/soul music singer and songwriter....
. Porcaro and McDonald would become prominent on this and future Steely Dan recordings and would illustrate the duo's increasing reliance on session musicians. For example, "Parker's Band" features both Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon (musician)

James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session musician drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of that time and was the drummer of the blues-rock Supergroup , Derek & The Dominos....
 and Jeff Porcaro playing drums, and both styles can easily be distinguished by panning between the left and right stereo channels on the album. This album also marks the first time Walter Becker would play guitar (6 string electric guitar) on a Steely Dan album.

A rift between Becker-Fagen and the other members of the group (particularly Baxter and Hodder) began to develop when the latter two seemed more intent on touring. Becker and Fagen disliked touring and wanted to withdraw from the road to concentrate solely on writing and recording. The other members also felt discouraged by their diminishing roles in the studio and gradually left the group, although Dias stayed on for some Aja tracks and McDonald continued to contribute vocals up to the 1980 Gaucho
Gaucho (album)

Gaucho was Steely Dan last album before the band's 10-year breakup from June 1981 to October 1991. The album, originally released in 1980, was also the band's last studio album until the 2000 release of Two Against Nature....
; Baxter left to join The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers is an United States rock and roll musical group. They have sold over 22 million albums in the United States from the 1970s to the present....
, where he was later joined by McDonald. The band retired from touring after a July 4, 1974 concert at the Santa Monica Civic Center in California. A recording of the show's opening track, "Bodhisattva", would later be released as a B-side.

The 1975 LP Katy Lied
Katy Lied

Katy Lied is the fourth album by Steely Dan, released in 1975. It went gold album and peaked at #13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" also charted at #37....
 saw the duo using a diverse group of session players, including Porcaro and McDonald, as well as guitarist Elliott Randall
Elliott Randall

Elliott Randall is an United States guitarist, most known for being a session musician with popular artists. Randall has played the well-known guitar solos from Steely Dan's hit Reelin' in the Years and Fame ....
, jazz saxophonist Phil Woods
Phil Woods

Philip Wells Woods is an United States jazz bebop Alto saxophone, clarinetist, bandleader and composer....
, saxophonist/bass-guitarist Wilton Felder
Wilton Felder

Wilton Felder is both a saxophone and bass guitar player, and is best known as a founding member of The Crusaders, initially called the Jazz Crusaders....
, percussionist-vibraphonist Victor Feldman
Victor Feldman

Victor Stanley Feldman was a United Kingdom jazz musician.He caused a sensation as a musical prodigy when he was "discovered" at age 7. His family were all musical and his father founded the Feldman Swing Club in London in 1942 to showcase his talented son....
, keyboardist (and later producer) Michael Omartian
Michael Omartian

Michael Omartian is an Armenian-American songwriter, Grammy Award-winning keyboardist, and music producer. He has produced albums for several pop music artists including Christopher Cross, Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, the Jacksons, Rod Stewart, Trisha Yearwood, Clint Black, Donna Summer, Joe Esposito , Peter Cetera, Benny Hester, Steve C...
 and guitarist Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton

Larry Carlton is an United States jazz fusion, Pop music, and rock music guitarist and a singer, dividing his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands....
, with only Dias remaining from the original group. The album went gold on the strength of the songs "Black Friday" and "Bad Sneakers
Bad Sneakers

"Bad Sneakers" is a song by jazz Rock music band Steely Dan. It was released as the second track on their 1975 album Katy Lied and it also appears on A Decade of Steely Dan....
", but Becker and Fagen were so dissatisfied with the sound of the album (caused by a faulty DBX
Dbx (noise reduction)

dbx is a family of Audio noise reduction systems developed by dbx, Inc.. The most common implementations are dbx Type I and dbx Type II for analog magnetic tape recording and, less commonly, vinyl Gramophone records....
 noise reduction system) that they publicly apologized for it (on the album's back cover), and for years refused to even listen to it in its final form. Often considered a "transitional album," it also included such gems as "Doctor Wu" (which also got minor FM airplay for many years) and "Chain Lightning".

