The all-purpose 2022/2023 Steely Dan thread

I guess I didn't pay much attention to the date, but while checking on the preorder status of some upcoming SACDs, I noticed that Universal released a 50th anniversary reissue of Steely Dan's first album, Can't Buy A Thrill.

Apparently you can buy a thrill as a high-res set of files from Universal, or a vinyl pressing. But given's Universal's propensity to, as the old saying goes, fark up a one-car funeral, I am a bit wary at the moment of trying one of their pressings.

I'm listening to the 24-bit/192kHz version on Qobuz and it's not as sharply defined as the version of the album I have on my server. However, the version I have on CD has been through noise reduction and other digital doctoring, apparently. I have no idea of the provenance of this new version, whether it was a transfer of the original analog tapes, or if it was further doctored in the studio. (I'm on my desktop system at the moment, so, I'll have to wait to spin it on the main system to see what's up.) It turns out the digital files were mastered by Bernie Grundman alongside the

50 years. I feel old. Older.

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about an upcoming series of reissues from Analogue Productions.

Chad Kassem worked out a deal where he could release audiophile versions of the first seven Steely Dan albums. The SACDs are already planned and available for preorder, and I will get those without a doubt. None have been released yet, but they will supposedly be released individually over the coming months.

But for pure analog goodness, the initial vinyl issues of these titles will be on their "UHQR" vinyl sets. Deluxe box set packaging with a wood spine, like other UHQRs, and offered only as a set of two 45-RPM records. Chad has hinted that there may be other editions down the road.

All the Dan records are essential listening for me and, with other artists I've followed since my teen years or earlier, very important in my own personal catalog of music. So it's a tough call if I buy later vinyl reissues from Analogue Productions. Thing is, to find clean copies of these records in preferred early pressings could end up costing me just as much, especially if I have to reject a handful due to groove burn (wear). For instance, I do have a somewhat clean early Aja pressing that has some minor but noticeable (read: annoying) groove burn on "Deacon Blues" and "Josie."

I may end up doing a shootout of various versions once I get the SACD reissues in my hands. I suspect Analogue Productions will be the better (best?) sounding of all digital versions. I'm told that they did an excellent job on the two most recent albums (Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go) especially on the former title, where they got rid of the digital harshness and made it a much more pleasant listen. The latter was actually recorded to analog multitrack and has a much smoother sound already.

For whatever reason, I had read that Steely Dan will no longer perform "Do It Again" in concert--can't recall if it was a mutual decision, or if Donald Fagen just didn't want to sing it. Regardless, it's one of the highlights on a solid debut album that included many fine compositions. A little of their jazz influence came through on this album, but would appear more on the follow-up, Countdown to Ecstasy. My own discovery of their catalog began when I read a good review of Fagen's first solo album, The Nightfly. Wanting more, I picked up budget reissues of Gaucho and Aja then worked my way back through the rest of their catalog (all were the MCA "Platinum Series" LPs).

Got any Steely Dan favorites or memories? This thread is the place! (Please take complaints, gripes, "I hates," etc. to a separate thread. 😉)

50 years. Dang it...

 

[GDBY2LV]

Well to be fair, I did work in a record store from ‘77-‘04, and I own all of them. Saw him in concert 20 times over the years ‘74-‘19 One of those was at the Hollywood Bowl, and Quarterflash his new label mates, opened the show that night. We went backstage to get our tickets from the promoters, and they were all eating bbq at big tables set up there. The perks of working in a retail record store back then were great. Later on when I went to work for Music Plus, which turned into Blockbuster Music, then bought by Wherehouse, we had Ticket Master. We pretty much had great seats for all the shows we wanted to attend. The annual Ticket Master fall parties for store managers at the Hollywood Palace were crazy. Open bar from 7-10, and tons of free food on 3 floors. The party went on until 1am. The 2 hr. drive home wasn’t so great though. I also had a promotional Steely Dan Aja silk jacket in the 80’s, that I wore it out! I got pulled out of line at a sneak preview for Poltergeist because they thought I was a spy for Universal. I had to prove otherwise, so they let me in after my friends told them that it was a record store thing.

 

[Rudy]

That Aja jacket would be worth a small fortune today! The best I managed was an Aja t-shirt from either their 2000 or 2003 tour. I rarely wear it, so it doesn't get beaten up in the washer. 😁

I should have worked at the local record store when I was a teen--I probably would have enjoyed it.

 

[AM Matt]

"Show Biz Kids" (performance from The Midnight Special on August 31, 1973 when the late Billy Preston was the host) YEP, they bleep out the f--- word!!

