Steely Dan- Kid Charlemagne (First Listen) 

Bernie Purdie and Chuck Rainey, one of the great drum/bass combos in music. 🥁+🎸=❤️

If memory serves this song is about the soundman from the Grateful dead Owsley Stanley aka Bear who was the OG LSD Breaking Bad dude

The Dan were studio wizards, and brought in the top talent to perfect their songs. Love this song.

Arguably the best rock band in the history of music. Every track is a gem, not fillers at all.

Royal scam and Gaucho. OMG, could listen all day.

There's a huge number of reaction-worthy Steely Dan tunes. My personal favorites include: Aja Deacon Blues Don't Take Me Alive Caves of Altamira Your Gold Teeth II

The song AJA by Steely Dan is probably one of their best.The drumming is outrageous.

The Purdie shuffle is so distinctive and smooth.....the guy is a genius and such a warm soul. I'm not surprised Donald Fagen got him to return again and again to lay down those fabulous drum lines.

Don't Take Me Alive, from same album, is one the few songs that starts with a (Larry Carlton) guitar solo. One of my favorite SD song (impossible to pick one).

Sorry for my English I am French 😊 My father was crazy about this group. When I was a child the whole family would listen to this music in a loop at home. Today I continue to listen and I never have enough, it's always like the first time. Thanks for your channel, I love the concept, it’s very original!

"Is there gas in the car? Is there gas in the car?" BTW, Larry Carlton began playing with Joni Mitchell when she hired the LA Express to back her on the "Court and Spark" album/tour (the one time I saw Joni live). But please check out Carlton's work on Mitchell's "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" album.

Love Steely Dan! Such a fresh, funky sound. They sounded like nobody else. I also think they're one of the very few bands I'm into that never ever put out a bad album. Every one of them is great. - One of my favourite tracks of theirs is a song called 'King Of The World', about being one of the only survivors of a nuclear war! Cheery little number. Another great track is 'Caves Of Altamira'. Well worth checking out.

Let's parse some lyrics: "While the music played, you worked by candlelight , Those San Francisco nights, You were the best in town." On the one hand it could be music playing on the stereo in the background while Bear worked in his kitchen. On a larger scale it seems like "while the music played" refers to bands playing The Avalon Ballroom, The Matrix, The Fillmore and all those other San Francisco clubs in the mid-60s and the burgeoning hippie scene slowly taking over from the Beatniks of the late 50s. "Every A-Frame had your number on the wall" ... You know who still owns and lives in an A-frame house to this day? The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir that's who. A Mill Valley A-frame ... it does not get much more Marin hippy than that. Not sure when he got that house but probably early 70s. The Grateful Dead moved out of 710 Ashbury around March of '68 and dispersed to several locations in Marin county after the Summer of Love vibe was gone. The bubble had burst. I digress. "You'd go to L.A. on a dare and you'd go it alone" , according to wikipedia Bear indeed moved (the lab) from Berkeley to Los Angeles. "All those day-glo freaks who used to paint the face, They've joined the human race" That is, many of the hippie boys and girls dosing at the Avalon Ballroom ... and the Acid Tests grew up and became regular folk. I love this song so much more after finding out all this about ten years ago. Have you read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (1968) by Tom Wolfe? It explains all this stuff in gory detail.

Steely Dan, one of my all time fav's. Great songs - 'Doctor Wu', 'The Royal Scam', 'King of the World', My old school'....almost anything really. Thanks for the reaction, yeah Purdie is the man...Motown.

to think that this is just the opening track, the rest of the album is just perfect. Everyone must have their favourite though, and for me Kid Charelmagne is only beaten by Don't Take Me Alive. Michael McDonald also featured on Peg from the Aja album. The Dan boys had him multi-track his background vocals as three note chords (perfect thirds I think) during the chorus. A testament to MM that he pulled that one off.

good to see this song get some Love. The Royal scam is my favorite steely Dan album by a long shot, and pretty much the whole thing is gold. Caverns of Altamira, the title track, Don't Take Me Alive, and Haitian divorce are all the standouts for me.

