If ever there was a sound that captured the upbeat 70s it would have to be ELO. Whether one was into rock ‘n roll, prog-rock, power pop (even Abba-rites doff their hats), or disco and much in-between, pretty much anyone could get behind ELO’s infectious hooks, lush tongue-in-cheek bombast, danceability and classy production. This emphasis…
I’ve been listening to this Steely Dan cover of the Ellington-Miley gem for the first time in over 40 years. It’s amazing how much Pokey sounds like them on this track, even with the domineering psychedelic wah-wah talkbox effect played by Jeff Baxter. duke ellingtonguitarJazzJeff Baxtermusicpokey lafargepretzel logicroots musicsteely danwah-wah
Here is the ever thoughtful Ed Feser on the death of Walter Becker. Ed is one of those commentators with a knack of being able to excavate and articulate ideas without going off on overly obscure or whimsical tangents. [T]he typical Steely Dan song represents some character type, usually hapless, disreputable, or marginal . .…
Report in The Telegraph. Just yesterday, yet again and before this news, I happened to watch the making of Aja, one of the greatest albums of the 70s and beyond. I always thought Steely had class and intelligence (in an OCD way) but boy could they funk out as pure entertainment. For serious commentary on…
This documentary gets taken down/blocked from time to time (at least to me) so it’s worth checking out this Japanese subtitled version. Fascinating seeing these meticulous and obsessive musicians work with equally obsessive session musicians (and other amazing performers such as Wayne Shorter), without it ever becoming bloodless — infused with gospel, blues and some superb…
A band as meticulous as Steely Dan – 36 years on plugging a boxed set. 10ccEric StewartGraham GouldmanKevin GodleyLol CrememusicPop musicsteely dan
Ed Feser has another terrific earlier posting on Steely Dan (I recently brought attention to this one). Ed engages with Roger Scruton’s analysis of “popular” music. In older musical traditions, the focus was on the music itself, which had only a contingent relationship to the performer even when the performer was the one who composed it .…
Here’s a lovely take by a very good philosopher of mind on Donald Fagen’s new solo album Sunken Condos. The ever versatile Ed also contributed an excellent paper to Hayek in Mind. edward feserfunkHayekJazzonald fagenphenomenologyphilosophical psychologyPhilosophy of mindsteely dan
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