From: jjmckay@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jim McKay)
Subject: Steely Dan/Fagen/Becker/etc.
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 22:07:44 GMT


The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of Steely Dan
By Greg Kot Rock music critic, Chicago Tribune
August 16, 1992

For Steely Dan fans it's been a drought of biblical 
proportions: -- 12 years and counting without any new 
music from one of the more innovative bands of the 
1970s.
There have been no albums from either of Steely Dan's 
founding members, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker since 
1982, when Fagen released "The Nightfly." The duo last 
worked together in 1980 on what would be the final 
Steely Dan album, "Gaucho."
As Fagen explains? he was left drained by making "The 
Nightfly" without his old partner, and found "l had 
nothing left to say."
"The '80s, personally and musically, were a trying 
peril of; I felt I was essentially out l of the scene 
for a whole decade," he adds. "I needed to grow as a 
person to get the energy to record again without 
repeating myself. If I could've put out an uninspired 
record to make a living, I would have. But that's not 
the way I work."
The creative juices are flowing again, however.Late 
last year, the taciturn keyboardist and an all-star 
cast released an album of rock and soul cover versions, 
"The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon" 
(Giant), that included a couple of reworked Steely Dan 
tunes.
He's also been laboring on a solo album, which he says 
may be released as early as next February, with Becker 
producing and playing bass. And Fagen is "consulting" 
with his Steely Dan sidekick on a Becker solo album, 
tentatively set for release in the fall of 1993.
What's more, Fagen and Becker will be reunited for the 
first time on stage since 1973-74, when the New York 
Rock and Soul Revue arrives Aug. 29 at Poplar Creek 
Music Theatre.
Also performing will be erstwhile Steely Dan vocalist 
Michael McDonald (who later found fame with the Doobie 
Brothers and as a solo artist), as well as veteran 
singers Boz Scaggs, Phoebe Snow and Chuck Jackson, plus 
a sixpiece band, horn section and backup singers.
Together, Becker and Fagen charted an alluring course 
through 1970s pop, blending a love of jazzy, minor-key 
pop melodies, shimmering production and ironic Iyrics. 
After a string of critically acclaimed releases, the 
duo struck platinum ( I million sales) with "Aja" in 
1977.
But with the follow-up, "Gaucho," the duo's creative 
partnership dissipated almost beyond repair.
"We were going through a lot of personal troubles, and 
we were under a lot of pressure to top 'Aja,' which had 
been an enormous visible success," Fagen says. "When I 
hear that record ['Gaucho'] now, I get the creeps."
After that, "it wasn't possible for us to go on. I 
thought 'Aja' was our peak, and then Walter and I just 
went in different directions."
Fagen worked through a bout of depression in the '80s, 
while Becker battled drug addiction, but the two began 
seeing each other off and on again to write songs 
beginning in 1985. (one of which is expected to surface 
on Fagen's next album).
Although a much-rumored Steely Dan reunion didn't take 
place, "we've been close since then," Fagen says. "Our 
relationship has improved tremendously and it's fun to 
be with him in the studio again. That's what was 
missing in 'Gaucho.' "
Meanwhile, Fagen began playing a few modest gigs in 
restaurants around Manhattan at the behest of a friend, 
songwriter Libby Titus.
"They were evenings of mixed musicQcabaret, jazz, some 
popQeven some comedy," Fagen says.
"I got invited to do one with Dr. John. It was just me 
and him on keyboards, with a rhythm section, mostly 
playing jazz, and he'd sing a few. It was fun."
From there, the Rock and Soul Revue concept was born, 
with lines stretching around the block to see the free-
wheeling, anyone-mightshow-up performances at the Lone 
Star Roadhouse in Manhattan.
The shows marked Fagen's first live appearances since 
that first Steely Dan tour, which he dubbed a 
"disaster."
"We'd open for heavy metal bands, and we never got the 
sound check we wanted," he says. "The accommodations 
were less than wonderful with routing from hellQfrom 
Honolulu to Miami."
With the Rock and Soul Revue, Fagen says he's in a 
"Steve Allen mode," playing master of ceremonies from 
his piano. He and Becker will perform a handful of 
Steely Dan tunes with the rest of the band, though none 
from their upcoming albumsQ"It's bad luck to play new 
material until it's released."
He adds that other surprises may be in store, however. 
"I'm trying to get Walter to sing. The last time he did 
that was during the Bleeker Street days in New York 
back in 1966."
Becker and Fagen met at Bard College in upstate New 
York in the mid-'60s.
"We were writing songs together within a day of 
meeting each other," Fagen says. "We both had been jazz 
fans since we were 9 or 10 years old, listening to the 
same jazz shows on the radio, and we both got into soul 
and pop in the mid-'60s."
Fagen says the two veered toward pop because jazz was 
losing its appeal."It had begun turning into an avant-
garde art form," he says. "As [saxophonist] John 
Coltrane took jazz further out, he destroyed what jazz 
had been before. I understood what was happening, but I 
missed the more melodic and harmonic elements in jazz. 
Those started turning up in the pop music of the time.
"The chords were the same, but the progressions were 
becoming more adventurous. And I also got into blues, 
the direct energy of it all."
All those elements began to show up in Steely Dan's 
music in the next decade. The introductory riff in one 
of its biggest hits, " Rikki Don't Lose That Number," 
was drawn from a composition by hard-bop pianist Horace 
Silver- ~Parker's Band" saluted jazz innovator Charlie 
Parker; and "East St. Louis Toodle-Do" was a dextrous 
reading of a Duke Ellington original.
The duo's jazz obsession Fagen's frequently cynical 
Iyrics, even its nameQdrawn from a William Burroughs 
novelQgave Steely Dan a collegiate hipster veneer that 
turned off some critics.
But there was no denying the duo's intellect and 
inventiveness, how they managed to succeed as a pop 
band even as they thumbed their noses at pop 
convention.
"I hear records a certain way because I grew up a jazz 
fan," Fagen says. "I like a much drier sound, more 
upfront and direct, than is the norm in pop music.
"I don't have a car, but I hear pop radio in cabs, 
these little messages of what's going on. At home, I 
mostly listen to old jazz, blues and soul, because the 
mixes on these new records are so ugly I can't listen 
to them. Everything is so grandiose, with huge amounts 
of echo. So many things are used, like drum machines, 
without trying to make them sound musical. Because 
there's no soul in these machines, engineers try to 
compensate with massive amounts of reverb [echo]."It 
sounds like Fagen's new album, a song cycle that he 
says will be similar in format to "The Nightfly," will 
be firmly in the Steely Dan tradition: pop that doesn't 
pander.As Fagen says, "I just think we always had a 
different set of priorities."

