Steely Dan: Iconoclastic Boogaloo

From Cash Box, written by Eliot Sekuler

"In our heart of hearts, we are really bizarre," comments Donald Fagen, comfortably crumpled like a ball of scrap paper on the couch. His friend and collaborator, Walter Becker, nods noncommittally, an attitude to which he is not usually prone. The conversation, expecting but not receiving further elaboration on the subject, slides into brief silence.

We were sitting in Becker's new Laurel Canyon house, perched pleasantly on top of Los Angeles, 3200 miles as the crow flies from Brooklyn. Fagen and Becker flew from Brooklyn three years ago, shortly after leaving the instrumental entourage of Jay and the Americans. Originally contracted to ABC/Dunhill as a songwriting team, they instead gave birth to Steely Dan, a pair of hit singles ("Do It Again" and "Reelin' In The Years") and an album that was certified gold a year after release.

Now there is "Countdown to Ecstasy," their second ABC LP, struggling its way through the top 40 charts and a single, "Show Biz Kids," that got lost some-where along the way. It was a strange choice for a single release, containing an oddball contrapuntal chorus and an entire verse that needed bleeping. "We're sadder but wiser in relation to that" says Becker, "but its always comforting to know that you've got something potentially obscene on AM radio."

With characteristic ambiguity, they are fond of comparing their song-writing process to the creation of "junk sculpture." "Some songs are completely mine and some are Walter's, but in most there isn't any cut-and-dried division. 'Boston Rag,' for instance, has my chorus and verses by Walter." Musically, both of them have a predilection for jazz, a slight disdain for theatrics and an amiable cynicism towards the pretensions of the rock "scene," but not for the music. "Someone sent me a newspaper clipping that described rock concerts as 'the inept playing for the untutored," said Walter, with more amusement than indignance. "That just isn't true. The music may be simple, not as sophisticated, say, as jazz or classical music, but some of the guys playing it a lot of the successful ones-are very, very good at what they do."

"I listen to music for its intrinsic musical values, as opposed to any dramatic or theatrical qualities," continued Fagen. "For that reason our lyrics are usually dry and objective. The content may be subjective, but it's pure music, pure lyrics." Within the complexities of their music, there is seldom anything thrown in for emotional content. They prefer to leave their compositions uncluttered by images that would allow the listener to relate on the basis of sentiment or any non-musical experience. As in jazz, then, the feelings of the audience are aroused not by story telling or catch-phrases but purely by the sounds of the music itself. "Actually," added Walter, "they (the lyrics) just appear to be passionless because everyone else's stuff is so soppy."

Steely Dan has undergone changes of peripheral personnel since its inception, but the original quintet has remained intact. Becker on bass and Fagen's keyboards are joined by drummer Jim Hodder to form the rhythm section. Jeffrey "Skunk" Baxter, an outstanding and very original musician who previously did studio work for Carly Simon, alternates guitar leads with Denny Dias.

Recently, the group has taken pains to enliven their stage act, adding vocalist Royce Jones and two girls, introduced as Porky and Bucky, who add some oomph to the choruses while dancing on the side of the stage. Fagen was asked, half jokingly, if he had thought of going "whole hog" with the idea; he could, for example, enclose the girls in cages and dangle them, Las Vegas style, above the band on stage.

Fagen: "Don't think we haven't thought of that. Unfortunately, though, unless you take the authority upon yourself, like Frank Zappa, for instance, you can only get people to do just so many things."

Becker disagreed: "We can get those people to do anything we want them to."

Fagen: "Yeah, but then you're assuming a burden of responsibility. I just couldn't ask them to do that routine with a real, live python; that's pretty dangerous..."

Becker interrupted: "Sooner or later," he said, "they will do the routine with the python."

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium September 2, 1973 concert review

From Cash Box, written by e.s.

From the opening strains of "Bodhsivatta," a celebrated cut from their latest ABC-Dunhill album, it was glaringly apparent that before the audience was a rock-n-roll band transformed the new Steely Dan Review. Primarily studio-oriented musicians, they have tentatively resigned themselves to the requisite exertions of showbiz, Bard College blue-jeans being hurriedly exchanged for velvet and satin. Above all, though there was the precise, hypnotic, at times scathingly sarcastic music that has placed them among the most import-ant new groups to emerge in popular music.

Featuring digital acrobatics by the band's two guitarists, their opening number established the three-ring circus pattern that the act was to follow. Donald Fagen, nucleus, key-board man and primary vocalist, assumed the central spotlight. He was flanked by the furiously duelling guitarists on one side and a newly acquired side-show composed of a singer-cum-conga pounder and two cheerleaders on stage left. Royce Jones, the new vocalist, offered smooth and professional editions of "Brooklyn," "Dirty Work" and "Change of the Guard," all standards of the Steely Dan repertoire, while the cheerleaders chimed in on the back-grounds and presented perhaps the most charming abdominal muscles ever, superfluously, to grace the stage.

In the past year, the songs of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the group's composers, have slowly gained recognition as prototypical music of the 70's. Rock formulas honed to catchy perfection by jazz-fan instrumentalists, a cynical disdain for sentiment combined with sophisticated, sometimes obscure literary reference may serve to make them established spokesmen for the contemporary rock audience. The only obstacle may be their own seeming reluctance to assume the role.

B. W. Stevenson is a heavy Texan balladeer who speaks of traveling light, hitchhiking on the open road. At every rest-stop, he must have played the juke-box, for it is that instrument which appears to be his chief source of musical inspiration. On stage he commands audience attention with easy congeniality, a folksy manner and a voice as big as Texas. His band is tight, his songs are simple and if his RCA Records hit single, "My Maria," is any indication, he should be serenading those same truck-stops for some time to come.

Dunhill Inks Steely Dan

From Cash Box, written by ???

Jay Lasker, ABC/Dunhill president, has announced the signing of Steely Dan, a new rock group, to the label. Coinciding with the announcement of the signing, Steely Dan's premier album for the label, "Can't Buy a Thrill," is being rush-released and is scheduled to ship in early September.

The six-man band is comprised of composers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen performing on electric bass guitar and keyboards respectively; Jim Hodder, percussionist; guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias; and vocalist David Palmer. Each member of the band is an accomplished musician and each has spent a number of years pursuing his own career until producer Gary Kannon brought their collective talents to the label and recorded them as a group.