The great Larry Carlton on lead guitar..awesome! Great job done by all!

i hitch hiked to San Francisco in '71 and while there I was offered a six--way hit of "orange sunshine" which I mistakenly did not share with five others. Twenty four hours later when I returned from outer space I could safely say that that day was one of those episodes in my life that will definitely flash before my eyes before I sign out of this world. Don't know if acid was right for everyone but for me I can say I saw things that to this day I can't explain and could never really describe to someone else who hadn't experienced it also. All I can say is your mind can take you places you couldn't imagine.

I was watching your face, wondering if you would notice the Kanye sauce, and laughed out loud when confusion and recognition crossed your face. Great stuff. The word I describe the drumming with is "pocket". Purdy is so deep in that pocket, the rest just fall into that groove. Most excellent. "Is there gas in the car? Yes there's gas in the car!" line is famous among fans. More Steely, please. I appreciate you, Justin.

Yeeeaaaah! One of the things I like about Steely Dan is that they can't be pigeon-holed into any particular genre. So smooth. Your commentary, as always, is interesting and fun to watch.

Great song-a fave! - great reaction. I always loved playing this song, minus the solo section, because... solo acoustic performance. Top to bottom awesomeness from the Dan as always. ✌😘🎶🎸💞

Michael MacDonald, Donald Fegan and Boz Scaggs are the Dukes of September. They are phenomenal together.

Kudos! Probably the most comprehensive review I have seen in many a moon ...Especially recognizing the quality and content of Carltons solo !

great tune. guitar and drumming brill and those vocals so distinctive. Good pick dude

Steely Dan are definitely one of the greatest bands in my opinion. So good, such style, very talented, interesting lyrical content and just groovy. Thanks for reacting!

I suggest Don't take me alive and Haitian divorce from the same album but there isn't duff track on it.

Very thoughtful reaction, really enjoyed it. Steely Dan is such a talented band.

Such a great song!

Great song, great guitar work from Larry Carlton, funky, got the Purdue shuffle going on, the best song on a great album! I also love the bass work, impeccable! No matter how many times I hear a Steely Dan album or song I don’t get tired of it, the playing, writing, production and arrangement are always a step beyond anyone else! I’m gonna keep sayin it Justin, check out Metamorphosis by Curved Air on the Air Cut album, a forgotten gem most people have never heard.

You are truly making my millinia, Steely Dan, awesome, I use to hear this song, in the way back, and like most kids,.had no idea what the lyrics were about, and certainly that no one playing were a bit of an outlaw, I know people say to speak plain, don't use code or metaphors, but music was always a code in whatever generation it was being made, back when there were "speak easys" songs were made, telling you were a "certain" club was, songs about someone working the black market, but it wasn't overt, names weren't always mentioned, that was the point. No body came out and said the actual F word for having sex, they finessed about it, songs Fred Astaire danced to and sang were always "we made love", and in the movies people would say "we stayed out and made love all night", but there was no walk of shame cause they never showed anything, lol , and when I first heard Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" I hadn't a freakin clue what was going on when it first came out,.but a few years later and it like never got old, throughout the 70's, 80's, 90's it was a popular song someone somewhere was spinning it on the radio, but years after it first came out and I was in my teens, I had seen a few movies, like Midnight Cowboy, those gritty 70's movies that were crossing boundaries and showing and portraying sex like movies hadn't done before, but by then I began to understand what was going on in Lou Reed's song, it was the first time though for me that I heard it "plain", songs like that weren't meant for kids, you were not supposed to know what they were singing about, that was the point,.if and even if.you were an adult you may not know if you weren't in "that scene",.huh as they use to say, songs like "Stormy", you know I dont know if there's some seedy meaning but , if you were a kid, there's no way you'd pick up on it, "stormy, bring back that sunny day" sounds pretty clear cut & innocent. Anyway please please check out more SD , and the other old 😉 groups I mentioned, the 60's, 70's, and 80's were hopping, the joint was jumping let me tell you, we were there, lol us oldsters, huh we were there, huh like that kid in the last Mad Max movie we witnessed it. Enjoy kid, enjoy and keep this music alive, we're very, very grateful you've taken an interest, for my parents, because I did too, go back farther, the big band era, the old jazz era, it will enlighten you, because my dad listen to people like Jimmy Smith, and Tito Fuentes, and Thelonious Monk, I started to listen to jazz, and if I hadn't I would've missed out on Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, George Benson, the Yellowjackets (oohhwee), Winton Marsalis, David Sanborn, Bob James, Ronny Jordan "After Hours"(ohh God, smooth as silk from a silkworm, I swear), Hiroshima (afro jazz, asian funk fusion), "Another Place", Kennu G, Santana's "Bella", ohh man and the list goes on into infinity, Jonathan Butler, if you think you've got a lot to go through just in the rock genre, huh!, jazz is a whole other universe with billions of galaxies, lol I still, nearly 40 years later haven't heard all jazz, and dont even know all the artist. So, huh looks like you'll be going through all this for rest.of your life, and by that,..I bid you Peace and long happy healthy productive life. ✌

