Song Musings

Happy Wednesday and welcome to Song Musings, my recurring midweek feature in which I dig deeper into a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. As a huge fan of Steely Dan, today’s pick definitely falls into the first category: Black Cow.

Co-written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Black Cow is the amazing opener of Aja, Steely Dan’s sixth studio album released in September 1977 and, I think many fans agree, their musical Mount Rushmore. In August 1978, Black Cow also appeared as the B-side of the album’s third single Josie.

The single enjoyed moderate chart success, peaking at no. 24 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, it did slightly better, climbing to no. 20. The Aja album, on the other hand, was hugely successful, peaking at no. 3 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 and in New Zealand, no. 5 in the UK and no. 9 in each The Netherlands and Australia. Aja also reached 2X Platinum status in the U.S. (2 million certified sold units) and Canada (200,000 certified sold units), as well as Gold status in the UK (100,000).

Like the title track and Peg, Walter Becker did not play on the recording of Black Cow. Donald Fagen provided lead vocals and synthesizer. As had become common since the March 1975 Katy Lied album, Messrs. Becker and Fagen relied on contributions from top-notch session musicians: Larry Carlton (guitar), Joe Sample (clavinet), Victor Feldman (Fender Rhodes), Tom Scott (tenor saxophone), Chuck Rainey (bass) and Paul Humphrey (drums). Backing vocals came from Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Sherlie Matthews and Rebecca Louis. Here’s a live version captured by yours truly in New Jersey in July 2018.

Black Cow has been covered by various other artists over the years. Among others, SecondHandSongs lists jazz pianist Ahamad Jamal (1978), jazz drummer Norman Connors (1980), smooth jazz guitarist Nick Colionne (1999), soul and jazz singer-songwriter Tony Gallo (2006), Canadian art rock band The Darcys (2012) and singer and actress Linda Lavin (2020), among others. Here’s Colionne’s instrumental version, which he recorded for his 1999 album The Seduction.

Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:

“Black Cow” has a number of lyrical interpretations: a troubled relationship, an ode to self-doubt, a commentary on nightlife, a reference to Hindu culture (cows are sacred). Or it could be about Thelonious Monk, the American jazz composer who is often regarded as the father of bebop.

In the Classic Albums episode on the album Aja, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, perhaps showing their wry sense of humor, described the lyric as “self explanatory,” but did offer some insight as to what they had in mind.

“It starts out with this guy talking about this girl he used to be involved with,” Fagan said. “She’s sitting at a counter, and he describes her behavior and habits, and out of that you begin to see her character and their relationship.”

He added that the “black cow” is a beverage – depending on where you live, it can be a milkshake or a coke float (like a root beer float, but with coke). But it’s something you would get at a soda fountain, where the song takes place. In the ’50s, Fagen and Becker spent a lot of time at these soda fountains.

Note the deceptively simple disco-era instrumental starting out with a bass line and drums, then sneaking in layers of complexity with saxophone accompaniment and the electric piano solo. Steely Dan made a name for themselves with highly polished productions using a wide array of session musicians.

Becker and Fagan would sometimes record a song with one group of musicians, decide it wasn’t working, and try it again with an entirely new set of players – rinse and repeat until it was right. Aja was their sixth album; by this time Fagen and Becker had refined their system and developed an uncommon rapport where they could almost read each other’s musical minds.

The multitrack masters for “Black Cow” and “Aja” have gone missing, which makes it impossible to do surround-sound versions of these tracks. In the liner notes to the stereo remaster of the Aja album, the band offered a $600 reward for information leading to their return.

The 1998 hip-hop hit “Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)” by Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz samples significant portions of “Black Cow.” So much that Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are listed as the writers on the track.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; SecondHandSongs; YouTube

Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark Continues to Shine At 50

Note: This week, Song Musings, which normally runs on Wednesdays, will appear tomorrow, Thursday, January 18

Today, 50 years ago, Joni Mitchell released the acclaimed Court and Spark. Not only did the Canadian singer-songwriter’s sixth studio album become her most successful to date, but it also introduced jazz elements, marking an important stylistic evolution in her music. Or, as Apple Music puts it: Court and Spark sits halfway between Joni Mitchell’s folkie past and her jazz-rock future.

By the time Court and Spark appeared on January 17, 1974, Mitchell was in the sixth year of her recording career. Each of her four previously issued albums reached higher chart positions in Canada than its predecessor. With Court and Spark, she topped the charts there for the first and thus far only time. In the U.S., where Mitchell had lived since 1965, the album surged to no. 2. Elsewhere, it reached no. 14 in the UK, no. 18 in Norway and no. 34 in Australia.

