Steely Dan Classic Al*** Aja

Go pick up the DVD. Pretty much available in any big music store.

A couple of studio jams at the end are really great - shame the sound is no better than average. Ian Dury talking about how much they meant to him is also good entertainment.

Hi Simon, it is the sort of thing that I would probably just watch the once?

Or not at all unless you splash out a tenner.

Very funny, it is on Amazon for about £6 so may have to splash the cash. The thing is, although I spend fortunes on records and CD's over a year I rarely watch music DVD's so I am reluctant to purchase. I have the 'Jazz' DVD box set which was rather dear yet have probably only watched the once. I also only have a rather crappy telly and DVD player.

Go on, you can't go wrong for 6 quid. This DVD is essential for Dan freaks, as is the Two Against Nature DVD.

Well worth 6 quid, if only as an education in the bands single minded obsession with absolute musiacl quality and perfection.

Malky - I love the 2vN dvd. Fagen is on top form and this is the best set of live Dan musicians in the current guise methinks. On a couple of tunes I notice a little loss of synch between fagens vocals and the picture. Perhaps a litle post trickery back in the studio to make sure he hits all the high notes? Not that I am worried.

Another goodie would have been a dvd release of the latest Fagen tour of the states. Probably won't happen but I would loved to have had the live versions of nightfly, IGY etc. Oh well, three tours and three albums since 2000 is more than any Dan head had the right to dream about.

I had a new young friend (33) over for a beer a month ago and put on Aja. He said "oh is this the original? I've never heard it before" I looked at him and asked where he had heard it and he told me it's sampled all the time in hip hop and rap. But he liked the original much more so we enjoyed the rest of the album. He liked my system too so he gets 2 plus marks. Hasn't been back tho for another listen. Wonder if next time I should pull out early Stevie Wonder?

Steely Dan followed by vintage era Stevie could cause an overload on delicate minds unused to excessive doses of musical perfection.

I recommend only one track at a time followed by generous rest periods.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Wolf:
I had a new young friend (33) over for a beer a month ago and put on Aja. He said "oh is this the original? I've never heard it before" I looked at him and asked where he had heard it and he told me it's sampled all the time in hip hop and rap.
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I first heard the riff from Eddie Floyd's 'Big Bird' on a Transglobal Underground track before becomimg familiar with the masterful song itself. Its amazing when you hear something very familiar in its original setting.
Samples which are used cleverly can be very creative. If it leads newer listeners to seek out the originals, so much the better.

Wolf, it was De La Soul who sampled Steely Dan on their excellent album '3 feet high and rising' (I think it was released in 1989). I had the same 'aha'-effect a couple of years later, but I must say I like both pieces very much!

Messrs fagen and becker may also have sampled in pursuit of musical perfection
try listening to horace silver

songs for my father by horace silver is seemingly the origins of rikki dont lose that number

look here song for my father

mike

Another one where the boys did a little borrowing. Listen to Keith Jarrett from 1974.

Would you care to explain
Who is the Jarrett amigo
Why is he strummin
In my spangled don and walt tunio
With the chords that match their style
Bodacious cowboys
Such as our friends
Will always be welcome here
High in the plagiarisodome


Track 12, disc 1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/samples/B0000646VA/ref...encoding=UTF8#disc_1

Keith Jarret sued the boys over that one. I believe Gaucho is now credited as Becker/Fagen/Jarret.

Absolutely fascinating in my innocence I assumed Becker and Fagen would be above such things! The Horrace Silver just has the bass riff lifted whereas with Jarrett it is more grand larceny!

Nothing new under the sun in the pop game.