Steely Dan

Some of you might be wondering, who? But, I'm guessing, if you've ever listened to a classic rock channel for any length of time, you've heard (at least) one of their songs. More than likely, that song is either "Reeling in the Years" or "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." Steely Dan always appears on some "best of" or "great musicians" list, and I've always wondered why. If you put a gun to the average person's head and asked them to name 3 Steely Dan songs, I think they'd be hard-pressed.

I don't know about you, but when I hear a song, album, or band for the first time, I want it to feel new, exciting, raw. I want to have the songs stuck in my head because I want them there, not because they annoy the crap out of me. After bitching about them to a friend, I learned that he was secretly a Steely Dan fan. What? How could this be? "Listen to their discography, and then talk." Alright, I'm up for a challenge. Armed with his 9 commercially released albums, and one bootleg, I loaded up the iPod and listened to them. All.

1972's debut: Can't Buy a Thrill.

This is a virtual greatest hits album. If you've heard one of their songs, it probably came from this album. Here / are / a / few / songs that you'll probably know. If they don't sound familiar right away, skip ahead to the 1-minute mark and listen to the chorus. I've found they tend to like to "noodle" around for a bit, and, unless you're a avid listener, it takes a while for the "oh, right, this song" moment to hit. These songs are all from 1972, and really made Steely Dan a huge hit. They certainly sounded different from the other stuff going on then.

Wait, what was going on in 1972? Here's a sampling:

• Dark Side of the Moon is performed by Pink Floyd for the first time.
• Paul McCartney's Wings makes their debut.
• Nick Drake's Pink Moon comes out
• The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. comes out
• David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars comes out
• Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly soundtrack comes out
• Led Zeppelin released IV the previous year, and would release Houses of the Holy the next

But, different isn't always good. I can't deny the craftsmanship of the songs, or the ability of the musicians, but I didn't feel any excitement, or rawness, or energy, or... honestly, much of anything. Aside from the "oh, this is Steely Dan? I thought it was Hall and Oates" comment that kept creeping up inside me.

1973: Countdown to Ecstasy

Sophomore slump? Yeah, big time. Though, I'm sure Steely Dan aficionados (yes, such a thing exists) claim Steely Dan's first album is too commercial and popular and instead prefer this one. But, honestly, the second album has (at least for me) zero redeeming characteristics. Well, it does feature my favorite album art of their discography.

1974: Bootleg: Live at the Record Plant (March 20, 1974)

So, how do they stand-up as a live act? Of course, nothing can replace actually be in the audience, but by all accounts this is _the_ live Steel Dan album to listen to. My reaction? Meh. It's the same songs, with longer noodling solos. Yes, it's impressive that they can reproduce the polished feel of the previous albums... but as I don't really care for the previous albums...

1974: Pretzel Logic

So, this is my favorite of the lot. It actually sports two songs that I wasn't familiar with before and that I found myself actually (gasp) enjoying. They are "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" and "Barrytown". Unfortunately, Pretzel Logic also contains one of the most overplayed Steely Dan songs,"Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

1975: Katy Lied

I can almost see Donald Fagen and Walter Becker sitting around having the following discussion:

Donald: man, our second album really tanked.

Walter: yeah. Let's not do that again.

Donald: hmm. What does work? What do the people want?

Walter: "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" is pretty popular.

Donald: yeah. Let's crank out an album that is full of easy-listening classics with the same vibe.

Walter: I dig that.

And, that's Katy Lied.

1976: The Royal Scam

And, that's the formula for The Royal Scam also. Although, The Royal Scam has more guitar. Or, at least the guitar is more pronounced. Can cool/funky guitar fix boring songs? Sadly, there are limits to what a guitar can do. Although, there is a funny story regarding the album art. Apparently it was originally designed for Van Morrison's album Mechanical Bliss (1975) that was never released. And I guess Fagen and Becker were like "what the hell, it's already done, why not?" Then, in the liner notes to the remaster of the album, they admit that the album cover is "the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none (excepting perhaps Can't Buy A Thrill)." So, at least they have a sense of humor about themselves.

1977: Aja

This is the album all the aficionados talk about. "It's Double Platinum dude!" The promotional video for this album featured Mark Davis (Starsky and Hutch) and Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angels), and quite honestly... it sounds like it could be the theme music for either show. It's funky, it's darker than the other albums, and the instrumental work is pretty complex. The tempo seems like it's been kicked up a bit, perhaps in time for disco? One of the singles from the album is "Peg." And, though this is the shortest song on the album (still weighing in at 4 minutes), it does a pretty good job of giving you a sense of what the album is all about. The rest of the songs have longer instrumental interludes.

1980: Gaucho

They spent years in a studio with 42 studio musicians and who knows how many producers to come up with Gaucho's nearly-38 minutes (37:58, but who's counting?) and 7 songs. And for all that work, they have what could be a collection of b-sides to Aja. If the songs on Aja were more up-tempo, the ones on Gaucho are decidedly less so. My favorite moment on the album comes in at 2:10 on the song "Hey Nineteen," when one of the members says "Nice!" in appreciation of the noodling guitar solo that is occurring.

2000: Two Against Nature

This album really serves no purpose other than to say, "Hey, remember Steely Dan? We used to be big in the 70s? Well, look we can still make music." It offers nothing new. No "update" of the formula. No clever progression of the band. It simply is a Steely Dan album. And, somehow, it managed to win Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2001 Grammy's.

Here was the competition:

Album of the Year: Beck's Midnite Vultures, Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP, Radiohead's Kid A, and Paul Simon's You're the One.

Best Pop Vocal Album: Don Henley's Inside Job, Madonna's Music, 'N Sync's No Strings Attached, and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did it Again.

So, maybe the Best Pop Vocal Album wasn't that big of an upset, but ALBUM OF THE YEAR? Come on. Really?? A "hey, you guys... remember us?" album wins Album of the Year, against those other albums?? That's insane.

2003: Everything Must Go

Well, if Two Against Nature is Album of the Year material, this one should be too. It sounds just like it. Except, this one didn't go platinum, or gold, or even silver. Wonder what happened.

Overall:

All of their albums are gold (well, okay not Everything Must Go (2003)), most platinum (all except for Countdown to Ecstasy (1973) and Everything Must Go (2003)), and one double platinum (Aja (1977)). So, what's wrong with Steely Dan? Nothing and everything. They're a perfectly good band. The two founding members are very talented musicians. They are perfectionists. Hell, their band name comes from a strap-on dildo from William S. Burrough's Naked Lunch (yes, really, page 77 among others, depending on your edition), and Chevy Chase did in fact play in an early version of the band. (But, then again, Chevy Chase is kind of the Steely Dan of the early SNL cast, now isn't he?) So, what's the problem?

The problem with them is... they're boring. They sound like really good lounge musicians. Sure, they combined jazz and rock. Sure, they did something _different_ from what else was going on in music at the time. But, they took the most boring elements of both to make a more boring form of music. The other problem with Steely Dan is this: though people are more than likely familiar with at least one of their songs, it's a rare moment that someone will identify their song on the radio. Their sound is so bland and boring that it just doesn't stand out. Whereas most classic rock listeners can identify a Led Zeppelin, or Hendrix, or Doors, song within the first 10 seconds... Steely Dan just doesn't stand out. And, if it doesn't stand out, and if it's boring to listen to, why bother making the music?

If a Steely Dan song is played on the radio, and the listener changes the channel, does it make a sound?