The Royal Scam and Aja

The Royal Scam
The Royal Scam

The Royal Scam is an album by Steely Dan, originally released in 1976. The album went gold album and peaked at #15 on the charts. The Royal Scam features more prominent guitar work than other Steely Dan albums....
 was released in May 1976 on ABC Records and is the group's most guitar-oriented record, in part due to Carlton's contributions, and it also features session drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
Bernard Purdie

Bernard "Pretty" Purdie is an American drummer and session musician from Elkton, Maryland who has worked with various well-known soul music, rock music, pop music, and jazz musicians....
. Like Katy Lied, it sold well without the strength of a real hit single, although "Kid Charlemagne
Kid Charlemagne

"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a Single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam. It is notable as a fusion of a funk rhythm and jazz harmonies with rock and roll instrumentals and lyrical style....
" and "The Fez" (in which keyboardist Paul Griffin earned a rare co-writing credit) would become two fan favorites. Also popular in Dan circles as well as at modern Steely Dan shows are the hard rocking "Don't Take Me Alive", the shuffling "Sign in Stranger", and the ethereal "Caves of Altamira." "Haitian Divorce" became a surprise minor hit in the UK.
Aja Album Cover
Their sixth LP, the jazz-influenced Aja
Aja (album)

Aja is an album by the rock band Steely Dan. The album was named after the Korean wife of group co-founder Donald Fagen's friend's brother. Originally released in 1977 in music, it became the group's best-selling album....
 saw Becker and Fagen using the services of top-notch jazz-rock musicians including Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton

Larry Carlton is an United States jazz fusion, Pop music, and rock music guitarist and a singer, dividing his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands....
, Lee Ritenour
Lee Ritenour

Lee Mack "Captain Fingers" Ritenour is an internationally acclaimed guitarist, recording artist, composer and producer. He began his career at 16 as a session player....
, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an United States jazz composer and saxophone, commonly regarded as one of the most important American jazz saxophonists and composers since the 1960s....
 and Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey

Chuck Rainey, is a bass guitar session musician known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and The Supremes....
. Aja won several awards, shot into the Top Five in the U.S. charts within three weeks of release, and was one of the first American LPs to be certified 'platinum' for sales of over 1 million albums. The first single off the album was "Peg," which featured Michael McDonald's backing vocals and peaked at US #11. Other singles included "Deacon Blues
Deacon Blues

"Deacon Blues" is a song by Steely Dan from their 1977 album Aja .The song contains the lines:In a 1994 AOL chat interview with Becker, someone asked him about the inspiration for "Deacon Blues"....
" (#19) and "Josie" (#26). The album cemented the duo's reputation as songwriters, as well as their reputation for studio perfectionism. The story of the making of the album has been documented in an episode of the popular TV and DVD series, Classic Albums
Classic Albums

Classic Albums is a documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of pop and rock music....
. The album features such jazz and fusion luminaries as saxophonists Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an United States jazz composer and saxophone, commonly regarded as one of the most important American jazz saxophonists and composers since the 1960s....
, Pete Christlieb
Pete Christlieb

Pete Christlieb is a jazz bebop, West Coast jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist born in Los Angeles, California and son of bassoonist Don Christlieb....
 and Tom Scott
Tom Scott (musician)

Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, Conducting and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble L.A. Express....
, drummer Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd

Stephen Kendall Gadd is an United States session musician and studio musician drummer, notable for his work with Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, Joe Cocker, Stuff , Bob James , Chick Corea, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Eddie Gomez, The Manhattan Transfer, Michal Urbaniak, Steps Ahead, Al Di Meola, Manhattan Jazz...
 and ex-Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 pianist/vibist Victor Feldman
Victor Feldman

Victor Stanley Feldman was a United Kingdom jazz musician.He caused a sensation as a musical prodigy when he was "discovered" at age 7. His family were all musical and his father founded the Feldman Swing Club in London in 1942 to showcase his talented son....
. It also featured Becker's trademark clean, jazzy guitar leads as a prominent solo voice where they had only appeared sporadically in prior releases.

