Steely Dan performed two times on Late Show: 1. October 20, 1995: "Josie" 2. March 3, 2000: "Cousin Dupree" Both performances in full and glorious stereo. For Walter.
I'm the same age as you and of ALL the comments here I just had to respond to yours as I couldn't agree more! For over a half century, they still never disappoint & always sound fresh as day 1 of the release. R.I.P. Walter & keep it going Donald!
I'm 17 right now and these guys are my favorite "band" of all time for sure. There's a lot of good music out there but the perfectionism of Steely Dan will likely never be topped!
I'm 63 and I loved their music from the start with Can't buy a thrill in 73. I was into rock music from age 6. Have to get a fix of the Dan at least a few times per month. While I was mostly a Zeppelin and Who fan, but they had such a groove you couldn't ignore.
@@Toon444hey man - great to know your tuned I. To the Dan !! I’m 58 and my 17 year old loves them as much as I do - I’m sure you’ll still be listening to them when your as old as me my friend
Steely Dans music was almost its own genre. It had such a mix of rock, blues, jazz etc. So smooth. There’s nobody else like them and prolly never will be.
John Walls Some fine wine, some slices of Gouda cheese, some lit logs in the fireplace, some Steely Dan playing in the background. Who sez life isn’t perfect?
What they did was such a rarity though. Two guys who were freakishly gifted at songwriting, and also into beatnik culture and old jazz music, took that sensibility into the rock music idiom of that era. The result is this deadpan, effortlessly cool and often quite biting music that exists in its own dimension. It's hard to imagine such a thing (or anything close to it) happening again in music, that attitude they had doesn't really exist in the modern day with my generation. There have of course been several amazing bands over the last 25 years or so but they're nothing like SD.
I would blast it in my room... and before long I had my Mom, brother, and brother-in-law in there... so I would say... oh, sorry mom u want me to turn it down, and she would tell me no... she said she loved them too!! My mom was hip !!!! Miss her!!!! 🥰😢🥰💕💕💕
To a certain extent you're right,...But there are many musicians who don't want to recreate their studio sound(s),...e.g., Jimi Page, Eddie Van Halen, Mr Jimi Hendrix, etc, etc, etc 🎼
@@danielcastillo4819 And I agree with you Daniel, but on the other hand generally that’s what the audience wants. I do like when a musician or group puts a fresh spin on a tune, but not when it becomes unrecognizable from the original.
I'd be honored if some Steely Dan fans would take a listen to my live keyboard & vocal performances of HOME AT LAST and JOSIE on my YT channel in tribute to the Aja album and the great Walter Becker. Live acoustic with no backing tracks or digital editing. Thanks and peace.
If you ever get a chance to watch the documentary where they got most of the "Aja" session players together to do a recreation in-studio, make time. Watching brilliant artists who are perfectionists describe their process is a rare privilege.
One of the smartest, coolest duos in all of pop history. And pure musical genius. Wherever you play it, whenever you hear it, their music makes anything that much cooler.
Pop?! Hush yo' mouth! Steely Dan is not pop, Steely Dan is a genre bending true originator of rock/R&B/funk/jazz fusion that has never been replicated. They are the antithesis of pop! Rant over.
@Darby Powell I understand that pop means popular, I just wouldn't put them in that box. They had some pop songs but they were much more than that. I would say "coolest duos in MUSIC history, not pop history.
@@mattcorregan4760 Yea and they did all that from the perspective of pop, they are pop in the same genius way that Pet Sounds is pop. No need denigrate popular music just because its popular lmfao
@@jonvaughn8865 - Okay....I'll buy that. How's about Fleetwood Mac (before) the women joined? It was heavy bluesy and intense dream-state-ish. Early Pink Floyd rates as well. Don't get me going on early Genesis.
There will never be a band with sound and style that Becker and Fagan has.Their music has lived through the test of time. Cannot duplicate. Love you Steely Dan.
They where the quintessential musicians band that opened the door to what life felt like in The big American cities in the 1970s. Raw, edgy, musical, story telling, and just plain Amazing...
If you liked this, then be sure to check out this live show from 1993: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mGt8RebOy7Q.html The accuracy of all of the musicians is incredible!
I agree. But Fagan for all his genius has always had a terrible voice. Thin, no projection, and suspect pitch. I sometimes wonder whether his ego prevented him for letting a singer sing his tunest.
Amazingly underrated guitar player Walter was, I couldn't believe that at the end of Josie he plays the melody line to If I Only Had a Heart, blew my mind.
Walter Becker's tone and playing are perfection. As a songwriting duo Becker and Fagen are about as good as it gets in popular music. What a sound they created. Walter Becker never grew old, he just cut his hair and changed his glasses. This is a complete treat. Letterman has no idea how lucky he is to share a stage with these great men. Thank you.
As a teenage saxophone player in the 70's & 80's hooked on jazz, surrounded by rock, and somewhat intrigued by punk/new wave, I was totally captivated by Steely Dan. Despite the AM radio air play of "Reelin' In the Years", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", and "Peg" (the only Steely Dan songs I ever heard on the radio), it was "Bodisatva", "Dr. Wu", "Don't Take Me Alive", "FM", and my all time favorite "Black Cow" that intrigued me, got me through finals at college, and gave me comfort. The sophistication of their chord progressions alone were exhilarating, but when combined with Phil Woods' tasty sax solos, Becker & Donnie Diaz's crying guitar licks, and the memorable echos of Michael McDonald's voice, well I just surrendered to it. And yet there was more: the art of sarcasm redefined through their provocative lyrics. I mean not just profound poetry (e.g. "Reelin' in the Years", "Black Cow"), self deprecating introspection (e.g. "Deacon Blues", "Brooklyn", "Any World"), or drug fueled mayhem (e.g. "Doctor Wu", "Kid Charlemagne"), but unforgettable imagery with phrases like "Kick off your high-heeled sneakers", "Just by chance you crossed a diamond with a pearl", and "Every man and beast appeared a friend as real as I". Walter Becker and Donald Fagen: you got me, I bopped and cruised to rock, I danced at clubs to New Wave, but I "thought" to the perfect fusion of jazz and rock that had but one master: the Dan of Steel. In a truly sardonic irony, the fate suffered by Walter Becker puts him in a league with Michael Angelo, Van Gogh, Beethoven, Billie Holiday, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and other twisted geniuses the world has loved and lost.
