On their perfectionism: "Donald Fagen made seemingly endless tweaks to this song, creating one mix after another. Someone in the studio must have been keeping count, because when he hit 250 mixes, the crew gave him a "platinum" disk they created just for him. Fagen kept going, and it was mix number 274 that finally won his approval. He took that mix home to New York, but heard a note in the bass line he didn't like, so he returned to Los Angeles a week later and reconvened the team to fix it." Thanks Neal and Harri.
Fagen and Becker appear to have much in common with another American musical genius, Brian Wilson. After Brian stopped touring and devoted all his labor to composing and the studio, he was said to be a relentless perfectionist in his overseeing every aspect of recording the records. He also brought in a brigade of legendary studio musicians and employed some of the "Wall of Sound" production techniques that Phil Spector was famous for. When they arrived in studio to begin a session, Brian would have detailed charts prepared for each of the musicians -- and also for his Beach Bros when they came off tour and into the studio to record the vocals. Steely Dan also quit touring for years after 1974 to fully devote themselves to creating and recording new music.
That sweet Purdie shuffle with the drums! I’ve met Bernard Purdie and heard him play at my friends jazz club. Mr. Purdie is 84 and still has the groove!
I saw an interview with David Crosby shortly before his death, where he said Gaucho is his favorite album. Not his favorite Steely Dan album, but his favorite from the whole music world. He said that if Gaucho came out before Aja, it would be the benchmark.
'Jungle music.' A slur used in the 1950's against R&B. In an interview years ago Mick Jagger said his father called it that in the 1960's when the RS started.
Eight time Grammy Award winner Roger Nichols was the engineer for most of Steely Dan’s career. I believe that, as great as they are, they would not have had the same success without Roger in the studio with them.
"Here come those Santa Ana winds again." An Iconic band. Them or the Doobies are my all time number one. One or the other. Steely Dan reached a level that no one else did and it was actually frustrating when your dad had those records because music does not get any better. That jazz. Jazz rock? Who does that? Makes you feel like a Lounge Lizard and that Miles Davis is playing some muted horn and you're having a drink with Tropical girls in some Noir club. Like you are the gumshoe sleuth detective.
Yes, the Doobies or Steely Dan! Love both bands. I've got all Steely Dan studio albums and most of the Doobies records, if l could only keep one album from both bands it would be Pretzel Logic and The Captain and Me. Pretzel Logic probably wouldn't be everyone's choice, but just love the shorter snappy songs and that one. The Captain and Me would be top choice l think with most DB fans.
@@keithjones7390 there's one song on Pretzel Logic called "With a Gun" that is as good as any country song ever written. Steely Dan came off like novelists. Like singing authors. Their songs really drew me in. I spent too much time listening to those records over and over before I was even 10 years old.
@@TrueBagPipeRock l don't know if it's because Pretzel Logic was the first Steely Dan album l bought but it's one of my favourite albums ever. With a Gun is one of my favourite tracks on the album along with Through With Buzz, Barrytown, Charlie Freak and the wonderful title track. As with a lot of bands it's their earlier stuff l like the most, The Royal Scam (Caves of Altamira a favourite) and Countdown to Ecstasy (My Old School another wonderful track) being two more albums l love. I know many fans would choose AJA perhaps as their best album, but speaking personally it's almost too perfect and polished, losing that certain something evident on their earlier releases. I have all their studio albums, but it's mostly the albums upto RS that l play the most, even though l have played Everything Must Go a number of times at this moment l couldn't possibly remember any of the tunes, not even the title! 😒
Thank you for reviewing this. I listened to Gaucho on my car tape player about 1980 while commuting a long distance. This track blew my mind. It took me out of this world! Nothing since has appealed to me as much, except perhaps Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield, and Lento, Howard Skempton. Please review more SD stuff!
Night driving song. I think it would be anyway, but its connected to a memory for me. Having my first car (and car stereo) going skating downtown and driving home after midnight. This is one of the first few cassettes (yes, that long ago) i bought and would be listening to.
The first time I heard this album I was 12 years old(1980). I didn't understand the references but loved the vibe. 10 years later I had lived the lyrics. I didn't understand that it was a cautionary tale until I paid for that life.