***************************
Thrills, Scams and Nightflys
Chicago Tribune
August 16, 1992

Steely Dan through the years:

Can't Buy a Thrill (1972) * * * 1/2: The two singles, 
"Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years," were ear 
candy for a decade, but there isn't a weak melody on 
the album. For Dan purists David Palmer's sweet tenor 
was no match for Donald Fagen's dyspcptic monotone.

Countdown to Ecstasy (1973) * * * 1/2: Typically 
twisted Iyrics and the usual surfeit of pop hooks: 
"Bodhisattva," "My Old School," et al.

Pretzel Logic (1974) * * * *: The band's peak, a 1970s 
masterpiece of be-bop rock.

Katy Lied (1975) * * * 1/2: "Any world that I'm 
welcome to is better than the one I come from" just 
about sums up the outlook.

The Royal Scam (1976) * * *: The beginning of Dan's 
"difficult" phase, with slightly more disjointed pop 
constructions.

Aja (1977) **I/2: The clinical coldness first evidenced 
on "The Royal Scam" is perfected here. Longer, more 
languid songs replace the acerbic pithiness of old.

Gaucho (1980) * *: Bloodless studio craft.

Donald Fagen solo:

The Nightfly (1982) * * * 1/2: The jazziest work from 
Fagen yet, with lilting melodies and laser-etched 
Iyrics.
---Greg Kot

***************************
Steely Dan's Reunion is a Tuneful Treat, But Scaggs, 
Snow Add Spark

By Greg Kot
Rock music critic
Chicago Tribune, August 31, 1992

The New York Rock and Soul Revue that played Poplar 
Creek over the weekend brought together a passel of 
familiar voices who tried to dust off some oldies 
without embarrassing themselves.
The program was hit and miss: Boz Scaggs and Phoebe 
Snow distinguished themselves in front of an excellent 
10-piece band, while Chuck Jackson confirmed why he's a 
journeyman figure in soul annals and Michael McDonald 
sounded uninspired.
As nostalgia trips go, however, this revue had a more 
compelling reason to exist than most: the first concert 
performances in nearly 20 years by Steely Dan's 
principal members, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.
Becker looked like a tourist who somehow wandered 
onstage and stuck around to pluck out some serviceable 
guitar and sing a godawful version of the Paul 
Butterfield Blues Band's "Mary Mary."
Fagen also looked out of place. He could have passed 
for an attorney were it not for his high-top gym shoes, 
and he soldiered through his duties as master of 
ceremonies without a trace of a smile.
But the Fagen-Becker alliance was fully realized in 
performances of "Pretzel Logic," "My Old School," 
"Chain Lightning" and "Green Earrings." Nearly two 
decades after they were written, these songs still 
sounded like timelessly twisted variations on the 
blues, soul and jazz that inspired them.
Even stronger was a long, fluid treatment of "Josie" 
and a shimmering "Deacon Blues," in which the sinuous 
melody was further enriched by Mindy Jostyn's violin 
solo. Both eclipsed the cooler versions on Steely Dan's 
1977 "Aja" album.
Jostyn was one of several performers who excelled in 
supporting roles. Guitarist Drew Zingg's intricate 
solos recalled the work of Jeff"Skunk" Baxter on the 
early Steely Dan records, and drummer Leroy Clouden and 
bassist Harvey Brooks continually developed a deep 
groove with restrained stylishness.
Scaggs' voice retained its silky soulfulness on 
"Lowdown" and the Impressions' "Gyspy Woman," while 
Snow ignited the audience with a bluesy reinvention of 
Bobby Lewis' 1961 hit "Tossin' and Turnin'."
But Jackson grinded his way through soul moves that 
have long since become cliches, and McDonald looked and 
sounded more like David Crosby than
Jackie Wilson as his strangulated tenor tried in vain 
to scale the heights of Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops."

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