Am with you! I saw a very young woman, 20s, wearing a Steely Dan tee shirt today in my town - Saskatoon, SK, Canada Sept. 17, 2022! So, tonight am looking them up yet again on RU-vid. LOVE Donald Fagen's New Frontier - have watched it a million times since the golden age of MTV - early 80s!!
You just can't beat the Dan. They defined an era with a unique style all their own. Thinking man's music. Walter will be sorely missed. I hope to see ya on the other side Walter, and don't be late. ha, ha, ha.
It's surprising that the Eagles were more known than Steely Dan. The Eagles even sold more records. But I'll take Steely Dan any day. Intelligent music at its finest. Every note matters.
Music out of any time!!! One band underrated to be so innovated making fussion of so different types of music like jazz latin pop blues and funkie!!! And with so good quality!! So far my favourite band of music ever!!
They are a once in a lifetime group. We will never have anything except their music once Mr Fagan hangs it up. But what a great deal for those of us who really enjoy music. You have to understand their music to really appreciate it. I've been a Steely Dan enthusiast since the first time I heard "My old school ". Thank GOD for this gift. AMEN?
One of the finest bands of the 70's... period! virtuoso playing on every album & the songs are timeless. I agree with a lot of the commenters below, Becker was such an under rated guitarist .R.I.P. Walter & thank you for adding to the soundtrack of my youth!
Alan Burch - I saw Steely Dan in ‘93 and Becker was playing many of those iconic solos note for note. He may not have been a great guitarist when they first started, but he grew to be one, no doubt about that. I witnessed it firsthand.
Primarily a bassist, was always a great guitarist while the band preferred to employ the likes of Baxter, Carlton, Parks, Knophler, Khan, Ritenour, etc
These guy's were some of the best song writers & their musicianship was far beyond great. Just awesome, Becker, Fagen, Jeff Skunk Baxter; truly phenomenal and with one of the FINEST original albums ever..."Aja".
humans can really be disappointing but seeing and hearing the genius that is Donald and Walter(RIP) and the incredible musicians involved with Steely Dan absolutely restores my faith in humanity! Currently jamming Walter's first solo album from 1994.....A GEM!
11 Tracks of Whack and Circus Money took a listen or two to really grow on me but damn I love them now- so weird, so funky. Walter just let it rip and it turned out great
Wow - had the dream come true to see them live in 2014 before Becker's passing. My son and I drove down to Michigan, and they were excellent. I was up dancing and screaming like a teenager. This is a memory I will always cherish.
Being a musician (and getting paid for it too!) for a couple of decades, I watch videos of my heroes - such as Steely Dan - and imagine having lived their life. And then I get sad because my life isn't anywhere near what theirs was. And then I'm reminded that the imagination, and the world it takes me to is way better than having lived their reality with all of the suffering and struggles that came with it. Rarely do very gifted people feel as though their lives are gifted. Maybe they would look at my life and imagine living it.
When I first heard their music on F.M. radio in late 1972, I thought it sounded 10 years ahead of the curve. By the late summer of '73 every club band worth a damn was trying their best to cover "Reelin' In the Years," "Dirty Work" and even "My Old School" from their second album. They became for me in the '70s what The Beatles had been in the '60s. My wife and I were lucky to see their April 1974 tour stop at the U. of Toledo … their last tour as a real band.
@@gh9111 LOL.. Been listening since 5th grade.. Funny, at Catholic School, someone sneaked a transistor radio ( late 70's ) felt Awesome to listen to "Rikki don't Lose that Number" Fan ever since😎😇
@@gh9111 LOL.. Been listening since 5th grade.. Funny, at Catholic School, someone sneaked a transistor radio ( late 70's ) felt Awesome to listen to "Rikki don't Lose that Number" Fan ever since😎😇
I really think SD was at their absolute peak of live performance in the 1995-1997 period, continuing into 2001 or so after the album release. So lucky to see them during this time from the 4th row in Raleigh, NC. Walter was healthy and playing and singing superbly. So sad that West Side Story never got officially released on a record.
They're playing live and is absolutely perfect. Can't get any tighter. It's super hard for a band to be that tight and the sound that perfect. That's why you rarely hear it. These guys are the best. Hat's off to the Sam Donaldson Orchestra!
The 1970s, 1980s, right through the 90s,, it seemed as though we were beginning to live in harmony. I am so glad I remember, the best of times for Americans.
Yeah, for THIS genre of music. Not for all. There are sub-genres that also have to be respected for its style and attention to musicianship. ALL MUSIC is good where musicians do it for the love first then everything else comes after the fact. Just sayin'!
@@c.i.8317 jeez....not sure how to respond, friend. Say hi to someone, slap them on the back, complement them (sincerely?) and then kick them in the balls (there are always equals and betters) Is it the very def. of a backwards compliment? Hey?
