Steely Dan re-emerges

Gentle Giant · May-1st-2003, 11:08 AM

Just got this e-newsletter from the Grammy Award winners, with info on the follow-up. Wonder who's playing on the new disc?

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

EVERYTHING MUST GO,
> the new album from Steely Dan,
> will be in stores June 10.
>
>
> **********************
> IN THIS ISSUE
> **********************
>
> - Buy "Blues Beach" Digital Single
> - Additional Release Versions
> - Touring '03 and Ticket Update
> - Promos Aplenty
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> BUY "BLUES BEACH" DIGITAL SINGLE
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> (United States only)
>
> Buy it now: Download it May 6.
> Easy: Cheap: Everything Must Go!
>
> Click the link below to preorder a high-quality
> full-song digital download that, once yours,
> you can play on your computer, transfer to a
> player, or burn onto CD:
> http://steelydan.com/buyredirect.html
> Everyone who purchases the Digital Single will
> be entered to win one of five autographed copies
> of the Special Edition of the new album,
> "Everything Must Go"
>
> If you use the link above, your purchase will be made
> through Reprise. The digital single will also be available
> through online retailers on May 6th. As always, be advised
> that price, terms, and technology of the purchased
> download may vary across retailers.
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> ADDITIONAL RELEASE VERSIONS
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Wait a minute...did we say "Special Edition" ?!
> Yes indeed. In fact, on or around the CD
> release date of June 10, two additional
> release versions of "Everything Must Go" will
> also become available. They are:
>
> a) Special Edition:
> A CD/DVD combo pack; full album
> plus DVD with 20+ minutes of bonus
> video material; Special Edition Package
>
> b) DVD-A in 5.1 Surround Sound:
> Mixed by Elliot "The Godfather" Scheiner
> including 10+ minutes of bonus video material
>
> Most online retailers now have pre-order pages
> for the CD and, in some cases, for the additional
> versions too. We know your pre-orders for
> "Two Against Nature" in 2000 helped us make a nice
> first impression around release time, so here's
> thanking you in advance for getting us moving
> smartly up the charts once again.
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> TOURING '03 AND TICKET UPDATE
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Some ticket on-sale dates are beginning to get
> set for Leg I shows. A few dates are on sale
> now, and others will be soon (for example,
> the General On-Sale for Jones Beach
> is 5/3, with an AmEx presale going on now)
>
> We post whatever we know on
> http://steelydan.com/emgtouring.html
>
> HOWEVER ... the most current and accurate info for
> on-sale date announcements -- and *changes* in on-sale
> dates (which for a variety of reasons do happen from
> time to time) -- are found on the ticket vendor sites.
>
> We therefore urge you to monitor the [Tix] links
> we have provided on
> http://steelydan.com/emgtouring.html
> for the most current on-sale info.
>
> If the ticket vendor's page does not yet display
> the show you're interested in, please be patient;
> just continue to monitor the vendor's page for the
> most up-to-date information about on-sale dates
> and details.
>
> -------------------------
> Fan Initiatives Reminder:
>
> Fan Ticket Exchange Board:
> http://steelydan.com/ticketdirect.html
>
> Find A Fan Party:
> http://steelydan.com/danfestdirect.html
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> PROMOS APLENTY
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> We've started a promo page
> (hosted by a special friend of ours)
> on which we will flag major news,
> launches, appearances, and other
> sundry public spectacles.
> See
> http://steelydan.com/emgpromo.html
>
> In addition, here are some items you
> may want to watch for soon:
>
> ** ALONG FOR THE RIDE
> We know you've heard more than a few gripes
> from this end about the demands of commercial
> self-presentation. But We Confess that some
> of this promo work can be pretty Moving at times....
> Check in later in May to see what we mean.
>
> ** HEARING NEW DAN
> The tracks "Blues Beach" and "The Last Mall"
> have been released to radio for airplay.
> Hopefully the stations near you are Doing
> The Right Thing and you are enjoying them both.
>
> What's that? Some of you are still
> waiting to hear "Blues Beach"? Check out
> MSN Entertainment online; they will feature the
> single on their music site starting May 1:
> http://entertainment.msn.com/Music/
>
>
> ** PRESS: INTERVIEWS, ARTICLES, ETC.
> Media pieces large and small will start cropping up
> about now. In the near future you might want to
> watch for:
>
> - Downbeat (June Issue):
> Cover story on Steely Dan
>
> - Stereophile, Performing Song Writer, Keyboard,
> Guitar Player (Current or Upcoming Issues):
> Features on Steely Dan
>
> - Modern Drummer (June/July Issue):
> Cover Story on SD's new drummer, Keith Carlock
>
>
>

