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Steely Dan & My Growing Musical Tastes

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F

Fat4all

Banned
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(Click the album covers below to hear a track from each album, picked from my favorites)




I can still remember being quite young, driving around with my dad. I didn't really have any sort of large musical vocabulary. I knew i liked things liked bands like The Beatles, and musicians like Weird Al, and didn't really get into what my dad enjoyed. The Cars, Steely Dan, The Doors, etc. But I'd sit in the front seat of the car, and listen to them intently, looking for my own meaning in the lyrics. I really liked to do that, even with music I didn't quite enjoy.

It took me until High School to start listening to music outside my comfort zone, and I didn't reach the likes of Steely Dan until about 5 years ago when I visited my parents in Arizona. At the time I was just starting to dip my toes into the deeper part of Jazz. I was sitting next to my dad's pool with him, and we were drinking Miller High Life, when he turned on his bluetooth speakers. Reelin' in the Years started playing. I recognized it immediately from riding with him, and from local "classic" radio stations I would listen to when my first car didn't have a CD player and I needed to stay entertained. I started talking to my dad about Steely Dan, listening to various tracks through the evening. He was very excited to share his love of the band with me, and eagerly discussed the different songs with me. By the end of the visit, I had left Arizona with their full discography (including a lot of their singles and lost tracks). I've listened to every one of their songs, often multiple times, and have grown to love their mix of funk and jazz, but with very pop-like lyrics that were recognizable and interesting. Probably my favorite of their tracks is Deacon Blues. It's so bittersweet in it's vibe and tone, with lyrics to match.

Any other Gaffers out there have stories around Steely Dan? Or maybe you just enjoy a track or two?
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
They're not talkin' 'bout movin' in, and they don't want to change your life, but there's a warm window, and the stars are out, and you'd really love to hear them tonight.
 
P

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
deacon blues and parkers band are two of my favorite tracks by them
 
S

Snowybreak

Member
So... Steely Dan is one of those artists that I grew up with and stuck with even harder as I grew older. Every single note of "Deacon Blues" burned into my head from a young age, the opening notes to "Caves of Altamira" cause my nostalgia to well up in my head. I could talk Steely Dan, their impact, the message of their music, and every single lyric for hours. It was the one band that probably impacted me more than any other, being the one that I kept moving back to even after casting my net far and wide. They were my first real musical love, being the only band that my parents both liked (My dad was a real Deadhead who was into the jam band scene and my mom was a punk rocker, listening to Bauhaus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cure, and Yes) and as such was played a lot when I was young.

Steely Dan is one of the most important musical points in my life and I'm so happy seeing others discover/rediscover them.
 
O

Onemic

Member
Aja is the only album I have from them but it's fucking amzing. the title track is one of my favourite tracks of all time. Steve Gadd kills it!

Also MF DOOM and Peter Gunz sampled tracks from the album as well. It was so surprising when I heard the tracks and immediately recognized that theyve been sampled.
 
M

MyBigBlackCup

Neo Member
Steely Dan was the trigger for me as well. Didn't get into that age/genre of rock until my mid 20s and shared a joint with my old man and he suggested "With a Gun" and appropriately boom. 70s music. Next came Zappa, Genesis, and Jethro Tull.

Agree with Aeana, Aja is bodacious.
 
B

bjork

Member
My favorite Steely Dan album is not technically Steely Dan, but Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly." That's a cool, cool album.
 
V

valkillmore

Member
My friend, I just recently went on a Steely Dan tear. Absolutely love them. I'll also go back to Christopher Cross sometimes. I dig all that shit
 
A

Aurongel

Member
I was introduced to Steely Dan by my dad, they always stuck out to me as a kid because the band shared his first name. He was the coach of my junior hockey team and he got the nickname Steely Dan after the band. He used to play them during practice over the loudspeakers of the stadium we were in. I recall enjoying Do It Again and Bodhisatva immensely back the.

Today I respect them for all the advancements and craft they put into the audio mixing of their albums:

Nerdwriter did a piece on Steely Dan and the subtleties of how they compose a song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSDD8rgUiNc
 
L

Lime

Member
Saw them in 2006 in an amphitheater in Seattle / Washington and they were simply stunning. Aja and pretzel logic are my favorites

Night by night is my pure suave
 
D

dafinezt

Banned
I went on a fishing trip with my dad a couple years ago and we must have listened to The Royal Scam and Aja 5 times a piece.

Definitely one of my very favorite bands now. The Royal Scam has to be my fav album of theirs.
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
The Cuevo Gold.
The fine Columbian.
Make tonight a wonder thing.
 
S

ScottSullivan

Member
I dont know why, but im a little surprised to see an appreciation for steely dan on neogaf, i also grew up liking them because of my dad listening
 
J

Jive Turkey

Unconfirmed Member
bjork said:
My favorite Steely Dan album is not technically Steely Dan, but Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly." That's a cool, cool album.
Click to expand...

Yes it is. My only problem is that was the album where I really noticed Fagen's lisp and now I hear it in everything he sings.
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
Never listened to Steely Dan, All I remember is they made out like bandits on Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq's "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)", when they sued them and got full writing credits on the unauthorized sample despite not writing any lyrics on it. Steely Dan get's all of the publishing money.
 
A

Aeana

Member
M

megalowho

Member
Yeah I grew up with Steely Dan. Dad was a big fan as well. I love all their albums up to Gaucho and most of Fagen's solo stuff, the later ones are ok too. Great live act, nice album progression, amazing musicianship, songwriting and production.

Aja is a classic but The Royal Scam is probably my personal favorite overall album. Dark, smooth and cohesive with just the right amount of 70's cop show sleaze bubbling underneath.

The Royal Scam

Can't Buy A Thrill is one I come back to often as well. Always had a weird fascination with the non-Fagen vocal tracks. His piano work on Fire In The Hole is inspiring, great lyrics too.

Fire In The Hole

Also always loved the demo version of The Second Arrangement as far as unreleased tracks go. Erased by accident while recording Gaucho and they never went back to it. Haunting song with some really excellent bass work from Becker.

The Second Arrangement (Demo)
 
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