I don't get them

Develop an addiction first. Booze, whores, gambling, drugs. Doesn't matter

turn 30 and they'll suddenly click

>>127021884 (OP)
Nobody did they're lame and gay

It helps to be a musician.

>>127023077
That's what your mom said about you

>>127021884 (OP)
>two smug jazz loving assholes decide to make the best music to develop alcoholism to
>hire some of the most talented session musicians to play out their autism
>double down on autism by perfecting things literally no one else on earth would give a shit about in the studio
>slap some of the ugliest cover art known to man on the front
>it all works somehow

>>127025241
All fine and well, but enough about Paul McCartney and Maxwell's Silver Hammer......

>>127021892
>>127022162
These worked for me

>>127025241
Well summed up. Fantastic music.

>>127025264
Did you even read his post, you utter cunt? Go away while the adults are talking.

>>127021884 (OP)

It's just accessible jazz fusion for druggies. What is there to get?

>>127031360
Of course I read the ost, you cunt.
That's why I posted what I posted.
Do you not know the story behind Maxwell's Silver Hammer?
There's this new thing called HUMOR.
You should get a sense of it.
>And maybe do some research behind the recording of Maxwell's Silver Hammer, while you're at it.

>>127032149
I don't think you read (and understood) anyone's post. You just proved that even more. Please just go back to /b/ (or 9gag).

>>127032370
I have come to two conclusions about you.
1. You don't have a sense of humor
2. You are ignorant about what went into recording Maxwell's Silver Hammer.
I bet Donald Fagan would get the joke, and laugh his ass off, unlike nerds like you who take shit W-A-A-Y to fucking seriously.
But in all seriousness, do you even know the story behind Maxwell's Silver Hammer?
Have you even seen the Making of Aja documentary.

Why don't you fucking go back to Rudy's and drink some Black Cows before you OD on horse, faggot!

>>127021884 (OP)
See em' live, buy a weed vape before sneak it in then buy a pretzel with mustard. You'll get it fast
The studio experience could never explain Steely Dan in their totality, although it's crucial to understanding how it's led it their modern touring iteration. The professionalism is few and far between, the rotating cast/ensemble that Donald Fagen (and previously Walter Becker RIP) have put together is rivaled with that of say Prince or D'Angelo's band give or take. In 2025, if they were to tour again, and as of a few years ago they were still performing at a peak, I wouldn't hesitate to find front row tickets

>>127032659
Saw 'em live in 2007.
Expensive as Hell, ($120.00 U.S.) but. considering that, for many years they were a studio band, therewas no way I was gonna miss them.
I can honestly say I got to see them with old Walter.
Worth every penny.

You either get it or you don't.

>>127031360
Thanks anon. I tried my best. I didn't "get" SD for the longest time but when they clicked they clicked HARD. Their particular brand of autism is a thing of beauty.
>>127032149
I genuinely had no clue what the hell you meant but I'm intrigued so I'm gonna look into it

So is this an Aja or Gaucho board?

>>127032821
What's this "or" business?

>>127032837
which one do you prefer

>>127032843
Aja probably but I love both albums. They were consistently excellent for a good while.

I want to get into Steely Dan what album would you guys recommend?

>>127021884 (OP)
>them
? its one guy. the guy with the glasses is steely and other guy is walter becker

>>127033148
Listen to Aja,it is their most accessible album. If you like it then watch the documentary. If you dig their sense of humor and style listen to the rest of their discography in order.

>>127033148
This anon >>127033442 is correct. Aja got me into them and then I worked my way through everything else. They're an incredible band.

>>127021884 (OP)
goated shit

Steely Dan made great lyrics back when great lyrics meant something. This is like rap music for people who actually have a brain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9Xk-VoGqo

While the music played, you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights
You were the best in town
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
That's when you turned the world around

Did you realize
That you were a champion in their eyes?

On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen-clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motor home
Every A-Frame had your number on the wall
You must have had it all
You'd go to L.A. on a dare and you'd go it alone

Could you see the day?
Could you feel your whole world fall apart and fade away?

