Reelin' in the Poll: STEELY DAN - ILM Artist poll #50 (voting closed)

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a2DKIoiaAS4/Uyj1xI4TfkI/AAAAAAAAAAk/6xIhQUPgMe8/w958-h539-no/orig_steely_dan_282341629.jpg

The Granddaddy of the all and 50 is a nice round number.

Ballot part one (mandatory): Your Top 20 Steely Dan tracks. Usual scoring method will be applied. Please order your list with your #1 at the top and #20 at the bottom, no need to number them. I will take unranked lists just clearly state that yours is unranked.

Standard ILX poll allocation in effect: 1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12

Ballot part two (optional): Your Top 10 Walter Becker or Donald Fagen Solo tracks. This can include anything that either were involved with for example, Walter Becker stuff with China Crisis.

Ballot part three (optional): Your Top Steely Dan and/or Solo albums. If you only want to rank the first seven Steely Dan then that is fine or you can rank The Nightfly above the whole lot.

Send ballots to steelydanpoll AT gmail dot com. Please include your ILM user name.

Deadline for voting will be Sunday late night in Los Angeles on March 30, 2014.

i will never top the New Order poll that i did but here we go. this is going to be fun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steely_Dan_discography

alright!!! gonna be REALLY hard to narrow down to just 20 tracks, but the side polls should be fun, i will be advocating strongly for Becker's Circus Money album as usual.

brilliant! very excited indeed -- i have so many thoughts on so many of these songs. hopefully i'll get round to sharing some of them.

that should read: Your Top 10 Walter Becker and/or Donald Fagen Solo tracks.

fuck yeah

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/614j%2BXAGFcL._SX466_.jpg

I just had my Steely Dan phase earlier this year so I'm very ready for this.

A breath of fresh air after the floyd poll

albums 3, 4 and 6 have all been my favorite steely dan albums at some point in my life. 1 and 2 sometimes sneak up on me and whisper in my ear that they should be my fave. 5 has never quite. i dismissed 7 when i first heard it and it has spent the rest of my life sneaking up on me and whispering things in my other ear. i know absolutely nothing about the reunion albums, though i'm sure i've heard tracks here and there. should i?

wishing we would also poll our favorite non-becker non-fagen steely dan players.

Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening

well, yeah.

Inescapable Henley. I had images disabled, so I didn't notice that piscesx had already addressed that lyric. :)

Sub-poll of best line from a Steely Dan song would be intense!

Anyway, been looking forward to this for a while. Probably the best band ever, so it's gonna be tough.

This fuckin' band. This song in particular, I feel, is criminally underrated. Just wanted to campaign for it a bit:

http://youtu.be/u9g-Z5nFg5Y

Granddaddy of them all.

wish i asked for sub poll idea's first, love the best line idea. a lot.

xpost

20 is madness!

***********************************************

adding this because it's such a brilliant idea:

Ballot part four (optional): Your Top 3 Steely Dan line(s). It can be a line or a phrase from one of their songs. Have no idea how that will turn out.

***********************************************

You didn't waste time getting this one started!

sick, bro, i've been psyched for this one for eons. I could make at least a semi-defensible case for any song off the first 7 albums.

even "with a gun"?

well as a former administrator of the Ballot Poll thread, i know how much you want to keep the queue going.

xxpost

ah fuck HELLO

hooboy. redelurking.

first ballot received and it has their Top 3 lines. that is going to be so much fun.

i'm gonna go ahead and campaign for some unreleased tracks because these are amazing songs that i'm probably going to vote for:

"This All Too Mobile Home"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq54uBiPJU0

"The Second Arrangement"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FlQRmYaXiE

Not entirely sure it will make my ballot yet, but I want to go to bat for "Here at the Western World", a Royal Scam outtake that's showed up on since of the greatest hits albums.

I mean, I'm sure everybody voting in this poll is gonna have a hard enough time picking 20 steely dan songs out of the ones they already know, but I'm just throwing that one out there

i'm gonna have a massively hard time with this. but it's gonna be satisfying.

my favorite non-album track:

"the mock turtle song":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4JCLcCk9P0

My ballot won't be long--10 songs, and I'll probably have to do a bit of relistening to fill out the last two spots--but in terms of how much those eight key songs mean to me, there are very few people I'd rank ahead of them (Neil, the Beatles, a few others). Pretzel Logic is embedded into my distant memories of high school in a huge way.

now we'll see how far the Gaucho love extends.

Wait, people were gonna vote for albums other than Gaucho??

I can't figure!

Excited about this poll!

Not entirely sure it will make my ballot yet, but I want to go to bat for "Here at the Western World", a Royal Scam outtake that's showed up on since of the greatest hits albums.

Yeah, seconded, I love this one.

Greek!

Medallion!

throwing some early support behind Rose Darling, a kinda heartbreaking song that details a narrative in which the meaningless and insipid hours drag, and the precious moments aren’t rightfully yours for the taking.

Oh shit :-) Just had The Original Soundtrack pre-Dan record on this morning. Nothing life changing on that but still quite fun stuff. This should be a great poll - co-sign on Western World, it's fantastic.

wish i'd been to this tour

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/1382254_10152685557314972_1175447205_n.jpg

I've put off listening to Everything Must Go for far too long. Now is the time.

i think i listened to that once and it sort of washed over me.

Honestly, I am expecting the same (which is why I've put it off), but I already know every song on the rest of their albums so spending an hour to be complete wouldn't kill me.

Sent!

i'm going to listen to a lot of 'dan this week but i am pretty sure my ballot is just going to read like one of the greatest hits albums

I've put off listening to Everything Must Go for far too long. Now is the time.

― Vinnie,

much much better than Two Against Nature ("Pixaleen"! "Godwhacker"!).

blues beach
i'm frying
sizzling in the merciful rays
and it's the long sad sunday of the early resigned

both everything must go and two against nature are great, do not miss out on voting for "jack of speed" maybe my favorite dan song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IChlag1TSw

really The Royal Scam is the only meh album in their run.

i think their worst pre-break album is easily can't buy a thrill, and it rules

Roxy/Floyd/Dan are the original three streams of alt rock. them getting polled in succession is great. I'm firmly in the Dan camp so HELL YES! to this thing.

Not entirely sure it will make my ballot yet, but I want to go to bat for "Here at the Western World", a Royal Scam outtake that's showed up on since of the greatest hits albums.

― how's life, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 7:01 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Indispensable track, as much so as the only other odd sod, FM.

FM is a given. Probably top 5.

I'd be surprised, but Steely Dan ends with The Royal Scam for me--and only a couple of songs there--so I'm not representative.

Did this band do B-sides that weren't from the albums? I just realized that for how much I love this band, I've heard less than 5 non-album tracks and they're all on the boxset (and "FM" is indeed phenomenal).

the Gaucho outtakes are AMAZING...I love "The Bear" and "Kulee Baba"

"I made better music than those guys in the '70s and still do" - Chevy Chase.

Ha; pulled up the first seven albums in iTunes and chose exactly 20 tracks on my first pass through. Now to put 'em in order. (Only four from Gaucho, btw.)

really The Royal Scam is the only meh album in their run.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, March 19, 2014 8:07 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

congratulations. this is your haitian divorce.

second only to Aja imo

^^ you're out of the game

welp i've already voted

at first it was surprisingly easy then it became subtly excruciating

Brad, you just came up with the first two lines of your own Dan tune.

lol

"Dallas"

the massive popular appeal of this band eludes me. I like some stuff (nothing post-'74 really) but every time I hear something of theirs on classic rock radio or something I'm like... "really? huge numbers of people are into this glacially paced sad-sack tuneless blah-fest? huh."

who said that?

yeah the Steely Dan B sides thing is weird, same as with Talking Heads. was it just a quirk of the mid-late 70s?

iirc, that was Shakey Mo on the Floyd thread.

xp

♪ no static at all...♪♫ ♩

Agents of the law!

Luckless pedestrian!

Oh shit :-) Just had The Original Soundtrack pre-Dan record on this morning. Nothing life changing on that but still quite fun stuff. This should be a great poll - co-sign on Western World, it's fantastic.

― jamiesummerz, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 9:10 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This record would be perfect on the soundtrack of PT Anderson's upcoming Inherent Vice (Pynchon)

I cannot possibly order this list

also, I want to leave The Fez on my list, if only to counteract the Royal Scam hate, but it really is almost a Phish song.

Was just having that same thought about Sign In Stranger!

gtfo both of you

holy shit, I can see that

No, I mean, I came to Steely Dan through Phish. The Phishheads who turned me on to SD were huge fans of Royal Scam. There is a very obvious influence.

