Reelin’ Throught the Years

Rip It Up, Issue 19, 1 February 1979, Page 8

Reelin’ Throught the Years

Peter Thomson

or seeking a logic in the countdown of thrills jmy at jhf

Mhat comprises ‘Steely Dan’s Greatest Hits .

THE BEGINNING Sometime during the 60s, at an expensive East Coast American university two students became friendly because, as they have since claimed, they were the only two there who weren't rich. Walter Becker was on scholarship and Donald Fagen was bankrupting’ his father. Their real common ground, however, was undoubtedly music. "Donald had a band and I had a guitar. In his group there were three rhythm guitarists ranging from bad to very bad.” Performing didn't work out too well and eventually the pair quit college to seek work in New York as songwriters. That also failed, so in order to eat they spent 1970 and '7l working as backing musicians for then-popular Jay and the Americans. Finally rescued by an untried ABC Records producer named Gary Katz, Becker and Fagen became company songwriters, again without real success. (Barbra Streisand recorded one song.) Katz then took an ABC job in L.A., summoned his writers and recruited a band Denny Dias and Jeff Baxter (guitars), Jim Hodder (drums), Becker (bass) and Fagen (keyboards and vocals), together with occasional vocalist David Palmer, named themselves after a versatile dildo in a William Burroughs novel and became Steely Dan.

CAN’T BUY A THRILL (1972) Despite being recorded only a few weeks after the band’s formation this album is a superbly realized set of performances in a variety of styles. It shows none of the usual growing pains of a debut album; every track is a winner. Predictably enough the Greatest Hits compilation contains only the two top 5 singles: "Do It Again" an immediate dance number, features exotic percussion, electric sitar, Fagen's nasal voice and tinny keyboard solo. The intriguing lyric about a compulsive gambler begins Becker/Fagen’s celebrated fascination with contemporary Western decadence. "Reelin' In The Years" is a great lolloping rocker with a classic guitar solo from guest Elliot Randall. Fagen’s vocal sneeringly puts down a lover who's found someone else. The contempt expressed is such that we'd previously expected only from Dylan.

THE LITERARY ANGLE Response to music is. of course, primarily through the guts. Intellectual considerations are secondary (if ever). Steely Dan songs are as beguiling as they come and only after repeated hearings does one sink thoughtfully into the often enigmatic lyrics. Becker and Fagen's craftsmanship with words is on a level with Paul Simon’s and Joni Mitchell’s but the Dan's subject matter and oblique approach is quite distinct. Their verbal portraits and vignettes may seem bewilderingly elliptical but the writers deny being intentionally obscure: "We don’t construct them as puzzles. We try to tell a big story in a very short period of time. Naturally we have to exclude some information. We don’t discourage any speculation." But they are also "against the notion that in order to enjoy a song you have to know exactly what it means.”

COUNTDOWN TO ECSTACY (1973) Whereas the previous album was primarily song-oriented albeit with brilliant instrumentation here the emphasis is more on group playing. The sound is generally tougher but nonetheless the album is another gem. The Hits' selection is unbalanced in that it doesn’t represent the album's milder swinging side (eg . "Pearl of the Quarter", "Razor Boy”). . "My Old School", an unsuccessful single, recalls days of history books and wild girlfriends. The bright tune is beefed up by punchy brass.

"Bodhisattva” concerns the insecure followers of cheap messiahs. There is fine guitar interplay between the jazzy Dias and Baxter’s riff and snarl.

“Show Biz Kids”, another failed single, (rendering Greatest Hits a misnomer), features slide guitar by Rick Derringer. The singer has been spying on neighbours who are so cool they even have Steely Dan t-shirts. The song is a clever anatomy of envy.

PRETZEL LOGIC (1974) Amazingly enough an even finef record than its two predecessors. The songs are generally less sombre, more compact and more accessible Any ‘Greatest’ sampling is bound to be inadequate simply because it excludes so many great tracks. By now David Palmer, relegated to background vocals on Countdown , had left. More use was being made of top sessionmen. The only non-original composition they’ve recorded "East St Louis Toodle-Oo” is a faster, slightly gimmicky reworking of a great Duke Ellington piece. "Parker's Band” may have been a better track by which to acknowledge their heroes. ON JAZZ: Becker and Fagen share a strong interest in mainstream jazz and once joked that they’d

rather be, respectively, Ellington and Charlie Parker. (When asked to host a rock radio programme they arrived with armfuls of old jazz records and played nothing else all evening.) This taste is not only catholic but purist. Fagen has opined that, "There is no jazz in America now.” However, although they find all post-Coltrane music "boring" they are very proud of the good relationships they have with jazz-oriented sessionmen. Yet Fagen declares "Just because we prefer jazz to rock and roll doesn’t make our music greatly influenced by jazz.”