Monte Smith · May-1st-2003, 11:40 AM

June 10. Excellent.

cookie · May-1st-2003, 11:42 AM

Cool! Can't wait. Steely Dan is my favorite band.

They're playing at the New York State Fair on August 31 and I fully intend to be there.

Gentle Giant · May-9th-2003, 03:20 PM

Just downloaded the single, Blues Beach (http://steelydan.com/buyredirect.html) (costs $1.49). It's a catchy ditty, very much in the Two Against Nature mold - both the good and the bad. By that I mean that it's impeccably done and has the smirky slyness and sweet sound that made that album so hot. But it also features the same old metronomic rhythms that made too many of the tunes sound too similar.

For whatever reason, Becker and Fagen have turned their back on the inventiveness of Porcaro, Purdie, and Gadd from their mid-70s heyday, and prefer the sound of a human impersonating a machine. As much as I liked Two Against Nature, and enjoy Blues Beach, it is depressing to me that the classic fusiony sound of a Steely Dan rhythm section is a thing of the past. The track also features no solos, but there are wonderful female backing vocals.

Suffice to say, I'm looking forward to the new album, but if (as I like to argue) the first three Steely Dan albums were of one type, and Katy Lied and Royal Scam were of another, and Aja and Gaucho were of another, and Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go are yet another (as they seem to be), then I am definitely ready to see what other type may yet to be.

Jazzooo · May-10th-2003, 11:26 AM

yeah, SD and drummers...

I loved the tune on Two Against Nature with Vinnie, playing and swinging and improvising. Not sure what the big attraction to Keith Carlock is--he might be a spectaular drummer, but who cares if he's just imitating a drum machine?

That said--I'm really looking forward to the new album. That's how good I think the writing is on their albums!

Ed Swinnich · May-11th-2003, 12:13 AM

While I understand and appreciate what you guys are saying about the drummers, I'm not going to hold it against them - at least until I hear the whole album.

Hell. it's Steely Dan! I guess I'm just happy to have this band alive and kicking at this point. I'm looking forward to seeing them in Toronto in August.

I usually get blasted when I make comparisons like this. But here goes anyway. Recently in Buffalo there was an art exhibit featuring Claude Monet's last years at Giverny. Almost blind, he continued painting right to the end. Some of the works were blurred and miscolored - but damn it, they were Monets.

Many thought the exhibit to be flawed because of this. Me? I was happy to see these and looked on them as one man's continued efforts to the very end to use the gift that he possessed.

Please please please please, don't be so literal as to assume I'm comparing Steely Dan to Monet. What I'm saying is that I was happy to see those works of Monet, even if they paled in comparison to his earlier impressionist works, his waterlillies and other works he painted in his early years at Giverny. You could tell they were Monet's - flawed though they may have been.

Likewise with the Steely Dan release - I'm more happy to have them releasing material and touring than I am interested in comparing them to the glory days of Royal Scam and Katy Lied. Sure I loved those albums. But the new one is still Steely Dan and I'll be happy to pick it up.

