Blue Moon Top 100 Bands Artists - Full List of Artists (pg 287)

One of my biggest disappointments was watching TOGWT and the brilliant Reelin in the Years came on.
Investigated further and found out that they were not for me.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
I take offence to them being compared to Mozart and Shakespeare never mind the glorious blues.
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In terms of popular music they are as important as both and a few others. I will take my advice from some of the greatest rock, pop and jazz musicians of the last 75 years who have lauded Becker and Fagen as geniuses and put them up there with the very best. That will do for me !
 
I own(ed) every Steely Dan record up til Two Against Nature, and other than Gaucho, I don’t really think you can go wrong with any of them. Aja and Katy Lied are probably my favo(u)rites. Still a unique sound with great session players and incredible production, and some the lyrical turns of phrase are sardonic perfection. I’ve never really been sure if this was rock and roll. I’ve also never really cared. Delighted to see them this high up; I was getting nervous there.
 
peter.evans said:
In terms of popular music they are as important as both and a few others. I will take my advice from some of the greatest rock, pop and jazz musicians of the last 75 years who have lauded Becker and Fagen as geniuses and put them up there with the very best. That will do for me !
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In the nicest possible way mate thats bollocks. Mozart and Shakespeare work has lasted centuries. The only contemporary artists that will still be remembered in 300 years are possibly the Beatles. Steely Dan not so much. Kudos that you like them so much but comparing them to two of the greatest cultural icons in history is just a little ott.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
For anyone who's looking at Steely Dan and wondering where to start, I think these songs will give you good intro to them:

Peg, Black Friday, My Old School, FM, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Reeling In The Years, Do It Again and Haitian Divorce - some you'll have heard before. They really have done some absolutely top drawer songs. It's very difficult to pin down a handful! Their ability to mix jazz and rock with great lyrics and really catchy hooks is amazing.

Something to think about a song like Peg was recorded in 76/77 or so. Listen to pop songs 20 years (1957) before and how 'simple' they are. Musically they are simple, the lyrics are simple and the subject be a love song in some form. The production won't be particularly good either. Now listen to (say) Peg - the musicianship is on another level, not to mention the production. This isn't to say that in the 1950s musicians didn't have the same level of musical ability - they clearly did, but pop music was simple. It was for kids. It really highlights the transformation that happens in the 1960s. Music goes from 'pop', simple and easy to listen to, to something which is far, far more sophisticated. It's also worth bearing in mind that when Peg was made you'd have had punk, disco, heavy metal, 'classic' rock, funk and the likes of ABBA in the charts around the same time. I Feel Love was about to be released and within a couple of years you get the birth of hip hop!

I think that's what I find amazing about that era - listen to music 10 years before The Beatles and 10 years after and it's like you go back 100 years and go forward 100 years. Imagine a song from 2001 sounding incredibly old fashioned!

Also, try listening to Donald Fagen's "Nightfly" album which has some crackers on there as well. I re-discovered this album a few years ago and it gets played every now and again.
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Excellent post.

“Deacon Blues” is my favourite of theirs. I love “The Royal Scam” and “Glamour Profession” as well.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
For anyone who's looking at Steely Dan and wondering where to start, I think these songs will give you good intro to them:

Peg, Black Friday, My Old School, FM, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Reeling In The Years, Do It Again and Haitian Divorce - some you'll have heard before. They really have done some absolutely top drawer songs. It's very difficult to pin down a handful! Their ability to mix jazz and rock with great lyrics and really catchy hooks is amazing.

Something to think about a song like Peg was recorded in 76/77 or so. Listen to pop songs 20 years (1957) before and how 'simple' they are. Musically they are simple, the lyrics are simple and the subject be a love song in some form. The production won't be particularly good either. Now listen to (say) Peg - the musicianship is on another level, not to mention the production. This isn't to say that in the 1950s musicians didn't have the same level of musical ability - they clearly did, but pop music was simple. It was for kids. It really highlights the transformation that happens in the 1960s. Music goes from 'pop', simple and easy to listen to, to something which is far, far more sophisticated. It's also worth bearing in mind that when Peg was made you'd have had punk, disco, heavy metal, 'classic' rock, funk and the likes of ABBA in the charts around the same time. I Feel Love was about to be released and within a couple of years you get the birth of hip hop!

I think that's what I find amazing about that era - listen to music 10 years before The Beatles and 10 years after and it's like you go back 100 years and go forward 100 years. Imagine a song from 2001 sounding incredibly old fashioned!

Also, try listening to Donald Fagen's "Nightfly" album which has some crackers on there as well. I re-discovered this album a few years ago and it gets played every now and again.
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I don't even think you can narrow a list down much for these guys. That's why they were so high on my ranking. I could do a top ten songs of theirs from just two of their records. If I had to pick one song, I think it would be "Charlie Freak" from Pretzel Logic. But "Dr. Wu", "Dirty Work" and "Black Cow" are all up there too. And someone/anyone could come up with an entirely different list and it would be hard to argue. They really were remarkable.
 
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