“Ricki Don’t Lose That Number.” This unusual but very commercial love song was a hit. Lilting electric piano from David Paich and Baxter’s solo is short but sweet.

“Pretzel Logic” is a slow bluesy swing with subtle horn-work. The lyric conveys a cool nostalgia.

"Any Major Dude” features more lovely piano and Dias’ superb guitar. The streetwise narrator offers optimistic reassurance to his "funky one".

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED “Here At The Western World". Both sound and positioning in this collection suggest the recording date of this delight from the archives. Superb imagery of a sleazy demi-monde is evoked as the singer offers advice to another loser.

ON LIVE PERFORMANCE In their early days Steely Dan played as support band to other acts (eg. the Kinks). They suffered all the usual hassles such as no sound checks and lights cutting. Neither Becker nor Fagen particularly enjoyed live performance and they disliked American audiences "Most can’t listen." Later, as the Dan’s popularity grew, they tried to avoid large auditoriums for acoustic reasons but this made touring unprofitable. Furthermore the touring unit was always altering “We've never gone out with the same band twice” and the increasing intricacy of the music required bigger units and longer rehearsals. (At one stage the group included two girl back-up vocalists.) A British tour in ’74 was cut short due to Fagen’s illness "Whenever we start touring I anticipate being ill.” By the end of that year Steely Dan had made its last public performance.

With eight months a year taken up in writing and recording, it’s not surprising the band dissolved and since 1975 Steely Dan has become solely the extended concept of its two core auteurs.

The most notable success among its exmembers has been Jeff Baxter (upon whom the Muppets’ guitarist is surely modelled), who reinvigorated the Doobie Brothers.

KATY LIED (1975) Opinions invariably differ but in this writer’s opinion Katy is the Dan’s weakest album. Often the music seems comparatively mundane and the lyrics excessively obscure. Dias remained with Becker and Fagen but otherwise they employed, as they would henceforth, large numbers of sessionmen. Probably the album’s best track, "Any World (That I’m Welcome To)”, is missing from this collection.

“Black Friday” is a straightforward boogie about a cynical celebration.

"Bad Sneakers”, another unsuccessful single release, is musically more impressive but suffers from contrived wit.

“Doctor Wu” delves into the murky world of drug dealing.

THE ROYAL SCAM (1976) Still patchy but overall an improvement on Katy. The lyrics continue the Becker/Fagen descent into society’s seamy underside. Dias is still present but most guitar work is handled by the Crusaders' Larry Carlton. “Haitian Divorce” traces marital regress in clipped foreign’ English. The soloist is Carlton. “Kid Charlemagne” provides the albums highlight and indeed one of the Dan’s finest moments. Over a bubbling melody the unromantic lyric recounts the fate of a 60’s acid chemist and the whole psychedelic era he represents. Like the king in the title, his time has passed. “The Fez” is simply a one-line joke over a funky beat. (The almost-redeeming instrumental melody was supplied by a sessionman.) Either the album's title track or “The Caves of Altimira” would have made a better third selection. Both are masterful. ON SONGWRITING Becker and Fagen would rather be known as songwriters than as musicians. (Indeed they seem to play less with each successive album.) Usually both write together although occasionally Fagen may start and Becker complete a piece. "The music is written before the words are added. It’s like painting by numbers we try and fill in the gaps.” Or more seriously: "We think of them as compositions rather than songs. They are structured but there is room for improvisation.” AJA (1977) With a more relaxed air of extended pieces played with consummate taste and restraint, Aja marked a complete return to the heights. It also put paid to criticisms that Becker and Fagen’s music suffers from the use of sessionmen. Two short selections are simply not enough; everyone needs the whole album. "Peg” is a sophisticated strut abetted by Tom Scott's catchy horns. The singer has lost his girl to movie stardom. "Josie" funkily anticipates wild celebrations upon the return home of the favourite neighbourhood wildcat. HARDLY THE END From the outset Steely Dan was a distinct and original musical force, helping free American rock from its dominance by British bands and Becker/Fagen’s writing has fuelled some of the very best rock of this decade. For the Dan is without doubt, in its harmonic sophistication, production techniques and intriguing lyrical stances, very much a 70’s act. At the same time, and here is but one of the group’s many paradoxes, it has always operated outside the great rock tradition and remained oblivious of musical fashion. This band which is not a band has disdained the current emphasis on rock and roll energy, yet its most recent and relaxed album has been its biggest seller. On the strength of its recordings to date Steely Dan can certainly lay serious claim to be the 70’s best group. I see no reason why that shouldn't extend into the 80’s.