Top 5 Most Overlooked Steely Dan Songs

[stella_blue]

Listed in chronological order:

#		Song Title		Album		Year
1		Turn That Heartbeat Over Again		Can't Buy a Thrill		1972
2		Pearl of the Quarter		Countdown to Ecstasy		1973
3		Night by Night		Pretzel Logic		1974
4		The Caves of Altamira		The Royal Scam		1976
5		Glamour Profession		Gaucho		1980

[TheSunshineFund]

Listed in chronological order:

#		Song Title		Album		Year
1		Turn That Heartbeat Over Again		Can't Buy a Thrill		1972
2		Pearl of the Quarter		Countdown to Ecstasy		1973
3		Night by Night		Pretzel Logic		1974
4		The Caves of Altamira		The Royal Scam		1976
5		Glamour Profession		Gaucho		1980

Love it.  Countdown to Ecstasy is easily my favorite SD album as a whole but I'd probably rank Caves as my #1 given these options.

[homerwannabee]

OK, decided to check out their music after all these years of not listening to them.  I know a couple of their songs apparently, but the reality is they sound too much like elevator music for my taste.

[TheSunshineFund]

Essentially, they are jazz for people like me who think jazz is kind of neat but somewhat difficult to listen to, so they added hooks and melody to it.

[stella_blue]

Essentially, they are jazz for people like me who think jazz is kind of neat but somewhat difficult to listen to, so they added hooks and melody to it.

That's a pretty good explanation.  I was going to post something trivial and silly, like . . .

Level 14 elevator music, to be more precise.   

[TheSunshineFund]

Essentially, they are jazz for people like me who think jazz is kind of neat but somewhat difficult to listen to, so they added hooks and melody to it.

That's a pretty good explanation.  I was going to post something trivial and silly, like . . .

Level 14 elevator music, to be more precise.   

And it is as complex as trying to complete L14 elevators if Kong was constantly throwing regular and wild barrels during it as well as springs simultaneously.

[corky]

Funny you started this thread.  There has been a lot of talk about Phish covering a Steely Dan album for Halloween.  Complete speculation, but quite a few people seem to be on board.  Come on Pretzel Logic...

[stella_blue]

Funny you started this thread.  There has been a lot of talk about Phish covering a Steely Dan album for Halloween.  Complete speculation, but quite a few people seem to be on board.  Come on Pretzel Logic...

Great news, even if it is just speculation.  I hope it materializes.

My personal choice would be "Countdown to Ecstasy", although they can't go wrong with any of the first 7 album releases ("Two Against Nature" hasn't quite grown on me yet, and I have never listened to "Everything Must Go").

I'd love to hear Trey nail the guitar parts on both "My Old School" and "Bodhisattva".

Did they have a horn section on stage when they played Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus" in its entirety?

[stella_blue]

I forwarded this topic to a good friend in Calabasas, CA.

His response appears below (with his permission):

I offer "My Old School" from Countdown to Ecstasy.  Although it did spend 9 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973, and ultimately reached No. 63, it should have been No. 1, and therefore qualifies as overlooked.

[corky]

Did they have a horn section on stage when they played Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus" in its entirety?

Not to my recollection, however they did have Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings when they covered Exile on Main Street, so horns are not out of the realm of possibility.

[giv]

The Boston Rag

http://youtu.be/a65Zmzbv62s

[TheSunshineFund]

The Boston Rag

http://youtu.be/a65Zmzbv62s

Yer.  That's my favorite SD song, followed closely by Kid Charlemagne.  We need to cover The Boston Rag one day George....

[stella_blue]

The Boston Rag

A quality selection, George.

Here are a couple of other honorable mentions.  I hesitate to classify them as overlooked, but they receive far less radio play than most of Steely Dan's "hits".

#		Song Title		Album		Year
6		Razor Boy		Countdown to Ecstasy		1973
7		Chain Lightning		Katy Lied		1975

Here's an early demo version of "Chain Lightning":

[noembed]Steely Dan - Katy Lied - Outtakes and Rough Mixes[/noembed]

I also enjoyed this clip of Donald Fagen talking about the structure of the song (even though I know nothing about music theory or composition):

[noembed]Donald Fagen talks about "Chain Lightning"[/noembed]

[stella_blue]

Steve, I think you'll appreciate this.

I just stumbled across it last night, a bonus DVD from "Everything Must Go" (2003).

It's an entertaining blend of Steely Dan and HBO's "Taxicab Confessions".

Steely Dan - Confessions

[stella_blue]

Yet another honorable mention:
[noembed]
Here At The Western World
[/noembed]
Originally released as the only new track on a "Greatest Hits" album, this song has continued to grow on me over the years.  I didn't realize it was initially recorded during the "Royal Scam" sessions.