Thoughts on Steely Dan?

What are your thoughts on Steely Dan?

Bonus points if you can make your point in more than the lowest common denominator form that Rhett often resorts to.

My Dad never stopped listening to this band. I like them.

The Cuervo Gold
The fine Colombian
Make this thread a wonderful thaaaaaaang

when asked to put on a CD at a party, i'm often torn between Steely D and Puddle of Mudd.

Occasionally I'm torn by what's a better greatest hits album. Bob Marley's Legend or A Decade of Steely Dan.

I like Steely Dan.  Aja was one of the first records I ever bought with my own money.  It's one of those "absolutely perfect" records.  But I've never felt the need to go much deeper than their greatest hits disc.  Between that and Aja, that just seems like enough.  Their reunion tour in '93 was pretty good.  But again - I haven't felt the need to see them since. Once was plenty.

dammit, chutney - you've won this time, but i'll be back.  mark my words, i shall beat you some day!

Their early stuff is alright.  If you have "Gold" or "A Decade of" you have 85% of their decent stuff covered.

I love this band and think it would be a shame to reduce them to a greatest hits listen.

"Pretzel Logic" to me is absolutely flawless, every song is great. "Countdown to Ecstacy" and "Katy Lied" are also great, almost perfect, and I have a weird love for "Royal Scam". The first one and everything from "Aja" onward is all fine but lacks the bite of the ones above. For the longest time, the Dan just sounded like sterile L.A.-in-the-70s lite rock but the more I listened to it, the more I heard the superb musicianship, cynical lyrics and crystaline production.

You can do fine with a collection but you miss the overall vibe of the classic albums. History reeks out of those early albums.

Relaxer wrote:
I love this band and think it would be a shame to reduce them to a greatest hits listen.

"Pretzel Logic" to me is absolutely flawless, every song is great. "Countdown to Ecstacy" and "Katy Lied" are also great, almost perfect, and I have a weird love for "Royal Scam". The first one and everything from "Aja" onward is all fine but lacks the bite of the ones above. For the longest time, the Dan just sounded like sterile L.A.-in-the-70s lite rock but the more I listened to it, the more I heard the superb musicianship, cynical lyrics and crystaline production.

You can do fine with a collection but you miss the overall vibe of the classic albums. History reeks out of those early albums.

Anyone who claims to like/love Steely Dan and listens to only the greatest hits album is missing out BIG TIME. Countdown to Ecstasy is still my favorite album and I also love Can't Buy a Thrill and Pretzel Logic. I have a couple bootlegs from the early 70s when they were on the Countdown tour and they are just mind-blowing. Boston Rag, King of the World, Razor Boy, Bodhisattva, My Old School, and the greatest SD song ever, Show Biz Kids, live in their infinite glory.

Aja is good, but it's easy listening SD.

If you were new, I'd suggest starting from the first album and moving on.

"ANYONE LEFT ON THE RIO GRAND IS THE KING OF THE WORLD AS FAR AS I KNOW."

Whoa there. I only said it's a good greatest hits album. Steely Dan's albums stand on their own.

I think Steely Dan is a lot like Woody Allen . . .quintessential 70's New York vibe and/or LA vibe, hyper-intelligent and refined yet subversive, representing the educated neurosis of both New York and the New Yorkers that made LA.  Steely Dan is super-slick but there's often a kind of funk, or humor or life in there.  I like them.

Steely Dan has always seemed like the Kenny G of rock in my mind. I mean, I know I'm guilty of having middle of the road tastes compared to some of the "hipsters" who post on this board, but their music has always seemed too overprocessed and perfect to me.  Like the Eagles.

Woody Allen is an overrated hack.

ggw wrote:
Woody Allen is an overrated hack.

No truer words will be spoken on this board this week.

ggw wrote:
Woody Allen is an overrated hack.

and you are . . . ?

ggw wrote:
Woody Allen is an overrated hack.

i hate that nervous guy who is in all of his movies. . .

Aja , Royal Scam and Katy Lied are my fav's.  Earlier albums are good also.  Anything after Aja - not so good. 

I've been spinning Pretzel Logic lately and its got some great album cuts that are never on the comps.

Oh about Woody: make a movie as perfect as Annie Hall or Manhattan and come talk to me..

hutch wrote:
Oh about Woody: make a movie as perfect as Annie Hall or Manhattan and come talk to me..

I would throw in Hannah and Her Sisters, but yeah. Woody Allen has his faults, yes. He basically writes the same 6 movies over and over again, and never was a great actor, true. But Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah And Her Sisters (and to a smaller degree Interiors, Crimes And Misdemeanors, Zelig, and Vicki Cristina Barcelona) are beyond contestation.

Vicki Cristina Barcelona was good for eye candy and that was it. Also, I hated how the narrator said "lunch."