STEELY DAN - PRETZEL LOGIC @ 50

 

Celebrating its 50th anniversary today is the third studio album from Steely Dan, Pretzel Logic, which was released on February 20th, 1974. Featuring the hit single, Rikki Don't Loose That Number, the album and single would re-establish the band as sophisticated hit makers after the disappointing performance of the previous album and singles.

By the time of their third LP, Steely Dan were evolving beyond the five piece touring band that had started out a few years earlier. Walter Becker & Donald Fagen were less interested in touring and the other regular members of the band were finding themselves marginalized as LA studio musicians were being brought in to help render the group's increasingly complex song arrangements. Indeed, the album would mark the end of Steely Dan as a functional touring band and put Becker and Fagen in place at its only consistent members going forward.

Musically, the duo were determined to reign in their excesses by cutting back on song lengths and soloing excursions. They were aiming to keep their forays into the more highbrow jazz influences constrained by the three minute pop format. The move managed to make the album more accessible, while still retaining their penchant for sophisticated, layered musical arrangements. The result was a concise, meticulously crafted example of mainstream friendly pop music that still contained the sophistication of its higher aspirations. Lyrically, Fagen was looking for a kind of suggestive vagueness that avoided explicit implications while still evoking an emotional resonance. Some people may have found that creative choice confusing, preferring to have their content laid out, plain and simple, but more adventurous listeners could appreciate the room for interpretation that was being created between the words.

As well as being a commercial success, the album was near universally praised by critics, topping numerous "best of" year end polls. Its legacy has secured it as essential listening for anyone seeking to explore the band's music. It is also a reminder that popularity need not come at the cost of intelligence and creative ambitions. That the band were able to top charts while building on complex, mature musical structures stands sharply in contrast to the computer generated disposable pop of the modern age.

DONAL FAGEN - THE NIGHTFLY @ 40

 

Released 40 years ago today, it’s the debut solo LP from Steely Dan co-founder, Donald Fagen. The Nightfly was issued on October 1st, 1982 and immediately established Fagen both critically and commercially as a force to be reckoned with.

After working with Walter Becker for 14 years, first as a staff songwriting team for ABC Records and then founding Steely Dan in 1972, the duo were finding their relationship strained by the grueling experience of recording Gaucho, the 1980 album which would become the studio swansong for Steely Dan until some 20 years later with the 2000 release of their reunion album, Two Against Nature. Gaucho sessions were so difficult that the atmosphere was reported to be downright “depressing”, a situation aggravated the mutual perfectionism of the two and by Becker’s reported substance abuse issues at the time. Though the album ended up being another massive success, its aftermath fostered a mutual understanding that some creative space was needed, with Fagen already contemplating solo projects. Though it would be two decades between Dan LPs, the duo weren’t completely estranged from each other through those years as they would eventually contribute to each other’s subsequent solo albums and engage in some tours as Steely Dan in the interim. However, Becker wasn’t involved at all with Nightfly.

Creatively, Fagen decided to delve into very personal territory for song inspirations on his solo debut, dipping back into his youth and childhood memories. That ended up making the album more optimistic and nostalgic that cynical & ironic, as he was often prone to be. The opener is very much inspired by mid-century modernist & futurist conceptions of the “world of tomorrow”, with that “wheel in space” and “spandex jackets, one for everyone”. It all sounds very naive and overtly innocent, though you can still lightly sense the cynic lurking beneath the star gazing breezy melodies. The move away from irony and into pure “fun” was intentional, as was the shift to a jazzier style. Memories of late nigh jazz radio as a child are reflected in the album's music as well as on the cover, which shows Fagen as a DJ, spinning obscure records for a meager twilight audience, enraptured by his muse while feeling the loneliness of the booth. It may not have the bite of Steely Dan’s work, but it certainly had the ability to be evocative.

Technically, it was something of a groundbreaking record, being one of the first fully digitally produced albums. Much of the production team and many of the musicians were from the Steely Dan stable of producers, engineers and players, having worked on the group’s albums throughout the previous decade, but many had to take special courses with 3M on how to work with the brand new, state-of-the-art digital recording equipment. The challenge of dealing with the tech was only compounded by also having to continue to cater to Fagen’s meticulous perfectionism.

The album was recorded at studios in LA and NYC throughout 1981/82 and Fagen, rather than doing any “live in studio” recording with the band to get bed tracks established, opted to record each component individually, a process that was doubly painstaking as the techs struggled to develop an affinity for the digital tools. At times, recording was derailed by external distractions like a large magnet outside the studio, which was part of the NY subway system, causing a persistent hum in the guitar amp, and then there was the instance where a strange smell drove the staff to gut the studio, removing its air conditioning, carpeting, and recording console until they discovered the cause of the smell: a deceased rat in a drainpipe!

Hurdles surmounted, the album was finally released and its reception was decidedly positive on all fronts, gaining near universal accolades from critics and spawning two major hit singles. Like the preceding Dan LPs, audiophiles have made it a favorite demonstration record for their expensive hi-fi systems, though the initially CD version should be avoided due to having been mastered from a 3rd generation copy of the album. It was actually Stevie Wonder who helped identify that issue by reporting its compromised sound to Fagen. This issue has been, one would assume, remedied by later remastered editions.

STEELY DAN - AJA @ 45

 

Marking its 45th anniversary today is the sixth and penultimate Steely Dan studio album before going on a 20 year hiatus from recording. Aja (pronounced “Asia”) was released on September 23rd, 1977 and took the group to new heights of complexity and sophistication, not only in terms of songwriting and performance, but also in the technical quality of the recordings they were able to achieve. Indeed, since its release, it has become a favorite demonstration record for audiophiles looking to show off their expensive hi-fi equipment.

Musically, Becker and Fagen were able to create a fusion of jazz and pop music which was so complete that it succeeded in obliterating any meaningful distinction between the genres. You can’t call it pop music with a jazz influence or jazz music slumming it as radio fodder. The distinctions are simply meaningless as the genetic codes of each are so completely intertwined that they are effectively inseparable. The result of this is a kind of music that is satisfying both as a casual listening experience while also rewarding those who wish to ply apart the layers and explore the intricacies which have been so carefully crafted within.

Lyrically, Fagan continued to develop his subtle insinuations of cynicism while superficially keeping a smile on his face. It’s an approach that mirrors the deceptiveness of the music in terms of presenting itself as aspirational towards the mainstream while clearly calculating a complexity meant to reward listeners who were able to move beyond mainstream artifice.

The music of Steely Dan was something I couldn’t appreciate in my youth while I was hip deep in teenage angst and the rebellion of "punk". I couldn’t see past the shiny veneer to comprehend the subversion happening beneath its surface. That’s something which only became possible with a level of maturity that could set aside old prejudices and hear these songs for what they really are. The album has become something of a staple in the realm of what’s come to be called “yacht rock”, because of the laid-back vibes, but I think it also underscores the decadence and perversions of the privileged class in a way that’s secretly malicious and therefore, subversively delicious!