Okay, people. I thought about it, long and hard, and have concluded that the best musical act people don't take seriously enough is Steely Dan. I'm not 100% sure why that is, but it likely has to do with the '70s (on which we can blame oh so many things, including my birth), the ubiquity of their best-known (but not necessarily best) songs on classic-rock stations, and the limiting and only-partially-descriptive term "jazz-rock" used to describe them.As any major dude will tell you, there's way more to them than that. Them, specifically, refers to the duo Donald Fagen (on the left) and Walter Becker. I see them as a mind-melded single entity, like Jagger and Richards, McCartney and Lennon, Captain and Tenille. Steely Dan as a band-proper only lasted for a few years and a couple albums. After touring tore them down and the benefits of recording with L.A.'s best session musicians became too clear to ignore, the Dan became Fagen, Becker and an army of contributors.
When people call their music "jazz-rock" they're not wrong, but they leave out two extremely compelling components. First, they sling catchy pop hooks like a fat man in a greasy apron slings hash. Why have you heard songs like "Reelin' In The Years", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", "Peg", "Black Cow" and "Hey Nineteen" on the radio for decades? Because they're fucking catchy, that's why. Before Steely Dan, Fagen and Becker worked in the Brill Building writing pop songs, that's how.
Second, a sophisticated love of language (just look at them--don't they just scream sophisti
cated?) They can turn a phrase and choose the right word for the right spot with the best of 'em. They can reveal thoughts to you that your own brain wasn't capable of forming on its own. They wield this talent to tell odd, dark slivers of stories that take place on the fringes and in the shadows even in the full light of day. More important, Fagen's voice is the most perfect delivery for all of the above. After all, it's the Dan's secret ingredient--lots of people can play music at the jazz/rock intersection, and lots of people can pen abstract, literate lyrics, but Fagen's voice takes all of that and, well...have a listen, won't you?Steely Dan remain my favorite music for driving around the streets (not the freeway) in Los Angeles after lunch. They're just too misanthropic to listen to any earlier than that. On the freeway, they're wasted both on traffic jams and on wide-open speed.
See what I mean? How can you not want to "drive west on Sunset to the beach"?
To me, the Dan will always be so evocative of 1970s Southern California. And the more you listen, the easier it is to see why. But the perverse magic of it is that Fagen and Becker are dyed-in-the-wool New Yorkers who moved to Los Angeles for professional reasons and they loved nothing more than casting their jaundiced eye upon its corrupting influences and surface beauty. But without Los Angeles, there'd be no Steely Dan. Of course, while there, they found out that living hard will take its toll.
After releasing Gaucho in 1980, they didn't record again til 2003, though they resumed touring in the mid-'90s. Why? Who are you to ask such an impertinent question? You put out that much awesome you can do whatever you want, ok? Them's the rules!
So, if you're going to dive in to their catalog, you can't go wrong with any of their albums from 1972's Can't Buy A Thrill to 1980's Gaucho. My personal favorite is 1976's The Royal Scam, which many idiots regard as their weakest. Their best album is probably 1977's Aja (if you ever meet a girl named Aja, now you know why.) They returned to the studio in 2003 with Two Against Nature, which won the best album Grammy, though that was really a lifetime achievement award. And I haven't heard the follow up, Everything Must Go, but I'm sure I will eventually. Regardless, stick to the '70s and you'll be fine.
But if you're just gonna go to iTunes and cherry-pick some songs, let me suggest the following:
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Barrytown
Everyone's Gone to the Movies
Kid Charlemagne
Gaucho
My Old School
Pearl of the Quarter
Sign In Stranger
That said, I suggest buying the remastered albums, which contain liner notes written by Becker and Fagen. If you'd like to know from whom I've bitten my writing style, you should start there.
Extra Credit: Google "Steely Dan Owen Wilson" and also "Steely Dan Wes Anderson". Whether you do that before or after becoming familiar with their music is entirely up to you.
Extra Extra Credit: Fagen has recorded three solo albums; Becker two. Once you work your way through the Steely Dan oeuvre, this is where you'll turn for a fix. You won't be disappointed.
And remember, don't tell your mama, your daddy or mama, they'll never know where you've been.
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