 

[Rudy]

It looks like the newly-remastered Countdown to Ecstasy is now available on Geffen:

Amazon product

July 28 will see the reissue of Pretzel Logic in the same series.

Amazon product

I'm posting direct links so as to remove confusion from other vinyl versions.

As with Can't Buy a Thrill, these were remastered by Bernie Grundman and are digitally cut. The only analog releases are through Analogue Productions on their UHQR 45 RPM vinyl sets.

While the first two Dan titles had a long delay between the AP and Geffen releases, both of these versions of Pretzel Logic are releasing on the same day. When I visited AP last month, they were pressing the second record of the 2-LP set on one of the presses.

The AP SACD versions of the first two albums are also available now, but there is no future date on the SACD for Pretzel Logic as of yet.

Past these releases, there is a huge delay for the AP UHQR vinyl. Katy Lied will not be released until March 29, 2024. Royal Scam releases on June 28, 2024.

The next two are questionable. Per AP's site, Aja appears September 29, 2023. Gaucho wraps up the series on December 1, 2023. Why questionable? These would be out of release order sequence. Although, they do fill in the gaps in the schedule for 2023. I will have to follow up with them to see if they meant 2024 instead.

No word yet on the SACD release dates, nor on the future Geffen releases in the series.

 

[Harry]

[Just a note to Rudy: I see your Amazon links as empty boxes with an Amazon "a" logo and nothing else. I assume that it's my ad blocker that's doing that. I can still click in the box and get to the page that's linked.]

 

[Rudy]

They show up for me, but I whitelisted the forum in uBlock so I could be sure everything is working.

 

[Rudy]

This has been making waves in the Dan community lately.

The Nichols Tape

"Second Arrangement" was a track intended for the Gaucho album and allegedly was planned to be the first single from the album. Thanks to an assistant engineer, the multitrack was accidentally erased. Studio protocol during Steely Dan sessions was that the test tones (to align the tape machine) would be recorded on a separate reel of tape. Only, this engineer grabbed the wrong tape, recorded test tones on the beginning, only to hit "play" and here the fade-out of "Second Arrangement."

Others remember Katz being left with the unenviable job of breaking the news to Becker and Fagen. According to engineer Elliot Scheiner, who mixed Gaucho and had done the rhythm tracking on the original recording of “The Second Arrangement,” Katz told them, “‘I have good news and bad news.’ Donald said, ‘Tell us the good news.’ ‘You guys can leave right now.’ And they looked at him and said, ‘And what’s the bad news?’ ‘We don’t have “Second Arrangement” anymore.’ And they just turned around and walked out.”

They tried redoing the song, but...

“We tried cutting the song again,” Nichols wrote in a post on an EQ magazine audio forum in 1999, “and finished it. Horns, backgrounds, lead vocal. We listened to it and Donald said, ‘NAW…scrap it!’”

For decades, a bootleg has been circulating of the song. I had always wondered if the bootleg was the original version or the re-recorded take. This article clears it up--it's a copy of the original version prior to erasure:

Tale of the tape

Listen to Roger Nichols's long-awaited "Second Arrangement" cassette

expandingdan.substack.com

In addition, the big news is that Roger Nichols' daughters found a cassette labeled "SECOND ARR" which contained a much better sounding version of the track, with sections of lead vocals missing. There is also a rhythm-only track on the track, along with a song called "Were You Blind That Day?" which had a lyric rewrite and became "Third World Man."

They also found a DAT containing the completed "Second Arrangement"--I'm wondering if Nichols at one point dubbed it to DAT since the format did not exist when the album was recorded. Or maybe they don't know what they have...or it's not the DAT I'm thinking of?

At any rate, the cassette and the DAT they found are both posted in the article linked above. They still are not "studio" quality given the source, but they are much clearer than any other version I've heard. The article is unclear if/when/how Nichols' daughters will release this.

As for the engineer who erased the performance, there's finally an interview (posted last Thursday) with the engineer about the fiasco:

How Steely Dan's "Second Arrangement" was erased

In his first-ever interview, the engineer who recorded over the song tells all.

expandingdan.substack.com

 

[Rudy]

Here's perhaps the only time Steely Dan ever performed "Second Arrangement" live. This was at The Beacon in 2011 when they performed a rarities gig. (I believe they also performed "This All Too Mobile Home" and a couple others that have circulated only on bootlegs.)




And here's the DAT:

 

[JOv2]

Fascinating story of "M". Thanks, Rudy. This was an exciting read.

