I got "Condos" the day it came out after pre-ordering it...I NEVER do that, and had no idea it would arrive the day it was released. Whoo hoo...the bad news is that my GF can't listen to Fagan, and barely to Becker (his 2 solo albums are BRILLIANT and personal faves). Weird, but a concert promoter music librarian friend claims that, in general, "chicks don't like Steely Dan"...I'm not sure this is true, but I am sure I don't care. My Fagan listening is now "off-girlfriend." One of the things about "Condos" is that on some tracks there are a pile of instruments listed you can barely pick out (yes my hifi is resolving and accurate)...bass harmonica, etc. Strange, but, again, NOBODY does this stuff like these guys (do you want Michael Leonhart to produce YOUR next album?..HELL YES)...just crazy and always interesting lyrics, reference quality sound, and cool man musical chord movement that makes me say YEAH...out loud and in private like some idiot. Another note about the sound of this album...the first track has bass that almost seems out of phase (but still cool and clearly intententional), and other tracks make my sub explode...and that's also cool, and intentional...like the opening B note bass extravaganza on Morph the Cat. I hope they have a few more Steely Dan albums in 'em as it's just all good. |
Morph is a great album (except to sunnyjim and my gf) and usually only engenders criticism among those comparing it to other "Dan" stuff...a useless but understandable exercise especially relative to the mountains of crap released in the pop music world every day. Among my musician friends it's always a big deal when something new comes along from the twisted minds of Becker-Fagan...refreshing. Recently a reviewer commented on how simple "Reelin' in the Years" was as a little pop song and all I could think was "really?!" Back then everyone in the working musician world I knew virtually stopped in their tracks and said, "who ARE those guys?" As for my own useless comparison exercise, Gaucho. A grammy for engineering and maybe my favorite guitar solo ever from Larry Carlton in "Third World Man." And for those who missed it...Walter Becker's "Circus Money" is astonishingly hip stuff. |
What about Kamakiriad? Kidding...but it is interesting how these guys compete with themselves...I suppose that's a good thing. Becker's "11 Tracks of Whack" has maybe had more play from me than nearly anything these guys have produced, and it rarely gets mentioned. |
I get the same "it's sterile but cool" reaction at first listening to anything from these guys and I've found that opinion always changes for the better as I warm up to it. "Condos" may or may not wind up as a fave, but I think the larger point beyond rating or comparison is that I can't find anything like this stuff...even at their most "sterile" it's just more fun for me than so much of what is out there. I listen to jazz mostly, and when I've used a new Fagan or Becker track when doing live sound testing (not uncommon among pro sound people), especially when doing a jazz show, the musicians notice and it always starts a conversation. Remember, jazz is mystifyingly relatively unpopular in general, and, agree or not, even the New York Times now describes Steely Dan as the premier touring jazz group. And the New York Times is always right...or left...something... |
Sunnyjim...clearly you have your own taste (!), but I fully expect everybody to agree with me all the time about everything, including you. Don't let me down...I'm very sensitive. I do have to note however that Fagan and Becker are all Steely Dan is really...they write, direct, chose the musicians, and pay for the pizza, and David Palmer has to be the Pete Best of "Danophelia". I watched Palmer lipsynch Fagen's lead vocal on a silly American Bandstand appearance...a great moment in the history of pop music embarassment.
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Oh no...SARCASM! I forgot that Palmer was the first black president...I did like "24." As a vocalist for Steely Dan (a little over 40 years ago) Palmer's been pretty much relegated to trivia for most listeners as he has a somewhat forgettable voice compared to Fagan's weirdo voice, although it would seem sunnyjim (and the always reliable wikipedia) will keep his memory alive! I'll keep enjoying my gf, my Morph the Cat album, and sunnyjim should happily sit (apparently alone...*sigh*...) in his basement and que up his Teen Wolf video for some classic Palmer. See? It's all good... |
Note to self: The oddly insecure can be VERY sensitive to sarcasm or "Teen Wolf" soundtrack references, possibly triggering tropical partnering fantasies. "Beach Boy...get that dude his meds...he seems ominously troubled." This thread reads like a Walter Becker song. |
Based on the evidence presented herein, I rest my case. |
Reopening the case, Fagan competes with himself and can't win that one as he keeps sounding like Donald Fagan, but I think the album (CD) sounds great sonically with layers of funk buried in there, and I like the fact that all the songs have individual tonal makeup. Some recordings from "Dan et al" have this "spitty" cymbal tone that I find strange, but after a few listenings SC's weirdness is refreshing and the cymbals and everything else sounds nicely detailed on my system. For new stuff, what the hell else is out there? A note about "Fagan Faves", "Snowbound" on Kamakiriad has a fave GREAT bass tone. |
I still like cerebral funk...even when derivative of itself. |
Even on a bad day the newer Fagan/Becker stuff is currently much more interesting than 99% of the crap out there, and that's all I can ask of them. Actually, I can ask of them to make more of it, as I'm sure they're hanging on my every word. I listen to Jazz and Classical most of the the time anyway so I don't care that much, although I did ask Peter Washington (Bill Charlap Trio bass player...I mixed a live show of theirs a few weeks ago) about opening for Steely Dan and he said something like, "They're brilliant but a bunch of perverts"...and that made me smile. I expect nothing less from Becker and Fagan. |
I may have said this before, but I can't remember and am too lazy to go back and read this thread...The use of carefully arranged vocal harmony always gets these guys bonus points from me. "Circus Money" is also brilliant, although maybe it requires some extra listening time for that fact to sink in. Regardless of the imagined "total point score" of any of this stuff in the run for the Steely Dan Related Output Championship, I think they put a lot of labor into their quirky music and like it or not, that always shows through. |
Steely Dan et al have had a much higher than average (for pop music anyway) level of musical complexity and range of style since day one, and in that context there is a very large stash of musical ideas to plunder. I assume they don't care what the public thinks as long as the live shows sell out and somebody buys enough music from 'em to justify continuing, but in the context of having a long run with nothing to prove except to themselves I think the recent stuff is amazingly well done. It's good to remember one particular group who mostly think they're brilliant: Professional musicians. |
My "Condos" CD sounds fine. Lucky I guess... |
Morph the Cat makes me run to turn down my subwoofer level control every time...not sure if that was intentional or a mastering error or what...but I bet there's more than one blown woofer in the wake of that album. |