Get along, get along, Kid Charlemagne
Get along, Kid Charlemagne

Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low-rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those Day-Glo freaks who used to paint the face
They've joined the human race
Some things will never change

You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street

Get along, get along, Kid Charlemagne
Get along, Kid Charlemagne

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are

'Cause the man is wise
You are still an outlaw in their eyes

Get along (get along), get along, Kid Charlemagne (get along)
Get along, Kid Charlemagne

>>127033148
My three go to albums are Can't Buy a Thrill, Aja, and, to a lesser extent, Gaucho.
However, if you're just getting yur feet wet,there's nothing wrong with starting out with "Greatest Hits" compilations like A Decade of Steely Dan, and The Best of Steely Dan.
In fact, those two albums actually have songs that are not on ANY Steely Dan albums, making them worth your while to have in your collection.
(The Best of Steely Dan has Here In The Western World which was only released here, while A Decade of Steely Dan has FM which was not on any Steely Dan album, but was released as a single, and only appeared on the soundtrack to the movie FM)

Those would be my recommendations for newbies.

>>127035158
Fun fact: This song is about Stan Owsley, who made the best LSD in California in the 1960s, and developed The Grateful Dead's concert sound system and equipment.

In the interest in keeping this thread alive....
Steely Dan goes METAL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DULtC-_dDu4&list=RDDULtC-_dDu4&start_radio=1
Ad how about a nice cold beer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL0mH76XJ3A&list=RDJL0mH76XJ3A&start_radio=1

>>127035158
Yo Kanye lyrics?

>>127021884 (OP)
Its high class rock.

>>127033148
My cousin recommend me the royal scam and i got into that one. Dont take me a live isna fantastic song

my favorite song is Reeling in the Years it probably has the best guitar solo of all time

>>127022162
35 and it will unclick pretty fast

ARE YOU WITH ME DOCTOR WU
ARE YOU REALLY JUST A SHADOW OF THE MAN THAT I ONCE KNEW

>>127032821
we /gauchogang/

>>127021892
fpbp

>>127022162
Yup. Relatable songs about struggling to get laid and not relating to contemporary society and the women in it. Well produced/mixed for the era.

>>127021884 (OP)
Not everyone has developed taste. Could always brute force it and it will eventually click.

>>127039841
NGL, Reelin' In The Years has a smokin' guitar solo, but I always though Bodhisattva was better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGdyVnW86SY&list=RDLGdyVnW86SY&start_radio=1

>>127039876
Proof positive tat Steely Dan are PUNK AS FUCK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPWN6gZq9cQ&list=RDUPWN6gZq9cQ&start_radio=1

I think it somehow works because, quite simply, it always sounds so good.

Grew up with Reelin' in the Years and Do It Again on the radio a lot along with another song or two so when I finally started to dig deeper, it never took long for them to become a favorite.

And yet, so far, nobody has mentioned how they put down John Lennon....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhtLaMo3nT4&list=RDuhtLaMo3nT4&start_radio=1

>>127032821
Pretzel Logic board
https://youtu.be/kaxMrzrkzwI

>>127022162
True for most people, i'm 24 and they clicked when i was 15, since then i'm really obsessed with Brooklyn and Bodhisattva

>>127033148
>xtcbro
Royal Scam or Countdown to Ecstasy, then Can't Buy a Thrill

>>127021884 (OP)
I went thru a phase in my early twenties where I only listened to steely Dan and Donald’s solo stuff for like 3 years straight. Really intensified the feeling of alienation inherent in being a young loser.

>>127035158
To this day this is the greatest song in GENIUS history, reading all the deep references in these lyrics is honestly mindblowing. Its about the guy who invented LSD and then how he had to run from the cops but there was this tragedy how he almost got away with it but left some incriminating evidence.

>>127046850
Amazing how a masterpiece like Two Against Nature continues to filter people to this day

>>127046468
>invented
Yeah nah. He just had a home lab. Also he got caught because they forgot to fill the car, hence the line in the song.

Their music is great, specially if you like jazz fusion and the more soft approach to the music, instrument wise it's always super tight, yet they don't sound robotic, pretentious or anything like it, it's great.

>>127046850
just invert it and put royal scam in S+ and it's objectively correct.

