Walter Becker - R.I.P.

One of my favorites of theirs is "Dirty Work". Only down side is that it's not long enough, so I have to replay it a couple of times. Wifey just doesn't understand.
 
Origin of the name is true; however, in true Becker/***en style, it wasn't so much an inside joke but a combination of influences, including the fact that the band had a pedal steel guitar in its lineup at the outset, and that the band also liked the idea of projecting the idea of a hulking guy named Steely Dan. I'm not making this up; it's out there in the reading I've done since Walter passed yesterday.

Like many of you, I associate listening to the Dan with some of my best college buddies who also were big fans -- in fact, a couple of whom turned me on the the band and spurred me to put together a collection of their vinyl from Can't Buy a Thrill all the way through to Gaucho. So hard to pick a favorite from such stellar LPs including those and Katy Lied, Countdown to Ecstasy, Royal Scam, Pretzel Logic, and Aja.

For my money, though, Aja is a strong contender, and Deacon Blues is probably my all-time favorite Dan song. I read today that Walter said it was a song that, after a full day mastering, it was still all he wanted to listen to.

That was at a time when Walter had begun having some pretty difficult times with heroin, leading to the eventual temporary dissolution of the band when he retired to Hawaii and became an avocado farmer. He also had a bad accident when he was hit by a car -- an incident about which his famously hysterical humor prompted him to describe himself and the driver as "quant*m criminals" who tried to occupy the same place and time. :) (I don't know why the Forum software wants to edit the word "quant*m."

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A0wGO3c2T8[/ame]

And another from Aja, though this one won't make any greatest hits compilations. It's always been a favorite of mine, resonating with me in its Odyssey references intermingled with the great horn arrangement and a nice solo by Walter.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMjGaiIxtY[/ame]
 
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In a previous life, Randy and Michael played in a jazz/rock/blues fusion band called Dreams. They released two albums before breaking up. The first album was the better of the two IMO and was interesting in the fact that all tracks were recorded with the group together in one or two takes. Individual instruments were not recorded separately and mixed by a sound engineer into finished songs.

Bruce
 
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