Yo, the reggae comment is on point. I didn't really think of that. Have you heard "Haitian Divorce" by Steely Dan? Gives you that reggae you speak of. See, Harri has way better ears than I do.
One of my favorite songs of all time. Definitely my favorite SD song.I think listened to this song about 100 times before I figured out what it was really about.
As you can see by my name, I am a fan. But, the reason I love this so much is because I used to live in San Francisco, and this song is about a night on the town in SF! I miss it like crazy!!
The Dan loved the May-September romances lol. Check out Donald Fagen's ( it's from Sunken Condos, basically a Dan Album) "Slinky Thing" and Dan's, "Hey Nineteen."
Babylon Sister. Just as cool as the other side of the pillow. Who else but Pncombies to sponsor this masterpiece. A true measure of an audiophiles hifi system, a listeners delight. Thanks Pncombies and Harri.👋👋👋
The amazing thing about Steely Dan, especially on song such as this, is there is almost never a standard chord, ie root third, fifth. There is almost always an added 2nd/9th, 4th. 6th, a major minor, a flattened 5th etc. But it never sounds gratuitous. My favourite band by a mile
steely dan is in a category by themselves. no other group really sounds like them or has the same style. reggae, jazz, and r&b. love the groove, too. great reaction, harri.
It's hard for me to pin a fav because there's just so many but Babylon sister is just so elite and I was lucky enough to see Dan when they blew into Australia before Walter's passing fondest memories
They were so unique, each song of Steely Dan was a masterpiece. Mastermind Mr. Donald Fagen !!! Always those amazing grooves and vibes in each song. From the first moment in 1972, Do it again, I loved this band.
Donald Fagen is dope! He's one I listened to in my younger years...and still listening to. Great road trip music. Steely Dan is an incredibly talented band.
"Jungle music" is an unfortunate" reference in time to describe a style of music that didn't get airplay on mainstream radio. It just made it more popular. The character in the song was trying to leave town without drawing attention to himself and his friend
Steely Dan and Linda Ronstadt provided the soundtrack to my college days. SD is such an amazing pair of guys with a variety of the best studio players the world had to offer. Thanks Neal and Harri for another great reaction video. 🌺✌️
appreciate that you know enough about music to appreciate the nuances and also can comment on the quality of the arrangement and engineering. most reaction channels are just some schmuck saying they do or don't like the song i.e. a waste of time.
When Aja came out in mid 70s we had never heard anything like it. Huge fusion of jazz and blues, what you mean when you say "that was such a cool song".
Donald Fagen was a bit of a perfectionist. Thank goodness! He and Walter came out with some great and timeless music. With the help of some awesome studio musicians and backup singers. A wealth of awesome Dan music to explore. ( albums "Aja" and "Two Against Nature" are 2 of my favorites) Nice reaction! Enjoyed it. RIP MR. BECKER!
Harry, I CAN'T believe you haven't heard this already. Well, don't sleep on Home at Last. They had a tendency to drive their engineers crazy 😂 they were obsessively anal about getting just what they wanted. But, their determination and music has stood the test of time...and is some of if not the best ride music. There isn't ANYONE like...The Dan...and now never will be. They were known to do 30-50 takes on their fade outs.
Say a prayer for Donald - He is currently in the hospital and Steely Dan as opener for the Eagles is cancelled. Let's hope Donald gets well soon! After all, he is the last bastion of the Dan.
I took 276 takes before Donald Fagen was satisfied with the sound he wants Patti Austin one of the backup vocals Bernard Purdie on drums stellar production values !
You have to live in CA to understand the story. It's a middle-aged white guy who just picked up a young, hot black girl at an LA night club the night before. It's the next morning, they're driving north on Highway 1, Pacific Coast Highway, to San Francisco.
The song leads off the Gaucho album, followed by the more upbeat Hey19, showing the Dan’s disdain towards the Babylonian lifestyle of LA and SF. The beautiful backup vocals, reggae guitar, Purdie shuffle, muted trumpet, crescendoing horns make this song as iconic as the cities it’s written about.
The song leads off the Gaucho album, followed by the more upbeat Hey19, showing the Dan’s disdain towards the Babylonian lifestyle of LA and SF. The beautiful backup vocals, reggae guitar, Purdie shuffle, muted trumpet, crescendoing horns make this song as iconic as the cities it’s written about.
