The Evolution of Steely Dan (A Video Essay)

[@brandond.johnson167]

The Royal Scam is my absolute favorite of Dan albums. The stories, the musicianship, and the complexity of their arrangements were stellar. After that Gaucho. Everyone has their opinion, and I "do not" dismiss yours at all. I appreciate what you've done here. I have liked, or loved, the various iterations of Steely Dan since 1972 (16 years-old), so you and I come at this differently. I actually tire of it being said that Aja is their best, citing the dreary Deacon Blues. (That just made me think of dudes at my high school singing the chorus of Bye Bye Miss American Pie like an anthem.) For me, few things can rival Don't Take Me Alive, Kid Charlemagne, Haitian Divorce, and the rest of Royal Scam. I'll reach back for My Old School (from Countdown to Ecstasy), then jump ahead for Gaucho and nearly everything on it. Again, thank you for your work here. RIP WB

[@TheRealDrJoey]

Couldn't agree more with the "Dreary" label on Deacon Blue. I'm baffled as to why that, of all Dan songs, was ever a hit. Just a buzzkill song; "Die behind the wheel...." Gosh, that's aspirational. Don't Take Me Alive--Man, I spent 6 months learning that intro! There was a fantastic tribute band here in San Diego--The Steely Damned--when SD won the Grammy, they hired these guys to play their party. They always closed their shows with My Old School. Their guitarist, Hank Easton, is a god. He went on and formed a smaller group, Steely Damned II, which I think still gigs every once in a while. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6HZgKuOf72si9U kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGTYgIKcZ6mnqq8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2GaoJ18h86LrKc

[@c.e.anderson558]

You skipped over Royal Scam. The many guitars players on this is legendary among studio musicians.

[@brianjacob8728]

@@CocoonMasterBrendan Kid Charlemagne alone refutes that.

[@peterleclerc3053]

You really have to listen to their final album, Everything Must Go, repeatedly. I felt a little lunchbag letdown at first, but I'll tell you that it's grown on me. The lyrics to Lunch With Gina and Everything Must Go are hilarious and the music throughout is top shelf! Give it a go!

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Oh yeah, for sure. It's crazy; one of the music sites I'm a part of has Everything Must Go at a 2.7/5 average, which seems way too low to me. It's still my least favorite Dan album, but even the worst album of theirs still has plenty of awesome moments. They never had a dud in their discography :)

[@pontifexvonhummer9459]

Well, well. Just imagine how thrilled you’ll be to discover Royal Scam.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Already a big fan of that one :)

[@joeking433]

Their best albums were their first three, which is usually the case with bands. After that the spontaneity lessens and the inspiration sinks. Usually the band's best selling album is at this point, however. Chicago, Foghat, and REO Speedwagon are good examples of this, IMO. Aja was a solid album though I never liked it nearly as much as their first three albums. I especially liked the use of the pedal steel in the first album,

[@joeking433]

@@CocoonMasterBrendan My favorite Dan song by far is My Old School. The lead guitar solo in that is awesome. The more jazzy the Dan song the less I liked it. However Kid Charlemagne grew on me, especially Larry Carlton's solos.

[@mikewalsh7318]

I've been lucky to have Steely Dan be part of my life for 50 years. From Do it Again throughout, it's felt like there was 'music' or popular music and Steely Dan running parallel to it like a separate entity that was unrelated to everything else, yet still popular music with its own set of rules. A unique animal.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

I obviously wasn't there at the beginning because of my age, but I have to imagine that the way they bridged jazz and rock together was a big part of that uniqueness. As much as I enjoy a band like Chicago, the jazz side of their sound was more cursory than with Steely Dan. At least from what I've heard of their work

[@rquinsey1]

I start with Steely Dan 1972-1980, dark room, headphones and wine, only to dissect each song for deeper understanding and back to where I started. Master Artists.

[@Del-Mondo]

Two Escaped Mental Patients 😂

[@honey8784]

One of the greatest bands ever. Irrefutably unique. Stands alone in quality. Look at Carolyn Leronhart. On hey 19 …amazing singer…

[@jeffreyjacobs390]

A band that uses different contributions from different big names and shear talent on certain instruments ..... makes for a far cry from a set group of band members doing THEIR sound always . Still - they were such innovators, perfectionists and unique performers . GBjj

[@noaswes]

wow so she was only 8 when she sang on that song. very impressive

[@markjohnson5081]

Once you're hooked on Steely Dan - and that doesn't take long - damn little else measures up! Aja moves your musical tastes from "kid stuff," to the adult world and looking back is impossible.