Soon after the success of Aja, Becker and Fagen were asked to contribute the title track for the movie FM. The movie was one of the year's worst box-office disasters but the song was another hit, barely missing out on the Top 20 in the US and was another minor hit in the UK. The group still performs it today.

Gaucho and breakup

Becker and Fagen took most of 1978 off before beginning to write songs for the follow-up to Aja. The project would become plagued by technical, legal, and personal problems and ultimately cost them their partnership for many years.

In March 1979, ABC was bought by MCA Records
MCA Records

MCA Records was an United States-based record label owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part....
, and for most of the next two years they were caught in contractual problems that prevented them from releasing the album. Becker and Fagen had planned on leaving ABC for Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an United States record label that operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. It is also affectionately known as "Warners" and 'the Bunny', based on the Bugs Bunny cartoons released by Warner Bros....
 and wanted to release the next album on it, but MCA claimed ownership of the material, blocking Fagen and Becker from putting it out on any other label.

The first track completed for the album was "The Second Arrangement". The song was a favorite of producer Gary Katz and engineer Roger Nichols. In late December 1979, after weeks of working on a particular recording of the track, approximately 3/4 of the song was accidentally erased by an assistant engineer who was performing maintenance on the studio's tape machines. It was Nichols who broke the bad news to the band; Fagen walked out of the studio without saying a word when he was told about the song. Attempting to re-record "The Second Arrangement" proved to be too discouraging, and the song was eventually abandoned. However, a handful of demo and outtake recordings of the song exist in bootleg form.

Becker was also having personal difficulties. His girlfriend at the time, Karen Stanley, was found dead of a drug overdose
Drug overdose

The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced....
 in their shared Upper West Side
Upper West Side

The Upper West Side is a neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River above 59th Street ....
 Apartment. Becker was hit with a $17 million wrongful death suit, later settled out of court in his favor, but he was hurt by the accusations and the tabloid press coverage that followed. He also had his own substance abuse problems to deal with. Not long after, Becker was hit by a taxi while attempting to cross a Manhattan street, shattering his right leg in several places and forcing him to go about on crutches. His sense of humor was evident in his statement to Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine that he and the taxi were in breach of the laws of quantum physics
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a set of principles underlying the most fundamental known description of all physical systems at the microscopic scale . Notable amongst these principles are both a dual wave-like and particle-like behavior of matter and radiation, and prediction of probabilities in situations where classical physics predicts certaintie...
, trying to occupy the same space at the same time.

Another lawsuit dogged the band, this time regarding the title track for the album. Jazz composer Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett is an United States pianist, composer and jazz icon.His career started with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in both classical music and jazz, as a group leader and a solo performer....
 claimed that the song had been based on one of his own compositions, entitled "Long As You Know You're Living Yours". Fagen later admitted he'd loved the song and was strongly influenced by it. Jarrett sued for copyright infringement
Copyright infringement

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works....
 and eventually won a co-writing credit as well as royalties
Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property right.Royalties can be determined as a percentage of gross or net sales derived from use of the asset or a fixed price per unit sold....
 on future pressings.

Gaucho
Gaucho (album)

Gaucho was Steely Dan last album before the band's 10-year breakup from June 1981 to October 1991. The album, originally released in 1980, was also the band's last studio album until the 2000 release of Two Against Nature....
 was finally released in November 1980 and, despite the problems that had gone into recording the album, it was another major success. The first single, "Hey Nineteen
Hey Nineteen

"Hey Nineteen" is a song by United States jazz fusion band Steely Dan, written by members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and released on their 1980 album Gaucho ....
", peaked at #10 on the pop chart in early 1981, and "Time Out of Mind" (featuring Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler Order of the British Empire is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter and film score composer.Knopfler is best-known as the lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977 with his brother David Knopfler....
 from Dire Straits
Dire Straits

Dire Straits were a United Kingdom Rock music, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers , and managed by Ed Bicknell....
 on guitar) became a moderate hit in the spring. The album subsequently received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.

