By Stephen Holden New York Times Nearly three years in the making, Steely Dan’s Gaucho (MCA-6102) is as refined as pop music can get without becoming too esoteric for a mass audience. Though it consists of only two men, Steely Dan must be counted one of the most influential rock “groups” of the past decade. […]
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Steely Dan: The Second Coming
By Cameron Crowe Rolling Stone Their new album, held throughout product-glutted summer for just the right moment, accidentally came out the same afternoon as the new Rolling Stones LP. Their first tour in three years was canceled. They haven’t had a hit single since 1974’s “Rikki Don’t Lost That Number.” And still, their sixth and […]
Recluse Rock
Originally published on Aug. 23, 1976 By Janet Maslin and Dewey Gram Newsweek There is something forbidding, even menacing, about them. When they played backup for Jay and the Americans, they were nicknamed “Manson and Starkweather.” But now that singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen and guitarist Walter Becker are the nucleus of Steely Dan, perhaps the best […]
Showbiz Kids: Talking with Jeff Baxter, and a Critical View of Steely Dan
By Chris Briggs ZigZag Magazine Interviewing an American musician is a unique experience. The inevitable myth precedes actuality. Three Steely Dan albums and 18 months of impressions formed within the confines of one’s own stereo systems and no opportunity to see the band play live. Simple manipulation of the media guarantees “cult band” status, and […]
Steely Dan: Get Dan And Get With It!
Originally published on May 25, 1974 By Chris Welch Melody Maker MANCHESTER, England — “We’ve never been here before, but we’re going to play the best concert we’ve ever played in our lives.” Skunk Baxter delivered this terse statement in no uncertain terms to the eager fans waiting on the edge of their seats at […]
Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy
Originally published on December 1, 1973 By Mick Gold Let It Rock Steely Dan is a vehicle for the songwriting talents of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who entered the music world via a two-year gig with Jay and the Americans. They say they don’t regret that period, but since they’ve lifted their name from […]
Counting Down to Headline Status: Steely Dan
Originally published on August 15, 1973 By Steven Rosen LA Free Press On Sept. 2, Steely Dan perform their first concert as headliners, that status which lifts the working-class band from the ranks of the bourgeois and places it in the stead of the nobility groups. After only two albums, the quintet has risen from […]
Album Review: Countdown to Ecstasy
Originally published on July 14, 1973 By Billboard Steely Dan Countdown to Ecstasy ABC ABCX 779 It’s delightful to hear an LP by an act which has had a hit single and discover how much musical ability the act has. That’s the end result of this LP: there’s lots of music, vocal and instrumental from […]
Steely Dan at Max’s Kansas City, NY
STEELY DAN (6) Songs 43 minutes Max’s Kansas City, New York Billboard Magazine Steely Dan, an East Coast hard-rock sextet, is making waves in their Gotham debut. They chart no new courses, but move musically and onstage as each tune gets full treatment. Bass guitarist Walter Becker and Donald Fagen keyboards, who write all the […]
Steely Dan: Rock & Roll via Third Stream
Originally published on October 27, 1972 By Chris Van Ness LA Free Press It all started with one of the most casual hypes I have ever gotten. It came in the form of an advance tape of an album by a new group called Steely Dan. “Listen to it. I don’t know anything about the […]