The band is not a prolific touring band, but I was able to see them e few years back in Virginia Beach just b4 Walter Becker passed (RIP). The sound is crystal clear live just as it is from a studio production. I feel so honored and fortunate to have seen this band with Walter and Donald Fagen together..... such a wonderful memory. Easy to see why this band was inducted into the R&RHOF in 2001. Have always been enamored with their Pretzel Logic song as well as so, so many of their other songs. Great reaction Harri, TY.
From the 1980 album, " Gaucho", this is a beautiful song. Stunningly Donald and Walter add the vocals, but didn't contribute playing any instruments on this song. Bernard Purdie plays his signature half time shuffle beat on the drums, other professional musicians were brought in and 6 back up singers add the great vocals. Absolutely a great Steely Dan vibe, with great instrumentation particularly the horns. Always a treat. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Neal 👏👏 Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
The 5.1 channel DTS CD sounds incredible! "My Rival" has become my favorite song off this album, even though I'm not sure why? I just love it for some reason.
Drive west on Sunset, To the sea. Well I should know By now That it's just a spasm. Like a Sunday in TJ That it's cheap but it's not free. That I'm not what I used to be, And that love's not a game for free. My friends say, "No, don't Go for that cotton candy. Son you're playing with fire." The kid will live and learn, As he watches his bridges burn From the point of no return. And throughout the music is unrelatable to whatever young person the protagonist has in the car. It's of a piece with the more poppish, on-the-nose single 'Hey Nineteen,' from elswhere on the disc. The mournful wa-wah of the muted brass so reminiscent of noir, in the moment when he faces the stark moral choice of a noir character, the flowing instrumental sentimentality, all of it is solely for the protagonist. Her music is 'jungle music,' as he calls it, not intentionally a racial put-down, not in that era at least, more of an exasperated command that can't even bother to find an acceptable phrasing. It's the only thing he says to the girl for the entirety of the song. He's falling into his world, of his generation, and as the song throws beauty after beauty, and as the chorus plays its double role of conscience and inner voice of his companion, it only pulls him further from this latest dalliance next to him in the convertible. While he's recounting his sins against his own better judgment, worn out by his own needs to play the kabuki theater of celebrity daddy to his chosen weekend companion, almost pre-scripted to the point of boring him until some form of coupling that satisfies his reason for the weekend getaway, her thoughts are entirely elsewhere. 'Tell me I'm the only one,' she says to herself. In fact, nothing is said again. The both of them are driving west, toward the dying of the day, in near-complete silence. In his case, it's a one-way drive to the end, along the winding road of Sunset to Chatauqua and along to the Colony, the waning sun of his virility shining directly in his face, driving well past the frayed ends of his capacity to rise to the any sort of real consummation of this encounter with this flim-flammed trifle of the fairer sex. He's tired of himself, but there's depth to his world-weariness that strikes lyrical sparks against the eventuality of his own end. In fact, he knows quite well that it's not the sex he's after, it's the confirmation of something he knows better than ever to believe, fully, can be confirmed, the eternity of his youth. We suck young blood, as the Radiohead song says. The protagonist knows wherefrom he'll drink, and when he returns eastward along Sunset on Sunday evening after the weekend, there'll be silence just as there was on this drive. Next to him during the silent return trip his companion will no longer be haunted by self-conscious questions of whethere there's another girl in his life; she'll be she'll be wondering if there's a person inside the man with whom she's spent the last two days and two nights, unless, by some lucky and outrageous chance, she pries open what's inside him, and by some greater miracle can withstand the relentless self-scrutiny sure to be unleashed. But he wouldn't trust with it. It's enough to have had a seat inside the head of our caddish profligate 'hero,' and to have heard the beauty that accompanies his longing for eternal life--the music that conveys more than just notes, but an attempt to buttress him (and us) with the tropes, magnificently recalled, of the few things he loves. The music standing against the boredom and cynicism that nag him as he drives, as if on autopilot, along Sunset to the PCH. Okay, so while this wordy-ass recapitulation presumes much not only of you as a reader, if you've made it this far, it also manages utterly to fail to convey that this is one of the greatest recordings ever set down, however many tracks it took, notwithstanding that Fagan didn't play the Rhodes, however much the 'fine Columbian' of the era made the endless sessions spiky and wildly mood-swinging affairs. For me, and if only for me, it's a triumph of self-involved isolation, of separation, and of a longing to connect that can't, for any amount of trying, actually make the attempt to connect, except by playing the music that backs the inner monologue of a man crossing the line into middle age. I love this song. Twelve years ago I used to joke with a leggy lady friend in my Hollywood apartment how we should drink more kirschwasser from shells. She loved the Dan even more than me. Anyway.