Every time I go over to my cousin's house, we chill and listen to SD. This song is one of his favorites. For me, I love songs where the bass, guitar and drums can be heard and are the forefront of the song. From a musicianship pov the song is fire, no doubt...however for me, the melody of song doesn't grab me in the way I want to hear the song over and over again.

Really enjoyed this. Thanks

Love the hits by them. Never explored their LPs, but they are great.

I'm looking forward into you reacting to some Joni Mitchell, fantastic singer/songwriter and she came up with a lot of unique guitar tunings. Her string of albums from "Ladies of the Canyon" through "Hejira" is amazing. "For the Roses" is my personal favorite, very soul-baring.

Steely Dan are simply the best and it doesn’t make a difference which album you listen to ☝️

Great reaction . Any Major Dude , Doctor Wu , Peg , Bad Sneakers a few of my personal favorites.

Just ran across this, but appreciate your reaction. Steely Dan is one of my favorite bands of all times. And yes, WAY before Breaking Bad, this was clearly about drugs. I introduced both of my kids to Steely Dan when they were youngsters (both mid to late twenties now) as well as a lot of other rock from that era. At around 14 for my son, I had this playing in the car, and he suddenly turned to me and asked "this is about drugs, isn't it?" Made for an interesting discussion, but he was amazed that we had songs like this (and MANY others that we discussed later) that dealt with drugs while I was a 1970's teenager. Also, Michael McDonald. Indeed, he did background on a ton of their songs, and the Doobie Brothers were basically spawned from Steely Dan because initially Becker and Fagen only wanted to do studio stuff and the other musicians wanted to tour. Thank you for this reminder of both the music and a family moment.

Great song! Great band! Been waiting for this one from you. :-)

Larry played on over 3000 recording sessions. 200 of those went gold. He is still playing today.

YESSS - MORE STEELY DAN PLEASE...

My favorite s Dan song. Reminds me of the time I spent at Ohio University in the 70s. Great times.

Other than radio hits, I didn’t really get into SD until I bought my Aja 8Track. Wore it out. My sis & bro law were big fans, so, one Xmas I bought them Citizen, a SD discography. Had to borrow it later and really dug it and became a big fan. I dabble in guitar and they use only the best guitarists for their music, I really appreciated that. The unusual chords, progressions, serpentine and winding angular guitar riffs have influenced my playing though I have yet to master any of that style. One can hope. Saw them in 2000, RIP Walter Peace & Music...

I bought Larry Carlton's live album Last Nite back in the 80's. A true classic. It's like a primer in jazz fusion guitar. A lot of great moments...

This is scary man, all your recent reactions have been on my favourite bands. Genesis, Rainbow, Steely Dan, Yes.. The guitar solo is one of my favourites. Larry Carleton

Hey man,its....Steely Dan,perfection expected and delivered.