[@idkidkdidk22]

This makes me want to listen to rock

[@charlescole-p9v]

76 now. My Dad was a Jazz musician & liked it a lot. Right out of Nam in 69, pretty scatter brained, went to FCC, partied a lot (maybe too much) but absolutely loved Steely Dan. Guess it had hints of Jazz. It got much better as they progressed. Still love to listen to them. They had what no one else had. Thanks for the vid!

[@richschmitt100]

You should have used a better narrator.

[@BlackHatCinephile]

Eminem and Radiohead should grovel and kneel to Steely Dan like Wayne and Garth. If they don't respect legends, then they don't qualify for anything.

[@paulfreeman473]

I loved The Royal Scam, which in a way, gets somewhat overlooked and at the time got mixed reviews, but I think it has so many great songs, Sign In Stranger, being one of my favourites. I love the cover too, Walter and Donald hated it but it looks really striking to me.

[@dennisangeloni2990]

Great job on the video - one of the better compilations on SD. You brought it all together in a limited time and I'm quite happy that you found Steely Dan - or as some of us Baby Boomers label - 'The Dan.' To me , they were the best band ever - and changed the style of recording.

[@dannydine5263]

Nice Essay. I noticed on Gaucho there's a title called Time Out Of Mind. I only heard that Title before on Bob Dylan's LP Time Out Of Mind which I'm pretty sure came out later. Perhaps Bob was listening.

[@glassslide]

Excellent job---really enjoyed your video, keep up the great work!

[@jml-rj5re]

Classics IMO on Everything Must Go: Godwhacker, Pixeleen, Lunch with Gina, title track. Everything Must Go suffers from a relatively weak first 40% where The Last Mall, Blues Beach and arguably Things I Miss the Most are not their best tracks. Having said that, the album was largely live tracked with the touring band and recorded in analog. It sounds GREAT!

[@Jeffs_Keys_To_The_Universe]

Very enjoyable and interesting. Thank you!

[@voicetube]

Thank you so much for this video, BTW. It was a very nice tribute to my favorite band ever! (Just a gentle side note; I would strongly suggest either using a better microphone or probably more likely, just being a bit closer to the mic in a slightly less echo in the room - because your content is certainly worth it!)

[@voicetube]

@@CocoonMasterBrendan Hey man, I hear you brother. I do voiceovers for part of my living and getting rid of those "plosives" can sometimes be a bear. I find that utilizing a pop filter (colloquially known as a "popper stopper") can really help. Even a coupla socks over the microphone can do wonders (doesn't muffle the sound as much as one would imagine and when you get closer to the mic, just the quality of being closer makes up for it, usually). You can also EQ the voiceover audio where you can goose up the high-end a little bit to make up for any muffled quality. Another trick is to talk "off axis" to the microphone. That would be like at a 45° angle where the main force of the "wind" (created by speaking) goes across the microphone rather than directly into it. That will definitely do wonders as well 🙂 I myself get about 3 1/2 inches from my microphone - but I have a pretty hefty pop filter on it & talk at that 45° angle (ish). Cheers and thanks again for the video!

[@fretbuzz59]

"sophisticated yacht rock of ... Aja" Seriously? Why would you use that stupid and demeaning term?

[@garethleitner9547]

Been a fan since the beginning. Thanks for your take.

[@kevinodell1502]

Thank you for this. Essential lifehack material.

[@johnnyquest3707]

Fagen and and Becker are like the Coen Brothers of rock/jazz music.

[@TheTwangKings]

Not a doubt that Two Against Nature was way above anything released in 2000. Of course it totally deserved the Grammies.

[@johnbarton1878]

50yrs and still listening, one of the best acts of the 70s.

[@petergromlich6529]

I don't see how anyone could confuse any of their music with cheesy soft rock.

[@UCVoKPxrW7TzLaFpEKemBBzQ]

This is a nice video woooow!

[@caramanico1]

Nice job!

[@jcaesar7668]

Some of their best stuff is from the 1974 tour with Michael McDonald on keyboards and vocals.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Yeah, Michael McDonald was such a good addition to the band at the time (not to mention his legendary vocals on Peg later on, of course). Rick Beato just interviewed McDonald recently, and it makes me hope he gets Donald Fagen on his show sometime soon 🙏

[@Gelishio]

Thank you! I´m just starting to dig their music, this video was perfect for starters.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

I appreciate that! Hope you enjoy your Steely Dan journey :)

[@MichaelABruce-ew8zs]

I've done the same thing as you

[@rammajammataylor]

Great video! I love classic rock!