yeah that shuffle sounds a little reggae the reference is from Hollywood there was a book called Hollywood Babylon and of course the Santa Ana Winds that gives you the setting which is the L.A. area where I grew up so since your from England I will explain it to you.........see Santa Ana is the area east of Los Angeles near Riverside and all that , well so therefore, when the winds come from offshore from the Pacific Ocean then see the air is negatively charged and it makes you feel good all those negative ions but when the air comes from the hot desert sands it has positive ions and that makes people irritable because of the positive ions see the negative ions give you free electrons and its like taking anti oxidants but positive ions are like free radicals and they are not good for you that is why after the girls sing here come those Santa Ana winds again then Donald sings ...... Bad News allright My Man , Cheers
The Dan...timeless exellence
Agree with you buddy. A thought for Walter Becker ❤
The muted trumpet and the background singers make this song extra special.
On their perfectionism: "Donald Fagen made seemingly endless tweaks to this song, creating one mix after another. Someone in the studio must have been keeping count, because when he hit 250 mixes, the crew gave him a "platinum" disk they created just for him. Fagen kept going, and it was mix number 274 that finally won his approval. He took that mix home to New York, but heard a note in the bass line he didn't like, so he returned to Los Angeles a week later and reconvened the team to fix it." Thanks Neal and Harri.
The pleasure is mine, John...you're welcome, brother.
Cool is Cool. Fagen 🏝️
Fagen and Becker appear to have much in common with another American musical genius, Brian Wilson. After Brian stopped touring and devoted all his labor to composing and the studio, he was said to be a relentless perfectionist in his overseeing every aspect of recording the records. He also brought in a brigade of legendary studio musicians and employed some of the "Wall of Sound" production techniques that Phil Spector was famous for. When they arrived in studio to begin a session, Brian would have detailed charts prepared for each of the musicians -- and also for his Beach Bros when they came off tour and into the studio to record the vocals. Steely Dan also quit touring for years after 1974 to fully devote themselves to creating and recording new music.
You gotta shake it, baby
You gotta shake it, baby
You gotta shake it! 😂😂😂
That sweet Purdie shuffle with the drums! I’ve met Bernard Purdie and heard him play at my friends jazz club. Mr. Purdie is 84 and still has the groove!
And doesn’t he know it lol
Nice reaction, great commentary
another jem, just as good as the Black COW & Time out of Mind & many others
I saw an interview with David Crosby shortly before his death, where he said Gaucho is his favorite album. Not his favorite Steely Dan album, but his favorite from the whole music world.
He said that if Gaucho came out before Aja, it would be the benchmark.
My favorite song by the Dan. Such an iconic shuffle by Mr. Purdie. Fantastic background vocals. Thanks Harri.
'Jungle music.' A slur used in the 1950's against R&B. In an interview years ago Mick Jagger said his father called it that in the 1960's when the RS started.
Eight time Grammy Award winner Roger Nichols was the engineer for most of Steely Dan’s career. I believe that, as great as they are, they would not have had the same success without Roger in the studio with them.
You got to shake it baby. 💕
A world class group, who made albums with many talented musicians. Love this group
Love watching someone hearing and appreciating the Dan .....
"Here come those Santa Ana winds again." An Iconic band. Them or the Doobies are my all time number one. One or the other. Steely Dan reached a level that no one else did and it was actually frustrating when your dad had those records because music does not get any better. That jazz. Jazz rock? Who does that? Makes you feel like a Lounge Lizard and that Miles Davis is playing some muted horn and you're having a drink with Tropical girls in some Noir club. Like you are the gumshoe sleuth detective.