This was very pleasant. I don't know them much at all, ( I'm not sure they were as big here in the UK), but I liked this.

JP, I recently discovered your channel, and am working through your videos in reverse chronological order. I commented yesterday on Supper's Ready by Genesis, and you've covered another of my favourite tunes, so I'm commenting here too. Kid Charlamagne is an absolutely brilliant tune, and you nailed many of the high points. Bernard Purdie is a monster on the drums, such an amazing feel, and perhaps the all-time greatest groove drummer...he was perfect for this tune. Chuck Rainey was his perfect match on bass. If you can find the isolated drum/bass tracks and play them together, it'll show how sensitive and powerful these dudes are...truly incredible stuff. As you noted, it's Larry Carlton on the lead guitar, and he's simply brilliant. His main solo is one of my all-time favourite guitar solos in pop music, and his outro solo might be even better! The whole album is a masterpiece. It's a snarky, sarcastic take on the culture of the day, and it's so appropriate for the times we're living through now, 35-ish years later. If you haven't already reviewed them (I haven't looked ahead to see what you've looked at), you must do Caves of Altamira and the title track. Best, S

Yeah funky art rock!

Larry Carlton is a guitar wizard. So is Dean Parks. This album is full of superb guitar playing. And if you are just learning about Steely Dan, they are by far the most inventive and imaginative studio band since the Beatles. Genius songwriting. PLEASE listen to Haitian Divorce, Green Earrings, and Sign in Stranger.

One of my favorite American bands. Always top quality.

Steely Dan is how Jazz and Rock is mixed in the perfect per portion..

Thank you for this. I think you would personally love the Steely Dan track Aja! Thank you.

Very good breakdown of this song, best one I have heard. I agree the drums, Bernard, are killer, but the whole lineup was the best, The clavinet and Fender Rhodes, and bass , Chuck, set up Larry's masterpiece solos, And the background singers, hours of production and editing for sure, shucks. I had the original album, and wore if out! Thanks Bro.

In UK there’s a band called Nearly Dan who replicate all the songs. I try to see them every time they come.

Larry Carlton’s first guitar solo has been regarded by many musicians as one of the best in history. I love this song.

I first became aware of Larry Carlton when he was a long haired kid playing with Joe Sample's Jazz Crusaders in 1976. He is also great on "Don't Take Me Alive" from this same album. I'd also recommend the DVD of his live tours with Steve Lukather. For more on Bernard Purdie watch the Classic Albums video on the making of Steely Dan Aja.

Michael McDonald started doing backing vocals for Steely Dan before he joined the Doobie Brothers. He appeared on four albums Dan altogether, from Katy Lied in 1975 to Gaucho in 1980.

I saw them in 2017 for the Classic East concert at Citi Field in Queens. It was when Walter Becker was ill and couldn’t make it. Larry Carlton sat in for him. He passed shortly after and I then saw Donald Fagan solo Night Fly that is a killer album too. It was a big gig they had the Classic West in LA and Classic East in NY. Featuring 1st concert Eagles did without Glen Frey. Deacon Frey His son sat in with Vince Gill too, Steely Dan, Chicago, Doobie Brothers. Are you calling this Yacht Rock? That really cracked me up when you said that. I had never heard that and after you said it I heard it again somewhere else. Sooo funny.

Steely Dan in a league of their own great song do more

Hey man, GREAT channel! You're exploring stuff that no one else does. PFM, Mahogany Rus, Saga...! Wow, excellent. I have a suggestion for a Steely Dan pick. "Bodhisattva". You obviously love great musicianship. This song will feed you!

