411 for the Steely Dan Fans.

drummergirlamie

New member
As all of you will soon recognize, with music I'm kinda all over the place and make honest (sometimes great) effort to not restrict myself. My MP3 and CD collections are surely among the most diverse out there. :D Of course, some genres (just a few, to be a bit more accurate) will never agree with me. Anyway, Smooth Jazz and Steely Dan provide n' sustain the extent of my fanfair in this area of music, I'm afraid. Well, Steely Dan was here in Vegas back in August and I had every intention of attending down at The Palms until I seen the ticket prices. If I recall correctly the cheapest ticket was $178. Granted, I realize the late 80's are well in my past but Dear Lord! It finally dawned on me that perhaps the primary reason for the exorbitant pricing at hand here stems from the venue and the size of which. It's common I've gathered for a local to describe The Palms by sayin' something to the effect, "There's never a bad seat in the house." The place is much smaller than the average multi-faceted entertainment venue and I've gathered this often results in something kinda bitter/sweet: There's a great view involved but your likely to pay a bit more by comparison to Mandalay or The Grand. Hope that info. serves yu well if ever your in town here and consider The Palms for a show of some kind. Oh, and beware of those Steely Dan ticket prices.:D
 

John Watt

Member
Steely Dan: Original and new fan perspectivies.

Steely Dan was a huge industry influence. Their production values were new and hot, and getting jazzy with it only helped. Putting out an album with huge hit singles, "Reeling in the Years" and "Do it Again", without touring inspired similar efforts, most notably Madonna and Whitney Houston, two albums before live. At the time, close to The Eagles, their ascerbic and laconic lyrics cemented their sophisticated imagery. Appearing for the first time live only on television as special guests for The Don Kirshner Show, created strong viewer statistics. Unfortunately the jazzy guitarist who created the signature sound and solo was gone, a partner filling in. This going down as a failed attempt caused them to release more mega-selling albums, "Deacon Blues" a favorite, and wait for over what, eight, fifteen or twenty years to tour uh, again.

Steely Dan the Third: Looking back, I should have known any band naming themselves after the third incarnation of a much used, battery-driven chrome dildo from the heroin best-selling book, "Naked Lunch", would be sticking it to you in the seating prices.

Back then, I was asked to be the lead guitarist for a band starting in Toronto. They set me up in the other guitarist's house, where I stayed for three months. I spent one month with "Pretzel Logic", still my favorite, trying to figure out every part. What sounded like muted vibes at the start of "Ricky Don't Lose that Number", could be played on guitar. What sounded like guitar couldn't. Almost every bar band was playing "Reeling in the Years" note for note better than the Dan did on T.V. "Midnight at the Oasis" by Maria Muldaur and "Green-Eyed Lady", one of the last B3 flavoured rock tunes of the era, were other releases that inspired similar slavish cloning.

Steely Dan? Hot-wiring the seventies synths? Gouging again forty years later? You just know, somewhere out there offstage, inside a picture window view, when those musical moments fade, someone is plugging in some one twenty or popping a new 9-volt battery, ready to let more subelectronic universes magnetically coalesce and align themselves to propogate to you. Ticket prices? That might be the only number you can afford to own, but you'll feel better (static piano and guitar riff) when you get home.
 
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sunwaiter

New member
i always failed to see what was "jazzy" in mister Fagen and co's music, but it doesn't matter, since i like their music very much. just like joe cocker and other "white" singers or groups did at the time, steely dan featured "black" session players. among them was pretty purdie, and some other members of the late kingpins if i remember well. even today i rarely find "pop" singers with a funky feel backing them.

my favourite from steely dan: "the fez"

to me smooth jazz evokes more bob james than steely dan. drummergirlamie, do you know or like bob james music? (i'm talking about the albums One, Two, Three, BJ4, and Faces).
 
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