I’m a Dan Fan!
I’ve said it many times, I love Steely Dan. I’ve never come across a bad song in their whole catalog. Even the album cuts that were never released as a single of played on FM Rock station, end up a favorite!
Steely Dan is a genre of music unto itself. A progressive rock band from the early 70s that decided that they didn’t want to be “cookie-cutter” rock music, so they infused pop-rock with jazz, R&B, Americana, international, blues and even country twinges are found in their music. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the nucleus of the band, are genius’s. I’m pretty sure both of their IQ’s are higher than 175 because the intricate writing of music, the layers of instruments, the intelligent lyrics and poetry therein… Steely Dan is just an amazing band.
The debut album from 1972 set the music world on it’s side. even though some critics thought them too pompous in their lyrical content, yet not flashy enough to be on stage (1972 was also the year of David Bowie’s alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust and glam artists like Marc Bolan’s T.Rex and the landmary album, ‘The Slider’). They were a weird juxtoposition between high brow progressive jazz-rock in lower-middle class clothing.
I will be on vacation this weekend so Jeff Winfield will be your host for Sunday Night Vinyl, Sunday night at 8p.