They sound like american Genesis to me

>>127046468
Actually, nobody "Invented" LSD.
It was discovered, by accident by Albert Hoffman, a chemist working at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland in 1942.
He accidentally absorbed it on his finger while synthesizing rye ergot (mold), which is where LSD originally came from.
The next day after he came down, he separated the LSD from the rye mold, purified it for human consumption, used himself as a test subject, and ingested it again, and hallucinated wildly.

LSD was actually legal up until 1966, and Owsley was able to figure out how to make his own. It has been said that, all through the 1960s, he made the best, the purest, the least adulterated LSD on the west coast.
The man definitely deserved a tribute song.
I'm surprised The Grateful Dead weren't the ones to write one about him.
And, although illegal for the mst part, Sandoz Labs STILL makes LSD to this day for "Therapeutic Research" purposes. (But you gotta have the right licenses/papers, and cut through a LOT of red tape in order to obtain it)

>>127049481
Actually, they remind me more of an America Pink Floyd, but with a sense of humor.

>>127032821
Aja.
It's one of the few albums I can listen to from start to finish without skipping any songs, but Steely Dan never put out a band album.

>>127021884 (OP)
genius jews who hired the best session players in jazz and rock, and most were hooked on smack. used the best parts of their jam sessions while they sat back and watched. then the finishing touch was awkwardly singin' in their tired 70s 'GREEEEAT GOOGLY MOOOGLY' parody voice with an effect and took all the credit for being so progressive and smart OH MY LOOK HOW THEY CHANGE THEIR SOUND

>>127032821
Aja

>>127032788
I'll try to make this as short as I can....
Paul McCartney was/is a perfectionist, and when recording Maxwell's he made the rest of The Beatles record it over and over and over again until he was satisfied with it, and thought it was just right. The rest of The Beatles resented him for it for a very long time. Ringo called it "The Worst Recording Session we ever had".

Now, if anybody knows anything about Donald Fagan, and Walter Becker, they, too, are perfectionists, who will work their musicians to death until they are satisfied with the take. It might be one of the reasons why they have a revolving door policy, and why they remained a studio band for so many years. They ad/have a reputation of being the biggest assholes in the business, but, by golly, you can't argue with the results. even though I'm sure there are many musicians who will never play on a Steely Dan record precisely because of this.

f you were to watch the Making of Aja documentary, you can see, andhear the resentment from the musicians who participated int the recording of the album, while at the same time, admitting that all the hard work, and the demands of Fagan/Becker that went into making the album actually paid off. You also will see what assholes both Fagan and Becker were/are, wen it's just the two of them alone, and they listen to the playback. Pay close attention to Michael McDonald's comments when he talks about doing the background vocals for Peg.

Donald Fagan and Walter Becker make both Paul McCartney, and Captain Beefheart look like the nicest people in the world.

But, as I said, you can't argue with the results.

>>127049601
>genius jews who hired the best session players in jazz and rock
this right here

jazz fusion failed horribly as a genre but somehow Donald and Walter were able to get the best out of out of jazz musicians and make it work and be accessible to rock/pop

because of Walter's personal problems Gaucho ended up being a very keyboard-centric solo album for Donald and lost all the magic of bringing in great session musicians.

The saxophone soloing done by Wayne Shorter on the Aja title track is just the best solo instrumental ever

>>127043527
>Yup. Relatable songs about struggling to get laid and not relating to contemporary society and the women in it.
Like Dirty Work is about a gay guy who is tired of the abusive sex from his top who's too cheap to buy a hustler, but keeps doing it anyways anyways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR5Ki6jjPaY

>Times are hard
>You're afraid to pay the fee
>So you find yourself somebody
>Who can do the job for free
>When you need a bit of lovin'
>'Cause your man is out of town
>That's the time you get me runnin'
>And you know I'll be around

>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah
>I don't wanna do your dirty work
>No more
>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah

>Light the candle
>Put the lock upon the door
>You have sent the maid home early
>Like a thousand times before
>Like the castle in its corner
>In a medieval game
>I foresee terrible trouble
>And I stay here just the same

>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah
>I don't wanna do your dirty work
>No more
>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah

>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah
>I don't wanna do your dirty work
>No more
>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah
>I don't wanna do your dirty work
>No more
>I'm a fool to do your dirty work
>Oh yeah

>>127049554
>I'm surprised The Grateful Dead weren't the ones to write one about him.