Time off

Donald Fagen   the Nightfly
Becker and Fagen announced the temporary suspension of their partnership in June 1981. Becker subsequently moved to the Hawaiian island of Maui
Maui

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the List of islands of the United States by area....
 with his family where he became a "avocado
Avocado

The avocado , also known as palta or aguacate , butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae....
 rancher and self styled critic of the contemporary scene." Becker also stopped using narcotics around this period, a problem he had been struggling with throughout most of Steely Dan's original run. Fagen released his 1982
1982 in music

See also:* 1982 in music * :Category:Record labels established in 1982* list of 'years in music'...
 solo album The Nightfly
The Nightfly

The Nightfly is the first solo album by Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen, released in 1982 in music. It was one of the first fully digital recordings of popular music....
, which went platinum in both the U.S. and the U.K. and yielded the Top Twenty hit, "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)."

The two tried writing together again in the mid-1980s but were unhappy with the results. Fagen later contributed both the score and a song to the soundtrack of Bright Lights, Big City
Bright Lights, Big City (film)

Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 in film drama film staring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates, based on the Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney....
 but generally did little or no music writing or recording for several years. He occasionally did production work for other artists, as did Becker; one notable credit was British group China Crisis
China Crisis

China Crisis are an England pop music/rock music band . They formed in 1979 in Kirkby, near Liverpool, Merseyside with a core of singer/keyboardist Gary Daly and guitarist Eddie Lundon....
, who were strongly influenced by Steely Dan.

Reunion (1993 - present)

Fagen and Becker took the first steps toward reconciliation in 1986, when Gary Katz oversaw the production of Zazu, an album by the former model Rosie Vela
Rosie Vela

Roseanne "Rosie" Vela is an American model and singer/songwriter.Vela's family later moved to Arkansas, where she attended the University of Arkansas....
. Both Becker and Fagen are featured on that album, and it is believed to be the first time they performed together since the breakup. On October 25, 1991, Becker attended a concert of the New York Rock and Soul Revue
New York Rock and Soul Revue

The New York Rock and Soul Revue was a musical project which evolved from a series of concerts produced by Libby Titus that lasted from 1989 to 1993....
, co-founded by Fagen and producer/singer Libby Titus
Libby Titus

Libby Titus is a singer, songwriter, actress and concert producer. Although she released several solo albums in the 1970s and '80s, she is best known as the co-writer, with Eric Kaz, of "Love Has No Pride", a song recorded by many artists including Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and Jane Monheit....
 (who was for many years the partner of Levon Helm
Levon Helm

Mark Lavon Helm , better known as Levon Helm, is an United States rock and roll musician and actor most famous as the drummer for the rock group The Band....
 of The Band
The Band

The Band was a rock music group active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. The original group consisted of four Canadians: Robbie Robertson ; Richard Manuel ; Garth Hudson ; and Rick Danko , and one American, Levon Helm ....
 and would later become Fagen's wife). 1993 saw Becker's production of Fagen's second solo album Kamakiriad
Kamakiriad

Kamakiriad is the second solo album by Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen, released in 1993 . It was his first collaboration with Steely Dan partner Walter Becker, who produced the album, since 1980....
. Fagen later said it was the most satisfying recording experience of his career. Returning the favour, Fagen co-produced Becker's solo album 11 Tracks of Whack
11 Tracks of Whack

11 Tracks of Whack is the first solo album by Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker, released in 1994 . It was his second collaboration with Steely Dan partner Donald Fagen, who produced the album, since 1980, after Becker produced Fagen's Kamakiriad ....
 in 1994.

During the same year, MCA released Citizen Steely Dan
Citizen Steely Dan

Citizen Steely Dan is a four-Compact Disc boxed set musical album by Steely Dan, released in 1993. The set is a collection of all of Steely Dan's albums in chronological order, and also contains a non-LP single , a non-LP B-side , a rare compilation track , and a previously unreleased demo of "Everyone's Gone to the Movies"....
, a boxed set featuring their entire catalog on 4 CDs, plus 4 extra tracks: "Here at the Western World" (originally released on 1978's "Greatest Hits"), "FM" (1978 single), a 1971 demo of "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" and "Bodhisattva (live)", the latter recorded on a cassette in 1974 and released as a B-side in 1980.

