LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Steely Dan: Donald Fagen
built 124 days ago
Steely Dan has always been a shifty customer in the eyes of the Indie Cred Bureau and its predecessors. From their beginnings as prematurely middle-aged jazz lovers trying to sell songs to Jay and the Americans in the crumbling years of the Brill Building, to their suspicious ability to write hit songs (even if their first hit's opening lines rhymed "gunnin'" with "done in"), all the way to their reunion seemingly timed to nudge forward their induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have always had the huckster's instinct of how to put one over on a crowd - even, or especially, if that crowd was never particularly sure what it was getting. And it's that perversity, that pride in simultaneously fulfilling and subverting commercial imperatives, that's perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Steely Dan, their sheer unwillingness to play by the rules of hip and their often undisguised glee when, even if years or decades later, the trend-besotted hipoisie is forced to acknowledge that, yeah, Steely Dan had been there before.
Source:
Steely Dan is an American rock band centered around the core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The band's peak of popularity was in the 1970s, when it released six albums that blended together elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Their music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies, literate lyrics and adroit musicianship. The group toured from 1972 to 1974, but from 1975 to 1980 became a purely studio-based act. Inactive from 1981 through 1992, aft...Read More >
Source:
Musician/composers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, together known as Steely Dan, are known for their eclectic and cynical blend of rock, pop, jazz, blues, and R&B. Meeting at Bard College in 1967, the pair struggled as songwriting hopefuls until they relocated to California. Can't Buy a Thrill (1972), their debut album, spawned the FM radio standard “Do It Again.” Subsequent albums, Countdown to Ecstasy (1973), Pretzel Logic (1974), Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), and Aja (1977) found the Dan streamlining its formula for commercial success via hits like “Rikki Don't Lose That Numbe” and “Peg.” Meanwhile the band morphed into a revolving-door showcase for the era's most celebrated jazz and rock musicians. But by the release of Gaucho (1980) the original freshness of their approach had been lost and the pair called it quits in 1981. Becker and Fagen revived the act in the late '90s with a reunion tour and a new studio album, Two Against Nature (2000), won four Grammy awards including Album of the Year.
Source:
Before Steely Dan's official beginning, the duo recorded a soundtrack for a '60's counter-cultural comedy film as Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The album was titled You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It Or You'll Lose That Beat (For those who want to split hairs, the film was actually titled You've Got To Walk It Like You Talk It Or You'll Lose That Beat. The film's editor was none other than future horror auteur Wes Craven). The movie was made in 1968 but was unreleased until 1971, which was the album's release year; the album was apparently recorded in 1970. The other musicians on the album were Denny Diaz (guitar and percussion) and John Discepolo (drums). The producer was Kenny Vance, whom the duo met while working with Jay & The Americans.
Source:
In 2003 Steely Dan released another album, Everything Must Go, and toured America thereafter. Becker and Fagen went for a looser approach in the studio and attempted to capture a more live feel. Walter Becker contributed his first lead vocal on a Steely Dan studio album on the song "Slang of Ages" (he had sung lead on his own "Book of Liars," on Alive in America). Also, it is the first Steely Dan album since 1973 to feature the same drummer (Keith Carlock) on every track. Jim Hodder was the sole drummer on 1972's Can't Buy a Thrill and 1973's Countdown to Ecstasy. This album ... showed a return to form for Becker and Fagen's playing.
Source:
The title of Steely Dan's first studio album in 20 years. What took Walter Becker and Donald Fagen so long? Fagen was busy with two solo albums, The Nightfly and Kamakiriad(produced by Walter Becker). Fagen was ... involved with projects such as the New York Rock & Soul Revue, featuring artists like Boz Scaggs, Phoebe Snow and Michael McDonald.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Donald Fagen