^ the wolfman's brother

Phish never wrote lyrics or arrangements as great as the Dan's, but the similarities are obvious when the Dan get goofier. The funkier and proggier elements were attractive to many jam bands. I attended many Umphrey's McGee shows in high school that had Dan covers. ;_;

"Jack of Speed" and "Godwhacker" are definitely the two post-hiatus songs I'm voting for. The latter is also the only SD song I learned anything about from Eminent Hipsters -- DF decided to write a song about putting a hit out on God after the death of his mother.

also, I want to leave The Fez on my list, if only to counteract the Royal Scam hate, but it really is almost a Phish song.

I plan to put The Fez on

yeah, I couldn't take if off

Scam is wonderful, often my favorite Dan album -- "Haitian Divorce," The Caves of Altamira," the title track, good lord those are some jams

yes! both are in my top 10, I think.

I love "Sign In Stranger" and "Kid Charlemagne" but have trouble remembering the back half even after playing it hundreds of times.

"Green Earrings"+"Haitian Divorce" is a vinyl turner for me. I'd probably skip side A before missing those.

I must be atypical because I love Royal Scam and find Katy Lied to be the weakest album in their catalog.

(pre-comeback catalog that is)

I totally agree!

KL has second side problems too, but also "Throw Back the Little Ones" and "Everyone's Gone to the Movies."

http://www.achewood.com/comic.php?date=06112004

But, yes, very excited for this poll. I'm hoping things have slowed down enough at work that I can submit a ballot.

xp and "your gold teeth part 2"!

pretzel logic is weakest for me. but I don't think I really understand it. I do love "Barrytown" and "Charlie Freak."

Haven't even started configuring my ballit, but Any World (that I'm welcome to) is a keeper. I'm basically gonna have problems eliminating anything from Katy through Gaucho.

And a significant portion of Countdown to Ecstasy.

royal scam is better than albums 2, 3, & 4 imo.

I can't think of TRS without hearing the talkbox.

I'd rank them:

CTE
Gaucho
Pretzel Logic
Can't Buy a Thrill
Katy Lied
Aja
Everything Must Go
Two Against Nature

oops: with TRS between Aja and EMG.

madness

remarkable spread on the second of these polls:

Best Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker Album

POLL: Best Steely Dan album

best album track rediscovery so far today: "through with buzz"

biggest album track disappointment so far today: "parker's band." i've long thought this might be my favorite dan song, but the arrangement isn't at all how i'd remembered it in my head. it's still on my list, but more of an 11-20 than a 1-10. there's an "early steely dan" piano demo that's been issued a few times on various weird labels that i think i like better,

favorite otherwise non-available song from those aforementioned early dan demo albums: "a little with sugar"

Such a fun band to chew over. It's weird, though, more than any other act I love for me they stand or fall with the lyrics, to the point where if I wasn't an English speaker I don't think I'd get them all. The whole "most of their songs are really about murder or abuse or meth" thing was my vector to getting properly engrossed in them – of course that would pretty quickly exhaust itself if it wasn't for how the words work against the arrangements, but I don’t have it in me to appreciate most of that heroic sessioneering in of itself (Purdie is the exception). Something like “Time Out Of Mind” – where the sordidness is stuck to the cliches it comes wrapped in, where chasing the dragon and water turning into cherry wine are simultaneously goofy pompousness and awesome mysteries – I don’t know, it seems so dependent on the lyric being a cross-grain to the instrumental.

Fagen said "we knew something was good if we would really laugh at it when we played it back,” which for me goes right back to Kafka laughing hysterically when he read his work to friends.

chasing the dragon = heroin FYI

throwing some early support behind Rose Darling, a kinda heartbreaking song that details a narrative in which the meaningless and insipid hours drag, and the precious moments aren’t rightfully yours for the taking.

also one of the first appearances by michael mcdonald on a steely dan song, which is key.

Black Friday-Bad Sneakers-Rose Darling-Dr. Wu is the greatest foursome in SD's discography. Unequaled depths of intelligence, feeling, and instrumental craft.

otm

I can't think of TRS without hearing the talkbox.

the talkbox/vibraphone (i think?) duet on "Haitian Divorce" is one of my favorite instrumental moments in the SD catalog

yeah, I don't even know what each sound is in that song, but I love it.

The first nine on my ballot were easy--the eight I keep on the computer, plus another one I should have on there. Thought about filling the 10th spot with De La Soul's "Eye Know," but I went with another one I like a lot--even though there might be another song on those first few albums I like better (too lazy to start checking). Didn't vote for "Peg"; like De La Soul's sample much, much more.

In the corner
Of my eye
I saw you in Rudys
You were very high
You were high!

that is creepy. I was listening to that as I read it just now. not black cow. that very measure of black cow.

basically every quote is going to be as great as every other one...the consistency of those records is amazing

Actually, "Have you ever seen a squonk's tears, well look at mine" isn't exactly great--scratch that.

it is DISGUSTING how many bulletproof five star songs i am left with no choice but to leave off of my ballot

Looking forward to voting in this, but I'm the guy who's going to make you all go "Really? How did that one get so many points?"

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here going "Oh, yeah. Which one of them was the one about seeing kangaroos."

I was listening to citizen steely Dan box in my car earlier. Riki don't lose that number was on. Pulled into the grocery store parking lot just as the song finished. Walked into the grocery store just as Riki was startingv on their in storeb play.

pretzel logic is weakest for me. but I don't think I really understand it. I do love "Barrytown" and "Charlie Freak."

Yeah pretzel is the least of their orig run for me too. My golden quartet is Countdown-Katy-Aja-Gaucho.

I'm pretty sure SD also think this is their weakest...

Pretzel Logic was the first SD album i listened to as an album regularly, and i'm fond of the kind of different idea of the band that it presents, but yeah it doesn't really stack up against most of the others.

listening to the alternate running order from a cassette release really helped me hear it with fresh ears a few years ago, though: Pretzel Logic poll

how did i miss that poll...and that tape order looks SO much better can't wait to listen to it that way--thanks

When I bought PL in the spring of '99, influenced by Christgau, Marcus and the other saints of the church, it flummoxed me. So damn tight and obscure. I loved "Rikki" and "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" and "With a Gun" though. I waited a year before Katy Lied, the purchase of which made me a fan. I bought the rest in short order, holding out on Gaucho until 2005 and the great ILM thread; and bought Everything Must Go a couple years ago.

remarkable spread on the second of these polls:

Best Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker Album

POLL: Best Steely Dan album

― fit and working again, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 4:59 PM (3 hours ago)

dont forget: GUESS ITS TIME FOR THIS AGAIN

i always loved how they wrote the greatest song about someone deciding *not* to cheat on someone (Dirty Work) and the greatest (and bitterest) song about catching someone who's been cheating on you (Everything You Did) aswell. both will probs make my Top 20.

suddenly, i'm more partial than ever to the cover art for The Royal Scam. i mean, i really like the concept behind it and i get it, it's just strangely executed.

TRS is possibly my favourite Dan release, but it's a frustrating process to isolate one of them, cuz they all kind of co-depend on each other.

also, i got all sorts of crazy love for Caves of Altamira

Fine. I'll listen to it.

prob their finest horn chart

at the grotto
in the greasy chair
sits the charlie with the lotion and the kinky hair

used to think of Haitian Divorce as a rather uneventful 6 minutes until i thought "wait, fuck no, those lyrics"

suddenly, i'm more partial than ever to the cover art for The Royal Scam. i mean, i really like the concept behind it

the concept of it having been originally created for a van morrison album?

i'm not going to do this often but in about 24 hours i have received 10 ballots. i'm already scratching my head, some usual picks so far but then i remember this is ILM.

You know you can rank 'The Nightfly' above all the SD albums...shoot me but I probably would...I love it's greenness....I love SD but there is something about Fagen and Becker that I'd like to bitch slap out of both of them...

^^^ don't take him alive

i love The Royal Scam, can't believe anyone would hate on it - just as classic as Aja, Pretzel, etc. the solos in Green Earrings!!!!!

i'd got used to most people in my life not really caring about the dan or just being really confused about my huge love for them. then at the weekend my relatively newish girlfriend put their hits album on out of nowhere and started dancing round the kitchen singing along to Do It Again. i was a happy lad.

among other things Judd Apatow set back the Dan love.

Sent! Man, but I had to get rid of some stuff though! And then I thought I'd strategically vote some stuff up - personal favorites that I was concerned about not placing - but they couldn't break my top 5. The only thing I'm going to reveal is that FM, which I had earlier posited as a lock for my Top 5, ended up just outside my Top 10. This was so hard!

It's only over headphones that I can hear the density of "Glamour Profession."

It's only over headphones that I can hear the density of "Glamour Profession."

It's only over headphones that I can hear the density of "Glamour Profession."

