Steely Dan: named after a giant dildo, and still stimulating after a 20-year break By Euan Ferguson The Guardian “I don’t know if it’s the greatest chord in the world,” drawls Donald Fagen, sprawled all lugubrious over a chi-chi sofa in a forgettable New York hotel, “but it’s not bad. It’s a pretty good chord, […]
Tag Archives | Interview
Steely Dan: Countdown to Ecstasy
Their quietly obsessed fans have been waiting 20 years for Becker and Fagen to get back in the studio. So can the new album turn that heartbeat over again? By Andy Gill The Independent (UK) When Steely Dan vocalist Donald Fagen released his second solo album, “Kamakiriad,” in 1993, fans marvelled at the inordinate length […]
Steely Dan No Longer So Steely
By Kevin O’Hare Newhouse News Service With their first new studio album in 20 years set for release, two of the most enigmatic stars to ever grace the pop scene are starting to actually interact with the real world. That might not seem like a big deal to some, but when it comes to Donald […]
Steely Dan’s “Jazz Weenie” Roast
By Jerry McCulley Amazon.com Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen aren’t exactly providing their undivided attention as they check in via phone from New York to promote Two Against Nature, their first studio album in 20 years. “There’s a cartoon on the TV here with the sound off. This one concerns a disconcerted beaver, I would say,” notes […]
With 2vN, Steely Dan Continues the Battle
By Paul Zollo CDNow They are the core of Steely Dan — Walter Becker and Donald Fagen — the two friends who long ago disbanded the original lineup of their group to surround themselves iRefresh connection with Facebooknstead with the finest jazz and rock players the world had to offer and, in doing so, raised the […]
Librarians on Acid
By Barney Hoskyns The Guardian Steely Dan have always split people down the middle. On one side sit major dudes like William Gibson, who delight in the apparent disjunction between their slick grooves and their mordant humour. On the other are elder statesmen like GLR’s Charlie Gillett, who once visibly grimaced when I asked him […]
David Palmer: Q & A
By Bob DiCorcia As you may know, in the early 1970s, songwriter David Palmer was one of the original members of the pop/rock band Steely Dan. He was also a member of the rock band The Myddle Class, which was managed/produced by Carole King and Gerry Goffin in the late 60s. [Carole’s second husband, bassist, […]
The Second Coming of Steely Dan
By Lenny Stoute Toronto Star TORONTO — After all these years, the Greta Garbo of rock bands is finally coming to town. Garbo was a movie actress as famed for her elusiveness and aversion to appearing in public as for her over-acting. She gave the language the phrase, “I vant to be left alone,” and […]
Studio recluses move closer to their fans
By TONY NORMAN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Donald Fagen and Walter Becker launched Steely Dan at a time when America was just getting the hang of organized cynicism. Steely Dan, named after a sex toy described with euphemistic delight in William Burroughs’ scabrous “Naked Lunch,” occupied the upper rungs of the Billboard charts its first time out […]
Becker and Fagen Do It Again
By Eric Deggans St. Petersburg Times As might be expected from a group named after a fictional sex toy, Steely Dan masterminds Walter Becker and Donald Fagen present a cynically hilarious, though sometimes confused, demeanor in person. Taking on interviewers like two tag team wrestlers over the telephone, the duo makes sure that — whatever […]
