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Steely Dan: Bands
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Less a band than a concept, Steely Dan was one of the most advanced, successful, and mysterious pop units of the '70s. Combining pop hooks with jazz harmonies, complicated time changes and cryptic, often highly ironic lyrics, the band sounded like no one else.
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The announcement that Steely Dan would release an album of new material in early 2000 was met with tremendous critical enthusiasm. Why not? Two Against Nature was the group’s first studio recording in 20 years. Yet, the music on this latest release doesn't sound at all like the same radio-friendly band that ignited the FM airwaves throughout the ’70s. While it’s true that radio has changed significantly since Steely Dan’s heyday, there really isn’t a track here — with the exception of Cousin Dupree — that fits this format.
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What does emerge from the interviews and the massive amount of press Steely Dan's ninth studio album has received is that Everything Must Go is both as retro and as 21st century as they come. The former is defined by the band's return to live-in-the-studio and analogue recording, the latter by the many formats EMG is released on: vinyl, standard CD, special edition CD/DVD, and DVD-Audio. Despite being a relic from the time of analogue, the Dan fit strikingly well in the digital era. The simple reason is that since they emerged in the early 1970s, Steely Dan have been famous/notorious as visionary/rabid (depending on your point of view) musical perfectionists and sonic pioneers.
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This mini-history of The Dan is appropriate because the newly released Steely Dan: The Definitive Collection is itself something of a historical documentary of the band's music. It's even in chronological order, starting with the lead track on their debut album, "Do It Again" and winding up 15 tracks later with "Things I Miss the Most" from 2003's Everything Must Go. This is, in fact, the first and only compilation that draws from all of their albums and covers their entire career.
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