As a teenage know-all who devoured the lyrics of rock songs, for me Steely Dan were manna from heaven.
Spread over a series of superb albums made between 1972 and 1980 (beginning with ‘Can’t Buy A Thrill‘ which stands as one of the all-time great debut records), Walter Becker and his co-Dan Donald Fagen wrote a score of brilliant songs. Their sly, often obscure lyrics set against soft rock, Latin and even jazz rhythms – the whole piece performed with great aplomb no matter what the musical style.
Regarded in equal measure as innovative or pompous, classy or pretentious, they split the critics – but the rock snobs amongst us lapped them up.
Becker and Fagen rarely gave interviews, hardly ever performed live and only released albums when they had something noteworthy (however bizarre) to say – Elton John they were not.
Neither were they an archetypal 70s Los Angeles band (Becker and Fagen were both New Yorkers) despite recording in the city. If the Eagles were cool and laid back then Steely Dan were superior and aloof.
Their well-known songs such as ‘Reelin’ in the Years,’ ‘Do It Again,’ and ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,’ each contained enough hooks and catchy guitar work to gain regular air play (all three were US hit singles) – but in much of their other outstanding work the lyrics often seemed too damned clever by half.
There was always a feeling Becker and Fagen (Steely Dan were simply a vehicle for their songs, the rest of the group made up of session musicians) were the two brainiest kids in the class and didn’t mind making it known.
One critic once likened decoding a Steely Dan song to doing The Times crossword. Indeed, for all the enjoyment I have had listening to their music, as much time has been spent scratching my head as tapping my foot.
With the death of Becker from cancer on September 3rd following that of Eagle Glenn Frey last year and the long since passing of Lowell George (Little Feat) and Warren Zevon, the end of the 1970s draws ever closer – even for the LA music scene.
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller available as an Amazon Kindle book.
