|
|
One Part Brubeck, One Part William S. Burroughs, Two Parts Drifters, a Pinch of Blue-Eyed Soul, Pour Into a Murky Glass and Serve Icy Cool
Posted by Stephen Green · 25 January 2003
Summer of ’78. Bad striped shirt. Khaki shorts. Blue Bruce Jenner™ brand running shoes. White socks with the three stripes at the top, pulled all the way up to the knees. Luke Skywalker hair. Nine years old and looking for some action at Pegnita day camp, deep in the dirty (well -- manicured and leafy) suburban heart of Kirkwood, Missouri. That was VodkaPundit, back in the day. And just one fashion accessory: An avocado green handheld AM radio, presenting crystal (literally) sound in the blistering mono you could get only from an over-used nine-volt battery. You know, that same battery you sometimes unsnapped from its little black rubber thingy so you could press the contacts against your tongue – dig that funky tingle, white boy.
1978 was a great year for bad music, and an even better year for great music. You’ll never forget “Love Is Like Oxygen,” no matter how hard you try. I’d rather not mention “MacArthur Park,” but it’s too late now, isn’t it? Almost as bad was the Swedo-syncopation of ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me.” On the plus side, there was the melancholy lyrics and sexy sax of Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street.” Eric Clapton told Sally to lay down, rest you in my arms. And imagine a nine-year-old me, wishing he knew a sixteen year old like Nick Gilder’s “Hot Child in the City.” All of those ditties squeaked out of that little transistor radio I got from who-knows-where. And I knew all the words. Too shy to talk to many girls other than Faraby Lombardo (and her, only because she was in my camp carpool), I even tried to feel, you know, really feel the tender middle-age romance of The Little River Band’s “Reminiscing.” Some of those songs I still love. Others make me cringe. Still others I wouldn’t admit still loving, even if you questioned me with a very patient and very well trained team of Hamas torture experts, armed with the very latest in drop-forged needle-nose pliers. The tunes I learned to love most that muggy summer had actually come out the year before. The band was Steely Dan. The album was Aja. The songs were “Peg” and “Josie.” Peg is, I think – opinions always vary on the meanings of Dan lyrics – about a porn producer sweet-talking a girl on the set of her first blue movie: I like your pin shot Of course, I didn’t know the porn angle back in ’78. But thanks to Mom’s collection of jazz and R&B, and Dad’s collection of Brubeck and classical, I knew from good music. The lyric seemed full of longing and seduction. For sure, the music was. I was hooked. The other song was darker, with a slower hook and a sleeker sound. Josie was the best friend I never had, but I knew I wanted to: Jo would you love to scrapple I don’t think my parents or grandparents had any idea what I listened to for six hours a day while I made popsicle-stick-and-Elmer’s miniforts, taunted the king snake inside his glass cage in the Reptile Hut, or bullied my peers along with best friend Kevin Kahlmeyer. It’s probably no coincidence that the shy, wanna-be romantic, little boy with the conflicted musical influences, fixated on two slinky songs about two wild women – but I never knew the name of the band. Flashforward two years. 1980. The album, Gaucho. The song, “Hey, Nineteen,” is one probably even non-Dan fans know. Hey Nineteen Yeah, eleven years old and convinced I was just growing old. In other words, there’s no denying the infectiousness of a Steely Dan lyric, or the irresistibility of their groove. The opening bass notes of Nineteen were almost enough to hook my wife, a woman who just can’t stand frontman Fagen’s voice. Flashforward again. 1988. Down on the river at Sugar Tree, a fine little place on the Gasconade River near Rolla, Missouri. Playing poker with the guys, there’s some killer tunes, not quite rock, not quite jazz, coming from somebody’s boombox. Of course, it’s gotta be Shelly Adcock’s (family friend and all-’round great guy). “Shel, I know all these songs. Who is this?” “That’s Steely Dan.” “Same band who did ‘Hey, Nineteen’?” That one I knew, having taped it off my cousin Brett. “Yep.” “Cool.” It didn’t take long to collect every sound Becker & Fagen had ever produced. It took even less time to discover that Gaucho was their last album. And so fandom turned into obsession. 1993, they toured again. I caught them in 1994 at Fiddler’s Green – Sam Adams in one hand, a Camel Filter in the other, and The Dan playing “Aja” not 100 feet from me. The only way I could’ve been happier is if that sweet little brunette backup singer on the right had put her face in my lap. 2000, at long last, a new album. Coming in May, the newest new album, Everything Must Go. Just typing “new album” about Steely Dan makes me feel nine years old again. Admittedly, a very odd little nine-year-old with too much hair, a cheap radio, and a completely unearned sense of underworld irony. Comments
