[soflorattler]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/steely-dans-walter-becker-has-died-aged-67-bandmate-donald-fagen/

 

Wow. Great loss to the band.

[90Aggie]

   

[Cholly]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/steely-dans-walter-becker-has-died-aged-67-bandmate-donald-fagen/

 

Wow. Great loss to the band.

 

Last year started off badly with Maurice and Prince moving on.

This year it was Chuck Loeb and now Walter Becker. 

Honestly... Incognito, EWF, Steely Dan... in NO particular order... are by FAR my FAVORITE "bands" ever. I mean... I LOVE STEELY DAN.

Becker was a crap bassist and guitarist... he would be the first to admit it... but he and Fagen wrote some of the BEST music I have had the pleasure to listen too. They had 3 distinct phases during which they focused on different types of music.

SERIOUSLY; the band went bye-bye in the mid '70s when Jim Hodder, Denny Diaz, and Skunk Hodder got tired of playing 2nd fiddle... ENDING the rock and roll phase... and The folk at ABC Dunhill wanted Donald and Walter to be their House writers.

"Steely Dan"  from that point on was just a name for Becker and Fagan and which ever ABC artist were assigned to play on their album.

Michael McDonald, Dean Parks, Jeff Pocaro, Wilton Felder, Stix Hooper, Victor Feldman , Larry Carlton, Tom Scott and a virtual A+ list of ja-- musicians from the ABC Records stable ALL did turns performing on Steely Dan albums and in some cases, on stage.

It's why their music from Katy Lied on was so good with FLAWLESS performances.

And while Becker was a crap instrumentalist... as a composer his skills meshed PERFECTLY with Fagen's and they wrote some really, REALLY excellent music. 

As a team they were anal retentive perfectionists... doing a cut over and over and over again just to capture the right dynamics of a particular passage. And that was AFTER multiple re-writes of a particular arrangement or composition before even going into the studio.

They did drugs and women together also. LOT OF THEM.  EACH. AND EACH. Until they each got married and settled down.... somewhat.

Contract problems with the MCA Records which purchased ABC spelled doom for the partnership and the "band" in 1979-80, with each going their separate ways. Fagen has BY FAR been the more successful soloist, with hits and much better album sales, but eventually the two life-long friends got back together again to tour as Steely Dan to sold-out audiences of Baby Boomers, myself included. (Saw them in Orlando.)

When they released their last two albums, it was the culmination of their musical arc, from rock to ja-- rock fusion, to blues ja-- rock fusion.

I hate to see him go' he was contributed to hundreds of hours of listening pleasure for me.

[‘87 Alum]

And they call me Deacon Blues!

[Cholly]

Three in a row 87... Royal Scam and Aja in '77, then Gaucho in '80.

CLASSIC... and some of the BEST music I ever heard. 

BTW, Aja was ALL GREAT SONGS!!! 

Not a weak cut in the bunch, including their biggest hit "Peg". 

[Shelt from Skegee]

I'm listening to my playlist with the Albums "Katy Lied", "Royal Scam", "Aja", and "Gaucho" now.  But I like those earlier albums also, especially "Countdown to Ecstasy"

[Cholly]

^^^The first three? Much more rock... even country rock oriented. That was Hodder and Baxter. Denny Dias was into C&W too.

Becker and Fagen were DEEP into ja-- and Fagen was as much a blues man as he was a Ja-- man.

If you listen to both "Two Against Nature" AND "Everything Must Go" you'll hear a SERIOUS Ja--/Blues fusion with a lot of FUNK thrown in for good measure. 

I love ALL their stuff... from the beginning to the end.

And while I ALSO love Fagens solo work just as much, Beckers solo projects were straight GARBAGE. 

I mean, when he titled his first solo album "11 Tracks of Wack" he wasn't kidding. 

But in listening to Fagen's NYC Trilogy + 1 (The Nightfly, Kamakiriad, Morph The Cat, and Sunken Condos) you hear EVERYTHING that you love and loved about Steely Dan. The spare but complicated arrangements, tight composition, beautiful instrumentation, FANTASTIC performances, Fagen's nasal but emotive vocals, and thought provoking lyrics.

His work without Becker is as good as he work WITH him, but that doesn't negate Becker's contribution to one of the greatest musical collaborations of adult life. 

[tusk91]

This is what happens when 2 literary majors decides to write songs instead of books.

Hey 19:



Do it again:



Black cow:



Peg:



No static at all:

[Cholly]

^^^CLASSICS!!! 

But don't forget the newer stuff:

What a Shame About Me



Jack of Speed:



The Things I Miss The Most



Green Book



Lunch With Gina



Just REALLY good music.....

[Cholly]

And a few of my favorites from the middle albums that haven't been mentioned:

Your Gold Teeth



Your Gold Teeth II



And the EXCELLENT introductory suite from The Royal Scam:

Kid Charlemagne



The Caves of Altamira



Don't Take Me Alive



MAN!!! You can get LOST listening to this stuff... and I mean REALLY listening closely to everything from the instrumental performances to the vocal arrangements.

REALLY good music....

[Cholly]

The Royal Scam, Like Aja, was FILLED with REALLY good songs:

Sign In Stranger



The Fez, Steely Dan's ONE attempt at Disco/Dance music:



Green Earrings



Haitian Divorce



 

[Cholly]

Doctor Wu



Any Major Dude



And we have barely even TOUCHED Aja

[‘87 Alum]

Black Cow
Peg
Deacon Blues
Josie
Aja

All favs from Aja album....

Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Pretzel Logic

[Cholly]

^^^HELLOVA album!! 

Just a few more of my favorites:

Home at Last



Their first REAL Suite with multiple movements; Aja



BTW, Steve Gadd played that fade tag IN ONE TAKE!

 

And the classic:

Deacon Blues



"This is the Day, of the EXPANDING man..."

[Cholly]

And from Gaucho:

Babylon Sisters



Time out of Mind



^^^Full of stars: Valerie Simpson (of Ashford and Simpson), Patti Austin, Michael McDonald, David Sanborn, The Brecker Brothers, and solo guitar by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits)

Glamour Profession



And an EXTREMELY well written song with a lyric BEFORE it's time...

Gaucho



... the intro and hook of which got them successfully sued for copyright infringement, which in turn as much as anything, caused the breakup of the band.