 

[Rudy]

I haven't listened to this album yet (I'll queue it up later today when I'm back at a desk) but a singer, Linda Hoover, made a record for the Roulette label in 1970 that was shelved over a business dispute. What's notable is that producer Gary Katz had discovered her. He had Fagen and Becker under his wing at the time prior to Steely Dan launching, and along with their help (composing and performing), future Steely Dan members Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias also performed on her album.

This was just released a year ago.

It's notable that with the album shelved, the title track "I Mean to Shine" was instead covered by Streisand not long after and made an appearance on the charts, a first for Becker and Fagen (who penned the track).

Here is the album.

 

[Rudy]

The Linda Hoover album is actually quite a nice recording. It's almost like a country-folk-rock album, I guess?

I can hear the instrumental parts, especially Skunk Baxter's guitar in many places. But this isn't like a Steely Dan record by any means. The lyrics written by Becker and Fagen, though, barely hint at the wordplay that was to follow in later years--Becker composed two of the tracks, with Becker and Fagen three additional. Linda composed three herself, and the remaining tracks are covers (like "4+20" by CSN&Y, "In a Station" by The Band, etc.).

The master tape was in Linda's possession for nearly 50 years, unplayed. There are a few minor dropouts here and there, but nothing that distracts from the music.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

This has been making waves in the Dan community lately.

The Nichols Tape

"Second Arrangement" was a track intended for the Gaucho album and allegedly was planned to be the first single from the album. Thanks to an assistant engineer, the multitrack was accidentally erased. Studio protocol during Steely Dan sessions was that the test tones (to align the tape machine) would be recorded on a separate reel of tape. Only, this engineer grabbed the wrong tape, recorded test tones on the beginning, only to hit "play" and here the fade-out of "Second Arrangement."



They tried redoing the song, but...



For decades, a bootleg has been circulating of the song. I had always wondered if the bootleg was the original version or the re-recorded take. This article clears it up--it's a copy of the original version prior to erasure:

Tale of the tape

Listen to Roger Nichols's long-awaited "Second Arrangement" cassette

expandingdan.substack.com

In addition, the big news is that Roger Nichols' daughters found a cassette labeled "SECOND ARR" which contained a much better sounding version of the track, with sections of lead vocals missing. There is also a rhythm-only track on the track, along with a song called "Were You Blind That Day?" which had a lyric rewrite and became "Third World Man."

They also found a DAT containing the completed "Second Arrangement"--I'm wondering if Nichols at one point dubbed it to DAT since the format did not exist when the album was recorded. Or maybe they don't know what they have...or it's not the DAT I'm thinking of?

At any rate, the cassette and the DAT they found are both posted in the article linked above. They still are not "studio" quality given the source, but they are much clearer than any other version I've heard. The article is unclear if/when/how Nichols' daughters will release this.

As for the engineer who erased the performance, there's finally an interview (posted last Thursday) with the engineer about the fiasco:

How Steely Dan's "Second Arrangement" was erased

In his first-ever interview, the engineer who recorded over the song tells all.

expandingdan.substack.com

Wow! What a read! I feel so sorry for M. Helluva thing to have to carry around with you for 40+ years.

 

[Rudy]

Wow! What a read! I feel so sorry for M. Helluva thing to have to carry around with you for 40+ years.

I'm no recording industry expert, but I do know that once an engineer or other employee gets a reputation, it follows them throughout their career as everyone knows everyone else. It's good that M. was able to branch off into a related field and make a good living.

It's also ironic that arguably the best song from the album got erased...

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I'm no recording industry expert, but I do know that once an engineer or other employee gets a reputation, it follows them throughout their career as everyone knows everyone else. It's good that M. was able to branch off into a related field and make a good living.

It's also ironic that arguably the best song from the album got erased...

Yeah---and surprising on some level that given the talent and abilities of all involved, they were never able to get a satisfactory take to replace it.

 

[Rudy]

It's also telling about their hyper-attention to quality that they didn't want to use the 15 IPS copy to overdub onto, vs. the 30 IPS it was originally recorded at. And if they finished the second version, was it really that bad? Or were Walter and Don so disgusted that they didn't even want to hear it on the final record?

Gaucho was initially supposed to be a digital recording but they were either not happy with the sound of the equipment, or had issues with it. So it ended up being recorded analog.

The cassette demo sounds better than the "DAT" version his daughters found. But, I've been asking one of his daughters if she knows for sure exactly what format that "DAT" version is, since the DAT format wasn't available for several years. But I was thinking that with some of the AI technology in use today, it might be possible to lift the few missing vocals from the "DAT" version and mix them into the cassette version to make it more complete.