There'll never be another Aja. It was a window in time through which the sweetest sounds blew, and then it closed. Listen to that no-name lead guitarist nailing -- absolutely nailing -- the solo in the middle of "Peg." Jeff Beck couldn't have said it better. Fagen's making it sound like he's smirking through the whole album, but he's well aware that this particular blend of rock and jazz is a major moment. I'm surprised you can pick out two cuts for mention. There's not a dull moment in the whole thing. The Dan got overplayed, there's no question. Here in Portland, Ore., a station named KINK went so overboard with them in the late '70s and early '80s that we all started tuning out. But you put on Aja 25 years later, and it's still damned impressive. Posted by: jack bog at January 25, 2003 02:21 AMSteven, glad to see you back. This old fart (I graduated from high school about the time you were born) never could get into Steely Dan, I considered them way too pretentious. The latter half of the '70s was a musical disaster from my point of view; I think the only album I bought throughout that time was Jackson Browne's 'Running on Empty' which is a set of live tracks. I suspect you'll get a far different take from the Doctor if he comments, since besides being much more knowledgeable about music than me, s also a couple years younger. Posted by: steevil (Dr Weevil's bro Steve) at January 25, 2003 06:19 AMJack, the only reason I can narrow Aja down to two songs is. . .well, those were the two songs they played that summer. After buying the album a few years later, I could never narrow it down to less than seven tracks. What's that? You say there are only seven cuts on the album? Hmmm... Posted by: Stephen Green at January 25, 2003 08:19 AMAnd the guitar solo on "Do it Again" is unbelievable. Is that some sideman they hired or is it one of them? Posted by: Jim at January 25, 2003 10:20 AMJim, "Do It Again" was off of Can't Buy a Thrill, their first album -- before it became the Donald & Walter Show. That was Denny Diaz on guitar and, if I'm not mistaken, he came back for some studio work on later tunes. Posted by: Stephen Green at January 25, 2003 11:03 AMNot to mention the Elliot Randall solo on "Reeling in the Years", which Jimmy Page supposedly called his favorite guitar solo. Can't Buy a Thrill was and still is my favorite Dan album, but with Aja, Royal Scam, and Pretzel Logic close behind. Its probably for the same reason that Aja is your favorite - it takes you back to a happy place in your youth. They are all great though, and have aged quite well. Like Count Basie (was it him?) said, there's two kinds of music - good and bad. Dan is good. Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at January 25, 2003 12:41 PMThere's no question: ALL their albums are great. But Aja was special. It was their "Sgt Pepper." It successfully integrated all the good stuff that came before it. A new level of musical complexity mixing jazz with rock and roll. The absolute best studio musicians. And a lot of their absolute best writing. All in one record! I STILL remember how amazing it was to see them win a Grammy for Best Album of the Year for "Two Against Nature" in 2001. Many of the artists attending the event had no idea who they were, and some weren't even born when "Can't Buy a Thrill" was released in 1972. And their acceptance speech, of course, made oblique reference to the irony of it all. But that's the Dan. Always observant, witty, yet self-depricating. And always somewhere in the immediate musical vicinity. They only started touring in earnest AFTER the peek of their recording fame and a break-up, yet they sell out wherever they go. They write lyrics that don't seem to make much sense, but the hooks still kill. What a band! - WBB PS: What's next? I'm reading this while playing my entire Steely Dan boxed set recorded to MP3's. The lyrics are what keep me listening, from the defiant "King of the World" and "Don't Take Me Alive" to the bizarre in "Razor Boy." Me again. "Faraby Lombardo"? What a killer name for a chick! Is she for real? - WBB Posted by: WBB at January 25, 2003 02:32 PMI discovered the Dan while a budding music student back in college in the early nineties. I think it took me all of