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Steely Dan........ [message #339616]

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:41

C.Cash
Messages: 644
Registered: September 2007
Location: Bahamas

Gold Member

in concert;

http://www.steelydan.com/

I love Steely Dan, i'm there.

" Yellow is the new Red " T.Manning

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339620 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:19

C.Cash
Messages: 644
Registered: September 2007
Location: Bahamas

Gold Member

I kinda get the impression that not too many people in the recording field like this band.Someone put up a thread about them on another forum and the only response they got was, " I hate Steely Dan, they sound too sterile", and that was a moderator! So my question is do you like SD or not and why?

Thanks.

" Yellow is the new Red " T.Manning

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339625 is a reply to message #339620 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:44

gwailoh
Messages: 141
Registered: April 2005
Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Active Member

No. Too sterile.

To my ear they have a couple of songs with strong melodies. But they're so overwhelmingly bland.

I once had an argument with a colleague who insisted SD were great because "they brought jazz into rock and roll". As though there had ever been rock and roll without jazz in it; as though there'd been no Van Morrison or Joni Mitchell, who, unlike SD, incorporated jazz voicings in ways which are artful and emotionally impactive. To me, SD sound like a lounge act with tremendous backing musicians.

Apologies if this offends any SD fans. Tastes are subjective.

Mark Phillips
I'm not old I'm vintage.
http://www.markphillips.com
http://www.myspace.com/mark_phillips
http://www.smartmonsters.com

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339635 is a reply to message #339625 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:52

Steve Hudson
Messages: 522
Registered: November 2004
Location: Austin, Texas USofA

Gold Member

gwailoh wrote on Wed, 07 May 2008 15:44

Tastes are subjective.

In this case, I predict WW would disagree.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

- Hunter S. Thompson

http://www.myspace.com/steventoddhudson

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339642 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:20

Dave @ D D
Messages: 438
Registered: May 2004
Location: Toronto

Active Member

Out of all of the incredible musical contributions Steely Dan's brought to pop music, their harmonic pallette what stands out in my mind. I've lifted my share of their tunes with incredible delight.
Steely Dan at Casino Rama. I'm there.

Dave T.
D&D Music
www.d-dmusic.com

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339644 is a reply to message #339642 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:47

Robert Shelton
Messages: 116
Registered: June 2007
Location: East Bay, CA

Active Member

No accounting for tastes, BUT...

My issue with a lot of Steely Dan bashers is the implication that they're not GOOD. Which is, I'm sorry, ridiculous, and bordering on intellectual dishonesty. If you don't like the groove in FM, if that sax solo in Deacon Blues doesn't do it for you, or if you just don't like their sound or object to their recording philosophy on general principle, that's all fine.

But to suggest that these two cats don't have writing chops... well, show me what you've got that's better. All I'm sayin'.

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339645 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:52

littlehat
Messages: 741
Registered: October 2005
Location: NYC

Gold Member

I will never ask anyone else what they think of music I like.

Why in the world would I care?

Music I enjoy speaks to me, if you don't get it... that's fine. I hope you've found music you love, whether I like it or not.

I don't object to soliciting advice on music to try, I ask people I think have interesting taste to turn me on to new (or old) music I might like.

I don't listen to Steely Dan for pleasure... you shouldn't care at all.

Push the RED button!

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339647 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:00

phantom309
Messages: 2139
Registered: April 2006
Location: Canada

Platinum Member

I don't always admire the content. But I ALWAYS admire the craft.

They had a mastery of jazz harmony in a pop idiom.

Like it or not, they seemed to have (or Roger had) an absolute, artistic control of their recording aesthetic and method.

Fagan's voice is often annoying to me, but I like what he has to say...usually.

Some of the musicianship is astounding. Some of the solos are masterpieces

Shorter on "Aja"

Gadd on damned near everything.

Monumental guitar playing. IF you like monumental guitar playing.

I can do without "Gaucho" completely. Can't be without "Countdown..."

I can see why they are stylistically offensive to some guys...but I love 'em.

...sometimes.