Dr Dave · May-11th-2003, 07:19 PM

I used to be a HUGE Steelies fan. I don't know what happened to me. I heard "Two Against Nature" and found it monochromatic, which is a polite way of saying it was boring. These days I find Fagan and Becker's lyrics arch, not subversive. And the music...I dunno. I miss all those LA session guys, I guess. I wish them all the best, I hope they make a lot of dough and everything, but there just isn't enough going on there for me anymore.

GoodSpeak · May-11th-2003, 07:51 PM

I just opened this thread up and sprayed the screen with my soda...boring? TWO AGAINST NATURE was [ACK! Sputter!] BORING???

Sure...like wine is just wine.

SheeeIT, Dave!

May-11th-2003, 08:38 PM

I heard Becker & Fagen on Marion McPartland's pbs show the other day. I enjoyed them very much; but they could have left the "floundering elephant" drummer at home IMO.

Gentle Giant · May-11th-2003, 09:17 PM

A flawed Steely Dan album (which I'm not saying the new one or Two Against Nature are/were) is still better than 98% of what's out there, so I'm not complaining. But man, what a rush to listen to the drumming on Kid Charlemagne or Black Friday. To me, it's a huge part of what the Steely Dan sound is all about, and I'd just like to know why they want their new music to have a simple dance beat instead of something more interesting. But like I said, I'll buy the new disc and most likely dig it big time. I even like Walter Becker's solo album and he used actual drum machines on most of the tunes.

It's just weird that they could get anyone they want - any hot drummer would jump at this gig - and they settle for less.

Dr Dave · May-11th-2003, 09:55 PM

Take it easy, Goodie. They have a lot to live up to. Are you suggesting that "Two Against Nature" is as interesting as "Aja"? It may be so, but I don't hear it.

GoodSpeak · May-11th-2003, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dr Dave
Take it easy, Goodie. They have a lot to live up to. Are you suggesting that "Two Against Nature" is as interesting as "Aja"? It may be so, but I don't hear it.

Interesting...how?

It is two different eras of their music we're talking about. Right? I mean, each album is different, ever evolving. I don't know that it would be fair to compare AJA to TAN any more than comparing CAN'T BUY A THRILL to GAUCHO would be legit.

If you don't care for this latest incarnation, I'm OK wid it. I just don't see how it is boring, that's all.

Jazzooo · May-12th-2003, 04:14 AM

I actually believe that Two Against Nature is one of their very best albums. Dr Dave, if you haven't done so already, you might give it another spin just to be sure. There is definitely one song--the title song, in fact--that is a bit of a monotonous bore to me, but it's the only one.

"Please please please please, don't be so literal as to assume I'm comparing Steely Dan to Monet. "

Why not? You think Monet was greater than Steely Dan? if so, what is the measurement? Could this be Love Afar, Spite at Home, where we can't possibly imagine that anyone alive today, our age in fact, could be as great as...well, someone old and dead?

Ed Swinnich · May-12th-2003, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jazzooo

"Please please please please, don't be so literal as to assume I'm comparing Steely Dan to Monet. "

Why not? You think Monet was greater than Steely Dan? if so, what is the measurement? Could this be Love Afar, Spite at Home, where we can't possibly imagine that anyone alive today, our age in fact, could be as great as...well, someone old and dead?

No. Despite the fact that my main hang had been the Blue Note board I actually do have discs by living artists in my collection. And many non Blue Note too

In this case I'm referring to the fact that I described a Monet who was at that point in his life nearly blind and near death. His ability to discern color was severely compromised. I guess you could say he was coming down the home stretch, his abilities severely diminished.

What I was trying to say is, to not infer that I was implying that Steely Dan are at the same relative points in their careers. I liked "Two Against Nature" a lot, by the way.

Sorry to have ruined your little theory though. "Love Afar, Spite at Home" etc - that was pretty good stuff. Interesting.

cookie · May-12th-2003, 10:14 AM

I've never liked a Steely Dan disc on first hearing. It's as though they're so slick my ears fall off. After a few listens though, I'm always hooked.