Alive in America (1993–1994)
These events finally led to a reformation, and the mounting of a U.S. tour in 1993 to support Fagen's album (which sold poorly, even though the concerts were extremely well-reviewed). With Becker now mainly playing lead and rhythm guitar, they put together a band that included an additional keyboard player and lead guitarist, a bassist, three female backing singers, and a four-piece horn section. During this tour, Fagen introduced himself as "Rick Strauss
Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic music and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems. Strauss was also a prominent Conducting....
" and Becker as "Frank Poulenc
Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a France composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music....
". They toured to great acclaim during 1993-96, performing mainly songs from the later Steely Dan albums plus a selection of re-arranged Dan classics, and they released a live CD compiled from recordings of several 1993 and 1994 concerts, Alive in America
Alive in America

Alive in America is a live album by rock group Steely Dan, released in 1995. . This was Steely Dan's first live album since they formed in 1972....
 in 1995.

Two Against Nature (2000)
Steelydan Twoagainstnature
In 2000, they released their first studio album in twenty years, Two Against Nature
Two Against Nature

Two Against Nature is an album by Steely Dan, released in 2000 in music. The album won the group four Grammy Awards including Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and marked the first major collaboration between Walter Becker and Donald Fagen since the album Gaucho , released 20 years earlier....
. It was not only a return to form but proved to be one of the surprise successes of the year, and in February 2001, it earned them four Grammy Award
Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
s. They won in the categories for Best Engineered Album - Non-Classical, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal ("Cousin Dupree
Cousin Dupree

"Cousin Dupree" is a song by Steely Dan from their 2000 album Two Against Nature. The song describes the desire a young man has for his attractive cousin....
"), and Album of the Year. Their win for Album of the Year came as a shock as they defeated Eminem
Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , known by his primary stage name Eminem, or by his alter-ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer and actor....
 and his highly controversial album The Marshall Mathers LP
The Marshall Mathers LP

The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released in 2000. Widely seen as his magnum opus, the album sold over 1.76 million copies in its first week, earning a spot in the Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling rap album ever....
. In March 2001, Steely Dan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland Cleveland, Ohio, United States, dedicated to recording the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, and other people who have in some major way influenced the music industry, particularly in the are...
. In the summer of 2000, they took to the road for another US tour followed by an international tour later that year. A DVD was also released under the same title, which is essentially a live-in-the-studio concert performance of popular tunes from throughout Steely Dan's career.

Everything Must Go (2003)
Steelydan Everythingmustgo
In 2003 Steely Dan released another album, Everything Must Go
Everything Must Go (Steely Dan album)

Everything Must Go is the most recent album by Steely Dan, originally released June 10, 2003. It is Steely Dan's only studio album released since their Grammy-winning and certified double-platinum 2000 release Two Against Nature, but it has not achieved equal recognition....
, and toured America thereafter. Becker and Fagen went for a looser approach in the studio and attempted to capture a more live feel. Walter Becker contributed his first lead vocal on a Steely Dan studio album on the song "Slang of Ages" (he had sung lead on his own "Book of Liars," on Alive in America). Also, it is the first Steely Dan album since 1973 to feature the same drummer (Keith Carlock
Keith Carlock

Keith Carlock is a professional drummer currently residing in New York City, NY. Born in 1971, Keith hails from Clinton, Mississippi, near the capitol of Jackson....
) on every track. Jim Hodder
Jim Hodder (musician)

Jim Hodder was an United States drummer, best known as the original drummer for Steely Dan.He was born in Boston in 1947. He joined Steely Dan in 1972, but left in 1974....
 was the sole drummer on 1972's Can't Buy a Thrill and 1973's Countdown to Ecstasy. This album also showed a return to form for Becker and Fagen's playing. Becker plays bass and lead guitar on every track while Fagen adds piano, electric piano, organ, synthesizers, and percussion on top of his vocals.