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339652 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:15

studiojimi
Messages: 1232
Registered: April 2004
Location: Hollywood, CA

Platinum Member

SD is a long time ago in a place far far away
from life in 008

loved the chords...weird lyrics

muso vibe all inspiring

but i'd rather be doing than spectating at this point

CAZADOR RECORDING
STUDIOJIMI'S PSW SONG FORUM
MY MYSPACE
How very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339658 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:34

Harland
Messages: 387
Registered: September 2004
Location: Vancouver BC

Active Member

I like them best on their straight up rock stuff like Dirty Work and Do It Again.

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339662 is a reply to message #339658 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:46

Berolzheimer
Messages: 808
Registered: April 2007
Location: L.A.

Gold Member

The guys I've been playing cover songs with for the last few years do some SD. They're fun songs to get inside of.

"We have also sound-houses, where we practise and demon- strate all sounds and their generation....
Divers instruments of music likewise to you unknown, some sweeter than any you have; with bells and rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent small sounds as great and deep, likewise great sounds extenuate and sharp; we make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds, which in their original are entire. We represent and imitate all articulate sounds and letters, and the voices and notes of beasts and birds. We have certain helps which, set to the ear, do further the hearing greatly; we have also divers strange and artificial echoes, reflecting the voice many times, and, as it were, tossing it; and some that give back the voice louder than it came, some shriller and some deeper, some rendering the voice, differing in the letters or articulate sound from that they receive. We have all means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances."--Francis Bacon, 1626

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339664 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:48

Matt Allen
Messages: 152
Registered: October 2004
Location: Nashville, TN

Active Member

The groove and playing at the guitar solo entrance of "Rikki don't lose that number", makes me smile everytime! love that solo

Matt Allen

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339668 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:21

maxim
Messages: 5050
Registered: February 2005

Platinum Member

"But to suggest that these two cats don't have writing chops... well, show me what you've got that's better."

i think they have writing chops, it's just that what they write bores me

if i were rikki, i'd lose that number quick sticks...

cheers,
max
sydney, oz

http://www.asylumdreams.com

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339685 is a reply to message #339616 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:14

McAllister
Messages: 726
Registered: April 2004

Gold Member

There is some SD stuff I really like. "The Royal Scam" might be my favorite of theirs.

But it seems to me they started refining things too much. They were this rock (well, rock-ish) band at the beginning, then they refined their sound. Made it more subtle, more simmer. Chuck Rainey, Steve Gadd. Then.... I don't know, they refined it too much, and all the heat went out of it. "Aja" leaves me cold, though there are things from a technical POV I appreciate.

But I want to LOVE the music I listen to, not appreciate it on a technical basis.

M

"That sounded great....now let's record one."

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339691 is a reply to message #339685 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 22:12

J.J. Blair
Messages: 10047
Registered: May 2004
Location: by the sea & sand

Diamond Member

I love SD. I love their earlier records the most. And the most overlooked thing about them by all the muzos they inspired is what great songwriters they were. Really. Fucking amazing songs. The muzos miss that, go for the weird chords and all the hard to play jazzy bits. It's the melody that sticks in your head, not the fancy shit.

Saw them live at the Hollywood Bowl in '94, and hated it. Won't do that again.

And I understand why the people who hate them hate them. And I don;t think they are wrong, necessarily, but I do think they are prejudiced against them. If you can't appreciate what a great song "Any Major Dude" is, then it just has to be prejudice.

temporary webpage

They say the heart of Rock & Roll is still beating, which is amazing if you consider all the blow it's done over the years.

"The Internet enables pompous blowhards to interact with other pompous blowhards in a big circle jerk of pomposity." - Bill Maher

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Re: Steely Dan........ [message #339700 is a reply to message #339691 ]

Wed, 07 May 2008 22:55

danickstr
Messages: 2562
Registered: April 2005
Location: Seattul

Platinum Member

I think they are extremely talented, but don't know them, so maybe they suck as people, or maybe they are great drinking mates. Aja is a super well-crafted record, one of the best of any era.

Nick Dellos - MCPE Humanist Fleshlike Member
I like pizza. I reserve the right to make your PM's public for my own entertainment purposes.

Food for thought for the future: http://www.kurzweilai.net/

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