 

[AM Matt]

"Reelin' In The Years" (from August 31, 1973 "Midnight Special")

 

[AM Matt]

"My Old School" (from August 31, 1973 "Midnight Special")

 

[AM Matt]

Schlitz Beer commercial from 1973 which runs nearly 2 minutes. Listen to Steely Dan's Long-Lost Schlitz Beer Jingle

 

[Michael Hagerty]

It's a fun story, but the "we're gonna write this ourselves" falls apart if you remember 1972.



That WAS the Schlitz jingle that year. Becker and Fagen jazzed it up and added the Spanish dialog and that's it.

Turns out the story's been out there a while. Two years ago, a Facebook Yacht Rock page called "Westcoast Dream Cruiser" posted this, a letter from Becker and Fagen, read at drummer Jeff Porcaro's funeral in 1992---and the story told 31 years ago shifts the timeline:


"In 1974, we decided to sell out and do commercials for Schlitz beer -- here we were in Hollywood, it seemed like the thing to do. Our guitarist, Denny Dias, knew of a drummer in the Sonny and Cher band and set up a meeting.

On the appointed day, a cocky little Italian kid walked in and said in a voice that seemed an octave much too low for a person of such diminutive stature, 'Yo guys, let's groove!' The session was pretty silly for reasons too complex to mention.

Ultimately, the Schlitz people said 'pasadena' on the jingle, but Jeff was a keeper, not just as a musician, but as a friend. Fans would always think of Jeff as a great musician; the musicians he worked with will always think of him as a great guy."


Porcaro's brother, in the comments thread, says Jeff played him a cassette of the jingle at the time and he wished he'd kept a dub.

Here's the thing---Porcaro never worked with Steely Dan until the Pretzel Logic sessions, in late 1973 (the LP was released in February of '74). So this firmly fixes the session as between "Pretzel Logic" and "Katy Lied" (and explains why the photo of Fagen and Denny Diaz holding a fire extinguisher was on the back cover of "Katy Lied"---it was a recent shot, not an old one).

BUT---in 1974, Schlitz did hire at least one big name act---and an ABC Records labelmate of Steely Dan's----to do a refreshed version of the jingle for radio:

 

[Rudy]

I mean, of all the beers to make a jingle for...but Schlitz?? 🤣

 

[AM Matt]

The late Jeff Porcaro wasn't happy about playing this Sonny & Cher song from 1973!!!

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I mean, of all the beers to make a jingle for...but Schlitz?? 🤣

They were the beer that was looking for celebrities to sing the jingle.

Also, we tend to forget what the beer landscape looked like in '73/'74.

If you were talking big national brands, it was Budweiser (who weren't about to trade Ed McMahon for Steely Dan) at #1, Schlitz at #2 and Pabst Blue Ribbon at #3. And they weren't looking for Steely Dan:



Coors was fourth, but it wasn't available nationwide, nor was fifth-place Schaefer. By the time you get back to national brands, it's Falstaff in sixth place, producing a quarter of what Budweiser brewed, and a third of what Schlitz was shipping.

 

[Rudy]

PBR has a cult following these days. But Schlitz...that's like rock bottom if you've exhausted all your other choices. 😁

Having said that, it's getting harder locally to find Honey Brown Lager locally. Of all things, I use it in my chicken batter recipe.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

PBR has a cult following these days. But Schlitz...that's like rock bottom if you've exhausted all your other choices. 😁

Again, American tastes have changed in 50 years. The top 5 best-selling beers today:

1. Budweiser

2. Modelo

3. Michelob

4. Corona

5. Coors


Also, Schlitz isn't Schlitz anymore. They changed the formula in 1976, were bought out by Stroh's in 1982, and Pabst bought them in 1999. They sell it more as a novelty nostalgia label, the beer equivalent of Moxie.

And really, is it possible to exhaust all your choices? At least here in California, I can't remember the last time I had to "settle" for American beer from a can. Guiness and a hundred or so microbrews are readily available. My current favorite, on tap at our favorite neighborhood hangout, is Anderson Valley Summer Solstice:

Summer Solstice - Anderson Valley Brewing Company - Untappd

Summer Solstice by Anderson Valley Brewing Company is a Spiced / Herbed Beer which has a rating of 3.6 out of 5, with 75,114 ratings and reviews on Untappd.

untappd.com

Having said that, it's getting harder locally to find Honey Brown Lager locally. Of all things, I use it in my chicken batter recipe.

That sounds really good!

 

[Rudy]

That sounds really good!

I found a recipe for what they call "triple-dipped chicken" where it's dipped in flour, batter, then flour again, then fried or baked. But since we've had to get on the gluten free train here, grilling it outdoors is about the only safe way to make it.