Yes, the Doobies or Steely Dan! Love both bands. I've got all Steely Dan studio albums and most of the Doobies records, if l could only keep one album from both bands it would be Pretzel Logic and The Captain and Me.
Pretzel Logic probably wouldn't be everyone's choice, but just love the shorter snappy songs and that one. The Captain and Me would be top choice l think with most DB fans.
@@keithjones7390 there's one song on Pretzel Logic called "With a Gun" that is as good as any country song ever written. Steely Dan came off like novelists. Like singing authors. Their songs really drew me in. I spent too much time listening to those records over and over before I was even 10 years old.
@@TrueBagPipeRock l don't know if it's because Pretzel Logic was the first Steely Dan album l bought but it's one of my favourite albums ever. With a Gun is one of my favourite tracks on the album along with Through With Buzz, Barrytown, Charlie Freak and the wonderful title track. As with a lot of bands it's their earlier stuff l like the most, The Royal Scam (Caves of Altamira a favourite) and Countdown to Ecstasy (My Old School another wonderful track) being two more albums l love. I know many fans would choose AJA perhaps as their best album, but speaking personally it's almost too perfect and polished, losing that certain something evident on their earlier releases.
I have all their studio albums, but it's mostly the albums upto RS that l play the most, even though l have played Everything Must Go a number of times at this moment l couldn't possibly remember any of the tunes, not even the title! 😒
Thank you for reviewing this. I listened to Gaucho on my car tape player about 1980 while commuting a long distance. This track blew my mind.
It took me out of this world! Nothing since has appealed to me as much, except perhaps Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield, and Lento, Howard Skempton. Please review more SD stuff!
They did 275 takes on this song before they said yes this is it. Pure profection
Night driving song. I think it would be anyway, but its connected to a memory for me. Having my first car (and car stereo) going skating downtown and driving home after midnight. This is one of the first few cassettes (yes, that long ago) i bought and would be listening to.
The first time I heard this album I was 12 years old(1980). I didn't understand the references but loved the vibe. 10 years later I had lived the lyrics. I didn't understand that it was a cautionary tale until I paid for that life.
Sounds of the American culture by true American musicianship, goovin!
I could just cruise endlessly on Highway 1, in Cali listening to Steely Dan!!!
I would bring this CD to the Hi-Fi store to listen to when demoing high end speakers. So clean and wide range of sonic sounds.
Yo, the reggae comment is on point. I didn't really think of that. Have you heard "Haitian Divorce" by Steely Dan? Gives you that reggae you speak of. See, Harri has way better ears than I do.
Unique
The drive from LA to the Golden Gate Bridge. LA & San Francisco are the Babylon sisters. Thank you Harri for the superb reaction.
One of my favorite songs of all time. Definitely my favorite SD song.I think listened to this song about 100 times before I figured out what it was really about.
The kid will live and learn as he watches his bridges burn from the point of no return.
As you can see by my name, I am a fan. But, the reason I love this so much is because I used to live in San Francisco, and this song is about a night on the town in SF! I miss it like crazy!!
The Dan loved the May-September romances lol. Check out Donald Fagen's ( it's from Sunken Condos, basically a Dan Album) "Slinky Thing" and Dan's, "Hey Nineteen."
ICONIC! LEGENDARY!
Babylon Sister. Just as cool as the other side of the pillow. Who else but Pncombies to sponsor this masterpiece. A true measure of an audiophiles hifi system, a listeners delight. Thanks Pncombies and Harri.👋👋👋
"A listener's delight." How well put! If I hadn't selected it you would've, Imadrummin! Thank you, brother!
THIS is The Vibe.
Brilliant song; love it.
“The point of no return.” Experience of many troubled souls.
In the 1950's jungle music was a derogatory term for R&B. Mick Jagger said his father used that term in the 1960's in referring to American R&B.
Steely Dan, next up - Pretzel Logic. Soooo groooovy!
czcams.com/video/V9lWm20dZHI/video.htmlsi=CFpYnfYHsuHizpep
The amazing thing about Steely Dan, especially on song such as this, is there is almost never a standard chord, ie root third, fifth. There is almost always an added 2nd/9th, 4th. 6th, a major minor, a flattened 5th etc. But it never sounds gratuitous. My favourite band by a mile
The Dan are just beyond perfection. The pair of them write, arrange, engineer, mix and produce everything.