Chris D · May-12th-2003, 10:55 AM

I'm pretty much in agreement with Doc.
The varied sonic palette on records like "Pretzel Logic," "The Royal Scam" and "Aja" is what keeps pulling me back to them, week after week, year after year. There's so much there, and it breathes with the life of the living.
I haven't played "Two Against Nature" since the first few months after it came out. The sound is just too monotonous. There are clever twists, sure.
But it's like comparing freeze-dried coffee with freshly ground beans. There's just not the needed zip there to pull me back.

Jazzooo · May-12th-2003, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed Swinnich
In this case I'm referring to the fact that I described a Monet who was at that point in his life nearly blind and near death. His ability to discern color was severely compromised. I guess you could say he was coming down the home stretch, his abilities severely diminished.

Well, Becker IS pretty nearsighted, you know...

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed Swinnich
Sorry to have ruined your little theory though. "Love Afar, Spite at Home" etc - that was pretty good stuff. Interesting.

No worries--we all know it applies to other situations now and then!

May-17th-2003, 10:20 AM

I loved Two Against Nature for that period of my life when it first came out.

Now, after September 11, it all seems like something form a completely different planet.

I'll probably by the new one out of habit, tho...

Lenny the Guitarist · May-17th-2003, 02:48 PM

The past year I've been episodically dabbling in re-visiting Steely Dan's stuff. Jammed with a few friends.. we're all left with a renewed admiration for the major dudes in Steely Dan. For you guitarists out there, I'd recommend re-discovering old stuff like "Kid Charlemagne", "My Old School", "Bodhisavtta", etc. Really gets the old fingers moving!

Gentle Giant · June-10th-2003, 01:44 PM

Today's the day. Everything Must Go is in stores. A big black cow to whomever posts the first review. Here, for what it's worth, is a capsule review from today's Globe:

Steely Dan
EVERYTHING MUST GO
Reprise Records
No one sounds remotely like Steely Dan these days. The group's '70s-style pop-jazz fusion has a strangely fossilized feel to it, yet it's still as catchy as ever. Steely Dan's duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker remain a smart-aleck tandem nonpareil. This time they're even more satirical than usual, taking shots at shopping malls, corporate silliness, and porn queens. They may not win any new converts, but they won't lose any old ones, either. Fans of spotless, multilayered vocals should love this record, and there's no question of the musical excellence underneath the polish. Most of the piquant riffs are quintessential Steely Dan, though the duo do nick The Who's ''Eminence Front'' for a recurring guitar figure in ''Lunch with Gina'' (about a playfully obsessive woman who treats romance like a game). And they indulge their love of wordplay in such mind-bending tracks as ''Godwhacker'' and ''Slang of Ages,'' with the offbeat line, ''If you're from Amsterdam, then I'm the Duke of Earl.'' In the jazzy piano pop song ''Green Book,'' they also somehow name-drop the likes of Jill St. John and Marilyn Chambers without blinking an eye. In short, there's no attempt to be relevant or au courant. But that's another great thing about Steely Dan. The duo have reached a happy-go-lucky curmudgeon level that many may aspire to but few attain. And they again make it seem so easy. Steely Dan headlines the Tweeter Center on Aug. 16.

Of additional interest is that EMG is on multiple versions, as described herein:
http://www.steelydan.com/emgversions.html

Chris Potter appears on one track; other familiar names (to me, anyway) are Hugh McCracken and Jim Pugh.

GoodSpeak · June-10th-2003, 03:30 PM

Great!

I will be grabbing a copy myself, ASAP.

Monte Smith · June-10th-2003, 03:38 PM

Got it at lunch. The first four tracks have a little more texture than the stuff on TWO AGAINST NATURE, which bodes well. But I agree with Cookie. Steely product always sounds glib on the first listen and only deepens with repeated exposure. Like all of my posts, actually.

cookie · June-10th-2003, 05:23 PM

Just picked up my copy and am listening right now as I type. My very first thought was "Sounds just like Steely Dan."

I love the layers.

I'll have to listen to it alot before I have anything significant to say about it. But I am one happy Steely girl right now.

