Steely Dan - Deacon Blues (Rhythm & Vocals)

Good morning and good evening !
Although the Aja 5.1 files are still nowhere to be found and the rumor of them being destroyed or still hidden away in some safe have not yet been clarified, a dear friend of ours has fabricated this little gem for us. Once again using stem splitting software he created a Bass, Drums and Vocals only version of the legendary deacon blues. Please enjoy !
AI Isolation Courtesy of Vlad Panov
...
-Team TDV

[@twoblacklabs904]

Walter’s bass…? So sublime!

[@BobMacNeal]

Wow. Interesting. Isolating the bass like that gives this non-musician a much better sense of how the bass line contributes an underpinning to the gestalt of the tune.

[@stuartharris1241]

Sheeshhhhhh Walt's bass 🎸 isolated & outlined makes my favourite song my new favourite song all over again 🔥

[@jeffbranch8072]

I remember leaving a house party with a carload of friends. I started driving as smooth and easy as I could with 'Deacon Blues' playing. Within minutes everyone in the car was sound asleep, just me and 'The Dan' cruising late at night.

[@petermoore7796]

glad to hear you didn't die behind the wheel

[@twoblacklabs904]

@@petermoore7796 … 👈🏼 I see what you did there…

[@jeffbranch8072]

😂

[@thomasnelson5758]

Always wanted to hear Walter's bass isolated for this. Such incredible bass work on this track that gets buried in the final mix under all the frills (guitars, bells, chimes, horns, lead+BG vocals etc)

[@rynkie]

based

[@aquariuswithfire]

sublime

[@KMITB]

You hear so many tasty bass licks that get buried in the track....good stuff!

[@Butlinsgvn6]

Wow this is fascinating. Without hearing the rest of the harmony, it's like a totally different song. Brilliant to learn from

[@justkim1]

Am enjoying this version as it allows you to hear Becker's genius on the bass.

[@JAY132]

So grateful for these videos. Another version with Larry (a la your amazing Kid Charlemagne videos) would be lovely.

[@TheLeevoy]

You know, with no melody, it sounds like espionage music or something. Very uncanny but neat!

[@BillySBC]

Judge: "Are you trying to show contempt for this court?" Mae West: "I was doing all I could to hide it!"

[@victoriabernuth9728]

A lovely amuse-bouche, thanks.

[@paulmarshall2007]

Aww this is just fantastic. What a wonderful idea. Now I can embarrass myself by playing guitar over this and realise even more how brilliant it is! In all seriousness though, it’s m trying to learn some of their guitar parts at the moment so this is ideal. Thank you. Great site.

[@supersteveworld]

Sounds much darker and meaner without all the jazz chord tomfoolery.

[@Orbiter221]

AFAIK the original masters of Aja (2" Multi-track and 1/4 " stereo master tapes) are still alive. Although the 2" multi-tracks for Black Cow and Aja are missing, everything else is rumored to be OK. When they did the Classic Album documentary in 1999 they moved the tapes from California to New York (before the UMG fire) and then placed them in a storage vault in Pennsylvania the same year. Other Steely Dan tapes have been destroyed from the fire though. Most notably their earlier releases like Can't Buy A Thrill, potentially all the way up to The Royal Scam.

[@ramon88us]

Makes sense for the Aja masters to still be around since they released Peg on Rock Band recently.

[@Orbiter221]

@@ramon88usGlad to hear that. I'm hoping Deacon Blues and Home At Last get added next.

[@terenceshawsongs]

Amazing performances

[@terenceshawsongs]

Aja is one of a few albums I can listen to front to back over and over. And aside from enjoying it...I learn something new each time. Masterpiece. I can also watch the classic album episode over and over.

[@ronfrey5327]

Excellent

[@bowser8817]

Id love a piano and guitar tracks one

[@StevenMorris]

Interesting~ around 2:19 I can hear a couple bass recordings being spliced/crossfaded together. 2:47 sounds like a cut as well. There seem to be quite a few of them. Wonder how much of these are a product of isolating the tracks. Regardless, it's such a creative bass part.

[@Orbiter221]

IMO, 2:19 sounds like a cut. 2:47 sounds like an artifact from the isolation.

[@haysfordays]

Yep, at 2:19 a swell on a held note. Classic punch-in. They probably did it with all the tracks playing which may have obscured the volumes difference. Ironic, knowing that their albums are pinnacles of spatial mixing!!

[@readymadeflowcancro337]

🌞🌝👍👆☝️🙏