[@AlanCheney-g4h]

I saw them at Red Rocks just before Walter passed. Pouring rain, superb concert.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

That sounds amazing! Sadly I didn't get into their work until after Walter passed, but I'd still love to see Donald in concert before Steely Dan is done for good

[@nunnarij]

Fagen recently stated (about a year ago) that he has new material and planned start production in a few months. SD is on tour with Eagles now.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Update: for some reason, my old comments have been deleted. Apologies for that :( Also, thanks for the feedback everyone! I should have my next video out this weekend, and I'll still be continuing this sort of essay format. Really excited to keep this channel moving!

[@macsarcule]

Pro tip, “yacht rock” as a genre name didn’t exist until the mid 2000-teens. It was just called “soft rock” in the late 70s, early 80s.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

I'm aware, and I was basically using the term retrospectively. But yeah, jazz rock/soft rock are definitely better descriptors overall

[@johnpendarvis7885]

Becker and Fagen both produced some outstanding solo recordings.

[@SeaMark782]

Very good plus you mentioned my high school mate, Jeff Porcaro. Got to see Jeff play with SD a number of times in 1974, pure fire! He had always been fun to watch play, now he was playing with my favorite band and on the songs we loved. That's Jeff on Gold Teeth II of course. He was 20 yo and we knew him! It still blows my mind about him and his bros.- Toto. Steely Dan is where it really started for Jeff. David Paitch is also on Pretzel and Katy, a recommendation by Jeff as was Michael Mcdonald, hired by SD through Jeff too, what a guy.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Thanks, I appreciate the comment! Yeah, Jeff's performance on Gold Teeth II (and Katy Lied in general) is just fantastic. That's cool that you knew him back then! I'm a much younger listener, and I really hope to meet some more of my music heroes sooner than later. I've met a few so far, including Uli Jon Roth, Victor Wooten, and a few members of Alice in Chains and Dream Theater. Knowing Jeff must have been a real trip 🥁🥁🥁

[@medomoreno]

@CocoonMasterBrendan It's so funny that, in 2020, you went through something similar to what I experienced about 50 years ago. When they came out, what we 1st heard on the radio was Reelin' in the Years and Do It Again. Later would come airplay of Bodhisatva, Show Biz Kids, and Rikki Don't Lose That Number. I knew of Steely Dan, thought they were OK, but not much more. For me the turning point came in '76 with The Royal Scam LP. Kid Charlemagne and Don't Take Me Alive hit me the same way Your Gold Teeth II hit you. I got all their previous albums and instantly became a huge fan which I still am today. BTW If somehow you've missed it, make sure to check out The Early Years by Becker & Fagen

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Yeah, that seems to be a pattern with a lot of people who love SD's music. They'll hear the hits first and be like, "ok yeah, this is pretty cool". But then some deep cut will come along later and change one's entire perspective of their sound and style, and then the addiction begins. And I'm so glad that I found one of those deep cuts, because it's made me a fan forever I've heard of The Early Years, but haven't listened yet. I'll make sure to do so!

[@stevevaughn2040]

Very good. My brother was an artist working for Winterland Productions and a couple rock stations in Bay area. He came by and tossed me a promo packet (album, photos, info for DJs to mention) for the upcoming album, Katy Lies. Still one of my favorite albums. Steely Dan is an amazing whatever you call them, band, collective... Brilliant. They also are lyrically strange, like Zappa was. I appreciate your video

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Thanks, I appreciate it! And it's funny that you mention Zappa, because I do remember reading that he was a fan of Steely Dan -- especially because of their cryptic lyrics. And then Donald reciprocated this later on, saying that Zappa was a big influence on the band's weird, dark sense of humor. So there was mutual respect on both ends. But I love how cryptic the Dan's lyrics are; it always leads to fun speculation about what each song is really about. Thanks for watching the video!

[@abradfordajb]

Of all things one can say about them, i wonder how many people know how the band's name came about and what it refers to? (hint: it's totally in keeping with their brand of humor and sarcasm.)

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

What's funny is that I read the book long before I ever listened to SD, and somehow I didn't connect the dots until years later. But yeah, it definitely fits in with their twisted sense of humor

[@BobOMKE858]

Very well done! You bring a fresh perspective to their body of work.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[@NickRatto]

Katy lied was inside my cabinet forever then it blossomed out. Be probably the most unique Album of the Dan collection top sound with an easy flow track to track made it spin on my table till almost white you just can’t get it all in the first spin thanks for your Spokane words it makes the Dan more touchable in a retro sense of history RIP Walter n. Donald never stop recording

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

@@NickRatto Agreed, Katy Lied is such a unique and wonderful album in their discography. To me, it's a near-perfect mix between their early work and their later work, so it bridges their poppier and more sophisticated moments wonderfully

[@stephenharris]

For a guy who has only been listening for two years, that’s a very astute analysis. Oh, the guitarist’s name is pronounced Dee-us.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

I appreciate the feedback! The reason I pronounced it as "die-az" was that I saw an interview with Donald Fagen where he pronounced it that way. But I kept going back and forth on how I wanted to say it, lol. Again, thanks for the comment!

