By Lary Wallace PopMatters.com As someone who’s always actively remained clear of the term “concept album” when discussing their own work, it’s ironic that Steely Dan (who, it should be noted, have never remained clear — actively or otherwise — of irony) would release, in the form of a summertime masterpiece, what is unmistakably and […]
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Steely Message
A new album in a different world By Robert J. Toth For National Review Online The last time Steely Dan put out an album, Bill Clinton was in the White House, the Dow was north of 10,000, and the biggest global issue was what a yawner Y2K turned out to be. The record, their first […]
Lust for Life
By Art Thompson Guitar Player If there’s one thing you can say about Steely Dan, it’s that they always deliver exactly what you expect. True, their sound hasn’t changed a great deal in the last 30 years, but if consistency counts for anything, then Walter Becker and Donald Fagen deserve kudos for sticking to the blues-meets-jazz-meets-R&B template that has […]
One Hour Sale, A Conversation with Steely Dan
By Jody Denberg KGSR radio Welcome to “One Hour Sale, A Conversation with Steely Dan,” featuring songs from their new album “Everything Must Go,” available as of June 10th, 2003. “Everything Must Go” is Steely Dan’s ninth studio album, only their second studio album in the last quarter century and their first since 2000’s “Two […]
Tried and True or Being New
By Jon Pareles The New York Times It’s a rare band that can measure its history in decades, and for those that do, the choices don’t go away. Reinvention or refinement? Keep up with the latest or stick with what has worked before? Steely Dan, founded in 1972, and Metallica, founded in 1981, find their […]
QuickSpins: Everything Must Go
By Peter Kaufman Washington Post Steely Dan has glimpsed the apocalypse just ahead, and of course that puts the guys in a merry mood. “I move to dissolve the corporation / In a pool of margaritas,” suggests Donald Fagen on the title track of this new CD. On “Blues Beach,” a cheery-sounding boogaloo fit for […]
Dirty Old Dan
By Josh Tyrangiel Time Magazine Back in the primordial rock ooze of the late ’70s, Steely Dan wanted the world to think it was more wanton even than its extravagantly wanton rock peers. Judging from their blithely cynical and mordantly libidinous 1970s songbook, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were guys who would wait until the Eagles […]
Showing Their Mettle
Originally published on June 6, 2003 By Dan Aquilante New York Post Walter Becker and Donald Fagen – known collectively as Steely Dan – are among the finest musical minds of a generation. Few would dispute their credentials, accolades and extensive body of work. So when you ask these elder statesmen to say something suitably profound, […]
Eggheads of Rock
Steely Dan’s music is a serious business – crafted, polished, full of word games and references to Proust and Freud. Much like the men themselves By John L. Waters The Guardian “I like the neon, I love the music,” deadpans Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen on “Green Book.” “Anachronistic but nice.” That might describe “Everything Must […]
The Backpages Interview
This week sees the release of “Everything Must Go,” the follow-up to Steely Dan’s Grammy-grabbing “Two Against Nature.” BARNEY HOSKYNS discusses war, economics and online smut with WALTER BECKER and DONALD FAGEN RBP: It’s ironic that you’re now on Reprise. Shouldn’t you have been on that label from the start? WB: Well, in fact we […]