Steelyard "Sugartooth" McDan and The Fab-Originees.com Tour (2006)
The band embarked on a 33-date tour in the summer of 2006, a tour that followed Donald Fagen's tour in spring of 2006 in support of his first solo album in 13 years, Morph the Cat
Morph the Cat

Morph the Cat is a Grammy Award-winning 2006 album by Donald Fagen, his first since 1993. The nine-track album was released in the US on March 14, 2006....
. Also featured on the bill was former collaborator Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)

Michael McDonald is a Music recording sales certification and Music recording sales certification United States R&B/soul music singer and songwriter....
 and his band. The name of the tour is an homage to the fictional "inventor of the blues" presumably created by Becker and Fagen. The website, Fab-Originees.com, was simply a mirror
Mirror (computing)

In computing, a mirror is an exact copy of a data set. On the Internet, a mirror site is an exact copy of another Internet site.Mirror sites are most commonly used to provide multiple sources of the same information, and are of particular value as a way of providing reliable access to large downloads....
 of SteelyDan.com.

Heavy Rollers Tour (2007)
The band's Heavy Rollers Tour began May 5, 2007, at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, TN. The tour included North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, making it both the largest and most exhaustive Steely Dan tour ever. The tour took its name from lyrics in the song "Gaucho" ("We've got heavy rollers, I think you should know") from the album of the same name
Gaucho (album)

Gaucho was Steely Dan last album before the band's 10-year breakup from June 1981 to October 1991. The album, originally released in 1980, was also the band's last studio album until the 2000 release of Two Against Nature....
.

Think Fast (2008)
In early March 2008, Steely Dan announced on their website that they would be playing the Montreal Jazz Festival in July. This was then revised into a full summer tour, named Think Fast. Dates were selected mostly in the United States, with a few concerts in Canada.

Musical and lyrical style

Steely Dan's enigmatic, sardonically humorous and topical lyrics add to the appeal of the songs. Although Becker and Fagen might have at first owed a certain lyrical debt to Bob Dylan, they rapidly developed a distinctive style and have since become one of the most accomplished and respected songwriting teams of their age.

Music


Overall sound
Special attention was given to the individual sound of each instrument. The recording was done with the utmost fidelity and attention to sonic detail, and mixed so that all the instruments are heard and none are given undue priority (a deft and accomplished use of the multi-tracking
Multitrack recording

Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole....
 process). For example, in the song "Parker's Band
Pretzel Logic

Pretzel Logic is the third Steely Dan album, originally released in 1974. The album's opening song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", became the band's biggest hit, reaching #4 on the charts soon after the release of the album....
", two drum kits are used, which gives the song an unexpected drive, without overpowering the sound; it is not even immediately apparent that there are two drum kits on the track. Their albums are also notable for the characteristically 'warm' and 'dry' production sound, and the sparing use of echo
Echo (phenomenon)

In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a Reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room....
 and reverberation
Reverberation

Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of Echo to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air....
 — effects which were often heavily over-used on other rock recordings of this period. Long known as perfectionists, they often recorded take after take before selecting the player or performance that made the final cut on their albums.

Backing vocals
Becker and Fagen favor a distinctly soul-influenced style of backing vocal, which after the first few albums were almost always performed by a female chorus (although Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)

Michael McDonald is a Music recording sales certification and Music recording sales certification United States R&B/soul music singer and songwriter....
 features prominently on several tracks, including the 1975 song "Black Friday" and the 1977 song "Peg
Peg (song)

"Peg" is a song by rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1977 album Aja .The guitar solo on the track was attempted by seven top session guitarists before Jay Graydon's version became the "keeper"....
"). Venetta Fields
Venetta Fields

Venetta Fields is an United States singer best known as session musician for leading rock and pop acts of the 1970s including Pink Floyd, Barbra Streisand, Steely Dan and the Rolling Stones....
, Sherlie Matthews
Sherlie Matthews

Sherlie Matthews is an American singer, songwriter and record producer, best known as a backing vocalist for Pop, R&B and Rock groups from the mid 1960s to the present time....
 and Clydie King
Clydie King

Clydie King is an American singer best known for her session musician as a backing vocalist.Discovered by songwriter Richard Berry, King began her recording career in 1956 with Little Clydie and the Teens, she was a member of Ray Charles' Raeletts for three years and contributed to early '60s recordings by producer Phil Spector....
 were the preferred trio for backing vocals on the group's late 70's albums.