I'm sad about the lack of love for Two Against Nature on all of these polls. I think it might actually be the SD album I've spent the most time listening to, partly because it didn't click for me straight away and I kept playing it over and over again trying to get into it.

agreed. West of Hollywood esp crept up on me

might have a vote to spare for Janie Runaway, haven't quite decided yet. if not, it'll get a look in in the lyrics sub-poll

This is going to be really difficult. I'm pretty sure my ballot will be focused almost exclusively on Katy Lied, Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho with some Nightfly love in the mix as well.

with some Nightfly love in the mix as well.

re-read the OP--- solo tracks is a side poll iirc

Completely agree with the OP on solo tracks, but man, Kamakiriad material is hard to leave off.

xpost

I know, but it's still going to get attention in my ballot

Kind of relieved to see that I'm not the only person who never really got into Pretzel Logic. It was maybe the fifth one I heard--I started with Aja, then Gaucho, and they both just felt impenetrable. Then I checked out The Royal Scam, figured this band just wasn't for me, and moved on. Maybe a year later, a friend who was familiar with my experiences with the band asked me if I had listened to Countdown to Ecstasy...Anyway, that record blew my fucking mind. Still my favorite, possibly for sentimental reasons but probably not. But then, going back to the other records I'd already heard, it was like a door had been unlocked, because suddenly, immediately, they were the best records I'd ever heard.

But of the original seven, Pretzel Logic and Can't Buy a Thrill are the only two I can't make an argument for being the apotheosis of popular music or whatever.

I look at all the Pretzel Logic indifference in this thread and I'm glad I've got it at #1 and #2.

Someone correct me: popular opinion held Aja as best for many years, critics preferred Pretzel Logic and Countdown to Ecstacy, now we're reelin' in the years.

Aja is prob the critical favorite too, but their fanbase among critics is large enough that there's always been room for dissent from the popular default.

I've got one Pretzel Logic song on my ballot, but there were four others in my top 30 that just missed the cut.

Katy Lied was the only one that made the Rolling Stone top 100 albums list back in the late 80s.

though they wrote something like-- we could have picked any of their albums, because they're all basically the same

I look at all the Pretzel Logic indifference in this thread and I'm glad I've got it at #1 and #2.

― clemenza, Thursday, March 20, 2014 12:18 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, this. I think there's maybe 2 PL songs that didn't make my ballot. It's easily my favorite Dan record.

"I Got the News" getting 0 votes in the Aja poll is a wrong that needs to be righted

"I Got The News" is great but i totally get why it is the least popular song on Aja by default of all the other ones being more screamingly amazing

I love how "I Got the News" just plays as the credits roll on the VH1 Classic Albums documentary.

Brooooooooooooadwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Duchesssssssssssssssssssssss / DARling if you ONly knew

^up there with "here come those santa ana winds again" if you are being real with yourself

also drums probably second only to the horn break in "Aja"

"I Got The News" is the "My Rival" of Aja.

and "my rival" is occasionally my favorite song on gaucho

definitely their best lyric *ducks*

^^^YES

All I know, Brad, is you best have "Third World Man" in your top ten.

I love how that tom-snaresnare-tom (?) thing that starts "I Got the News" is played with throughout the track. I have possibly underrated "My Rival" and will revisit.

u know me, alfred

you guys know the early version of "I Got The News" from the Katy Lied sessions? it's slight but fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl9Qu1ZA1yA

1996 Interview with Chuck Rainey, who has the following to say about his time with the Dan:

"Let me tell you: When you listen to Aja, those are some masterful songs. Those things'll be around for a hundred years, man. Walter does not read music, neither does Donald. They came to the studio with full-blown demos, but the demos would sound like punk rock. You talk about credit--Victor Feldman and Paul Griffin [keyboards], Larry Carlton [guitar], Jeff Porcaro [drums]--those are the people who sat down and put the chord changes on paper and made a road map for us to play. As always, the good guys fall through the cracks. I may be going back even to The Royal Scam [1976]. They should be as rich as Becker, Fagen, and [producer] Gary Katz. Paul Griffin was so good, they gave him songwriting credit for part of a tune."

Rainey doesn't suggest that he ever earned a songwriting credit with the Dan--which would be a lifetime pension. "If you're not a musician, you'd think Donald Fagen's the world's greatest writer. But if you're a musician, you know that he ain't it. He writes good melodies, he can play a little bit of piano. But if it don't be for Walter Becker, there don't be no Steely Dan. Seriously."

But then Rainey concedes that Fagen's solo Nightfly album does sound pretty much on a par with Steely Dan. "It had the same producer and family of musicians. Becker and Fagen had a talent for voicing things in ways you never heard it before." But Rainey believes Steely Dan--after Pretzel Logic in 1974--modeled their style from a group in England on A&M in 1972. "A horn band--I can't remember their name. The times I brought this up, I was made to feel that I shouldn't by Gary Katz."

Rainey got paid double-scale, and he played on tons of sessions. While Royal Scam was cut in two weeks, it took three years each to produce Gaucho and Aja. "They had budget up the yin-yang. I was very fortunate. For every song on Aja--with the exception of "Deacon Blues," which Walter played--as many drummers as are listed, I did the whole album through with that drummer. There were six drummers, that's how many albums of Aja I did. I would do a month with Rick Marotta, then three months later do the same shit with Jeff Porcaro, and then Paul Humphrey, then Bernard Purdie, or Steve Gadd." Steely Dan extracted favorite versions for the final release.

Walter does not read music, neither does Donald.

maybe they can't instantly play anything put in front of them, but let's be real here

OK you guys, who is the 1972 Brit "horn band" that Rainey says above was the model for SD? This guy sounds like an unreliable narrator

Although it's great to see someone describe Becker's role as crucial--I don't think I have ever heard or read anything about his input, except that the darker sensibility stuff lyric wise comes from him

I was gonna ask how well Fagen and Becker play. I'm particularly in love with Becker's guitar solos.

OK you guys, who is the 1972 Brit "horn band" that Rainey says above was the model for SD? This guy sounds like an unreliable narrator

― Iago Galdston, Thursday, March 20, 2014 10:47 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Average White Band

I don't actually know this. I'm just guessing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO5GWJJP3FM

actually, I don't think AWB were on A&M. But 74's AWB influencing the direction of SD afterward makes sense to me.

Mr. Sam from the same Katy Lied outtakes (xxp some dude) is one of my 20, definitely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUIz7wCZNXI

a group in England on A&M in 1972

Should be possible to narrow this down.

Supertramp?

starting to feel Rainey had some things wrong

Maybe, but if the demos are anything like he described them, I really want to hear them.

Imagining an Aja box set with all the different takes would probably be like a suitcase.

i'm not going to do this often but in about 24 hours i have received 10 ballots. i'm already scratching my head, some usual picks so far but then i remember this is ILM.

so the list so far is conventional? whatever that is. and yeah, are you sending confirmation mails?

Imagining an Aja box set with all the different takes would probably be like a suitcase.

And we'd get to hear all the crappy also-ran guitar solos on "Peg"!

They should do some kind of multimedia desktop app release where you can build your own ideal take.

I don't have it on hand, but Marcus once singled out a line from "Doctor Wu" as one of the best lines ever in a pop song: "All night long, we would sing that stupid song/And every word we sang I knew was true." I'll second that--brilliant line. I'd match it up with the moment in Boogie Nights where the trace of a smile crosses Mark Wahlberg's face as "Jessie's Girl" plays. My other favourite is "Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago" from "Pretzel Logic." I quote that all the time.

xp But if you pick anything other than the album version it automatically overdubs Fagen and Becker laughing.

"that stupid song" was Dylan's "Visions of Johanna," iirc.

xp

the section of Making of Aja doc where they listen to playbacks of rejected solos for "Peg" is really funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waIBA6_0GQc

OK I just watched the clip above and now I believe Chuck Rainey completely. Solid guy

I love that doc. Just submitted my ballot, and the repping for Gaucho clearly got to me:

Aja - 5
Gaucho - 4
The Royal Scam - 3
Countdown to Ecstasy - 3
Katy Lied - 2
Can't Buy a Thrill - 1
Pretzel Logic - 1
Other - 1

Countdown - 4
Pretzel - 1
Katy - 4
Royal - 3
Aja - 2
Gaucho - 4
Other - 2

CBAT - 5
CTE - 4
PL - 4
KL - 2
TRS - 2
A - 2
G - 1

CBAT most underrated IMO.

interesting. will countdown ecstasy place highest? it may have the most universal appeal.

Diving back into their catalog and there are just so many A1 5-star tracks. I've noticed that a few of their songs are basically 12-bar blues, but with crazy voicings and bass notes ("Peg," is a big example).

Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie should team up to write an alternate history of music in the 60s and 70s

in every history, Rainey sneaks into the studio, stands behind a partition, and secretly lays down the most classic basslines known to man

looking at old polls, I'm not sure if 3 of my top 5 will even place

xp very funny

Voted!

Katy Lied - 4
Aja - 4
Gaucho - 4
Countdown - 3
Royal Scam - 3
CBAT - 1
Pretzel - 1

similar distribution

listening to glamour profession and feeling guilty for leaving it at 21.

o the list so far is conventional? whatever that is. and yeah, are you sending confirmation mails?

i would say unconventional. i will send out confirmations, no problem. yes i did get yours.

Know what we should all get the day voting closes on this?

Szechuan DUMPLINGS!

Deadline for voting will be Sunday late night in Los Angeles on March 30, 2014.

where's the best place to get szechuan DUMPLINGS! late night in los angeles on a sunday?

thought it was a good time for a reminder. and yeah that should not be to hard to find.

Daddy can't get no fine cigars
But we know you're smokin' wherever you are

I put Fagen right up there with Dylan '66 and Johnny Rotten '77 in the Intimidating Stare department.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/fagen_zps2d55fa73.jpg

Pretty intimidating stare even when you're wearing sunglasses.

True! Older, and without:

http://media.npr.org/programs/wc/images/2006/03/donaldfagen200-0dada2b290fa20a7d93c15b1bbf5235a7c41c165-s3-c85.jpg

I have to look away in shame--he knows too much about me.

Lou Reed's the guy who would've reduced me to nothing had I counted his change out wrong.

"Is that pretty hard for you to do? Count up to the bill I gave you? Here's what you do, you add the change you're giving back to me to the original cost of purchase. So I owed you $6.48 and gave you a ten. The change is $3.52, but what you need to do is give me the bills first and go 'seven-eight-nine' and then the coins make it ten. Make sure the coins are on top because it's pretty fucking hard to put bills in your pocket with a handful of pennies. Why are you crying?"

so glad he's dead

lol

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdb05nrven1rjdiqlo1_400.jpg

If anyone was gonna originate Keytar Face, it was gonna be Fagen.

zero tracks from pretzel logic on my ballot

xp: Melodica Face

Man I couldn't find any photos of Bryan Ferry live '95, the only guy I've seen playing keytar .

good work, gr8080. and sorry, clemenza.

only one from katy lied

I must again congratulate you on your discerning tastes

unless you chose 'bad sneakers'

not exactly a bad song...

not as good as "black friday" though ;-)

Yeah, I really haven't got a bead on what's going to go top 10 in this poll. I think everybody's got their personal tastes and it could be anything. Like, in the Pink Floyd poll, I knew Echoes was going to win. No idea here.

agreed. I would never have guessed that someone would only choose "Black Friday" from Katy Lied! interesting

also o. nate's 5 tracks off can't buy a thrill. it's a toss up, imo.

team pretzel here!

pretzel 3
ecstasy 2
thrill 2
aja/katy/scam 1/1/1

no gaucho!

at this point I am only willing to bet that cousin dupree will not be #1

i have exactly 5 from CBAT too~~

I can only think of one or two songs that I wouldn't be surprised to see at #1, but I definitely agree that the results are going to be totally unpredictable.

"bad sneakers" is the best song on earth i will hear nothing else

do you take me for a fool
do you think that I don't see
that ditch out in the valley
that they're digging just for me

Just learned about the controversy with Keith Jarrett over writing credit for the song "Gaucho"

I think the verses of 'Bad Sneakers' are amazing. I love the melody they play. The chorus is just a bit sing-songy, which actually suits the lyrics well. It's a great song, but I'm always happier with "Rose Darling" right after.

I can see Jarrett's point

pretty funny to declare something "a tribute" while giving no royalties to that person

haha, yeah, it's the exact same groove and the sax at the beginning of "Gaucho" definitely quotes the sax in the Jarrett tune. I had no idea. Still one of my favorite Dan tracks.

Similarly, "Rikki" and Horace Silver's "Song For My Father"...but they didn't cut Horace in on the royalties.

my ballot is in the mail

Katy Lied 5
Aja 5
The Royal Scam 4
Gaucho 4
Countdown 1
Other 1

I believe that is the lowest number for Countdown to Ecstasy yet

Probably because I've never owned a copy

The last 45 seconds of "Gaucho " delight me more than most recorded songs; I just can't stop smiling.

Pretzel Logic - 7
Katy Lied - 6
Aja - 4
Royal Scam - 2
Can't Buy A Thrill - 1

no gaucho or countdown! 7 pretzel logic!

Countdown omission is more out of lack of familiarity than anything else, and I knew I wouldn't be able to give it the time it deserves before voting.

As for Gaucho, I actively hate it, and it can go fuck itself with a Wendel.

This is my favorite Countdown song. Razor Boy, as someone posted up thread, is also amazing.

my #1 is on countdown, but that's the only song from it on my ballot

I may vote for all of Countdown.

I almost did!

my first guitar was a Jeff "Skunk" Baxter epiphone, but I could never play the My Old School solos on that thing. mostly because it's an acoustic guitar.

Jeffs work on My Old School is one of the mightiest things on the planet. Would live a solos subpoll, tbh. So much to choose from.

otm

even cathy berberian knows
there's one roulade she
can't
sing

^^^my favorite SD moment of my favorite SD song

It'll be interesting to see the relative placement of "Your Gold Teeth" and "Your Gold Teeth II".

that "cathy berberian" part slays

YGT 2 > 1 imo

both songs are great, and the lyrics match the music beautifully in either case. I think I'm more attracted to the character in YGT 1. I'd like for there to be stakes and excitement. I feel definite tension in that song that is broken up by the pretty sounding bridges.

Key YGT 1 moment: the drums blowing up around minute 6.

Glorious "Do It Again" on the Midnight Special: split screen! Expressive tops! Palmermania! http://youtu.be/NC7n4G5f1A4

Is there gas in the caaaaaar?
Yes, there's gas in the caaaAAAAr!

xpost david palmer is probably a good guy, but wow that video

Ballot sent.

Countdown - 4
Pretzel - 4
Katy - 3
Scam - 4
Aja - 2
Gaucho - 2
Other - 1

Glorious "Do It Again" on the Midnight Special: split screen! Expressive tops! Palmermania!

wow, never heard that before. it sounds like such a different song with palmer on lead vox.

gotta post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKOq7-mNeaE

https://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsutx5JDe31qzol4do1_500.png

I've seen that reelin' in the years clip and another similar one a few times -- who was the singer they had out front? So awkward.

David Palmer. He sings Dirty Work

anyone wanna rank the Palmer songs on CBMAT?

David Palmer. Good on dirty work, not so good elsewhere. Feel like midnite cruiser in partic required that fagen factor.

wait he didnt sing midnite cruiser, think that was someone else.

He's a p good vocalist but it's kind of like "Dude, we need a frontman. Hey Walter, what about your roommate? He looks kind of like a poor man's Roger Daltrey."

Christgau came up with a Becker-esque line to dismiss Palmer: he fit in 'like a cheerleader at a crap game.'

ridiculously great on "dirty work," though. that's enough to earn him his spot in dan history. that's also him on "brooklyn owes the charmer under me."

he needs to drop his shoulders. Also nice "Fun Shirt"

At least in the other video I saw they gave him a tambourine

What's the best SD book?

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDeVAF58jPg

lol

wow. donny and marie were pretty good skaters!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNpMC4FslNk

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/steely_dans_hilarious_tongue-in-cheek_open_letter_to_wes_anderson#disqus_thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWYeXVbzdY

Jim Hodder, the drummer at the time, is the lead on "Midnite Cruiser," which I love. Palmer's also on "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" ("stir it up nice, ANNNNNND"), which given Becker showing up as well is tantalizingly close to songs where 3 or more vocalists trade off singing lead within one verse

Both installations of Gold Teeth are in my highest Dan tier. YGT 1 knows many things; YGT 2 knows one big thing.

the vocal harmonies in ygt 2 are godlike

I'm a fan of the multi-vocalist approach on CBAT -- I think they really could have mastered writing for different singers just as they did for different instrumental players if they'd stuck with it. A Michael McDonald lead vocal here and there, perhaps.

