Could it be a Steely Dan Saturday on Durham Cool?

 

 

 

Steely Dan Saturday has arrived. This day is long overdue. I asked what music you wanted to hear and the clouds parted with the song, Kid Charlemagne, playing on the closing credits of a show on Apple TV.

Steely Dan, a band of circulating impresario session musicians, fronted by the two members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who transitioned so many Americans from the end of the LSD sixties through the cocaine-infused 70s. So much has already been written about the dynamic duo and musical genius skill of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. I thought it wise to leave the bios up to Wiki (see below). I will add that Steely Dan was a very important band for my formative years growing up in Newburgh, NY. How many of us can say that Steely Dan is part of their music childhood, adolescence, mid-life, or early-stage senile dementia?

 

 

 

 

Here is the first part of the Wiki:

Steely Dan is an American rock band founded by core members Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals) in 1972. Blending elements of jazz, traditional pop, R&B, and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics, the band enjoyed critical and commercial success starting from the early 1970s until breaking up in 1981. Throughout their career, the duo recorded with a revolving cast of session musicians and, in 1974, retired from live performances to become a studio-only band. Rolling Stone has called them “the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies”.

Steely Dan
Becker & Fagen of Steely Dan at Pori Jazz 2007.jpg
Steely Dan performed in 2007. Walter Becker (l) plays electric guitar, and Donald Fagen (r) plays melodica.
Background information
Origin
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.
Genres
Jazz-rock soft rock[1] pop[2] yacht rock[3]
Years active
1972–1981, 1993–present
Labels
ABC MCA Giant Reprise Warner Bros.
Associated acts
New York Rock and Soul Revue Dukes of September Rhythm Revue Jay and the Americans Doobie Brothers Toto Larry Carlton Lee Ritenour Cornelius Bumpus
Website
steelydanofficial.com
Members
Donald Fagen
Past members
Walter Becker
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
Denny Dias
Jim Hodder
David Palmer
Royce Jones
Michael McDonald
Jeff Porcaro

After the group disbanded in 1981, Becker and Fagen were less active throughout the next decade, though a cult following[4] remained devoted to the group. Since reuniting in 1993, Steely Dan has released two albums of new material, the first of which, Two Against Nature, earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

 

My favorite Steely Dan tracks



How Steely Dan Composes A Song

Music in this video
Song
Deacon Blues
Artist
Steely Dan
Writers
Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Licensed to YouTube by
UMG (on behalf of Geffen*); UMPI, ASCAP, LatinAutor – UMPG, CMRRA, UMPG Publishing, LatinAutorPerf, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, and 11 Music Rights Societies
Michael Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan

ines-alvarez-fdez-_Ocean from aerial view unsplash

Steely Dan live at Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA 1993 480p 30fps H264 128kbit AAC

 

 

For me, this is the best Steely Dan live Show For some unknown reason, there are freeze frames at the beginning of all of the songs from this video. That flaw aside, this is still the best video I’ve seen from the reunion tour. The Nashville show is skippy, and the two audience videos I have from Philadelphia and Jones Beach are low-quality (I will be sharing at least portions of them, though). This video is also pretty rare and not nearly as commonly sold/traded/shared as the Nashville one, so enjoy! Instrumental Medley (The Royal Scam, Bad Sneakers, Aja) 0:12 Green Earrings 8:42 Bodhisattva 14:00 IGY 19:49 Josie 25:58 Hey Nineteen 32:57 Book Of Liars 39:14 Chain Lightning 43:38 Green Flower Street 55:29 Home At Last 59:35 Black Friday 1:05:56 Tuzz’s Shadow 1:10:30 Deacon Blues 1:16:37 Tomorrow’s Girls 1:24:43 Babylon Sisters 1:31:23 Reelin’ In The Years 1:38:11 The Fall Of ’92 1:45:15 Peg 1:51:32 Third World Man 1:56:12 Countermoon 2:02:31 Teahouse On The Tracks (small skip before this song; couldn’t fix it, sorry) 2:07:28 My Old School 2:15:39 FM (No Static At All) 2:22:37

Joining Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, and WalterBecker are Drew Zingg on lead guitar Peter Erskine on drums, Tom Barney on bass, Warren Bernhardt on piano, Cornelius Bumpus, Chris Potter, and Bob Sheppard on saxophone Brenda White-King, Diane Garisto,, and Catherine Russell on backing vocals Bill Ware III on the vibraphone Boz Scaggs – guest appearance on Black Friday.

Green Earrings (Live)

ARTIST

ALBUM

Alive In America

WRITERS

Walter Becker+1 more LICENSES

 

 

Steely Dan on Late Show, 1995 and 2000 (stereo)

Steely Dan performed two times on Late Show:
1. October 20, 1995: “Josie”
2. March 3, 2000: “Cousin Dupree”
Both performances in full and glorious stereo.
Michael Becker and Donald Fagen B&W image Steely Dan

Bodhisattva

Bodhisattva · Steely Dan

Countdown To Ecstasy

℗ 1973 Geffen Records

Released on: 1973-01-01

Producer: Gary Katz
Studio Personnel, Mixer: Denny Dias
Composer Lyricist: Donald Fagen
Composer Lyricist: Walter Becker

Steely Dan-Bodhisatva Live 1974

Steely Dan, introduced by the wonderful and somewhat inebriated Jerome Aniton, perform Bodhisatva in Santa Monica circa 1974.
Music in this video

Song
Bodhisattva (Live At The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, CA / 1980)
Artist
Steely Dan
Licensed to YouTube by
UMG (on behalf of Geffen*); LatinAutorPerf, CMRRA, LatinAutor – UMPG, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, ASCAP, UMPG Publishing, and 4 Music Rights Societies


Steely Dan My Old School

Steely Dan performs My Old School HQ (Remastered) from the 1973 album Countdown To Ecstasy. Steely Dan band line-up on Golden Greats live 1973 television appearance is Donald Fagen – lead vocals, keyboards, Walter Becker – bass, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter – guitar, Denny Dias – guitar, Jim Hodder – drums, Sherlie Matthews, Myrna Matthews, Patricia Hall, David Palmer – backing vocals. With Steely Dan mimed live to the studio recording, audio is overdubbed with CD-enhanced stereo track.

Music in this video

Song
My Old School
Artist
Steely Dan
Licensed to YouTube by
UMG (on behalf of Geffen*); ASCAP, UMPI, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, CMRRA, LatinAutorPerf, LatinAutor – UMPG, UMPG Publishing, and 5 Music Rights Societies


anastase-maragos-Pretzel Vendor -unsplash