Horns
Horn arrangements have been used on songs from all Steely Dan albums. They are usually jazz-oriented, and typically feature instruments such as trumpets, trombones and saxophones, although they have also used other instruments such as flutes and clarinets. The horn parts occasionally integrate simple synth lines to alter the tone quality of individual horn lines, for example in "Deacon Blues" this was done to "thicken" one of the saxophone lines. On the earlier albums Steely Dan featured guest arrangers. However, from Kamakiriad and on the arrangement work is credited to Fagen.

Use of unusual harmonies and chord sequences
Steely Dan are famous for their use of chord sequences and harmonies that explore the area of musical tension between traditional pop music sounds and jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
. To conventional rock listeners, this sometimes seemed to be avant-garde music. In particular, they are known for their use of the mu major chord
Mu major chord

A mu major chord is a somewhat unconventional name for an "add 2" or "add 9" chord. It is formed by adding a 2nd to a major triad; in other words, it is a chord constructed from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th degrees of the major scale....
, often simply known to rock musicians as the "Steely Dan chord". Other staples of the Steely Dan "Chord Dictionary" include so-called slash chord
Slash chord

In popular music a slash chord or slashed chord is a Chord whose bass note or inversion is indicated by the addition of a Slash and the letter of the bass after the Root note letter....
s, for example B?/C or E/A. A slash chord shows a triad with or without extensions (shown to the left of the slash) with a different note in the bass (shown to the right of the slash).

Lyrics

Steely Dan's songs cover a wide range of topics, but in their basic approach Becker and Fagen's writing can be compared with the observational, novelesque style of Lou Reed
Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock music musician best known as the guitarist, Singing and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground as well as a successful solo artist whose career has spanned several decades....
, and with lyricists such as Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes, was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. Hughes is best-known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance....
, who specializes in creating fictional persona
Persona

A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a Character played by an actor. This is an Italy word that derives from the Latin for "mask" or "character", derived from the Etruscan language word "phersu", with the same meaning....
s that narrate the experience. The duo have said that in retrospect, most of their albums have a 'feel' of either Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
 or New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, the two main bases where Becker and Fagen lived and operated (see below). Characters appear in their songs that evoke these cities. Themes of sex
Sex

In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetics traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into male and female types ....
, drugs
Recreational drug use

Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes rather than for employment, Medicine or Spirituality purposes, although the distinction is not always clear ....
, and rock 'n roll appear, but never in a straightforward manner, neither encouraging or discouraging, and many (if not all) of their songs are tinged with an ironic edge.

Additionally, many would argue that Steely Dan never wrote a real love song. However, some of the demo-era recordings show Fagen and Becker at their most romantic. Such songs include "This Seat's Been Taken", "Oh, Wow, It's You", "Come Back Baby", and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number". Other themes are also present, such as prejudice, aging, failure, poverty and middle-class ennui, but these are typically seen from an ironic and detached perspective. Many of their songs concern love, but none can be classed as straightforward love songs, since there is inevitably an ironic or disturbing twist in the lyrics. One may think the song is about love on first inspection, however, upon deeper analysis the listener realizes that the real story is about rape, prostitution, incest, or some other socially unacceptable subject.

Steely Dan's lyrics contain subtle and encoded references, unusual (and sometimes original) slang expressions, a wide variety of "word games" and intriguing lyrical choices and constructions of considerable depth. The obscure and sometimes teasing lyrics have given rise to considerable efforts by fans to explain the "inner meaning" of certain songs. Jazz is a recurring theme, with references abounding in their songs, and there are numerous other film, television and literary references and allusions, such as "Home at Last" (from Aja), which was inspired by The Odyssey.