They are perfection but don’t forget Roger ‘the immortal’ Nicho;;s or Gary Katz. Crucial
steely dan is in a category by themselves. no other group really sounds like them or has the same style. reggae, jazz, and r&b. love the groove, too. great reaction, harri.
It's hard for me to pin a fav because there's just so many but Babylon sister is just so elite and I was lucky enough to see Dan when they blew into Australia before Walter's passing fondest memories
They were so unique, each song of Steely Dan was a masterpiece. Mastermind Mr. Donald Fagen !!! Always those amazing grooves and vibes in each song. From the first moment in 1972, Do it again, I loved this band.
Smoooooooth.
You have the best Steely Dan reactions Harri !!
Donald Fagen is dope! He's one I listened to in my younger years...and still listening to. Great road trip music. Steely Dan is an incredibly talented band.
"Jungle music" is an unfortunate" reference in time to describe a style of music that didn't get airplay on mainstream radio. It just made it more popular. The character in the song was trying to leave town without drawing attention to himself and his friend
As far as I know, they've never toured. Strictly a studio band (Fagen and Becker were the only regulars on every album).
Nice song, gotta love Steely Dan. Thanks Neal and Harri.
My pleasure, sis...glad you were digging it, too!
Steely Dan is truly a legendary band of the 70s, and it's one of my favorites.
Warning: Don't go for that cotton candy!! So fine, so young...
Bodhisattva is another great Steely Dan tune
They were & are pure magic loved them in the 70's while in HS & they still sound great.
I believe Rodger Nichols was the engineer as on the Aja album. Digital clarity in the analog age. Arguable the best engineered album of all time.
Not an argument with me lol
THANK YOU HARRI, LOVE STEELY DAN.
Your joy is palpable
Like honey poured directly into your ears.
Thanks for such a clean sounding upload... I heard a new detail i never noticed in many decades of loving every nuamce of this awesome track 5:25
Steely Dan and Linda Ronstadt provided the soundtrack to my college days. SD is such an amazing pair of guys with a variety of the best studio players the world had to offer. Thanks Neal and Harri for another great reaction video. 🌺✌️
You're welcome, Debbie.
appreciate that you know enough about music to appreciate the nuances and also can comment on the quality of the arrangement and engineering. most reaction channels are just some schmuck saying they do or don't like the song i.e. a waste of time.
When Aja came out in mid 70s we had never heard anything like it. Huge fusion of jazz and blues, what you mean when you say "that was such a cool song".
Donald Fagen was a bit of a perfectionist. Thank goodness! He and Walter came out with some great and timeless music. With the help of some awesome studio musicians and backup singers. A wealth of awesome Dan music to explore. ( albums "Aja" and "Two Against Nature" are 2 of my favorites)
Nice reaction! Enjoyed it. RIP MR. BECKER!
Magic as ever. Heard Reelin' in the Years on radio back then - bought album right away. The rest is history. Finally saw them in London, 2009.
So fine, so young… Tell me you’re the only one…” The Dan🖖🏼🍻
Engineered by Roger Nichols, who earned a grammy for inventing the first programmable drum machine "Wendle" for this album.
Steely Dan loves Bob Marley, ha, ha, ha 😅😅😅
Harry, I CAN'T believe you haven't heard this already. Well, don't sleep on Home at Last. They had a tendency to drive their engineers crazy 😂 they were obsessively anal about getting just what they wanted. But, their determination and music has stood the test of time...and is some of if not the best ride music. There isn't ANYONE like...The Dan...and now never will be. They were known to do 30-50 takes on their fade outs.
czcams.com/video/Vq_Tmg2lMbA/video.html
The whole album is fire, not one duff song on it.
Great song
Say a prayer for Donald - He is currently in the hospital and Steely Dan as opener for the Eagles is cancelled. Let's hope Donald gets well soon! After all, he is the last bastion of the Dan.
Babylon By the Bay is the nickname of San Francisco.
Just love this one, love all steely Dan. Give a listen to "royal scam"
My favorite Steely Dan album.
"Tell me I'm the only one" How about TWO? sister rivalry?
