Steely Dan : Top 15 Tracks : Journey Into Excellence

Join Jim & myself as we have a spirited discussion about Steely Dan , and give you our Top 15 Tracks. #steelydan #jazzfusion #70srock #classicrock

[@jamiesomerville8196]

GREEN EARINGS! Great pick Jim! Always been one of my favorites.

[@salex3441]

Excellent discussion, guys! Love hearing the break down of each song with your perspectives.

[@jimbricker4982]

Thanks - glad you liked it. As stated, The Dan has been a go-to band for me since 1977 (age 12) so I'll take / make any opportunity to share the love.

[@cjsutton]

Finally made the time to watch - great rundown gents!

[@jimbricker4982]

Thank you very much, I take this as a major complement - coming from you!

[@ItsTheGroovePodcast]

We're looking forward to it!

[@themusicden4696]

It was a great show.

[@lyndonwise2553]

Great show guys!

[@jimbricker4982]

@@lyndonwise2553 - thank you much, Lyndon. Any egregious errors or striking omissions on our part?

[@lyndonwise2553]

@@jimbricker4982 I loved it.. you were great!

[@billschuster6680]

It is a sign of how deep this catalogue is, that my top 15 only shared 2 with Armando and 3 with Jim. Aja was the only track that all 3 of us picked. I did a top 10 about 3 years ago and only 5 of those made my current top 15! Maybe someday I'll be singing the praises of Gaucho, Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go . 😉. Armando remembered correctly that I love the original band, partly because of the variety of lead vocalists. Also because there was a certain intangible warmth in the early albums that became harder to find, post-Katy Lied. Jim seems to focus more on the elite musical performances than I do. Nothing wrong with that. Obviously, Walter and Donald agreed! So it is cool to hear Jim describe specific instrumental details because he seems to key in on things that I might miss while my attention is focused elsewhere. Black Cow, Rose Darling, FM, The Caves of Altamira and Kid Charlemagne were my final cuts that almost made my list. So naturally, my mouth dropped open when Armando put Black Cow in his bottom 5! Jim picking 2(!) cuts from Pretzel Logic for the bottom 5 caught me off guard, as well. Interesting take on Pretzel Logic possibly being about time travel. I've long thought it was simply about someone who wished he could experience past events and experiences. The Napoleon imagery gives a hint at possible creeping madness, as well, given the once common use of Napoleon, with hand in jacket, as a symbol of insanity. As you gentlemen discussed , Becker and Fagen have always put dark, twisted lyrics together with wonderful pop tunes. I ha been a fan of Everyone's Gone To The Movies for decades, when Cousin Dupree was released, so it certainly didn't phase me. In my experience, both songs received a ton of radio play in the Denver, Colorado and southern Illinois markets, respectively. It's probably a good thing that I couldn't join this one or it might have approached 3 hours! Nice job, guys!

[@jimbricker4982]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Bill. As for my two PL selections in the bottom five, I guess I just find Buzz to be too slight to be taken seriously (even thought the orchestration and vibes are nice), and Gun just seems to be filler, stuff from the Old Regime (see what I did there?) just to fill an album. Even though I find EMG to be sterile and lifeless overall, I found several of those songs to be "better" than those two on PL. But even at their "weakest," the Dan discography towers over most others.

[@billschuster6680]

One more quick comment. Since I didn't actually rank mine, I thought I should, at least, say that, even though Can't Buy A Thrill and Countdown To Ecstacy are my top 2 Dan albums, my number one song is Deacon Blues. It's musical perfection, but it retains a very human warmth.

[@keithharris1672]

Glamour Profession.

[@jimbricker4982]

Great groove, for sure. For me though, like Deacon Blues, it just feels too staid over its long run time.

[@billschuster6680]

My top 15, chronologically...before watching: Kings Midnite Cruiser Only A Fool Would Say That Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me) Turn That Heartbeat Over Again Your Gold Teeth Pearl Of the Quarter King Of The World Any Major Dude Will Tell You Pretzel Logic Doctor Wu Any World (That I'm Welcome To) Here At the Western World Aja Deacon Blues Now my bottom five. I decided to exclude the 2 reunion albums, so they wouldn't all come from 2 albums, yet they all came from 2 different albums, anyway :) (mostly one): I Got The News Gaucho Third World Man Glamour Profession My Rival Sorry Gaucho fans! Now off to watch the show!

[@jimbricker4982]

Thanks Bill; it's clear where your heart lies with the Danography. "HatWW" bubbled just under for me. .... Interested in your take once you've made it through the episode.

[@billschuster6680]

@@jimbricker4982 I do love the original band, but I love it all. It's just matter of degrees. Even though I have my issues with Gaucho, I still think the classic seven may be the best seven album run in popular music history.

[@johnjenkins5854]

Black Cow bottom 5? Nawwww.

[@lennonturney7343]

Eight minutes in and I already disagree 😁 Hey Jim, I love With A Gun and Through With Buzz

[@jimbricker4982]

👍

[@jamiesomerville8196]

I've always liked both those songs too. They are different sounding but good. I think the problem is that it's difficult to pick 5 bad songs from The Dan!