August 23rd, 2010 7:55am

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Steely Dan "Peg"

As a direct result of reading Greg Milner's Perfecting Sound Forever BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, , I've been thinking a lot about methods of recording, the way things sound, and the way people respond to various technological advances and the resulting aesthetic decisions. One of the aesthetics I find most interesting at the moment is the very "dry" sound that was very popular in the 70s, where to buy Viagra Super Active, Where can i buy Viagra Super Active online, most especially the stuff that was recorded in California. Steely Dan is an extreme example of this style -- clean to the point of being sterile; jazz/rock fusion performed with surgical precision, fast shipping Viagra Super Active. Buy Viagra Super Active without prescription, I get why a lot of people hate this sound. If you want guts and grit in your music, buy Viagra Super Active from mexico, Buy Viagra Super Active from canada, this is the radical opposite. It's not physical, it's not soulful, BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker made ruthlessly cerebral music, Viagra Super Active trusted pharmacy reviews, Buying Viagra Super Active online over the counter, and everything that made it to their records was a fully formed idea rendered as perfectly as possible. Every sound in the recordings is discrete, Viagra Super Active gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release, Japan, craiglist, ebay, overseas, paypal, nothing bleeds together. It's not meant to simulate the sound of people playing together, buy Viagra Super Active without prescription, Viagra Super Active for sale, it's just a pure representation of a musical arrangement.

Solos, order Viagra Super Active online c.o.d, Where can i order Viagra Super Active without prescription, traditionally an aspect of music that at least offers the front of being a moment of inspired expression, were auditioned, Viagra Super Active samples. BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, Fagen and Becker ran through seven session players before finding the ideal solo for "Peg," a song that would become one of their most memorable and zippy productions. Where to buy Viagra Super Active, If you watch this video, the duo play a few of the rejected solos, australia, uk, us, usa, Buy Viagra Super Active from mexico, and it becomes clear why they were so picky. Those solos were awful, ordering Viagra Super Active online, Buy no prescription Viagra Super Active online, just really tacky and lifeless. The keeper, buy Viagra Super Active from canada, Comprar en línea Viagra Super Active, comprar Viagra Super Active baratos, performed by Jay Graydon, is among my favorite guitar solos ever, order Viagra Super Active from United States pharmacy, Buying Viagra Super Active online over the counter, in part for its fantastic contrast with the rest of the composition. The center of the piece is the interplay between this exceptionally sleek keyboard part and the subtle syncopation of the drums -- tightly written and performed, fast shipping Viagra Super Active, Purchase Viagra Super Active, but it comes out sounding fluid and intuitive. When the solo comes in, this already mellow tune seems to relax and slide into this even more stylish and smooth zone, BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. The guitar tone is astonishing -- rich, order Viagra Super Active from mexican pharmacy, Rx free Viagra Super Active, but with a touch of distortion -- and the notes glide along the track with an unreal grace. You could record "Peg" in other ways and the song and that solo would still be great, Viagra Super Active gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release, Buy Viagra Super Active without a prescription, but think the nuances in the arrangement and performance are flattered by the understated, dry approach, purchase Viagra Super Active online no prescription. Viagra Super Active over the counter, Nothing is oversold, nothing is obscured, real brand Viagra Super Active online. Where can i find Viagra Super Active online, Buy it from Amazon.

Steely Dan "Show Biz Kids"

The dry sound suited Steely Dan in part because the music itself was so cool and aloof. BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, The lyrics have a bitter, deadpan wit; they lean hard on irony and unreliable narration. It's cynical music about cynical people, online buying Viagra Super Active hcl, so there's no room for warmth. "Show Biz Kids," from their second album, is a prime example of their fixation on shallowness and sleaze. As the title suggests, the singer is talking about hedonistic young LA creeps -- it's basically a Bret Easton Ellis novel before such a thing existed. It's perhaps uncharacteristically judgmental, but I think we're meant to think the narrator is an asshole too. The arrangement is brilliant, BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. The guitar part is relatively loose and dirty for them, it's the most dynamic presence in this piece that mostly sticks to this dead-eyed repetitive groove. The backing vocalists sound like they're in a trance, the chorus runs even colder. It's a grim sound -- Los Angeles rendered as hell with palm trees and swimming pools.