[@bhakti235]

i love the last two albums. they really show the maturity and evolution of their sound, and especially of their lyrics.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Yeah, I still see Two Against Nature as underrated to this day. Or at the very least, way overhated, given how hostile people were toward Steely Dan at the Grammys

[@TheHighExecutioner]

Kid Charlemagne, Baby Come Back, Do It Again, FM, Charlie Freak.. so many brilliant songs guitar 🎸 🎹

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Agreed 🎸🎸🎸

[@barrymullen5242]

A lot of people believe The Royal Scam is their best album.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

And that’s a great choice 🔥

[@theoschommer3530]

I will always stand by the fact that two against nature is soulless trash.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

While I don't agree, I can definitely understand that viewpoint. Hell, the whole "soulless" thing is usually one of the *main* criticisms I see toward the album online. I don't know, I guess the sound and aesthetic of the record just grew on me over time

[@jeffreyjacobs390]

THE NARRATOR ADMITS IGNORANCE, ARROGANCE OF ASSUMPTION & POOR VIGILANCE ..... I almost left then. I gave him a better read than he did THIS GREAT PROJECT IN KILLER MUSICIANSHIP ..... still all the "players" in this consortium of Talented Musicians is an evolution of times, tactics and terrific performance EACH RECORDING - Tempered by The Two Driving forces = Becker & Fagan ..... were why there was greatness AND DIVERSITY in style and emotions derived !

[@BrianRoberson-k7g]

"Can't Buy A Thrill", "Pretzel Logic" Mid-Winter "Countdown To Ecstasy" Very late winter or very early spring "Katy Lied" Spring "Gaucho", "The Royal Scam" Late Spring. "Gaucho" also works in mid-summer "Two Against Nature" Early Summer "Aja" Late summer or early fall "Everything Must Go" Holiday season "A Decade Of Hits" Anytime anywhere

[@klaushintler8981]

Thanks for the excellent Video . I mostly agree with your thoughts. Please let me only add,that with good sales numbers over the first albums,they could afford such expensive session and studio time as for Aja. This they surely coulndt Do for 2against nature. Even more Fagen is on record saying,they had to start touring again in the 90ies for financial reasons.

[@strangus]

Fagen kinda looks like Tommy Wiseau

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

lol, I never considered that possibility "Oh hai, Walter!"

[@kurtbader9711]

I'll make it my home sweet home

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Learn to work the saxophone, I play just what I feel!

[@MWL4466]

One of the greatest guitar solos ever played is by Larry Carlton on Steely Dans song Kid Charlamagne. Just amazing !!

[@andrewgoss9013]

The way I've always thought of the difference between the first six and Gaucho is by simplifying it to Jazz and Smooth Jazz.

[@jml-rj5re]

No one listeners to the Marshal Mathers album anymore. It holds up against Kid A well.

[@ericshippie1563]

Wow. Well done

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video 🎸

[@TheRealDrJoey]

RE Everything must go: Aside from the title track, with that excellent sax intro and solo, and the mentioned Godwhacker, I LOVE the horn intro to Things I Miss the Most, and I thing Green Book and Lunch With Gina are really good tunes. You didn't mention the tune (it may be one of Fagen's solo efforts, I can't remember) which I think has one of Becker's most delectable, sparse solos, Tomorrow's Girls.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Yeah, Tomorrow's Girls was off of Kamakiriad. Funny enough, that actually may be my favorite solo effort from either member now... and considering how much presence Walter has on it, it's almost like a 90s Steely Dan album in disguise. Great stuff though; I think Snowbound would be my personal favorite from that one

[@TheRealDrJoey]

@@CocoonMasterBrendan And Countermoon, Teahouse on the Tracks. Good album!

[@privatename123]

YGT II is my fav SD deep cut. Never gets old.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

It's still in my top 5 SD tunes. Such an underrated gem

[@BillyGit]

Well done! Thanks for the effort👍🏻👏🏻

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Thanks, I appreciate it :)

[@garykristjanson4689]

Good take, I enjoyed this.

[@CocoonMasterBrendan]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[@paulj.ingram2839]

That Two Against Nature held off the decline in quality that Grunge brought is a positive in my mind.