I took 276 takes before Donald Fagen was satisfied with the sound he wants Patti Austin one of the backup vocals Bernard Purdie on drums stellar production values !
You have to live in CA to understand the story. It's a middle-aged white guy who just picked up a young, hot black girl at an LA night club the night before. It's the next morning, they're driving north on Highway 1, Pacific Coast Highway, to San Francisco.
Great choice. One of my favourite SD songs. You're the best, Harri.
Thank you!
This is the most expensive album ever produced. It would cost over 10 million dollars to make now. Never happen again. Dig it the most.
One of their 3 or 4 best. Aja and Royal Scam are awfully good too.
Donald Fagan said Royal Scam was their penultimate, and that they probably would never better it.
Ear candy.
The song leads off the Gaucho album, followed by the more upbeat Hey19, showing the Dan’s disdain towards the Babylonian lifestyle of LA and SF. The beautiful backup vocals, reggae guitar, Purdie shuffle, muted trumpet, crescendoing horns make this song as iconic as the cities it’s written about.
next logical steely Dan from here is-hey-9👌
STYLIN!
The sound of my youth❤❤❤
The song leads off the Gaucho album, followed by the more upbeat Hey19, showing the Dan’s disdain towards the Babylonian lifestyle of LA and SF. The beautiful backup vocals, reggae guitar, Purdie shuffle, muted trumpet, crescendoing horns make this song as iconic as the cities it’s written about.
don't get the "cotton candy", "watching bridges burn", check out all the phrasing & meanings in this song there were many.
Sheer perfection.
Cornish!
Such a Grove. Like running around Boston or Miami. 🪴🌴🦞
I love to hear them!1😊😊
The band is not a prolific touring band, but I was able to see them e few years back in Virginia Beach just b4 Walter Becker passed (RIP). The sound is crystal clear live just as it is from a studio production. I feel so honored and fortunate to have seen this band with Walter and Donald Fagen together..... such a wonderful memory. Easy to see why this band was inducted into the R&RHOF in 2001. Have always been enamored with their Pretzel Logic song as well as so, so many of their other songs. Great reaction Harri, TY.
We did also...in Appleton WI
You should watch the outstanding documentary on the making of the Aja album. I think you would really enjoy that one.
From the 1980 album, " Gaucho", this is a beautiful song. Stunningly Donald and Walter add the vocals, but didn't contribute playing any instruments on this song. Bernard Purdie plays his signature half time shuffle beat on the drums, other professional musicians were brought in and 6 back up singers add the great vocals.
Absolutely a great Steely Dan vibe, with great instrumentation particularly the horns. Always a treat. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Neal 👏👏 Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
My pleasure, Mary...thanks for enlightening the viewers. You gotta savor the 'Purdie Shuffle"!
@@pncombiesIndeed, beautiful song. Hope you're staying cool. 🌞🌞🔥🔥✌️✌️🎶🎶🤗
@@marybaillie8907 107° in Austin yesterday. 🥵😎🔥
@pncombies Yes, I saw that on the Today Show. Take care!! Hydrate Hydrate.👍✌️🎶🇨🇦
Made me get out the vinyl. Ahh.
Love The Dan man
The fad out took 100s of hours to finalize.
The 5.1 channel DTS CD sounds incredible! "My Rival" has become my favorite song off this album, even though I'm not sure why? I just love it for some reason.
You, and any Steely Dan fan who hasn't seen it, should watch the 2000 PBS live video recording special on Steely Dan called Plush TV Jazz -Rock Party.
These babylons defy gravity😄🍉🍉🍈🍈
Chuck Rainey Bass Bernard Purdie Drums ( The Purdie half time shuffle) One of the greast rhythm section ever ....Bob Ludwig was the mastering engeneer
Ok🌸🌼🙏🎩🧥🕺🏿🎸
Drive west on Sunset,
To the sea.
Well I should know
By now
That it's just a spasm.
Like a Sunday in TJ
That it's cheap but it's not free.
That I'm not what I used to be,
And that love's not a game for free.
My friends say, "No, don't
Go for that cotton candy.
Son you're playing with fire."
The kid will live and learn,
As he watches his bridges burn
From the point of no return.