And Becker sings. Makes me more curious about his solo stuff. I've always heavily slanted toward Fagen---so slick, so arch, so tragically hip.

Musically, I'm really digging some of the gestures. There's some smart stuff on here. I love the writing.

cookie · June-10th-2003, 05:33 PM

The lyrics in the backgrounds of "Pixeleen" are absolutely spot on perfect.
Worth the price of admission.

Tix go on sale 6/21 for the State Fair show on 8/31. I *must* be there.

Gentle Giant · June-10th-2003, 08:56 PM

Sounds good. I wasn't able to get me to a retail outlet today, but hopefully very, very soon (and it's too late to put a big hint in for Father's Day).

As for Becker on vox, I'm one of the few people I know who really like his solo album. Not much personality in his voice, but he's got a higher-pitched Lou Reed talk/vocal thing going, and the songs are really good, if a bit straightforward. He does a track from it, "Book of Liars," on the live SD album, Alive in America.

cookie · June-11th-2003, 01:04 AM

I've listened to the thing three times now. I like it that much.

I like this one better than *Two Against Nature*.

This one's odd for me because I like it right away. I think the writing is excellent. It's that SD style but with unexpected twists. It's really slick AND smart. They can still be surprising within their own formulas. Particular songs that I loved immediately and can't wait to hear again: "The Things I Miss the Most," "Green Book," and the title track "Everything Must Go." "Godwhacker" doesn't do much for me, though.

I like Walter's voice on "Slang of Ages". It's striking after hearing Donald all these years.Perfect for the tune. I'll have to get me a copy of 11 Tracks of Whack. I've been remiss.

The DVD "Steely Dan Confessions" is a hoot. Donald and Walter put their twist on Taxicab Confessions. They talk about their music with the cab driver and with a variety of chicks they pick up.

I think EVERYTHING MUST GO is up there with the classics.

The writing, playing and singing is stellar.

I wonder what it will sound like live. It's all so clean on the disc.

Definitely worth the coin.

Ron Thorne · June-11th-2003, 01:19 AM

Thanks, Cookie, you've certainly piqued my interest. Tomorrow, I'm headed for a music store.

Gentle Giant · June-11th-2003, 09:43 AM

Actually saw a TV commercial for the album this morning. It was pretty funny, they're in the back of a taxi with a blond chick in the middle going on about what she likes on the album, while the matronly driver eavesdrops suspiciously.

mke · June-12th-2003, 04:26 AM

Funny NYT interview:

Age, Language, Rock 'n' Roll
By NEIL STRAUSS

LOS ANGELES — When it was announced that this week Steely Dan was releasing its ninth studio album, the news came as something of a surprise. After all, it took the band 20 years to release a follow-up to their 1980 "Gaucho" album. That follow-up, "Two Against Nature," won Steely Dan its first-ever Grammy, for album of the year in 2001, beating Eminem for the night's top award (not to mention for risqué lyrics, in Steely Dan's case about incest and statutory rape).

The following year, after mounting a joke campaign on its Web site to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by bribing its gatekeepers (particularly Jann Wenner, who owns Rolling Stone magazine) with broken digital recorders, a bank check and a case of honey mustard, the band was actually voted in.

And now comes Steely Dan's new album, "Everything Must Go" (Reprise), on which the band returns to its roots as a working band, as opposed to a studio project. This week, Steely Dan's core members, Walter Becker, 53, and Donald Fagen, 55, were interviewed individually by telephone from their homes in New York. Here are excerpts from the two separate interviews.

Were you surprised, after making all those jokes about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to actually get voted in?

DONALD FAGEN That was really the happy ending we were looking forward to. And we did end up sending a case of honey mustard over to Jann Wenner. So I wanted you to know that he was properly paid off.

Is it strange that, 30 years after the bulk of your work, suddenly you're getting so many awards and accolades?

