Editor’s Note: From 1987 through 1994, diehard Steely Dan fans turned to a small fanzine called Metal Leg for information about Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Published first by England’s Brian Sweet (who went on to write the unofficial band biography Steely Dan: Reelin’ In The Years) and later by New Yorkers Pete Fogel and […]
Donald Fagen: A Nightfly Up Against The Wall
Richard Cook meets the urbane spokesman of cool, Donald Fagen, who, for 14 years, partnered Walter Becker in Steely Dan. A celebrated eccentric, Fagen is now experiencing international success with his own solo career and the LP, The Nightfly. Originally published on January 22, 1983 By Richard Cook New Musical Express In person, it seems like […]
Donald Fagen Revisits an Era of Innocence
By Fred Schruers Musician “Lack of Irony,” says Donald Fagen with a wry grin, “is not exactly my specialty.” It’s an odd apology – more like a boast – from the man who shared status with his Steely Dan partner, Walter Becker, as a mandarin of pop irony. But he’s simply trying to explain that […]
Donald Fagen Spins Favorite Records
By Charlie Gillett Capital Radio After the release of The Nightfly, Donald Fagen visited the U.K. to promote it, and one of the few “interviews” he permitted was with Charlie Gillett on Capital. He selected some of his favorite songs and talked briefly about each one. CG: So your new album is called The Nightfly. DF: […]
Steely Dan: Gaucho
By Mitchell Cohen Creem She stomped into the living room, as much as one can stomp in pink slippers and an extra-large Close Encounters t-shirt, and conspicuously clicked the “stop” button of the cassette machine. I continued to write. “Steely Dan,” she announced, “are a symptom of everything that is wrong with our relationship.” Conversations that start with sentences […]
Steely Dan interview
Those consummate troublemakers, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, are finally cornered, producing dangerously controversial observations on film, literature, Free Jazz, touring and the music of Steely Dan, undermining nearly every tenet of the music industry. Originally published on March 1, 1981 By David Breskin Musician Magazine Three years, two hundred out-takes, a few mistakenly erased […]
‘Gaucho’ Review
By Ariel Swartley Rolling Stone The thing you begin to notice, listening to Steely Dan’s songs, is that no one ever answers anyone. For all the talk — and their latest album, Gaucho, is as compulsively chatty as dinnertime on death row — there’s no conversation. Whoever keeps asking, “Who is that gaucho, amigo?” might as well […]
