I don't exactly remember when I first heard the music of Steely Dan. Probably the winter of 1972-73 when Do It Again was a hit on the radio. It introduced me to the band that was going to be the biggest part of my soundtrack for the next eight years. Walter Becker's passing over the weekend is a bit more than the latest popular musician of my life to cash in their chips. Becker and Donald Fagen's musical collaboration was about as important as music can get during my high school and college years. The songs were incredible. Showing that popular music could start in the cereberal cortex as well as the heart and the groin. Becker was the quiet one…melding into the background on stage and record. He played bass and rythmn guitar leaving most of the soloing to the flashy hired guns that appeared on almost all of the records. But his fingerprints were all over the songs. Writing, arranging. and producing the most potent blend of musical ganja the 70's ever created. The lyrics were cynical and ascerbic…maybe that's what we gravitated too in the years during and after Watergate. And the subject matter! There was no internet at the time to look up obscure references or arcane subject matter. Everything from Buddhist philosophy to 70's drug use, from the Moonies to immigration, from 50's jazz to suicidal stockbrokers…with characters as colorful and varied as anything popular music had ever seen. Who were “Klaus and The Rooster”, “Cathy Berberian”, and “Dr Wu” ? We didn't know but it was fun trying to figure it out. During those years there probably didn't a week go by without playing 'the Dan” on the stereo or one of the many cassettes I recorded blasting out of the car stereo. And, I wasn't alone. Most of my friends were into it as well. I remember one night in 1974 and a poker game at Gary Spies house up on Spring Street. The album Pretzel Logic had just come out and in the 5-6 hours we played cards not another LP hit the turntable. We just kept flipping it over until every lyric and lick was locked in our brains forevermore. It culminated with my friend Myles Kyler and I hosting an annual “Bad Sneakers-Steely Dan bash for many years at Christmas time in the late 70's and 80's starting in the basement of the old Paul & Plautz tavern on 6th street until that venerable establishment was torn down and the party moved elsewhere. Every Becker/Fagen song was heard on those nights and much singing and air-guitar playing ensued. Now that I look back it's a wonder I didnt have regular car accidents back in those days while playing air guitar to Kid Charlemagne or Bodisattva. Becker and Fagen hit the apex with “Aja” in 1977. A perfect mixture of pop,jazz and rock as has ever been recorded. Becker was lost to his drug demons for awhile after the 1980 release of Gaucho, the “last”Steely Dan record of the orginal run but he made it back out the other side producing some other folks records and releasing a solo album in the 90's called “11 Tracks of Whack”. That record really didn't do it for me although Myles still listens to it and says it grows on you. Becker and Fagen did get back together for two more Steely Dan records including Two Against Nature in 2000 that won the Grammy for Album Of The Year. They were even more jazz tinged than the later 70's work and were good but would never matchup to the 70's stuff for me. They also toured regularly and I was able to see them a couple of times live. The musical abilities still astound me. I'm becoming immune to the deaths of the musicians I cut my teeth on and I realize it's only going to get worse from here on in. But one thing death does is force you to look back and remember…and realize how important certain things were in your life. I would have had a life without Becker and Fagen tunes….but it certainly wouldnt have been as cool.
Speaking of music…got another chance to see Bonnie Raitt this weekend under the Big Top in Bayfield. She continues to be a the top of her game…in great voice and still wailing on her slide guitar. Her veteran band is as good as it gets. Michael Finnegan on keys, Ricky Faatar on drums, James Hutchinson on bass and George Marinelli on guitar. Finnegan has played with everyone from Hendrix to CSN over the years and is top notch but the work of Marinelli deserves special mention. He can really pick it.
The opening act was a guy named Anders Osborne who I had never heard of but played some very interesting tunes and showed some good acoustic guitar skills and vocal pyrotechnics as well.
I'm going to save my face palming astonishment as the latest Trump bullshit until tomorrow. There is too much to mention from the weekend as he continues to destroy the credibility of the American presidency. It has become horrifyingly fascinating to watch.
Songs of The Day
Aja-Steely Dan (1977) A masterpiece by any definition…title track from the magnum opus of the Becker/Fagen collaboration.
Down On The Bottom-Walter Becker (1994) Becker steps out front on a record that looks at his demons…produced by Donald Fagen
