Steely Dan's "Do it Again" dissected.
 

If you like music, you owe it to yourself to take 20 minutes and have a listen to this:

MITM Clips: Christian Hand Dissects Steely Dan - 100.3 The Sound

Lots of little surprises in the dialogue, (Skunk Baxter! Who knew?)

Anyway, try this with your morning coffee today...

Cool.

The Skunk bit is not the full story.

"Baxter fell into his second profession almost by accident. In the mid-1980s, Baxter's interest in music recording technology led him to wonder about hardware and software that was originally developed for military use, i.e. data-compression algorithms and large-capacity storage devices. As it happened, his next-door neighbor was a retired engineer who had worked on the Sidewinder missile program. This neighbor bought Baxter a subscription to Aviation Week magazine, provoking his interest in additional military-oriented publications and missile defense systems in particular. He became self-taught in this area, and at one point he wrote a five-page paper that proposed converting the ship-based anti-aircraft Aegis missile into a rudimentary missile defense system. He gave the paper to California Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and his career as a defense consultant began."

Heard that yesterday, very well done.


Didja catch the deadhead joke at the beginning?


Q) what did the grateful dead fan say after he ran out of pot?

A) hey man, this music kinda sucks .....

Have you seen the ASIA DVD?
The two guys sit at a huge mixing board and pan in/out the different studio musicians that played on a bunch of tracks.

I have. The Michael McDonald part is pretty funny. It must have been hell for him to sing that part that many times!

What a great way to start my day! Thanks for that! I've always enjoyed Steely Dan even though I didn't (and still don't) know all the background info on the lyrics, being they're so cryptic. Whenever I hear Steely Dan come on the radio I always think that everything is right with the world at that moment. I saw them live in 1996 here at Nat Bailey stadium; it's a small quaint ball park. That was a treat, and so was this link to dissecting "do it again". Thanks again!

Awesome!. Thanks for the link. It brought back memories of listening to the vinyl cranked through headphones.

I started listening to Dan in 1974 and even though I didn't know much about them, my ears would just zone in every time I heard them. It wasn't until years later that I found out how intensely intricate and exacting they were in the studio. They definitely knew that "less is more". They had such a great groove. AFAIK, they never did live work.

Fun trivia: the band's name came from the name of a dildo in a novel "Naked Lunch". :eek:

Perfect lunch time fare. Thank you!

It is rare for them to perform live because they are essentially studio producers who hire various studio musicians to work on their albums. They are touring this year though. Of course Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are the core duo musicians but the rest of the band is fluid. As to performance, they don't really "perform" as in put on a show for the audience; they are rather dry in that respect. I Googled Steely Dan at Nat Bailey and found this review from that concert. It was 19 years ago and so it's interesting to read the review which fills in some parts of my faded memory.
Live Review: Steely Dan, Nat Bailey Stadium, August 16, 1996

It's too bad we don't know anyone who plays in a steely dan style of band ...

I enjoyed the clip. I'm passing it onto a friend of mine who is a big SD and Doobie Bros fan.

If you look at the studio musicians that participated in their albums, it is top shelf talent.

Very cool, Oberst...especially Skunk's contribution..thank you!



Hey Scott...is this what you are referring to? Very cool...

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SD toured '72-'74, then retired from the road and broke up after Gaucho in '81. They returned to touring in '93, and have been fairly consistent since. I've seen them a baker's dozen times, though not the last few tours. The Making of Aja DVD is pretty good for showing how they think and just how crazy they were in the studio. Definitely one of the best song-writing teams ever.

As for Do It Again, in-flight wifi won't let me see it. But that song really changed the world of radio. While there certainly was plenty of great music that was on both AM and then the emerging FM radio stations, nothing quite like SD had hit yet. You drop the needle on that song, the groove starts, and you're somewhere else, with a handle in your hand...

Hah, around 6:15 in, "...guitar doubling the Bass....an early Detective kind of thing.."

Nice nod to a great but obscure band.

I loved that clip!!! Gave me goosebumps hearing the various parts dissected.

Thanks for posting this, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I somehow had the album at about 10-11 years old and really liked that particular song but never got much further into it. In my early 20's I was listening to Aja regularly. I need to dig further into their catalog. I always have liked their music.

That radio clip is super fun but it's really frustrating to hear all the detail terminology misused.

If anyone wants it, I have the entire multi-track recording.

https://mega.co.nz/#!R4gnlBLY!KgEcHQ6ECxWWvWqHb9SUMiNB2KhsP9uctaMATTd 6sgw

Open it with an open source recording program called Audacity

My father played Steely Dan religiously when i was growing up.

It wasnt until my 20's that I really got the lyrics. Was like opening a birthday gift.

LOL, my dad played Dave Brubeck. I still haven't gotten the lyrics ;)