Some of their lyrics are notable for their unusual meter
Meter (poetry)

In poetry, the meter is the basic rhythm of a verse . Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse meter, or a certain set of meters alternating in a particular order....
 patterns; a prime example of this is their 1972 hit "Reelin' In the Years
Reelin' in the Years

"Reelin' In the Years" is a song by jazz rock band Steely Dan, released as the sixth track on their 1972 in music album, Can't Buy a Thrill....
", which crams an unusually large number of words into each line, giving it a highly syncopated quality.

"Name-checking" is another Steely Dan lyrical device; references to real places and people abound in their songs. The song "My Old School" is a well-known example, referring to Annandale (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

Annandale-on-Hudson is a Hamlet in Dutchess County, New York , New York, USA, in the Hudson Valley in the Red Hook, New York , across the Hudson River from Kingston, New York....
 is the location of Bard College
Bard College

Bard College, founded in 1860, is a small, highly selective four-year Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, New York....
, which both attended and where they met), and the Two Against Nature album (2000) contains numerous references to the duo's original home region, the New York metro area, including the district of Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park

Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the Gramercy, Manhattan neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York State. The park is one of only two remaining private parks in New York City with almost no access to the public, the other being Sunnyside Gardens, Queens....
, bookstore The Strand and well-known upmarket food business Dean & DeLuca
Dean & DeLuca

Dean & DeLuca is a chain of upscale grocery stores. The first one was established in New York City's SoHo district by Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca in September 1977....
.

Discography


  • 1972: Can't Buy A Thrill
    Can't Buy a Thrill

    Can't Buy a Thrill is the first album by Steely Dan. Originally released in 1972 in music, the album was a huge success. It went gold album, and then platinum, peaking at #17 on the charts....
  • 1973: Countdown to Ecstasy
    Countdown to Ecstasy

    Countdown to Ecstasy was the second album by rock music group Steely Dan in July 1973. The album was written and recorded in rushed sessions between live concerts and produced two Billboard Hot 100 hits, "Show Biz Kids" and "My Old School," which have continued to be popular both on radio and in concert....
  • 1974: Pretzel Logic
    Pretzel Logic

    Pretzel Logic is the third Steely Dan album, originally released in 1974. The album's opening song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", became the band's biggest hit, reaching #4 on the charts soon after the release of the album....
  • 1975: Katy Lied
    Katy Lied

    Katy Lied is the fourth album by Steely Dan, released in 1975. It went gold album and peaked at #13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" also charted at #37....
  • 1976: The Royal Scam
    The Royal Scam

    The Royal Scam is an album by Steely Dan, originally released in 1976. The album went gold album and peaked at #15 on the charts. The Royal Scam features more prominent guitar work than other Steely Dan albums....
  • 1977: Aja
    Aja (album)

    Aja is an album by the rock band Steely Dan. The album was named after the Korean wife of group co-founder Donald Fagen's friend's brother. Originally released in 1977 in music, it became the group's best-selling album....
  • 1980: Gaucho
    Gaucho (album)

    Gaucho was Steely Dan last album before the band's 10-year breakup from June 1981 to October 1991. The album, originally released in 1980, was also the band's last studio album until the 2000 release of Two Against Nature....
  • 2000: Two Against Nature
    Two Against Nature

    Two Against Nature is an album by Steely Dan, released in 2000 in music. The album won the group four Grammy Awards including Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and marked the first major collaboration between Walter Becker and Donald Fagen since the album Gaucho , released 20 years earlier....
  • 2003: Everything Must Go
    Everything Must Go (Steely Dan album)

    Everything Must Go is the most recent album by Steely Dan, originally released June 10, 2003. It is Steely Dan's only studio album released since their Grammy-winning and certified double-platinum 2000 release Two Against Nature, but it has not achieved equal recognition....


External links

  • - official website
  • - official website
  • - official website
  • at Last.fm
    Last.fm

    Last.fm is a United Kingdom-based Internet radio and music community website, founded in 2002. It claims over 21 million active users based in more than 200 countries....
  • at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame


See Also

  • List of songwriter tandems
    List of songwriter tandems

    This is a list of famous songwriter tandems of popular music and pop standard:*Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney *Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson...