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  • Donald Fagen Recalls Lennon's Murder

    From Norbert@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 9 11:23:40 2024
    In December 1980, I was living three blocks from the Dakota,
    watching Monday Night Football, when Howard Cosell announced that John
    Lennon had been shot in the back. I walked over and watched while a
    huge crowd of sobbing New Yorkers gathered at Seventy-Second Street and
    Central Park West. This pretty much set the tone of the decade to come.
    After delivering my album The Nightfly to Warner Brothers, I came apart
    like a cheap suit. The panic attacks I used to get as a kid returned,
    only now accompanied by morbid thoughts and paranoia, big-time. I could
    barely get through the day, much less write music. I starting seeing a
    shrink and gobbling antidepressants.

    -- from Fagen's memoir Eminent Hipsters

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  • From super70s@21:1/5 to Norbert on Thu Oct 10 20:44:17 2024
    On 2024-10-09 11:23:40 +0000, Norbert said:

    In December 1980, I was living three blocks from the Dakota,
    watching Monday Night Football, when Howard Cosell announced that John
    Lennon had been shot in the back.

    Also how I learned of the assassination. At the time I also happened to
    be perusing a listing of Beatles 45's in a record shop catalog, Corny's
    Record Shop in Ohio who did mail order. Most (but not all) were later generation Capitol pressings and I still own them today.

    I walked over and watched while a
    huge crowd of sobbing New Yorkers gathered at Seventy-Second Street and Central Park West. This pretty much set the tone of the decade to come.
    After delivering my album The Nightfly to Warner Brothers,

    Great album.

    I came apart like a cheap suit. The panic attacks I used to get as a
    kid returned,
    only now accompanied by morbid thoughts and paranoia, big-time. I could barely get through the day, much less write music. I starting seeing a shrink and gobbling antidepressants.

    It's a shame if it shook him up so bad he was never able to replicate
    the critical and commercial success of the Nightfly album, either solo
    or with Steely Dan (he wasn't, even if "Two Against Nature" won a
    Grammy and sold fairly well I guess).

    -- from Fagen's memoir Eminent Hipsters

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  • From Norbert@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 11 11:22:34 2024
    I iiked Two Against Nature a lot (with the exception of the title
    track and one or two others). A problem, however, is that Walter Becker
    was allowed to play too much of the bass and lead guitar. And the
    drumming is too simple; it could almost be mistaken for a machine in
    places.

    Steely Dan's oeuvre abounds in amazing guitar and bass -- but none
    of it is Becker's. The great basslines are Chuck Rainey's; the great
    guitar is guys including Jon Herington, Jeff Baxter and Denny Dias.

    Becker was an entertaining wordsmith, but they should have left
    the guitar and bass to the experts.

    Same with Fagen's solo album Kamakiriad. Becker produced it and
    played lead guitar and bass, both of which were noodly. "Where's Chuck Rainey?" was a 1-line review I recall, and could not have agreed with
    more.

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  • From super70s@21:1/5 to Norbert on Fri Oct 11 10:32:53 2024
    On 2024-10-11 11:22:34 +0000, Norbert said:

    I iiked Two Against Nature a lot (with the exception of the title
    track and one or two others). A problem, however, is that Walter Becker
    was allowed to play too much of the bass and lead guitar. And the
    drumming is too simple; it could almost be mistaken for a machine in
    places.

    Steely Dan's oeuvre abounds in amazing guitar and bass -- but none
    of it is Becker's. The great basslines are Chuck Rainey's; the great
    guitar is guys including Jon Herington, Jeff Baxter and Denny Dias.

    Yes I've owned a "Making of Aja" DVD from Eagle Rock/Image
    Entertainment for several years and it shows them in the studio playing
    with all those great musicians from that era, also at the mixing board
    talking about the individual tracks.

    I also own a "Two Against Nature" concert DVD that came out around the
    same time as the album and I've watched it several times over the
    years. Even though it's called Two Against Nature they only do a couple
    of numbers from that album and it's mostly their '70s hits. It was a
    great investment along with the Making of Aja DVD.

    I did get to see them live once in 2006, with Michael McDonald as the
    opener and he also came out later and did some songs with them,
    particularly Steely Dan songs he sang back-up on.

    Becker was an entertaining wordsmith, but they should have left
    the guitar and bass to the experts.

    Same with Fagen's solo album Kamakiriad. Becker produced it and
    played lead guitar and bass, both of which were noodly. "Where's Chuck Rainey?" was a 1-line review I recall, and could not have agreed with
    more.

    I think it all comes down to the quality of the songwriting, IMO it was
    never there after The Nightfly and the pre-Nightfly Steely Dan albums.

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  • From Norbert@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 11 16:40:39 2024
    I love the Making of Aja! I wish they had done similar docs about all
    of their 70s albums.

    I enjoyed Walter's playing of rejected guitar parts and his explanations
    of why they nixed what they did and kept what they did.

    One of the most entertaining parts for me was Chuck Rainey's explanation
    of how he got his outstanding slapping bass part down on the chorus of
    "Peg" when Becker & Fagen had forbidden slapping. He recorded it turned
    away from them!

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