The best part is a temporary shift out of the main groove at 3:48, as the beat is enhanced by a metallic jangle and Fagan delivers a sharp indictment: "Show business kids / making movies of themselves / you know they don't give a fuck / about anybody else." In context, it's catharsis, but it's an extremely fleeting moment that disrupts the listener's desire to linger longer on that part. Super Furry Animals looped the last line into something more crowd pleasing; Elvis Costello's cover version BUY Viagra Super Active ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, hits that part with a sputtering rage. Those interpretations have their appeal, but I prefer Becker and Fagan's intentions -- you only get to feel that muted indignation for a few seconds before you slip back into that creepy complacency.

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Steely Dan "Parker's Band"

"Parker's Band" is basically Steely Dan's equivalent to Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke," a song expressing appreciation and admiration for a jazz great. (For Stevie, it's Duke Ellington; for the Dan, it's Charlie Parker.) This is as earnest and effervescent as Steely Dan gets. Though they made a lot of music that errs closer to jazz than rock, this is certainly a rock song about jazz music. That's a lot of the appeal -- the rock aspect of this conveys enthusiasm and echoes wonder in the lyrics, though the jazzy touches in the syncopation of the drums lends the piece an usually breezy grace. I love the way the percussion and horns have a weightless quality in the mix, and seem to casually orbit the guitar at the center of the arrangement. It's not as extraordinarily ecstatic as Stevie's tune, but there's certainly a lot of joy in this track.

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8/23/10 8:17 am

Magic Alex says:

Some good points made, especially about the production. You have to be pretty brilliant vocalists and/or musicians to make a ‘dry’ production work, otherwise the whole thing over the course of an album can start to sound a bit drab (see Stereolab). It was interesting to hear Pretzel Logic for the first time where on tracks like ‘Through With Buzz’ (the greatest 1 and a half minute song ever?) they experimented with other genres a little but kept the whole thing as controlled as hell. One thing that’s certain with the Dan (and i think can be attributed to the production as much as the songs) - i never get tired of hearing them.

8/23/10 9:04 am

Lucky Star says:

“Peg” is one of the main sources of the 80’s sound. Seemed they knew exactly when to pack it up.

8/23/10 9:05 am

Matthew Perpetua says:

That’s a really good point about Stereolab. The really amazing songs are made better by that production choice, but a lot of later material gets totally lost in it, it all flattens out and it’s hard to focus on anything in the mix.

Also, “Through With Buzz” is the song that sold me on Steely Dan a long while ago!

8/23/10 9:25 am

Captain Easychord says:

Drab indeed!

8/23/10 10:38 am

Matt says:

great post Matthew!

is there a really good Steely Dan history/bio out there? I would pay good money to read a history of their recording along the lines of some of the books George Martin and Geoff Emerick put out about the Beatles. For example, there are real moments of joy and near-abandon on Steely Dan records–and I think really warm songs (”Barrytown,” though lyrically full of cynicism, has a rollicking good-naturedness about it that I don’t think is meant to be Ironic?)–but you’re right, they’re generally known for such clinical precision that I wonder how they managed to capture anything feeling warm, spontaneous, etc.

then again, I’ve been told that the Langer/Winstanley sound (which in some ways I equate to this SoCal sound you speak of, in the sense that it’s very precise and sharp and isolates each instrument) is cold and distancing too, but I love stuff like “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” “Come On Eileen,” and Elvis Costello’s Punch the Clock…

8/23/10 10:52 am

Ian Mathers says:

I love Steely Dan (especially Gaucho), but I hadn’t heard “Show Biz Kids” and I had no idea that’s where “The Man Don’t Give a Fuck” came from. Awesome!

8/23/10 11:39 am

Kevin says:

Great post–this just made my day. I wonder how unlikely it is that a movie will ever be made about Fagen and Becker? Because I would love to see a re-enactment of them making Knopfler play tons of solos for their evaluation.

8/23/10 11:49 am

Martin says:

One of my favorite Steely Dan solos that never gets referenced by anybody is in “Kings.” The song is good, but the solo is right there with “Peg” IMO. Every time I listen to it, I look forward to the solo, and it always comes through.

8/23/10 2:11 pm

ted mills says:

Great post on Steely Dan. I love the very dry production on their records. Would Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark also be considered that kind of production? It certainly is like a refreshing glass of water.

Also, thanks for the Elvis cover. Not a regular viewer of his show, glad to see he made this song a little of his own.

8/23/10 3:46 pm

Yeah, Joni Mitchell is another big 70s “dry sound” artist. I mean, a lot of things were recorded in this style back then, it was the prevailing fashion. Led Zep goes against that grain, though.