a year and a half to also collect everything Becker and Fagan ever recorded. Stephen, I want to thank you for that little article. At this point, I have listened to all of the albums more times than I can count, and can hum every solo from every song, so needless to say I played it out. But thanks for reminding me of just how good these guys are. By the way, if you were not at their show at Fiddlers in 2000, you missed a hell of a performance........... Posted by: Nate at January 25, 2003 05:44 PMA new Steely Dan album? Ah... A vision of a child returning/A kingdom where the sky is burning/Honey I will be there/Yes I'll be there Yes we'll be there. Remember when "The Nightfly" came out and some critics asked what Becker had been doing on the previous albums? If you haven't had the opportunity, take a copy of Gaucho or Aja to a high end audio store and convince the salesman you thinking of dropping $30,000 or so. Then sit back and enjoy new aspects of the music you probably haven't even noticed before. Oh and perhaps the best line ever in popular music, "Skate a little lower now..." Another thing, I was in college when MTV and ESPN started up. Those were the days... Anyway, remember when ESPN used to run through all the scores on a roll playing the long instrumental from either Dire Straits' "Industrial Disease" or Steel Dan's "Glamour Profession"? Those were the days, my friend... Music from 1978, and no mention of "The Cars?" For shame! ;) Posted by: Anna at January 25, 2003 07:56 PMSteven: I knew there was something I liked about you; now I know what it is. So far no one's mentioned the tastiest part of Aja: the very tasty work of Steve Gadd on the drums. Generally, Skunk Baxter is highly overlooked as an early member of the group too. Posted by: David Perron at January 27, 2003 07:03 AMYeah, yeah, good stuff about Steely Dan - love it, great music, etc. But you must never - NEVER - blaspheme by denigrating the musical gods/goddesses that are/were ABBA. 'Nuff said. Posted by: DavidMSC at January 27, 2003 08:00 PM(Jumping in to remark at the very bottom...) It was always a favorite game of mine to guess at the various guitar tracks on those records. It was a lot more fun than actually trying to hack out the parts. I can attest to that, from the gruelling experience on my own frets. It took me years to get next to Aja, and I still don't seriously consider Gaucho as real Steely Dan so much as a picture of Fagen & Becker headed straight off the edge toward deep space. (Becker finally winked out ot sight with "11 Tracks of Whack".) I can listen to those records, but when I want The Taste of The Real Thing, I'll roll "King of the World" or "Pearl of the Quarter ("Countdown To Ecstasy", 1973) , "Doctor Wu", or "Black Friday" ("Katy Lied", 1975). And there is a descending tear-off lick right at the very end of the fade-out in "My Old School" that comprises one of the best five seconds or so bits in the whole history of rock guitar. To me, that's where it's at with Those Guys: wholly original rock music, and I missed that when they had gone soft by the end of the 70's. It's still a taste, but I don't let it get in my way to the hi-test. 1978-83: I was in a performing group that toured 30 weeks of the year. Our van had an 8-track player and a limited supply of tapes. "Countdown to Ecstasy" was one, and my first exposure to The Dan. "Bodhissatva" was our favorite air-guitar song on those long trips around the continent. Although one of our guitarists was a little, well, unread? and thought the title was "Go Eat Suppa." To this day I can't listen to the CD without singing his lyrics. Posted by: sulizano at January 28, 2003 05:52 PMJack Blog: That guitarist on the "Peg" solo was Jay Graydon, who is nobody I'd ever heard of. However, Larry Carlton does quite a bit of the guitar work on that album, among other albums Dan did, and he was as smooth as they get. I will have "Deacon Blues" at my funeral. Posted by: Loretta at January 28, 2003 06:30 PMI have "Gaucho" on DVD-A and it is an entirely new experience. Get these records on DVD wherever possible. It's a whole 'new ballgame. Posted by: Loretta at January 28, 2003 06:32 PM |
MDS - Give Until It Hurts Terror War Scorecard Watching America 50 Things American Cancer Ablation Center Buy VodkaPundit Stuff
"Vodka--it's not just for breakfast anymore."
Ann Althouse
Across the Atlantic
American Realpolitik
Albion's Seedlings
Justene Adamec
The Argument Clinic
Todd A
Moe Freedman
Allah Is In the House
Body in Mind
Ben Domenech
Duck Season
Banana Counting Monkey
Ted Barlow
Eric Alterman
American Times
|
     |
Such was the unlikely beginning of my lifelong love for 
