Steely Dan Is Not a Band

Bar band I was in learned " Reelin in the Years " and " Do it Again " . This would have been spring of '74 . Crowd loved these tunes , the cash register was singing a song management loved to hear . I wonder if " Peg " would have had the same impact ? Maybe . Who knows ?
I wonder too. I took 5 months of guitar in about 1978-79. Peg was taught by 1 gigging teacher.
 
pretty darn popular.
I misread that as 'pretty Dan popular..
While we are on the topic.. one of the hallmarks of the Dan style is the 'simple yet detailed' design philosophy. Not to say the Dan songs are simple (the jazz chords and progressions are tricky). But the overall sound and the way the groove fits together is always clean and simple - but when when you listen to it over and over you pick out minute details that give it a great 'feel'.
Fun fact.. when seeing them live, the tune that brought the house down was surprisingly 'My Old School' .. It cooked! Maybe the Motown vibe.. not sure but it rocked the house!
 
Black Cow is one badazz tune to play in a Bar;
done it; Peg, yep.
 
I'll bet it's been mentioned somewhere in the 6 pages I didn't read, that so many recordings we thought were a band were actually other musicians stepping in to fix the recordings, or even record them from scratch. SD was just up front about it.
 
There is no spoon band.
 
There's a local Steely Dan cover troupe - Citizen Dan - playing this Friday at a good venue near me.*
I've seen them play before and they're quite good. Attending live music alone takes a bit of a push for me, and I think these six pages of discussion might be just what I need. I'll let you know Saturday...

(*Lafayette, Colorado 80026. Meet me there and I'll buy a round!)
 
Steely Dan certainly hired some of best hired guns for their projects, but their music to me sounds almost MOR. Radio friendly, not offensive, great for preppies. Kind of like eating vanilla ice cream while wearing sandals driving a Volvo.

I'll take Roxy Music or Genesis from '73-'77
The greatest description of Steely Dan I ever heard was by Katie Puckrik - an American dj with a sexy voice on BBC 6Music in the 2000s - she played Hey 19, I think, and said afterwards - "Mmmmmm. Who doesn't love a bit of Nipple H**don Yacht Rock..." 😻
 

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composer (& piano) chops (ideas, concepts) off the charts..
note some of the words he uses; bebop, Church cadence.. Going to miss this guy


initially came from a VHS (have it) released in the 90s.

Can go further it's all on youtube

"Gregorian"

orchestrator composer image similar before him possibly was Gil Evans from the 40s -50s
 
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