By Casey Moffitt
Chicagoist.com
CHICAGO — It would be easy to brush off Steely Dan as just another nostalgia act cashing in while taking audiences on a trip in the wayback machine, but the set performed at Ravinia Festival last Thursday night as part of the act’s Mood Swings tour was far more than just jaunt down memory lane.
It was one hot show. For decades Steely Dan’s founding members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have been notorious for their nearly unattainable high standards in musicianship and sound engineering, which they maintain today. The band put together by Becker and Fagen for the latest tour is loaded with top-notch talent who can execute. From laying down heavy grooves, to hitting a tricky turnaround, to commanding the stage with a blistering solo, every single man on that stage can do it.
Most nostalgia acts can’t say that.
Becker and Fagen never had a steady band behind them, even in their heyday. They had a few studio musicians who they could turn to reliably, but it was always a different crew. In a way that has helped the band today, as fans might have a certain appreciation for the contributions of a certain guitarist or bass player or pianist, but not an emotional attachment to one who just can’t perform any more. Those guys changed from album to album, so fans understand there is a revolving door for musicians in the act.
Of course, each member of this band brings their own personality to the old songs. Guitarist Jon Herington didn’t play the solo in “Peg” note for note. He gave it his own personality, throwing in a few extra, nasty runs in the middle. Drummer Keith Carlock didn’t play the solo in “Aja” just like you hear it on the record. He puts his own spin on it, and on the third song of the set no less. Sure, Carlock has to sit at home on parts of tunes, like nailing the Purdie shuffle on “Home At Last,” or the whole thing falls apart. Still there’s plenty of room for him to work his own special magic in the songs.
The band also rearranged a few of the old tunes a little bit to give them a different feel. “Show Biz Kids” was slowed down and funked up, giving it more of an edge than a smooth sail. The band cooked through “Bodhisattva” at breakneck speed. The three female backup singers took the melody during “Razor Boy.”
However, Steely Dan never has shied away from looking to past glories, even at its beginning. When the debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill was released in 1972, the Beatnik-inspired lyrics were already passé, and the jazzy sound was not a modern touch to popular music at the time.
However, the sound the band achieved on the album by making the most of the latest sound engineering technology and the meticulous craftwork articulated through precise playing could not be ignored. In a sense, that has not changed with the latest incarnation of Steely Dan. So, is that a nostalgic aspect of the act?
During the set Thursday night, the band fired up 20 songs, including three covers. All but one of the originals performed that night was written and recorded before 1980. Ten songs were pulled from 1977’s Aja and 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy.
As times change, sometimes the old songs seem out of touch. But Steely Dan tunes have dealt with time-tested themes which still get audiences charged up today. Will songs about loosening the inhibitions of young women with booze and cocaine ever get old like in “Hey Nineteen?” Or coping with sudden, unexpected and life-altering change like “Black Friday?” Or spouting off to a former lover like in “Black Cow?”
Songs with themes similar to these will be written again. Whether they match or surpass the songwriting capabilities of Becker and Fagen remains to be seen. Still, Steely Dan will evoke feelings of nostalgia from its audience throughout the show. During a bizarre rant in the middle of “Hey Nineteen,” Becker spouted off about how everyone at the show had to save their hard-earned dollars to buy a ticket to the Steely Dan show and it was “everything you expected” and at the end of the night we all had to go home, but didn’t want the night to end, so we dig up an old stash from the sock drawer, smoke it up and feel groovy until the scratch in the throat sends us to the liquor cabinet where we find — you guessed it — the Cuervo Gold and pounded a few down until it was time to go to bed and we thought to ourselves “I used to do this every night. I can’t do this every night anymore.” Thanks for reminding us we’re all getting old, Walter.
A quick poll of friends, family and those who attended the show Thursday revealed a near 50/50 split decision to the question, “Is Steely Dan a nostalgia act?”
Ultimately, we have to say yes, Steely Dan is a nostalgia act if only because the band hasn’t written a meaningful song in the last 33 years. That and they did close the set with “Reelin’ In the Years” before returning for an encore. But that doesn’t mean Steely Dan doesn’t put on a smoking show. Those guys do. And the ticket prices were fairly reasonable — that is to say not in the $650 range.
Still, if Steely Dan returns to Ravinia Festival, it is worth the extra dough to get pavilion seats. The lawn just sucks as the sound is far too quiet and muddy out there to really appreciate the performance of a band like Steely Dan.
No comments yet.