Steely Dan Performed on the show February 9, 1973 Follow us on Social Media: / themidnightspecialtvshow / themidnightspecialtvshow / themidnightspecialtvshow / tmstvshow
As a 14 year old living in Podunk, USA, The Midnight Special was as close to live music as I could get. I was too young to drive, had no means to buy albums and no one to talk about music with, this show was my window to Rock and Roll. I was introduced to so many bands and performers across a wide variety of amazing genres forming a strong foundation for music within me.
Same here, growing up in Hawaii we of course had many radio stations that played Hawaiian music and top 40,the Midnight Special was like a whole other world,just awesome! Also years later I met Walter Becker from Steely Dan while surfing at a spot called Tavares Bay,he lived in the north shore town of Paia,Maui and would see him out in water on his boogie board!Aloha from Hawaii🤙🏽
The guy on the conga drums is Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, who was also a guitarist for Steely Dan for several years, and then went on to The Doobie Brothers and many other musical endeavors. I had no idea he was an accomplished conga drummer!
Not all. I've been watching all of them and some are canned and lip-synched. Which is ok, almost every show in the world did that but I do prefer the live ones.
Yes it was Great because it wasn't lip synced it keep off pop posers and frauds off, only High Quality REAL bands appeared on the hey days of the Midnight Special.
@@honeychilerider The funniest lip-synched performance I've seen from the show was Hall and Oates in 1980. In some moments Daryl Hall didn't even try to sing into the microphone.
@@scottlarson1548 It's gotta be hard for bands to do that. It's funny because I thought lip-synching had become a thing when I was a teenager back in the 80s, I didn't realize it had been a thing almost as long as there was television.
Back when I could come HOME.... With the munchies, sit on the floor wearing my Dads old army jacket and watch one of the three channels we had, toatally content with no worries. I had it all, and didnt know it.
@@user-br2gi8kh5s Sure, and on every imaginable level. Then again, it's an object lesson in how nothing lasts forever. I think the Rock/Pop Genre was done by '77.
@dennydias-id5jh Likewise. If this is the real Denny Dias thanks for the great music and guitar playing over the years. You and Skunk Baxter were a great guitar duo in Steely Dan.
Very good example why the Midnight Special kicks ass. Great live performances up the wazoo. Everyone always gave it their all and played their ass off. Just amazing
10 месяцев назад
Wow..50 years...gone ...in a blink...the 70's and its unique magic...👍👍
Remember when you could get actual entertainment on good old network TV? I remember as a teenager staying up to watch Midnight Special even though I was so tired that my eyes were burning.
Ah the good old days eh? I remember tuning into the Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert back in my pre-cable days. In the post-cable era, the show Night Flight made quite an impression on me as it featured music videos before MTV came around along with all sorts of off-the-wall content that I found pretty entertaining.
I prefer Fagen's vocal to Palmer's but the latter does a good job. Baxter is unexpectedly fine on the congas! Dias is great on lead guitar. This is fricking 50 years old but the sounds (def not the duds) are so fresh!
@@kbrewski1 It's hard to imagine Fagen being terrified of being a lead singer, but he genuinely was! You can see him visibly shaking on Reelin' In The Years. And he spoke of it in early interviews. But he owns this song. I love Can't Buy A Thrill, but Palmer was best at what he did on that album. Imagine him taking on Fire In The Hole?? sacrilege! I think he clearly conquered that fear pretty quickly!
@@carlosxd9739 I got that,i'm with you on the greatness of the 70s... I was born in '60 so i grew up on the 70s... But my point was 60s started with doo-wop and surf... Beach boys into the Beatles and then the British invasion starts in '64 with the stones,the who,dave clark 5,spencer davis,the animals,more Beatles and a load of others. Then summer of love in '67 and then the hard psychedelic and heavy rock roll in... So i wasn't saying 60s was better just that both decades were so full of great music that there ain't enough time in the day too listen to all of it🥰 🤘
I am fortunate enough to remember when songs like Do It Again were hits on AM radio .. Let that sink in - this was considered a pop song - and along some incredible other artists like Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, Tower Of Power and The Doobie Bros, this was the music of my childhood because it played on mainstream radio .... and of course, sneaking into the family room in the wee hours on Friday and Saturday nights to watch The Midnight Special and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert .... How times have changed
T.O.P. is still one of the best LIVE bands in the HISTORY of live performing acts...I have a recent concert on DVR with a young black singer....OMG, find it, you will freak out!
I disagree. This was their first release on AOR FM radio. 1972. Who knew that Steely Dan would become a mainstay on FM radio for the next decade? Still consider them one of the top ten bands of the 70’s.
I am fortunate enough to have access to all this great music and all thats been released since then at my fingertips. Times have changed for the better.
@@ivegotpetercrissI’m no boomer, but let me point that there’s a difference between having access to good music like we have now and being completely surrounded by it everywhere you go in the 1970s. I wish I had a Time Machine to check it out.