WALTER BECKER I think that's a pretty typical pattern. We're getting a lot of credit just for surviving and for persisting in doing more or less the same kind of music, which depending on who you talk to is either considered a kind of integrity or a failure of imagination or both.

But for you, your style came out of nothing except yourselves and your specific musical backgrounds and tastes, so it makes sense that you'd stay in that pocket you invented.

BECKER That's true. It's such an unusual kind of music. It's an indicator of how much music has become like fashion that people genuinely expect that you'll have some whole new approach every time out.

You do, however, sing, "Let's roll with the homies" on the new album.

BECKER That's exactly right. We may not be in the mainstream of musical thought, but we're willing to co-opt any catchy expression that comes along, however silly.

What made you decide to sing for the first time on the album?

BECKER I've been offering to sing for years. But the songs that we write have too great a range for me. So this time through, as we were getting to the end, I realized that we had a song that I could sing. So I called my own bluff and did it.

Did anyone try to stop you?

BECKER Well it certainly wasn't anything they were expecting, and it was an easy song to sing.

Have you ever heard a popular band that you felt was a Steely Dan rip-off?

FAGEN Not really. Sometimes people remark that we had a big influence, but I don't really hear it — at least not in pop music. I think we're more of an influence on composers of advertising jingles and perhaps smooth jazz groups.

And how does that feel?

FAGEN Well, "I shot an arrow in the air. Where it lands, I know not where."

Do you find it strange that your music has been so popular and original, yet it hasn't influenced many imitators or created its own sub-genre.

BECKER I've always imagined that it has something to do with the fact that our music is such a diversion off the main avenue of rock 'n' roll styles that you almost can't imitate it without it coming off badly. Or maybe people just don't want to. The fact remains, and this is more true than ever, that jazz is considered some sort of bizarre alien influence in rock 'n' roll.

One of my favorite Grammy moments was when you both came to the press room after winning the Grammy for "Two Against Nature." People who weren't familiar with you expected you to be gracious, and instead they got stand-up comedy.

FAGEN We think of our records as comedy records to some degree. There wasn't really any model for that sort of thing, with the possible exception of Frank Zappa. But when we first started, people thought our style belied the actual content of the lyrics. So they thought we were just some sort of sincere California band. I guess that's the secret of subversion.

The Grammys were also interesting because "Two Against Nature" was just as taboo in parts as the Eminem record, but because the lyrics were cloaked in a more adult-sounding music, nobody really noticed it.

FAGEN It's easier for us to sneak it in, I guess because of the various pop forms we use — and the fact that we're so old — nobody cares.

The previous question was asked of Mr. Becker.

BECKER I think also it didn't have the adolescent in-yo-face kind of flaunting of aggressively presented subject matter.

But the subject matter can be even scarier coming from adults, rather than younger artists, because kids will be kids.

BECKER I think using the word adults in regard to Donald and I always should have a footnote of some sort. Clearly some of the processes have taken place, but not others. I don't know why that is.

And for some reason, being in the music world tends to keep people looking younger. Somehow, you two are the only exceptions to that.

BECKER I think that's probably true although it keeps us thinking younger.

I was kidding.

BECKER But it is true that when you get to be our age, it produces a not too desirable effect of wondering why are you still in a rock 'n' roll band.

cookie · June-12th-2003, 02:38 PM

Please hurry up and listen to your copies so I have somebody with whom to discuss this disc.

I'm listening to it again. I forced myself not to listen to it more than once yesterday (it was a very casual listen too. I showered during "Godwhacker."

I just love this disc. Even the songs I didn't like much are growing on me.

I hear them as more of a jazz band though I realize it's a fusion thang. They just keep the blowing short, but it's there. I hear the jazz. The grooves are great and they just lay the most gorgeous soulful harmonic and melodic twists on top. The lyrics on this one are a joy, too. Yes, they are funny but in that backhanded way. "Pixeleen" is hysterical: "Penned by a hack in the Palisades...."

Walt Weiskopf shines on tenor on this disc. What a great sound.