Tag Archives: steely dan

Steely Dan – The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever

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About a lifetime ago, my friend, Andrew, and I went to Leeds for the day and in the course of our shopping I brought home every Steely Dan album that had been released to that point, that I didn’t already own. By the time I had worked through albums like Pretzel Logic I was a fan for life. Indeed, Katy Lied joined Van Morrison and Bob Dylan in seeing me almost single-handed through some very tortured teenage years.

Flash forward to 2015 and my wonderful opportunity as I was invited to fly out to the U.S. and cover their residency at the Beacon in New York. I’d seen them a number of times but to see them on home territory playing with imagination and verve — well, this is the stuff that dreams are made of. So let’s take a look at their final night:

Who: Steely Dan

What: rockabye gollie angel tour 2015: “The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever – Featuring Spectacular Musical Guests, Glorious Tunes and Riffage, and Whatever the Party Calls for! “

When: October 17th, 2015

Where: Beacon Theatre, New York, New York, USA

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The Greatest Damn Steely Dan Band to Ever Come Down the Pipe

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Who: Steely Dan

What: rockabye gollie angel tour 2015: “By Popular Demand” night

When: October 16th, 2015

Where: Beacon Theatre, New York, New York, USA

“The greatest damn Steely Dan band ever to come down the pipe”. So said Walter Becker on this “By Popular Demand” night at the Beacon. And you know what – in terms of live performance, –  I think he is just about right. This was an outstanding night of music. The “By Popular Demand” thing might just have been a cool cover-up: I’m not really sure what was so different from some other nights on the tour – but slightly dodgy promotional tools aside, this was a very, very good performance indeed.

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Top of the Pops – Christmas 1979

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What: Top of the Pops Christmas Special 1979

Where: BBC 4

When: Christmas 2014

In 2014 I’ve been following as much of the Top of the Pops re-runs from 1979 as the BBC would allow me to. The episodes where Jimmy Saville and Dave Lee Travis were hosts weren’t broadcast but I kept track of the rest right up to the broadcast the other day of the Christmas Day special which covered many of the records from that year which made the top two in the charts.

The only two limitations on the programme seemed that they left out anyone who wouldn’t appear “live” in the studio for the big occasion and the time restraints of the hour long format. In later years, they would probably have just made a second edition for Boxing Day or New Year’s Day but this time it was just the one.

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What’s coming up in 2014?

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Thank you to everyone who visits and supports this site. We now get more visitors per day than ever before. We get twice as many visitors per day just reading old stuff as we used to get on the old site on a day when a new article went up.

So a couple of weeks into the New Year, what seems to be likely to appear here in 2014 and what else will I be involved in?

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Life and death at Easter

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Today, I spent much of the day with Bernie Leadon (formerly of the Eagles) and Glyn Johns (producer with Eagles, Rolling Stones,The Who). There are worse ways to pass a few hours.

This week Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane in Sarah Jane Adventures) and Roger Nichols (sound engineer with Steely Dan) passed from this world. They will be missed.

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I Hear You Are Singing A Song of the Past……. I See No Tears

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Steely Dan stopped touring in 1974. Halfway through a UK tour, vocalist Donald Fagen was taken ill and the tour was going to be reorganised but it never was. For the next six years, Dan became the consummate studio band …… but they never returned to the stage. After 1980s “Gaucho”, they called it a day and Donald Fagen’s solo career was launched with the very successful “The Nightfly”.

Fast forward to 2009. Steely Dan playing live in Hammersmith, London. These days they spend far more time on the road than they do in the studio. Since Walter Becker and Donald Fagen decided to do it again, they’ve made only 3 albums – 2 studio, 1 live. And tonight, they will feature only 1 song written since the aforementioned Gaucho album. The difference is that now that Becker finds long periods spent in the studio finding the right note a little tedious and both principals are now very comfortable on the stage. And so you go back, Jack,……..

The band minus Becker and Fagen open the show with a mellow reading of Oliver Nelson’s “Teenie’s Blues”. The crowd react as Walter and Donald enter. They’re an ungainly presence. Walter now quite portly. You wouldn’t notice him if you passed him in the street. Donald with that “skeevy look” in his eye. They lead the band into a blues which turns out to be a massively overhauled version of “Reelin’ in the years”. Memories of the recent Dylan tour where the words were the same but the melodies were a distant memory. This one works quite well but it is a very different sound than the original.

Much more faithful to the album is “Time Out of Mind” from the 1980 set. Becker and Fagen have managed to coax their audience into responses which match a jazz performance than a rock show. Solos are politely applauded and professionalism is very much the order of the day.