It is with overwhelming gratitude to my older brother...thank you for turning me on to Can't Buy A Thrill. The beginning of a love affair with Steely Dan that continues to this day. I'm now 65, still listening 🎧🎶
My older sister. I'm 66. I was 16, you were 15. Best time for music that there has ever been. Also she turned me on to The Doobie Brothers with "The Captain and Me", which is my all-time favorite album. "Can't Buy A Thrill" is definitely one of the top 5 ever. Take good care (Medicare, that is lol), my brother in rock!
All the camera shots are right on the money. Too many TV shows had the wrong player featured at the wrong time. TMS has all the right angles and the right camera switches. 👍👍
I would have liked to see more straight ahead stage shots so we could see all the musicians playing (poor Walter is in there somewhere), a lot of rear shots from behind,but just good to have these Dan performances at all from the early 70s.
@garion333 Who you talking to? Becker is playing bass behind Skunk Baxter on congas. The drummer they showed multiple times playing, his drum kit is right in the center. That's Jim Hodder. They didn't show his face.
The fact they where able to simply NAIL IT in all levels, and even so beign critical of their live sound, says it all of how amazing, tight and top notch Steely Dan was. Superb and Masterclass band
@@JROD082384 Yeah, but i don't really know how pedals are bad though, because that's what this guy was implying. Denny basically just had a Wah pedal in front of him (3:59 if you want an example)
I grew up listening to this song on the radio. Hadn't heard it for a while. Then I heard the into on the radio recently...this song sounded better than ever. An absolutely monster song. I didn't realize how much this song influenced my life. I'm glad I have the greatest music ever made embedded in my soul.
Kudos,to the Midnight Special, for putting on amazing talent like this🎉🎉.It needs to be showcased 🎉🎉.This is exactly what rock and roll sounds like 🎉🎉. They are legendary 🎉🎉
Agreed! His playing is amazing on this performance. And he does it with his eyes closed! I am not sure if he always picks so far away from the pickups but it really makes the sound special, like a cross between a guitar and electric sitar!
@@vindas777 That sitar sound is an electronic effect. The best place to pick any stringed instrument is in the middle of the string, where it has the widest vibrations and string feel. Pickups only go so far up the neck, stuck at the end, but your picking technique doesn't have to. If you want a sitar sound, try playing a guitar upside-down. Play up and down the G string with B and E as drones. Using D with G, B and E drones is more like a zither.
@@johnwattdotca I understand how pickups work but thanks for the explanation. I need to point out to you that on the recording it is most certainly an electric sitar NOT an effect. This performance is of course on an electric guitar, which to my ear sounds like it only has some reverb and distortion. He is making the sound with his fingers.
@@vindas777 Others are calling it a sitar sound, and there is something else going on beyond reverb and distortion. I'd call it a plinky sound. Pretzel Logic featured the first guitar synths that really fooled me, knowing the studio pros involved, and it's one of the reasons the band couldn't perform live, at the time. A friend of mine from another city bought the electric sitar when it was auctioned off at Electric Ladyland. Talking about sounding like a sitar is just about the sound. Playing one is very different, because we grew up with twelve notes per octave, and Indian music begins with seventeen.
I was 12 yrs old and I couldn't wait to see this show, they didn't get big bands often on this show, this was before steely hit it really big, in fact this was one of steelys first songs that gained quite a bit of popularity. Thanks for great memory.
This song makes me remember a trip to Boston. The guy I was hanging around with took me to Combat Zone to hear a bacd in a cool little bar. I don't think the back was Steely Dan but they played nothing buy Steely Dan. It was a great night. I forgot the guy I hung out with but if he reads this "THANK YOU!"
This music will never be duplicated, music now is a far cry from the past as far as composition goes. There’s cool stuff out like Tool and some others but it was different then.
do you mean stuff on top 40 radio? There is very great new music out, it just doesnt get the attention of the ever-more-ignorant public. Anna Von Hausswolff comes to mind among countless others.
As we used to say in the 70's..... "fuckin [A] man" great band. I'm 72 years old and I've been playing their music ever since 'I first hear them' on the radio in 1973. I have them on my Spotify and listen to them all the time.
I saw this show, and that was it for me - 3 years in Europe and missed all those cool concerts on TV. Oh well, I had all of Europe to travel and go to concerts.
Yeah. Although like Freddy Mercury, some at that time didn't want to fix their teeth as it might effect their singing ability. Didn't want to chance it
Wish I grew up back then. Steely Dan's music and timing is so incredible. Can't Buy a Thrill is one of my favorite albums. This remastered live video from The Midnight Special is so good! Just visited Vegas for my friend's bachelor party 2 weeks ago and I was blasting this song all weekend. The lyrics were all too relevant. I was glad to get out of that city until I go back and do it again 😂My best friends and I also saw Steely Dan live at Ak-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix on 05/31/22 which was basically a year ago, today! Crazy how the timing on all this has worked. That is still one of the best concerts I have ever seen. This is real music and real talent!