The title of this song is a reference to Owsley's bust- not sure if the lyrics are too but they could fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQybXHI2W-A

>>127051664
>The saxophone soloing done by Wayne Shorter on the Aja title track is just the best solo instrumental ever
Most based take ITT, my nigga

>>127052904
QRD? I always thought the protagonist was singing about a woman who was cheating with him when her man was out of town. Where did you hear it was gay? :-(

>>127054897
youre really trying hard to make that song not gay, its clearly first person talking about him self , or maybe youre not good at speaking english

you probably think Ricky Dont Lose That Number is not about a guys first gay experience, Id like to hear your hetro excuse for that one

>>127032821
Royal scam

>>127021884 (OP)
go to music school and get dumped by every girl you date and then it will click

>>127053390
Oh, yeah.
I totally forgot about this song.
Before it got legitimately released, I had it on a studio bootleg, and it went under the title No Time To Cry.
It wasn't until it was released as Alice D. Millionaire that I clued in that it was about Owsley. (Alice D. Millionaire-LSD Millionaire. GOT IT!)

>Well I ain't got the heart
>To lose another fight
>But until my ship comes in
>I'll live night by night

>>127021884 (OP)
I used to play them at my work at a low volume cause no one noticed if music was playing. Which wasn't allowed. But if I put on Steely Dan no one gave a shit. Win for me I guess

>>127054897
This is what I've thought al these years, and still do.
I guess different people have different imaginations, and think what they want. If somebody think it's about a gay love affair, well, Steely Dan DID have that sort of twisted sense of humor, but I still think it's about a woman's boy toy who's being treated like shit.
Hey, to each their own.
>>127056852
You're kind of all over the place with your response.
First of all, the song itself is rather ambiguous and doesn't mention gender or orientation. you're right about the character being sung in the first person, but that's about it. There is no mention of gender and/or sexual orientation, but if you think it's about a gay lover, who am I to say that you're wrong? As I said, Steely Dan had a warped sense of humor that you might actually be right, but they were also intelligent enough to leave it up to the listener's imagination.
Also the correct spelling is RIKKI.
Another clever song that is not what one might think it seems.
For years, many people thought it was about when Rick Derringer jammed with Steely Dan on Countdown to Ecstasy, and were inviting him to become a permanent member of Steely Dan.In reality, Rikki was a WOMAN named Rikki Ducornet, a writer that Donald Fagan had a crush on when he was in college.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki_Don%27t_Lose_That_Number
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki_Ducornet

>>127052904
>Like Dirty Work is about a gay guy who is tired of the abusive sex from his top who's too cheap to buy a hustler, but keeps doing it anyways anyways

You posted the lyrics yourself.
Nowhere in the lyrics are there any indication of the gender of the first person telling their sad tale of woe, or the sexual identity of the two parties involved.
The only time gender is mentioned in anyway is when the second party's "Man" is out of town.
There really is no "wrong" answer.
It is strictly left up the the individual listener's imagination.

>>127021884 (OP)

half of their songs are fantastic....the other half are the cringiest shit I've ever listened to. Such a bizarre band.

>>127056852
The song lyrics don't mention any homosexuality, so I've got no reason to see it. Things are generally normal unless it's explicitly stated that those things are abnormal. I think that you might just be attributing an imagined fetish or mental illness that just isn't there. Are you a homosexual? (This is not meant as an insult, btw way and if you are a homosexual, I hope you manage to get the help you need.)

>>127059224
Why would they need help if they were gay?

>>127059239
Help from oppressive chuds like you, chud.

>>127059340
Please explain your post because I don't understand it.
I never said anything oppressive.
Perhaps you're mistaking me for another anon?
What are you talking about?

>>127062202
>gays should be excluded from getting help
>i'm not oppressive
Could you be more nazi? I can't even