What's the best SD book?
― POO: the blossom or full flower of the evening (Sufjan Grafton)

There's only one as far as I know...Reelin In the Years. Just the facts, boring as hell
There's a 33 1/3 on Aja. Didn't like that one, can't remember why...think it was too technical in terms of the music? God, Gaucho would have made for such a more interesting choice

What's the best SD book?
― POO: the blossom or full flower of the evening (Sufjan Grafton)

There's only one as far as I know...Reelin In the Years. Just the facts, boring as hell
There's a 33 1/3 on Aja. Didn't like that one, can't remember why...think it was too technical in terms of the music? God, Gaucho would have made for such a more interesting choice

― Iago Galdston, Friday, March 21, 2014 8:58 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sorry about the no block

i liked the Aja 33 1/3 a lot. most published writing about SD focuses on the lyrics and aesthetics and at most respectfully tips a hat to the "sophistication" of the music so it was refreshing to see someone actually get into the nuts and bolts.

ah, thanks. disappointing that there isn't a good book about their whole career. but I'll try the Aja book. it sounds like something I'd enjoy, actually. do they talk about studio tech in it?

iirc the writer gets into harmonic structure, time signatures, soloists, etc. and talks to Fagen about lyrics but there's not much of any studio tech stuff.

ok, thanks!

for all my shitting on pretzel logic today, it was the only 'dan LP i could find in my massively unorganized record collection tonight; sounding great on my hifi atm

i love the song "Pretzel Logic" so much...seems like it has such a low profile for the lead single and title track from one of their most popular albums.

or maybe "Rikki" was the lead and it was the follow up? in any case, great song.

I programmed The Royal Scam to follow Robert Palmer's Heavy Nova; the latter would've appreciated it.

title song from Pretzel Logic will make my ballot; a tightly wound blues that continues to amaze upon unraveling

i have not sent out confirmation emails yet but you will get one when you are added to the database, starting early next week. if you made a mistake then i can correct it with no issues so far. (that's for you Vinnie).

the 'can include anything that either were involved with' parameter for ballot part two prompted me to go through their credits on discogs and I'm so happy because I had no idea this existed and it's great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytA_egMu8s4

written and co-arranged by Fagen

"Team Pretzel"--I like that.

Pretzel Logic - 3
Can't Buy a Thrill - 3
Katy Lied - 2
The Royal Scam - 1
Countdown to Ecstasy - 1

The only other ones I own are Aja and Everything Must Go (which I only played once and don't remember at all).

I thought that was a mistake about "Pretzel Logic" having been released as a single, but what do you know, it was indeed the lead single. I'm almost positive it never got played on the Top 40 station here at the time. Why I think "Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago" is so brilliant...The guy's mind is drifting back (to coin a phrase) to characters and images from the distant past: Napoleon on a hill, a minstrel show, a pair of shoes he's wearing that are evidently hopelessly out of date. These things give him pleasure (I don't take the celebration of minstrelsy too literally--more that Fagan, or the narrator, enjoys the music), but this voice keeps reminding him that the rest of the world doesn't care about these things anymore, probably doesn't even know they once existed. He's stuck in his own little world, but not obliviously so. I can relate to that--it's almost a given with anyone who spends inordinate amounts of time thinking about music and movies and the world of 30 and 40 and 50 years ago. Like him, I'm not oblivious to how silly it is that I'm always on here talking about Neil Young and Nixon and Taxi Driver, or making up lists of my favorite songs from bands I listened to in high school. I mean, I'm not going to change, and I'm fine with that, but there is that voice in there telling me to let that stuff alone and move on. (Where, yes, you always come up against same question: move on to what? And you look around, and then you go back to Zuma.)

I wrote about Steely Dan as part of something I did a few years ago on my page (you'd have to scroll down to find their section). I never really listened that closely to Can't Buy a Thrill until I later found a budget CD for the car; besides "Reelin' in the Years," always a favorite, it ended up providing two more songs on my list.

I don't take the celebration of minstrelsy too literally--more that Fagan, or the narrator, enjoys the music

no need to take a rather large chunk of the becker and fagen catalog too literally, but the fact that he specifically wants "to tour the southland" with his minstrel show complicates things here. how exactly it complicates things i've never been able to decode, though. one of the strangest lyrics in the dan oeuvre. i've always wondered if it was written with careful deliberation or tossed off in two minutes as a goof.

Aja - 5 (including an outtake)
Pretzel Logic - 4
Katy Lied - 3 (including an outtake)
Countdown to Ecstasy - 2
The Royal Scam - 2 (including an outtake)
Gaucho - 2
Can't Buy A Thrill - 1
B - side - 1

well if anyone didnt see it this episode of yacht rock is a lot of fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb_XEwgfmDk

great poll thread so far :)

i've always wondered if it was written with careful deliberation or tossed off in two minutes as a goof.

I didn't want to wade into that stuff, but I'll go with the latter. If it is the former, yes, a complication of the Stephin Merritt variety. But I'll put it down to the truth that we don't necessarily like what we should.

it's the most self-aware line in the canon

i was looking for vernon reid's conversation w greg tate on steely dan and white negro-ism but unfortunately the best one can manage is snippet view on google books

anyway apparently reid has been doing the steely dan songbook with a version of burnt sugar going by 'burnt sugar arkestra'. huh!

ok, love this.

http://vimeo.com/38804151

My first poll! I couldn't pass this one up. The first six albums came out when I was in high school and college, and the rock radio station in Pittsburgh honestly played every single song from those six albums. It was like those albums were nothing but singles.
I saw them in 1974, they opened for the Beach Boys. Musically, they were tremendous, of course, but what made the biggest impression on me was how grouchy they seemed. I was 17 and a freshman in college, and my university was across the street from the arena and the hotel where all the bands stayed, and we'd always stop over at the hotel after the show to gawk and see if we could get a hello out of the bands, but we didn't go over there to say hello to Steely Dan. We knew that if they said anything to us, it would be mean, lol.
"Can't Buy a Thrill" is so underrated, you have to know what it was like to hear that in 1972 when it first came out, how different it was and what an impact it made, at least on my ears.

Can't But a Thrill - 5
Countdown to Ecstasy- 4
Pretzel Logic - 2
Katy Lied - 2
The Royal Scam - 3
Aja - 3
Other - 1

FFS this was hard.

Saw them in '74--fantastic!

Can't Buy a Thrill - 4
Countdown to Ecstasy - 3
Pretzel Logic - 4
Katy Lied - 2
The Royal Scam - 2
Aja - 4
Gaucho - 1

Christmas without the chintzy stuff

I only own Morph the Cat and a vinyl choppy of Nightfly that I can't listen to. Gave a CD version of the latter on order from the library, as well as 11 Tracks of Whack. Hopefully they'll arrive in time for me to cobble together a solo trackse ballot.

voted!

Thrill - 1
Countdown - 4
Pretzel - 2
Katy - 5
Scam - 3
Aja - 2
Gaucho - 2
Other - 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbke5CXD1ig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbke5CXD1ig

made a playlist of my favorite deep cuts: http://narrowcast.blogspot.com/2014/03/deep-album-cuts-vol-15-steely-dan.html

I didn't realize Haitian Divorce was big in the UK. good post, thanks.

Didn't realize that either. Makes total sense.

tobacco they grow in peking!

in the year of the locust you'll sing
a sad
thing!

the best!

voted

would have also accepted Poll Biz Kids poll title

your polled teeth

do you vote for both gold teeths? do you. seeeeee. how they pollllled.

and when you smile for the camera, i know i love you better. POLL.

Countdown to ILXtasy

How many ballots you got so far, Bee OK?

these are fun, might use one of these Poll titles for the actual poll thread.

we have crossed over the 25 ballot mark.

keep them coming as i expect quite a few more.

xpost

EZ Snappin's won't be beat

what song is that from?

i'm a poll to do your dirty work

babPOLLon sisters shake it

the fine POLLombian make tonight a wonderful thing

The World That We Used to Know. (I'll never understand the pun obsession...sorry, I'm sometimes a drudge.)

The Cuervo POLLed

Polled At Last

are you reelin in the polls
stowin away the polls
are you gatherin up the polls
have you had enough of polls

POLL of the quarter
my POLL school
the caves of POLLtamira
fire in the POLL
brooklyn (POLLs the charmer under me)

Don't Give a Fuck About Anybody Else: The Steely Dan Poll

thx for that deep cut playlist, ships.

monkey in your POLL

rikki don't lose that number, you don't want to POLL nobody else

Jeez, you guys...

POLLS Darling

while the music played, you POLLED by candlelight

Local boys will spend a quarter just to shine the silver POLL

Where people are rolling in the snow far from the world we POLL

please stop

yeah, I mean, that was my initial reaction, but then I thought of a few that they missed.

Only a POLL Would Say That

POLL by Night

any poll (that i'm welcome to)

Do It Poll
Bodhisattva Poll
Daddy Don't Live in That Poll No More

(I'm intentionally thinking of the most awkward and ridiculous ones I can to bring this to a close.)

trying to stop them just encourages them

I have never met NaPOLLeon but I plan to find the time

POALLY DAN, HAHA

Just voted, here's the breakdown:

Can't Buy a Thrill - 4
Countdown to Ecstasy - 5
Pretzel Logic - 3
Katy Lied - 3
The Royal Scam - 1
Aja - 4
Gaucho - 0

I like Gaucho, but not enough to knock any of the other songs off my ballot. Also, I tried to leave some of the more famous songs off the list, but then I had a change of heart (sorry) and I couldn't quite do it, so I just stuck them at the end of the ballot.