The live Steely Dan experience depends on a full band to make these songs come alive. Lead guitar duties are shared by Jon Herington and Becker with Herington taking the lion’s share. Keith Carlock has been handling drumming duties with the band for 10 years and he is a crowd favourite. Bass is Freddie Washington. Hidden away from sight on a second keyboard is Jim Beard. In addition, we have a four piece horn section and three backing vocalists. Fagen describes them as the “Left Bank Orchestra” (Left Bank being the chosen name of the tour) and he is not far wrong.

Another reshaped early hit follows with “Showbiz Kids”, driven by a slinky bassline by Washington and a remodelled chorus which is led by the vocals of Tawatha Agee, Janice Pendarvis and Catherine Russell.

1973 is the flavour of the day and we move on to “My Old School” with the horns making a powerful presence. Jim Pugh is on trombone, Roger Rosenberg is on baritone sax with Walt Weiskopf on alto and tenor. Marvin Stamm completes the quartet of wind instruments with his trumpet.

“Bad Sneakers” originally appeared on 1975’s Katy Lied and its jaundiced worldview suit Fagen’s voice well. He looks and sounds world weary. He resembles that Uncle who knows better than we do but is too polite to mention that our optimism and enthusiasm will soon be crushed by the weight of the world we live in.

Carlock’s rhythmic sense is called upon in a vigorous reading of “Two Against Nature” which reminds us that there has been life since “Gaucho”. The album that this was the title track of was lauded by their peers back at the turn of the millennium but the boys mean to pay little regard to it or to its less successful follow-up “Everything Must Go”, this evening. Tonight, we’re stood squarely in the past.

After that momentary wander for perhaps the best performance of the night, it’s back to ’75 for “Black Friday” for a very bluesy version of that track. After that we push forward just a little for 1977’s “Aja”. This is a song with lots of space for the soloists to excel and spread out. Fagen’s Yamaha Melodica leads the melody for the first section before Weiskopf on tenor is spot-lit with accompaniment from the full drums of Keith Carlock. The doubting lilt on Mr Fagen’s voice on “they think I’m okay, or so they s-a-y” is just wonderful before a Carlock solo takes over. All of this adds up to a wonderful moment in time.

 

“Hey Nineteen” is one of the a large number of songs in the Dan repertoire which features the story of an older man hitting on a younger girl. Becker’s guitar work is always clearly thought-out and never uses one note where nine will do. His rap about the wonders of the “Cuervo Gold” in the midst of this song, however, is one he has been perhaps doing for just a few too many years and its perhaps time to give it a rest. Great trombone solo here from Jim Pugh.

The lady vocalists take over the lead in a reading of “Parker’s Band” from Pretzel Logic before the song becomes a work out for the horns. They are more than equal to the task.

A pair from “Gaucho” is next. Prior to the show I’d said to a companion that tonight I would settle for the inclusion of “Glamour Profession” and the exclusion of “Bodhisattva” (perhaps one of the more over-worked Dan live choices). After a perfunctory “Babylon Sisters”, the opening chords of “Glamour Profession” are struck and I’m a happy man. This tale of how extra curricular activities threatens to derail a  West Coast basketball team is well-handled with great keyboards from Fagen and Beard.

Every Steely Dan show features at least one lead vocal from Mr Becker. On his latest solo effort, Circus Money, his voice sounds more confident but singing live still doesn’t seem a comfortable fit. He gives us a passable run through of “Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More” before stepping back to his comfort zone.

Then its back to the Aja album for three tracks: “Deacon Blues”, “Josie” and “Peg” which provide the fullest audience reaction of the night so far. These are divided by the old Supremes hit “Love is like an itching in my heart” which provides the backdrop to the introduction of the various members of the band.

After “Peg” the band leave the stage to tumultuous applause only to return moments later with an extra member. Elliot Randall played the original lead on “Reelin’ in the Years” and because they are in the guy’s hometown and even though it means it’s the second performance of the number tonight, it’s time to revisit that song like it used to sound in 1972. The performance brings the house down.

During the encore, it all became too much for one old gent who leapt to the stage and led Security a merry dance as he sprinted ‘round the band. And the band played on…..

Final encore was “Kid Charlemagne”. Elliot remained on stage but left the major work to Jon Herington who rounded a sterling night for him.

This performance at the Hammersmith Apollo (nee Odeon) recalled some great days gone by. It remains to be seen whether the Dan can grasp the difficult nettle and produce a new album which they can embrace with the same enthusiasm that their audience brings to their old material.