Nice job on breaking down the songs... So far you're the best I've seen at these videos. Excellent choice in Steely Dan there's so many different ways you can go on what to listen to next from them . Do yourself a favor breakdown some Allman Brothers Band... Do... In memory of Elizabeth Reed... from at the Fillmore East tell me what you think about that guitar playing.... again nice job

What a fantastic analysis of the song, you'll find more great songs on their first 5 albums. Bernard Purdie is an enormous addition to any song he's on, especially "Home At Last". Micheal McDonald from the Doobie Brothers made the song "Peg" into a masterpiece. Larry Carlton, the Guitarist, does one of his best works on this song and on "Deacon Blues". Can't wait for you to do more, just subbed!

Steely were such great songwriters and always used great session players when they recorded. Bernie Perdy on drums Larry Carlton on guitar on this song. So many great songs to chose from including : Peg, Ricki don’t lose that number, Aja, Reeling in the years, Josie etc.

Thanks for sharing the kind of great pop music that’s unknown to the current generation, sir! And how sad you only knew this song as a sample, lifted and used by a mega-famous, musically untalented superstar!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Love The Dan, but I just remembered something you and everyone in the world needs to hear: The Blue Nile: Tinseltown in the Rain (1984) It is one of those secret magical songs. You've never heard anything quite like it. Well, *I* certainly hadn't and still haven't. (Downtown Lights is just as gorgeous but more of a grower, I think.)

The musicianship on this song is outstanding. Larry Carlton's guitar solo is incredibly complex. Check out Rick Beato's analysis video on the song ('What makes this song great? Ep. 3 Steely Dan'). He recreates Larry's solo, and you'll be even more impressed if you hear it note for note. Here's the video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xKIC9zbSJoE.html

Proof the song, "Don't Take Me Alive". Best guitar solo on all the SD list of hits!

Nice! Love this classy and classic material. Not very popular back in the day as I remember. But I loved the hybrid nature of the various influences. But I like prog, so this wasn’t a big stretch for me even when I was ummmmm “younger”😎

I always liked the sound of this song but have never even read the lyrics, I had no idea what it was about. The music itself has always been enough. Thanks for the heads up! 🎶🎵👍

A beautifully constructed guitar solo doesn’t waste a note it’s like listening to Hackett although different style the overall effect is the same

Speaking of Steely Dan... you should check out Donald Fagen's solo album "The Nightfly", if you haven't already. Any song from it... or the entire album. :)

Great song from a great “band”. Which one is Dan? I recommended this song, and other SD songs, on JPMP many months ago. Y’all played a song from Aja that was more Jazzy and I preferred their earlier stuff. Jeesh, now I am referencing earlier reaction videos. God I need help! I remember talking about my favorite line (“Is there gas in the car?) Anyway, check out The Caves of Altimira from the album Royal Scam. I also love Dr Wu from Katy Lied album. Donald Fagen’s solo album The Nightfly is excellent. See IGY or The Goodbye Look (one of those albums in which every song is very good...hint, hint). ✌️🐾 Ps, my girlfriend also loves Steely Dan🤪. Inside joke.

The problem was, what with me being a rocker in my teens, SD were always projected as middle of the road bland fm musak machine! However thanks to this video it could be time for them to inflict their avant garde jazz funk soul on my shallow prejudiced middle aged ears. ‘15 years ago a song called Barrytown ‘ had managed to become a random personal tragedy anthem, so only last week i purchased the pretzel logic LP from a second hand store. I had also bought the donald fagan nightfly lp because of the single ? And i ended up lovin ruby and all the others too. Therefore it amazes me that SD haven’t blown me away. ....yet! Suggestions welcomed..

JP....this is my GOAT default band. the Jazz/Rock platform and oblique subject matter for their songs makes it the perfect combination. Yes....this song was a drug dealer getting out of town fast. Please do more SD. A lot of their songs are based on real people and events. Classic! Too many SD songs to mention. Maybe start with the one they did for the movie "FM". Song title is the same....very bluesy and funky. I guarantee you will like it! Perhaps Green Earring on the same Royal Scam album? Thanks.

