Steely Dan's Gold Teeth 2.

[bubinga5]

I love Gold Teeth for its Jazz funk slide. But this is just stunning musicianship in every way possible. They are/were so superb, from the amazing harmonies, to the bass playing to the drumming. to that excellent guitar part from Denny. Its absolutely magical... imo..  I love soul and funk but if I was stuck on a desert island .

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by bubinga5

[haimesy]

First heard this sitting in a van as a builders labourer in  the 80s  , was dabbling in bass at the time , but that albums  musicians and production opened my ears  , and I went on to play bass professionally for many years , now full circle and sitting in my own builders van , with Tinnitus and sore elbows 😀! But an interesting journey up to this point I suppose ..And Steely Dan are still on my playlist every week at some point .

 

Thanks for posting J 

 

[ianrendall]

Definitely the finest pre-hiatus Dan album. 

[songofthewind]

Ah, the Dan. It truly gladdens my heart to hear the love for them on here. They are my biggest musical influence.

[haimesy]

Over 30 years of playing , there are a few stand out moments that have stayed with me over the years as well as Steely Dan , 

  Nightfly ,  found  it in my mums car cassette player .

Go West ....First Album ..PP 

Peace Beyond Passion...MN

James Taylor live at The Beacon Theatre... what a band ..😀JJ & SJ

Two against nature DVD ... what a band ...😀.TB & RL

One more once ..Live ..OMG ...AJ

There will be much more in my memories somewhere 👨🏻‍🦳

These are things I go back to often . Yep I’m an old fart ..J 

[haimesy]

Ps ...Tear your playhouse down on the Tube ...OC2 bought the very next day.

Al Jarreau ...Live in London ...MM

New York Minute ..Don Henley ...Pino again 

Its all coming back now ..J 

[ambient]

I love well arranged and well produced albums. I’ve always been fascinated by the technical side of music too. Steely Dan always seem over produced to me though. 

[fleabag]

Over produced  ( or as i call it - slickly produced ) is what SD are about.  Becker and Fagen just seemed to have the knack of finding the right musicians for every track.  And of course, an incredible anal attitude in  the recording studio.  But thats how to produce music to sound like they do, which is intentional.

What amazes me over the most of the SD albums, and i have 6 i think, is that  they somewhow manage to make fab jazzyness sound so accessible.

[ambient]

1 minute ago, fleabag said:

Over produced  ( or as i call it - slickly produced ) is what SD are about.  Becker and Fagen just seemed to have the knack of finding the right musicians for every track.  And of course, an incredible anal attitude in  the recording studio.  But thats how to produce music to sound like they do, which is intentional.

What amazes me over the most of the SD albums, and i have 6 i think, is that  they somewhow manage to make fab jazzyness sound so accessible.

Have you seen the documentary about them? I watched it a few years ago, they mentioned how many top line session guitarists they went through for I think, just one guitar solo on one song.

 

[lowdown]

1 hour ago, haimesy said:

Al Jarreau ...Live in London ...MM

 

A legendary night. I was at that gig, (the recorded one), an amazing night of musicianship.

Nathan East, Ricky Lawson, Bobby Lyle, Patches Stewart, Charles "Icarus" Johnson and a few others (names escape me).

 

The support band during the first part of the evening...

David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Steve Gadd, Hiram Bullock, Don Grolnick...

Two amazing bands for the price of one. It didn't get any better than that!  👍

 

 

 

[fleabag]

27 minutes ago, ambient said:

Have you seen the documentary about them? I watched it a few years ago, they mentioned how many top line session guitarists they went through for I think, just one guitar solo on one song.

 

I've seen this one, if that's the one you mean ?  And yes,  thats their anal attitude i speak of.  When you know what you want, you keep on till you find it.  Thats why they sound like they do. If you dont get them, and it sounds like you dont, then you dont get them and that's fine. I dont get rap music, but many do.

 

[haimesy]

Bit dated now , but inspired me at the time .. lots of cassette rewinding to pick up Nathan East’s basslines .. 

[Bilbo]

I came to SD quite late in the game through the Two Against Nature dvd at a friend's house. It's a continuum between freedom and production and everything sits somewhere on that line. Improvisation is one thing, arrangements another. It's all good. 

[songofthewind]

Al Jarreau, yes!! I drive my wife and daughter bats, replaying Roof Garden and Boogie Down. Dated, yes, but punchy playing, tight arrangements, and wallopingly funky bass parts. Eighties rule ok!

[DJpullchord]

Creepy dad rock.

[fleabag]

I had to look up ' dad rock '  because i wasnt sure what it was meant to be, but according to Flavorwire, Steely Dan's  AJA is listed in there.  Bit surprised

https://www.flavorwire.com/447934/20-dad-rock-albums-you-should-learn-to-love

[Baceface]

That Denny Dias solo is probably my favourite of the large number of killer guitar solos in the 'Dan catalogue.
I'm was initially drawn to stuff like Pretzel Logic and Royal Scam but over the years I learned to appreciate the ice cool Aja and Gaucho material a lot more than when I were a lad. Also enjoyed Everything Must Go and Two Against Nature much more than I thought I would.

Current favourite tune would be this splendid slice of achingly sophisticated pop (Purdie and, I think, Chuck Rainey right in the pocket) with an exquisitely acid lyric:
  

 

[Mickeyboro]

^^^^ and this was an out-take! 

Preferred this era when they played pop music jazzily rather than going up their own fundament...