I really hate Rikki Dont Lose That Number but I really like Bodhisatva. Go figure. Steely Dan was a pretty forward thinking group of 2 guys. RIP Walter.
Wow i was literally just listening to Steely Dan before checking out the bbs. RIP I appreciate that they always cared so much about the quality of their music. All their stuff rates very high on the dynamic range database. Audiophile quality.
Kelly Dwyer's eulogy: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7950058/walter-becker-steely-dan-fan-remembers-eulogy
At first, I loved the name but didn't like the music. How could I NOT like a name like Steely Dan? (until I found out what the "dan" actually referred to). But how could I "LIKE" jazz rock at age 10? No. Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Kiss, and AC- those were the bands. Even an artier band like Jethro Tull had Aqualung, Locomotive Breath- loud, screaming guitars in all. Jazz music made no sense to me at 12, and jazz rock made even less sense. They were both for old people. And Steely Dan was an old person's band. I also called them the "mistake" band because I thought they made a lot of spelling and grammar errors- for a perennial spelling bee participant, this was unforgivable. Aja? Hello, it's A-S-I-A! And "Reeling in the Yeast?" (that's how I heard it). What the hell was that? Turns out, they were way smarter than me. But Steely Dan had no place in my music world at the time. Until 2 years later, on the day I shoplifted "The Royal Scam" cassette from a local Caldor's store. I felt that if I was going to do something as criminal as theft, I had to at least give the cassette a shot. Eh- not as bad as I thought. Then, as I grew from a juvenile delinquent to a semi-productive member of society, I bought them all. First, it was Gaucho. Then Aja, Can't Buy a Thrill (they got that title from Dylan), Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic, and Katy Lied. Only 7 studio albums in the 70s and 80s. But man, now it seems those 7 are more like 14. More and more, I got to liking- and loving- those songs. "Do It Again." "Night by Night." "Hey Nineteen" ("that's 'Retha Franklin..."). "Black Friday." And especially "Peg."- because it WILL "come back to you." Now, I lie and say, "Oh, yeah, Steely Dan have always been one of my favorite bands- right from the start." Sorry. They're musically rich, they're funny, they're weird (always a good selling point to me as I evolved / devolved into my 20s and 30s), and they're impeccable craftsmen. Even beyond S.D., Becker produced many great albums that included Rickie Lee Jones' "Flying Cowboys." What a CD. Walter Becker is one of the two. Like Oates, and Garfunkel, he doesn't get the credit he deserves for being a key songwriter, lyricist, and musician in one of the great all-time rock-and-roll-and-jazz-and-R&B-and-progressive-and-whatever-other-label-you-want-to-include bands of all time. He frequently is overlooked. Except by his fans. They know how great he was and that Steely Dan will always have a large brick in the rock and roll wall. RIP.
Kudos to @KellyDwyer, both a longtime Steely Dan fan and a big Rox fan, as well as a CF member. Great job, Kelly. I've been reading everything I could find on Walter the last two days and it seems like the overwhelming majority just don't get what Walter and SD were all about. Of maybe thirty various things I've read, I suspect Walter would have appreciated Kelly's article most of all because Kelly is more fluent in Walter's odd and unique language than most writers. Another exception is Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Austin (and AllMusicGuide.com fame). His tribute in Billboard was also very good: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7950062/steely-dan-walter-becker-eulogy-last-chapter As for me, with the possible exception of the Beatles, Steely Dan has been the single biggest musical thread in my life over the last 40+ years. I have great admiration for Walter as a songwriter, a lyricist, a guitarist, and an intellectual. His sarcasm and snark gave the Dan's music the ironic edge that their fans adore them for. We had Walter to thank for all those stories about small-time criminals, hookers, junkies, and assorted other hopeful losers. The music world has lost one of its most fascinating rapscallions. Walter made my world a better, more interesting place. He also wrote one of my favorite post-breakup lyrics ever, really biting and bitter: "There's a star in the Book of Liars by your name."