A CONTINENT OF THE MIND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfT2DtpRUfI

Getting my replacement copy of Can't Buy A Thrill in the mail today!

you can't buy a thrill, but you can buy Can't Buy a Thrill in a second or two uh-huh-huh

That commercial just above is fascinating. I have no recollection at all of major-label albums being advertised on TV in 1977. K-Tel and the such, but not major label.

Apparently there were quite a number of them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSPLC3r_Lyo

I remember seeing a commercial for Morph the Cat. I wandered into a bar with some friends rather late at night; in one corner, the owner of the bar, a well-built, 40-something, somewhat volatile dude, was singing J.J. Cale's "Cocaine", backed by a popular local band. In the other corner was a large-screen TV which happened at that moment to be showing a commercial for Morph the Cat. Right before the guitar solo, the bar owner screamed "Cocaine's back!!!". We decided not to stick around.

Lou didn't seem to exciting about this and/or was asleep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxtLYFM4sAY

*excited

West Of Pollywood surely?

for every pun we post another 70s TV ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7YRHgmU0NE

damn!

Voted!

CBAT - 3
CTE - 4
PL - 3
KL - 3
TRS - 2
A - 3
G - 1
Other - 1

prediction: My Old School will be #1 in this poll

I hope not.

lol, i'll take that bet

so many CTE votes. I feel like it's on almost every ballot. It also won the CTE poll, iirc.

but there's been some pushback on CBAT love, so maybe Do It Again or Reelin' will win

Deacon Blues is surely the Echoes of this poll

Deacon Blues is awesome, and I would definitely understand its winning the poll. Yet, I have Black Cow and Peg higher on my ballot.

Deacon Blues was not even in my top 30.

It's awesome and all, don't get me wrong, but there are at least 30 SD songs I value above it.

yeah, it's placement in my top 20 was for the alabama zing, which I point out to my buddy from alabama whenever they kick notre dame's ass in football (which is basically whenever they play these days).

i can think of about a dozen songs that could easily win this poll, spanning six of the original seven albums (sorry, team scam). and as i look at my ballot, which i've narrowed down to a top 35 (i.e. half their catalog from their original go-round), it occurs to me that my #35 could just as easily be my #1, and my #1 could be my #35. damn they were a consistent band.

I plan to riot if Dirty Work wins this

that's not one of the dozen that occurred to me!

phew!

i will probably be on my ballot, though. please don't hit me.

voted! this was really tough.

G 4
TRS 4
CTE 3
PL 3
KL 3
A 2
CBAT 1

xp throw out the hardware, fact checking cuz. let's do this right.

i can only promise it will be lower on my ballot than "through with buzz," "only a fool would say that" and "rose darling."

How do you all feel about "Charlie Freak"?

xp sounds good to me

phew!

xp not sure if you are asking me, but Charlie Freak is my 2nd favorite song on PL, so I'd feel pretty ok about it

xp again: ah, I see you said "all" and weren't talking about it being #1. Charlie Freak was unfortunately kicked off of my ballot when I remembered to vote for FM

It's no 'Night By Night'...

"charlie freak" is bottom half of PL for me.

F&*K! FM!!!! I forgot! Damnit...

Thanks, Sufjan and f.c. cuz

Charlie Freak has a real 60s singer-songwriter feel to me. Like Cat Stevens or someone. I don't know. That's not really a well-known area for me. Or maybe also Lather, by Jefferson Airplane. There's a certain tone to it. I dunno, this is just me failing to find an intelligent way to say "it's corny".

corny? huh....i find the story kind of moving with the ring, etc. and i am a sucker for any non-xmas tune with sleigh bells (thanks for responding)

yeah, the story is great. and i love those soaring guitars.

"charlie freak" is uncharacteristically on-the-nose for these guys, in both its sentiment and the straightforward, ballad-like way in which it's told. it does have a '60s/'70s singer-songwriter vibe to it. i could also see any number of prog and metal bands doing it. i could see billy joel doing it. i've just never quite been able to see steely dan doing it, which is perhaps the main reason i've never given it much consideration.

Ballot sent.

how did his body die in 15 ways?

413 posts in and no mention of The Boston Rag?

Bring it back bring it back now!!!!

A 4
CTE 3
TRS 2
PL 2
CBAT 2
KL 2
G 1
TAN 1
EMG 1
non-album 2

haven't sent in my ballot, yet, though, wanna listen to the solo records more for the side polls

first votes collected by the 2 new?

A - 5
G - 4
PL - 4
CTE - 3
KL - 2
CBAT - 1
EMG - 1

Boston Rag made my 20, korn....there are very awesome performances of it on the '74 tour on the few bootlegs I have

*******************************************

HELP WANTED

My boss quit on us today, so things are a bit upside down at work at the moment. I will be able to run this poll with no issues as I already have those days off. I'm asking for some help, I need somebody to take over the image aspect of this poll as I just won't have the time to do all of it. I have looked around the internet and there is not a lot of stuff for Steely Dan, so I think the person who does this will need to be a bit creative.

Can someone help me out, your vision. Email me at steelydanpoll at gmail and thanks.

btw, I also had Millsner do the images for my New Order poll (different circumstances) and he did an amazing job, much better than what I would have done anyways. You can see what he did here to get an idea of what I want but if you are a regular you probably already know how our images work: I feel so extraordinary somePoll's got a hold on me: NEW ORDER artist poll #37 (RESULTS thread)

********************************************

It's a nice bonus when polls have fancy images on rollout, but they're definitly not required.

Steely Dan is definitely less about the images than say Roxy or Floyd. maybe this rollout could have a more lyrical element?

A lyric for each track is a great idea

i have someone who is going to help out and that person has run a poll so we are in great shape. thanks to everyone who volunteered.

i will do images for the next poll i run even if it kills me because it will be The Boo Radleys. already know what i'm going to do there.

really nice collection of steely dan pix:

http://www.samuelpurdey.com/jivemiguel/pictures.htm

http://3rdarm.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/steely0.jpg?w=800&h=600

linking because the image is large

i was going to use "Poll It Again" being the first single from the first album but one of the above puns will be used instead.

any major dude will POLL YOU

though looking through the list above it's hard to beat "you don't wanna POLL nobody else"

Poll of the Quarter

Somebody already said that one.

dear god

i think we left too much time in between voting and results!

Depending on the number of ballots come in, call it "____ Attempts at a Guitar Solo"

"Boston Rag" is prob their finest guitar song after "Reelin'," some really amazing moments in there

man i don't know if i have time in my life to really a steely dan ballot the way it needs to be done

xp: I like your taste some dude.

Did mine...top 10 was fairly easy but then there are a lot tracks that there or there abouts

CBAT 2
CTE 1
PL 4
KL 3
TRS 3
AJ 4
G 2
Other 1

For an actual good poll name, I was going to suggest "Thelonious, My Old Friend." When I went to check the spelling of Thelonious, I was reminded that it's actually "Felonius, my old friend..." Which I'll assume is a reference.

For me it's "King of the World" vs "Deacon Blues" for their greatest achievement.

i think we left too much time in between voting and results!

the voting window was only about 10 days, which is actually a lot shorter than most polls. the anticipation for this one is really, really high so that might make it seem like it is taking forever.

i wanted to announce pplains as my poll co-pilot and has taken over the image aspect of this poll. i love the idea so far...

we are in very good hands: Gotta Make Polls for the Polls I Make - ILM HUSKER DU POLL RESULTS

i think we left too much time in between voting and results!

the voting window was only about 10 days, which is actually a lot shorter than most polls. the anticipation for this one is really, really high so that might make it seem like it is taking forever.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, March 26, 2014 9:45 PM

Got it! Thanks for doing this poll, it's a really good one

Did you send out confirmation emails, Bee OK?

i have sent out a few, when i add them to the list i send them out. another huge round will go out tonight.

Cool.

I wonder if there will be any big swings in position from tallying the first batch to the second

need ilx-span

http://acuraconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ilx_615_2013_05_01_01.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIX8Avhkv2Q

f--k, where did this outtake come from? are there similar demo bootlegs for royal scam and aja or just of katy lied and gaucho

there are now over 40 ballots.

nice. very exciting!

tbh, this thread has already revealed some gems that I'd previously overlooked. hopefully there'll be some more in the results.

been spending some time digging in to CTE and PL

my favorite becker/fagen line at the moment:

"bring a horn along and you can add to the pure confection (conviction?) / and if you can't fly you'll have to move in with the rhythm section."

not a particularly well-turned phrase or a super-smart fuck you. rather, it's both an open invitation and a preemptive putdown, and in that sense, and as a musical statement of purpose, it seems to get to the heart of who they are and what they do.

so i'm getting a good idea of what is going to happen. we are in for a treat.

i have asked my co-pilot but wanted to ask the board.

do you want a Top 40 roll out or a Top 50. i was thinking since this is artist poll #50 then a Top 50 would be perfect. thoughts?