Walter Becker

Freddie Washington and Donald Fagen

Jon Herington

Donald Fagen

Song to see you through – or Song to See Through You – or This one’s for you

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Bye and bye now
We’ll get over
The things we’ve done and the things we said
But not just now when
I can t remember
Exactly what it was I thought we had
’cause I waited so long, girl, and I came so far
To find out you’re not always who you say you are

And there’s a star in the book of liars by your name

Santa Claus came in late last night
Drunk on christmas wine
Fell down hard in the driveway
Hung his bag out on the laundry line
There’s a cobra gunship for his golden boy
And there’s a hello kitty for his pride and joy

And a silver star in the book of liars by your name
They hung a star in the book of liars by your name

Stars imploding
The long night passing
Electrons dancing in the frozen crystal dawn
Here’s one left stranded at the zero crossing
With a hole in its half-life, left to carry on
But now the world’s much larger than it looks today
And if my bad luck ever blows me back this way

Then I’ll just look in my book of liars for your name
I’ll just look in the book of liars for your name

What I do……

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I’ve mentioned before that I write about music. In a way the internet has made it much more simple to produce articles. It’s way easier to do research. On the other hand there is something about the tone of pieces on the internet which I find very strange. Too much writing is not about the music anymore. I’m glad that some of the musicians feel the same. This from Donald Fagen of Steely Dan:

“I don’t like to visit the fan sites because there’s something creepy about the whole thing to me. I remember when I was a kid I was a big jazz fan and later on there were a few popular singers and groups I liked but I was always interested in the music; I never made a fetish out of their personal lives. I never really got that, you know? I appreciate whatever they do to keep the interest in the band and all that sort of thing but it’s really not part of my world.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Will you still have a song to sing when the razor boy comes and takes your fancy things away……

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So I’m into my seventh week of hanging around with Titus Andronicus. If you’ve seen me on the tube, I bet I was reading Titus Androncius. If you’ve seen behind a plate of food, I’d guess that Titus Andronicus was there too. And everywhere that me and my trusty “Steely Dan – Everything Must Go” bag have gone, well, Titus Andronicus was right along with us. But I’m coming towards an end. I’ve read everything I can find that’s related to it. I’ve absorbed the text and I guess I only have two or three more journal entries to bore you with. One of which is here and now……

So if you read the play or you’ve read one of my musings on the subject, you’ll remember that one of the key events of the story is the rape and mutilation of Titus’ daughter, Lavinia. The play was one of the most popular of his works during Shakespeare’s lifetime. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the play was virtually unstageable. It was thought to be indecorous. It was thought to be in bad taste. When Peter Brook directed it with Laurence Olivier in the 1950s, he was credited with saving “this dreadful play”. I’ve already mentioned T.S. Eliot’s condemnation in a previous journal entry.

But I think that it is a great play (as if my voice matters!) and every major production of the last century has been (or seems to have been) a landmark in the history of Shakespearean theatre.

I think that is obvious that the root of these widely divergent views lies in the aforementioned rape and mutilation (mercifully, portrayed offstage) but also in the depiction od the reaction to these crimes.

If Shakespeare was living in the 21st century and if he was a film director, there is no doubt that the revealing of Lavinia after her assault would be done at the end of the scene rather than at a beginning. Also, there seems little doubt that the reaction to her assault would include many meaningful silences, mood-driven stares and tears. But the standards of the theatre of his day were the standards of his day and it is how the play works within these standards that we must judge it. In a Shakespearean script there are no silences, there are no pregnant pauses. There are only words and a very minimum of stage directions. The convention was for three, four, five acts with a few scenes with in each and so there is no space for us to withdraw and find out how the family has dealt with these horrendous events months later. The story is the thing and the action must roll remorsefully on. And there are always words and more words. But what words do you speak when you are presented with your daughter raped and with both hands cut off. There are none that are fit and certainly none that Shakespeare had. So instead he concentrates not on the emotion of the moment but what the mutilation means. And this he does very well indeed.

Marcus: This was thy daughter
Titus: Why, Marcus, so she is

Marcus’ (Titus’ brother) use of the past tense implies that Lavinia is less than she was before the assault – perhaps that in her current physical state, she has become less than human. Titus is the voice of compassion. He knows that she is still what she was before but great violence has been done to her. She has not lost her honour or womanhood. Others have tried to take them from her and they have failed but he cannot help with the shame feels. And to reckon all of these things is hard and Titus loses his sanity. His mind breaks. In the process, Shakespeare teaches us that there are no great nations, no great empires, by definition – only nations that are great for a time because they are driven by great and moral men. The Romans, in the story, have already adopted the morality of the Goth people they have defeated – they had to descend to their level in order to win the war but now Lucius, son of Titus, most leave Rome to keep his life and to avoid being part of the dreadful decline that has begun.

Shakespeare shows us that the pattern of people’s lives doesn’t change across the century. He uses Ovid’s depiction of Ancient Greece (another empire that came to naught) and it’s mythology to show that the pattern that was then was re-occurring in Rome and perhaps by extension that it was capable of happening in his own generation — and therefore, as we read today, in ours.

Chiron (son of the Goth queen) declares in an earlier scene: “I love Lavinia more than all the world”. He has confused love with lust. And he satisfies that “love” through rape. Sex is debased in a society that is debased. Lives are destroyed. And eventually a new kingdom arises. And men have the chance to fail again….. or even succeed, perhaps.