How did this song not end up on your playlist? Other Steely Dan songs to do: Aja, Time out of Mind, FM (No Static At All), My Old School, Josie, Black Cow, Reelin' in the Years, I.G.Y (well, that's Fagen solo off of the Nightfly album, but still very SDish), and more when you finish those. ;)

Bernard Purdie was all over the later Steely Dan work. I actually watch his instructional videos sometimes, and I don't even play the drums. The man is a true gift.

The best Steely Dan album...And the personnel on this masterpiece are a who's who in studio musicians...Larry Carlton is a beast for an ax man, and Chuck Rainey on Bass; Forgetaboutit....We were rocking this on our 8 tracks and Jensen's back in the day... Blasting out on the corner...

Larry Calton is a world famous Jazz guitarist. Michael is a part of the Steely Dan band and although a member of The Doobie Brothers ...he still jammed with Steely Dan when requested.

The chord progression in that guitar solo kills me every time.

This is one of your best reviews. Mind you, the song was brilliant.

Wow I'm new to Steely Dan, heard the Name before, but never really listened to it, guess that was a failure. Cool to find new (or old) Music with the Help of your Reactions.

One of the best Steely Dan songs of all time, and why for me the Royal Scam is their best work

What can you say? Great Album...Great band!

The whole album is excellent just like Aja. In fact, when people ask me what my favorite SD album is I say "The Royal Scam/Aja. They quickly say "that's two albums". I quickly say "buy them both, call it a double! The Royal Scam was the bridge between their earlier "finding their way" albums and their later "perfectionist" style. A perfect blend of both.

Love the Dan of Steel

This song is loosely based on Augustus Owlsley Stanley... aka "Bear" Owlsley was a wizard of a audio engineer and a clandestine LSD producer. He was sort of the Walter White of Acid. Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze is named after one of his LSD batches. Bear was an amazing dude. He bankrolled the Grateful Dead and poured money into experimenting on their early sound systems, eventually led to their legendary "Wall of Sound" concert sound system.

Joni Mitchell - Edith And The Kingpin....or anything from the period when she went electric and worked with heavyweight jazz musicians. The albums Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, and Hejira are her best in MY opinion.

Owsley was the Acid supplier on the west coast known for his pure doses. He also did the huge wall of sound for the Grateful Dead. Yes there’s gas in the car

Josie, Peg, Don't take me alive, The Fez are great songs . But you could say that about all of Steely Dans music. Masters of their craft.

Because of your other channel Aja has become a recent favorite album of mine.

Pretzel Logic is great. Starting with keyboards and drums and the other instruments coming in as the song progresses.

That's jazz legend Larry Carlton on the guitar solo

I haven't seen anyone mention, sort of a deeper track: "King of the World" off of "Countdown to Ecstasy" or another favorite "Black Cow" from "Aja".

Nice!. I like the live version of this off of Alive in America; but you know that already. I always prefer live versions. You would love the hard ending of the live version versus the personally hated fade out.

The Royal Scam is considered one of the great Steely Dan albums and I agree. So much to love on it: Don't Take Me Alive, Sign In Stranger. I could go on. PS Bernard Purdie claims that he recorded drums on the early Beatles songs and that "Ringo never played on anything." This has been hotly debated and the truth is a little murky.

There are not many Dan albums or songs I can't recommend. Royal Scam and Aja are for me their best albums, but every album has one or more gems and since likely everyone here will recommend songs from their classic period, I'm going to leap ahead about twenty or so years to their song ALMOST GOTHIC on their TWO AGAINST NATURE album. Great thoughts on KID. Best wishes 👍

Steely Dan are an awesome band.

As a former customer of his product ... I can verify this song is about Owsley Stanley, the greatest chemist LSD ever knew!

You have an interesting selection of "reactions." There are some really obscure songs I would have never expected--including the original Genesis, Moody Blues "Candle of Life," and Jellyfish. Maybe check out early 90s-now band Teenage Fanclub. (Don't Look Back is my favorite.)

Um Larry's solo is considered one of the top Solo's ever recorded. Larry also usually wrote the Rhythm charts for this and the Aja album...