I'm down for 50. very intrigued by what is going to happen.

yeah, i would say unless there's a compelling reason to limit it to 40*, more is better

* I did a top 40 for the Jay-Z poll partly because there was something just outside the top 40 that was widely assumed to be a frontrunner, which made for the all too rare suspense maintained right up until #1 was unveiled

50

it's crazy to think that there are over 60 songs just in Citizen Steely Dan box, which is virtually all gold. some great songs won't even make the top 50.

to be fair, those 60-ish songs are their entire discography pre-reunion. it's only fair that at least one or two of them don't make the poll.

meanwhile, i had narrowed my list down to 35 songs but now, somehow, it's ballooned back up to 38. damn you "home at last."

50 please!

So excited for this.

Ballot sent. More rollout the merrier.

damn you "home at last."

I had the same problem!

5⃣0⃣

"Home At Last" should not be included hesitantly, the Purdie Shuffle cannot be denied

went to NAMM last year and was walking around and happened to walk by Bernard doing a purdie shuffle impromptu demo on some random kit and only like eight people were watching. stood there in awe like four feet in front of him while he messed around.

did he have his signs with him

no :(

so i have around 50 ballots for poll #50 with 50 hours left to vote. i did delay that last part a bit.

oh yeah, i'm in Los Angeles and we just have a earthquake. it was not a major one but it lasted a long time.

*had

Wasn't the day to go back to Annandale then.

Sent!

lol, no it was not.

xpost

"A little tremor in the ball park," Vin Scully said. "I am not sure if the folks felt it, but we certainly felt it here." The quake occurred during the 6th inning.

Weird, this is the first I've heard about that quake. Had to check the news to make sure you weren't talking about the one from about a week and a half ago, which was only about ten seconds but which I definitely felt.

Ballot sent!

The Cuervo POLLed

― Interior. Ibiza Bar (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, March 25, 2014 9:42 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark

The best

CBAT - 4
CTE - 4
PL - 0
KL - 3
TRS - 1
A - 2
G - 6

I will send a ballot soon

"Home At Last" should not be included hesitantly, the Purdie Shuffle cannot be denied

cbat--4
cte--3
pl--2
kl--4
rs--1
a--2
g--3

Cbat-2
Cte-6 (!)
Pl-2
Kl-3
Trs-3
A-2
G-1
Non lp-1

Whereas the guy playing on "I Got the News" plays the same groove and fill for five minutes straight.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, March 29, 2014 11:07 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but those toms sound so good!

and wow @ 6 CTE, Grisso

I'm guessing Bodhisattva and Show Biz Kids missed the cut

Actually, no. In retrospect, I probably could have cut it down to 5 from the album, but those two would have stayed.

innaresting

Ballot sent. All I can say about limiting this to 20 tracks is Argh!

wait. are there people who don't like show biz kids??!!?? take off your steely dan t-shirts and come out with your hands up.

it's a wee bit repetitive, no?

but so is "The Fez", I guess, but "The Fez" has that organ groove and show biz kids has slide guitar. that organ > slide guitar for me.

But you go to lost wages

Lost wa-ges

on one of the '74 bootlegs MIchael McDonald sings the whole of Show Biz Kids and it is really excellent

god i love the show biz kids groove. love the marimba. love fagen's vocal. love the "making movies of themselves" payoff. love the wailing harmonica at the end.

this version at Rainbow Theatre, London ('74) rocks so hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8j8YaC_lN8

every single vote should have gotten a confirmation email sent out...

Gonna post this here and again in the poll thread when it actually places and maybe one more time for good measure because you can never watch this too many times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj9Rs56u8YY

perhaps i'm mistaken, but isn't that a lip sync? surprised they'd do that (unless it's been dubbed over an actual live performance?)

A shallow magnitude 3.3 earthquake was reported Saturday evening one mile from La Habra. The temblor occurred at 10:51 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 0.6 miles.

"California tumbles into the sea."

things are not normal around here, it sort of reminds you about life and the brief time you actually have. then i remember that the Steely Dan results is finally going to happen.

you have 24 HOURS LEFT TO VOTE.

i've got the entire Fagen solo discography on shuffle this morning to get my subpoll ballots in order

almost forgot the solo tracks subpoll! sent.

Morph the Cat has gotta be some of the best-sounding bass ever recorded.

every single vote should have gotten a confirmation email sent out...

― Bee OK, Saturday, March 29, 2014 5:49 PM (Yesterday

haven't seem one yet

I'm bummed that I didn't have room for "The Bear" in my 20. "Sir, I parked my juggernaut at your gate" is such an amazing opening line.

cbat - 1
cte - 4
pl - 3
kl - 2
rs - 1
a - 4
g - 4
other - 1

I hope you guys remember Sunken Condos!

CBAT: 2
CTE: 4
PL: 3
KL: 3
TRS: 1
Aja: 2
FM soundtrack: 1
Gaucho: 3
EMG: 1

there you go sleeve, your ballot came in after that post.

I find most of Fagen's solo records outside of The Nightfly to be a slog. Not much in the way of tunes.

one of the problems with narrowing down my last two or three spots is how damn well these albums were engineered and produced. they weren't kidding about that stuff. after years of hearing them mostly in headphones and/or random youtube clips and/or whatnot, i've been playing them this week thru the home stereo for the first time in forever, and jesus christ every song sounds fantastic. it would be so much easier if they sounded shitty and i could concentrate on the little stuff like lyrics and licks and harmonies.

Yeah. That is probably why I got the news made my 20. Just drum sound.

Was Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction inspired in some way by Countdown to Ecstasy?

I find most of Fagen's solo records outside of The Nightfly to be a slog. Not much in the way of tunes.

― Naive Teen Idol,

true until 2012

CBAT: 2
CTE: 4
PL: 3
KL: 3
TRS: 1
Aja: 2
FM soundtrack: 1
Gaucho: 3
EMG: 1

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, March 30, 2014 3:01 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, now we'll know who voted for Life in the Fast Lane.

well, yeah

lol if that's a cryptic Do It Again vote

I hear "FM" in the Walgreens of the world more than any other Dan jam

I voted for "Tumbling Dice"

subliminal marketing?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LOrLP-TBXgI

sent my ballot in!

ballot sent!

cbat - 2
cte - 4
pl - 5
kl - 5
rs - 0
a - 1
g - 2
other - 1

(pretty much all 20 picks were estimated guesses.)

need an option for ballot with error bars

An interesting poll question would've been: what is the worst SD song?

Dirty Work

I was looking over some of the individual albums polls at lunch and was surprised to see DW take the Thrill poll.

true until 2012

barely true when applied to kamakiriad

I'm just gonna have to approach this as if someone is pointing a gun at my head and barks "tell me your 20 favorite Steely Dan songs right now or die, fucker!!"

that's exactly how i did it. except then i went ahead and included "dirty work," and i'm afraid someone is going to kill me anyway as a result. lose lose.

such a tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t_sYFblCvM

i'm not going to reveal how many ballots i have received as of yet but we are getting close to record numbers.

The granddaddy of them all.

voting is open for six more hours, please vote!

I was going to ask what the record was for ballots received for an artists poll cuz I had to believe SD was gonna come close or take the crown.

Kamakiriad worth picking up then? Seems to have its critics esp on the back of the Nightfly

I think Led Zeppelin got the most ballots.

by my quick count of people who have reported album-by-album breakdowns of their ballots, 10 have listed exactly 1 song from "other" sources and only 1 has listed 2 songs from others. can i safely conclude that,with the exception of one lonely outlier, some people rate "fm" and some people rate "here at the western world" but no one rates both?

i think "FM" is way more popular than "Here" fwiw

also i was the person who voted for 2 non-album tracks and they weren't either of those

an i safely conclude that,with the exception of one lonely outlier, some people rate "fm" and some people rate "here at the western world" but no one rates both?

well..."FM" hit the top forty and "Here at the Western World" didn't, so more fans would have heard it.