And throughout the music is unrelatable to whatever young person the protagonist has in the car. It's of a piece with the more poppish, on-the-nose single 'Hey Nineteen,' from elswhere on the disc. The mournful wa-wah of the muted brass so reminiscent of noir, in the moment when he faces the stark moral choice of a noir character, the flowing instrumental sentimentality, all of it is solely for the protagonist. Her music is 'jungle music,' as he calls it, not intentionally a racial put-down, not in that era at least, more of an exasperated command that can't even bother to find an acceptable phrasing. It's the only thing he says to the girl for the entirety of the song. He's falling into his world, of his generation, and as the song throws beauty after beauty, and as the chorus plays its double role of conscience and inner voice of his companion, it only pulls him further from this latest dalliance next to him in the convertible. While he's recounting his sins against his own better judgment, worn out by his own needs to play the kabuki theater of celebrity daddy to his chosen weekend companion, almost pre-scripted to the point of boring him until some form of coupling that satisfies his reason for the weekend getaway, her thoughts are entirely elsewhere. 'Tell me I'm the only one,' she says to herself.
In fact, nothing is said again. The both of them are driving west, toward the dying of the day, in near-complete silence. In his case, it's a one-way drive to the end, along the winding road of Sunset to Chatauqua and along to the Colony, the waning sun of his virility shining directly in his face, driving well past the frayed ends of his capacity to rise to the any sort of real consummation of this encounter with this flim-flammed trifle of the fairer sex. He's tired of himself, but there's depth to his world-weariness that strikes lyrical sparks against the eventuality of his own end. In fact, he knows quite well that it's not the sex he's after, it's the confirmation of something he knows better than ever to believe, fully, can be confirmed, the eternity of his youth.
We suck young blood, as the Radiohead song says. The protagonist knows wherefrom he'll drink, and when he returns eastward along Sunset on Sunday evening after the weekend, there'll be silence just as there was on this drive. Next to him during the silent return trip his companion will no longer be haunted by self-conscious questions of whethere there's another girl in his life; she'll be she'll be wondering if there's a person inside the man with whom she's spent the last two days and two nights, unless, by some lucky and outrageous chance, she pries open what's inside him, and by some greater miracle can withstand the relentless self-scrutiny sure to be unleashed. But he wouldn't trust with it. It's enough to have had a seat inside the head of our caddish profligate 'hero,' and to have heard the beauty that accompanies his longing for eternal life--the music that conveys more than just notes, but an attempt to buttress him (and us) with the tropes, magnificently recalled, of the few things he loves. The music standing against the boredom and cynicism that nag him as he drives, as if on autopilot, along Sunset to the PCH.
Okay, so while this wordy-ass recapitulation presumes much not only of you as a reader, if you've made it this far, it also manages utterly to fail to convey that this is one of the greatest recordings ever set down, however many tracks it took, notwithstanding that Fagan didn't play the Rhodes, however much the 'fine Columbian' of the era made the endless sessions spiky and wildly mood-swinging affairs. For me, and if only for me, it's a triumph of self-involved isolation, of separation, and of a longing to connect that can't, for any amount of trying, actually make the attempt to connect, except by playing the music that backs the inner monologue of a man crossing the line into middle age. I love this song. Twelve years ago I used to joke with a leggy lady friend in my Hollywood apartment how we should drink more kirschwasser from shells. She loved the Dan even more than me. Anyway.
It was Very cool Live. Love this album --> so now you must hit the Very tight TIME OUT OF MIND, and listen for Mark Knopfler's short solo.
yeah that shuffle sounds a little reggae the reference is from Hollywood there was a book called Hollywood Babylon and of course the Santa Ana Winds that gives you the setting which is the L.A. area where I grew up so since your from England I will explain it to you.........see Santa Ana is the area east of Los Angeles near Riverside and all that , well so therefore, when the winds come from offshore from the Pacific Ocean then see the air is negatively charged and it makes you feel good all those negative ions but when the air comes from the hot desert sands it has positive ions and that makes people irritable because of the positive ions see the negative ions give you free electrons and its like taking anti oxidants but positive ions are like free radicals and they are not good for you that is why after the girls sing here come those Santa Ana winds again then Donald sings ...... Bad News allright My Man , Cheers
Rodger Nichols and his invention Wendel Jr