(xp) ahh, i missed your ballot, some dude, cause i was just searching on the word "other" and you didn't use it. the double other voter i noted was how's life.

i enjoyed kamakiriad at the time, was a part of me realizing i REALLY liked steely dan which i thought would bond me w/ my dad except it turns out he just kinda likes steely dan, he REALLY likes the doobie brothers. it was a solid hit, got some grammy love and the videos for 'tomorrow's girls' and 'snowbound' were huge on vh1, boomers were STOKED for the new fagen album. listened to it again a couple of weeks ago and it was alright but i was kinda mystified that i had liked it as much as i had, reminded of ppl i've known who are bowie fans who really overrate outside cuz it was their first taste and they've never gone back and recalibrated.

Morph the Cat is the only one of his albums -- the only Dan-related product -- that bored the fuck out of me.

i voted 2 "other” tracks but i didn't post my album count breakdown

So many things to love about them, but as a Miamian, it's great how often SD and DF name check us: the Eden Roc hotel in "Brooklyn Owes the Charmer Under Me"; Biscayne Bay and Cuban gentlemen in "Doctor Wu"; it's the locale for "Walk Between Raindrops"; and Fagen name-drops <i>The Palm Beach Post</i> (my former employer) in <i>Eminent Hipsters</i>.

i feel like i'm in Vegas, ding another ballot in your inbox.

Kamikiriad was big in my dad's house when it came out, although i don't think i heard it enough to even make the connection that Fagen was the guy from Steely Dan (Pretzel Logic was a family staple growing up)

FM was/is a pretty big classic rock radio tune for Steely Dan. That's where I know it from.

I used to have a .wav file of the chorus going "Ayyyyyyyyy-EMMMMMMMM" that jealous AM stations used to allegedly play.

I'm just gonna have to approach this as if someone is pointing a gun at my head and barks "tell me your 20 favorite Steely Dan songs right now or die, fucker!!"

― I'll take the jangle-jangle over the throb-throb (brg30), Sunday, March 30, 2014 5:24 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's exactly how i did it. except then i went ahead and included "dirty work," and i'm afraid someone is going to kill me anyway as a result. lose lose.

― fact checking cuz, Sunday, March 30, 2014 5:29 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I ended up making up some very arbitrary rules on the fly, such as "surely you can't have SIX songs from one album in here", just to get it done.

I wonder which title track will place highest. There's "Pretzel Logic", "The Royal Scam", "Aja", and "Gaucho" (and "FM"?). I will guess "Gaucho"

xp ha, AM definitely has static

people do like the song Aja. i think it was the last song i cut from my ballot. that or Rikki.

Yeah, I cut "Aja" as well because of that stupid 6 song rule. It made no sense because it was in the middle of my list at the time. It was just the lowest of the tracks on Aja.

My top 2 songs were title tracks

It made no sense because it was in the middle of my list at the time.

my final decision was my two nonalbum tracks, which i decided to pit against each other for a spot in the middle of my ballot, ncaa basketball play-in style. winner got a #12 or #13 seed, loser got nothing.

xp keith jarrett is collecting royalties from Moodles

Man, my SD listening has intensified steadily since I became a fan a little over a decade ago, reaching a new peak of obsessiveness and frequency in the last week or so, and yet I think I could count the number of their songs that I'm sick of on one hand. This band repays repeat hearings like no other.

I've never really gotten around to the outtakes for the simple reason that there's already too much to dig into on the original 7 albums (never mind Fagen's solo stuff). I don't think I'll ever be done unpacking them - what a run.

also title tracks: "two against nature" and "everything must go." though i'm guessing they're not likely to place higher than, say, "the royal scam."

this is a band where I wouldn't be surprised to see every album cut from their first 7 get at least one vote, except for maybe East St. Louis toodle-oo.

i'd be shocked if anything from the first seven didn't get at least one vote.

i'm wondering if anything from you gotta walk it like you talk it... gets any votes. was that one ever mentioned in the thread?

I ended up making up some very arbitrary rules on the fly, such as "surely you can't have SIX songs from one album in here", just to get it done.

#SorryNotSorry

龜, Gaucho is amazing and I can definitely understand picking 6 or all of the tracks.

especially since Nightfly was not allowed in your 20 and Gaucho is Nightfly's Cousin Dupree.

that deadline is very soft as i'm going to bed. will add the last few after work tomorrow, so you actually have about a half day longer.

this has been an amazing experience. i will have some stories to tell of what i witnessed as the order was being hasted out.

龜, Gaucho Countdown is amazing and I can definitely understand picking 6 or all of the tracks.

― Belgian Flanders Albums Chart (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, March 31, 2014 12:17 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fixed.

xp Cool. Think I'm gonna slap together a last minute late night ballot.

me too. got it down to about 25 right now.

Alright, I voted, can't wait

sent

favored album?

Got my ballot in with under an hour to spare. Can't wait for the results!

I voted for about half of countdown and most of Katy Lied

Walked into a cafe near my apt in shanghai and they're playing 'only a fool would say that' :))))))>>>>

best of cbat :)

yes.

I haven't been following the thread closely (or at all, really), but life experience tells me I'll probably be the only voter to put Charlie Freak at #1.

there was at least one "charlie freak" discussion herein. it's never been one of my favorites, but it seems to me there's pretty strong support here for every song on pretzel logic except for the two side-closers. then again, there seems to pretty strong support here for roughly 97 percent of the songs in the SD oeuvre.

submitted. Aja got the most, then Countdown.

nice! need some aja love to offset the late PL surge

though I've been liking PL more now, and it was the underdog for a bit there. Bee Ok's comments make me think there was a PL/CBAT comeback.

there's no consensus here at all which is cool, this poll could be all over the place.

I am totally committed to my #1 choice, but after that, I could have re-ranked them a hundred different ways. Or switched out about 10 songs that I chose for 10 that I didn't.

reading a kate bush biography right now, in an interview she lists Steely Dan as one of her early songwriting influences. glad to see two words of awesomeness connected.

Wow. As I checked out the catalogue, I kept thinking they're the exact mid-point between Kate Bush and The Doors. But I'd never dare say that out loud.

her fave album is Gaucho, a quick google revealed she played Babylon Sisters when she guested on a radio show "I think they're very underestimated. They're the most incredible musicians. This is it. They are here - a musician's band. I mean, all the musicians in this country just rave about them technically, and as songwriters. But you know, they're not really played on the radio, but they're just incredible"

Throw Back The Little Ones seems the most undeniably Bushic, but there are others

this is a band where I wouldn't be surprised to see every album cut from their first 7 get at least one vote, except for maybe East St. Louis toodle-oo.

― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, March 31, 2014 12:53 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It almost made my ballot, though purely for sentimental reasons. I thought it was really touching that they paid tribute to Ellington (who had just passed away), and I'm hard-pressed to think of any other band that would have/could have done a similar tribute.

That said, a little talk-box goes a long way.

Man, there are some hardcore Dan fans on here. Hope I don't fuck up the art.

Though I was really proud of myself for finding the right image to go along with "Stuck In the Middle With You", so at least there's that.

It almost made my ballot, though purely for sentimental reasons

same here. I grew up in a house without jazz records (well maybe there was a David Sanborn record at one point) but the Dan's "East St Louis" was almost def. the first piece of jazz I ever heard.

but it seems to me there's pretty strong support here for every song on pretzel logic except for the two side-closers

"Monkey In Your Soul" just missed my ballot

^^I rated it very highly.

It made my ballot, too. One of my favorite PL songs.

So cool to hear that Kate Bush is a fan. I was rediscovering SD (and Gaucho especially) at the same time I was first getting into Kate. I even have a playlist that's just Gaucho + The Dreaming because those were the main albums I wanted to listen to all the time.

(xp) i mentioned the two side-closers simply because they were the only two that didn't expressly get love in the thread. i believe that's been cleared up now.

seeing the steve winwood thread revival yesterday reminded me how easily traffic's "the low spark of high heeled boys" could have been a steely dan song circa the royal scam and aja.

Throw Back The Little Ones seems the most undeniably Bushic, but there are others

-----------------
Voting is Closed!
-----------------

so i'm about to send pplains the final list. he has some work to do on the pictures and i have some last minute stuff to do.

by taking some time, i should be able to have a great rollout. going to start with some subpolls on Wednesday Night. the main rollout will run Thursday starting around 9 AM Pacific Time and run to either Friday Night or Saturday.

thanks for your patience but we are almost there.

oh btw i will sleep, the poll is not going to go for 24 hours straight.

was unable to vote due to, um, surgery but looking forward to recovering with the rollout.

will there be a Spotify?

hope you are oK, rogermexico. get well soon!

yeah ditto!

if noone else does a Spotify playlist i definitely will -- some polls it seems like there's almost a stigma against them, but like w/ Pink Floyd i ended up just making one for my personal use even though i wasn't really posting on the thread

procedure went well, resting comfortably, percocet's not quite cuervo and columbian but all good. xo y'all.

Polled At Last: STEELY DAN - ILM Artist poll #50