Court and Spark took longer to come together compared to Mitchell’s previous albums, which until the predecessor For the Roses she released at a pace of one per year. As a 2017 Uncut story posted on Mitchell’s website explains, the delay can largely be explained by Mitchell’s search for the right backing musicians for her increasingly complex songs. In the end, Los Angeles jazz fusion ensemble L.A. Express turned out to be the right fit.

Led by Tom Scott who had played woodwinds and reeds on For the Roses, L.A. Express included Larry Carlton (guitar), Joe Sample (keyboards), Max Bennett (bass) and John Guerin (drums). Court and Spark also featured some other prominent guests, such as José Feliciano (electric guitar), Robbie Robertson (electric guitar), as well as David Crosby and Graham Nash (backing vocals each). Time for some music!

Court and Spark opens with the title track, which finds Mitchell on piano. The song explores love versus freedom, a key topic on the album. A contemporary review by Jon Landau of Rolling Stone noted the song delves into the idea that the freer the writer becomes, the more unhappy she finds herself, and the more she surrenders her freedom, the less willing she is to accept the resulting compromise.

Help Me became the album’s second and most successful single, reaching no. 6 and no. 7 on the Canadian and U.S. pop singles charts, respectively. It marked Mitchell’s only top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Songfacts explains Mitchell sings about a guy she’s falling in love with while at the same time knowing the relationship is doomed, as he is “a rambler and a gambler” who loves his freedom. Mitchell reported called Help Me a “throwaway song,” but a “good radio record,” explaining, “My record companies always had a tendency to take my fastest songs on album for singles, thinking they’d stand out because they did on the LPs. Meantime, I’d feel that the radio is crying for one of my ballads.”

Free Man in Paris, which also became the album’s third and final single in July 1974, is about the pressures the music industry puts on artists. Songfacts notes the “free man” is David Geffen, co-founder of Asylum Records, Mitchell’s label at the time. The song featured José Feliciano on electric guitar, and backing vocals by David Crosby and Graham Nash. Geffen doubted the song’s hit potential and needed to be convinced that it be released as a single. While it didn’t match Help Me, it made the top 20 in Canada (no. 16) and reached no. 22 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100. Notably, it peaked at no. 2 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. Not too shabby – most importantly, it’s a great song!

Down to You is another gem featuring Mitchell on piano. The song, which takes part in the aftermath of a one-night stand, addresses the need to either change one’s life or take responsibility for it. Down to You won Mitchell and Tom Scott the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) – one of for which she had been nominated, including Album of the Year.

The final track I’d like to highlight is Raised On Robbery. It also appeared separately as the album’s lead single in December 1973. The song has a cool rock & roll vibe that’s a bit reminiscent of Chuck Berry. It’s about a prostitute trying to pick up a man sitting by himself in a hotel. The track features Robbie Robertson on electric guitar.

Court and Spark evidently had some remarkable effects on other artists. According to Wikipedia, Mitchell told Rolling Stone in a July 1979 interview that when she played the newly completed album to Bob Dylan, the maestro fell asleep, apparently in the presence of David Geffen. Mitchell brushed it aside as Zimmy likely trying to be “cute” in front of the label boss. Stevie Nicks reportedly took LSD while listening to the album at her producer’s house, recalling it “a pretty dynamic experience” – jeez, you can’t make this stuff up!

Court and Spark received various accolades. In 1974, it was voted ‘Best Album of the Year’ in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll. It’s also on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time; in the most recent 2020 revision, it came in at no. 11o, its highest ranking thus far. Last but not least, Court and Spark was also included in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die published in 2006.

References: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Joni Mitchell website; Uncut; Rolling Stone; Songfacts; YouTube

Albums Turning 50 This Year: A First Peek

A new year means more albums hitting the big 50. Like in 2023, this preview is based on a review of Wikipedia and an initial selection of 40 studio albums that appeared over the course of 1974. From there, I narrowed it down to six favorites, each of which are briefly highlighted, followed by a Spotify playlist that captures one song from each of the 40 albums, except for Joni Mitchell. I’m planning individual, more in depth posts about the six picks and possibly a few more, all timed to each album’s anniversary date.

Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark (January 17, 1971)

Kicking off this preview is Court and Spark, the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, one of the many outstanding artists hailing from the Land of the Maple Leaf. Not only did Court and Spark become Mitchell’s most successful album, but it also marked the start of her transition from a “straight folkie” to an artist who incorporated jazz elements in her music. Court and Spark featured prominent guests from both the jazz and other music realms, such as pianist Joe Sample (co-founder of The Jazz Crusaders), jazz bassist Max Bennett, session guitarist Larry Carlton and The Band’s Robbie Robertson. Here’s Trouble Child, which like all other except for one track was penned by Mitchell.

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic (February 20, 1974)

While my favorite Steely Dan album will always remain Aja, there’s a lot more to the Dan than their September 1977 gem. Every time I see Good Stuff, an outstanding tribute led by my dear friend Mike Caputo, I’m reminded how great their earlier music was as well. Case in point: Pretzel Logic, their third studio album and final as a standing band featuring Donald Fagen (keyboards, saxophone, vocals), Walter Becker (bass, guitar, backing vocals), Denny Dias (guitar) and Jim Hodder (drums). That said, Hodder only sang backing vocals on one track, and the album had significant contributions from many prominent L.A. session musicians, already foreshadowing the approach Fagen and Becker would take starting with the next Steely Dan album Katy Lied. Here’s the excellent Night by Night, which has become one of my favorite Dan songs pre-Aja.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Second Helping (April 15, 1974)

With (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd), the Southern rockers had released a strong debut in August 1973, which not only charted in the U.S. and Canada, but also overseas in the UK and Switzerland. While their follow-on Second Helping included what arguably is their signature song, Sweet Home Alabama, which became their first charting single and a major hit at home and elsewhere, the album missed the charts overseas. That said, it did better in the U.S. and Canada than their debut, peaking on the mainstream charts at no. 12 and no. 9, respectively. Here’s Don’t Ask Me No Questions, a great rocker co-written by guitarist Gary Rossington and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant. The horns by Bobby Keys, Trevor Lawrence and Steve Madaio give it a nice soul vibe!

Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard (July 1974)

461 Ocean Boulevard, one of my favorite albums by Eric Clapton, marked his triumphant return to music after a 3-year hiatus due to heroin addiction. It also represented a clear break from Clapton’s hardcore blues rock-oriented days with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, Cream and Derek and the Dominos – all music I love as well. Sadly, his struggles with addiction weren’t over, and he would soon replace heroin with alcohol before finally getting sober in 1987. Here’s the fantastic Let It Grow, one of three tracks on the album Clapton wrote or co-wrote.

Supertramp – Crime of the Century (October 25, 1974)

Supertramp are a band I will always associate with my school days back in Germany, which in the U.S. would have been the equivalent to middle school. The English group became very popular in Germany, especially when they released their Breakfast in America album that topped the charts there and in many other countries. Crime of the Century, their third studio album, predated Breakfast in America by about 4.5 years. The song I best remember hearing on the radio is the opener School. Like all other tracks, it was co-written by Rick Davies (vocals, keyboards, harmonica) and Roger Hodgson (vocals, guitar, pianos). Typically, both alternated lead vocals, which in this case were sung by Hodgson.

Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (November 22, 1974)

This brings me to the final album I’d like to highlight in the post’s main section: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, the sixth studio album by Genesis. The British group became one of the few progressive rock acts I warmed to in the ’80s. I had always liked The Carpet Crawlers, which I had well known from the radio. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, the song missed the charts everywhere, which I find hard to believe. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was a concept album telling the strange story of a poor Puerto Rican boy from The Bronx, who goes on a bizarre adventure in New York City, which ends in death. That said, musically, the group’s final album with original lead vocalist Peter Gabriel remains a gem, IMHO. Here’s the title track credited to all five members of the band: Gabriel (lead vocals), Steve Hackett (electric guitars), Tony Banks (piano), Mike Rutherford (bass) and Phil Collins (drums, bell-tree, glockenspiel, triangle, wind chimes, tambourine, timbales, backing vocals).

Here’s the above-mentioned Spotify playlist. It doesn’t include Trouble Child by Joni Mitchell who in January 2022 removed her music in solidarity with Neil Young to protest the platform for hosting Joe Rogan’s podcast, which spread dangerous misinformation about COVID-19.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

Song Musings

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of Song Musings where I take a closer look at tunes I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. Today’s pick is Amelia by Joni Mitchell.

My intro to the Canadian singer-songwriter happened some 40 years ago with her 11th studio album Wild Things Run Fast from 1982 and I instantly loved Chinese Café / Unchained Melody. That said, I didn’t start to further explore her music until a couple of years ago.

From Mitchell’s albums I’ve heard to date, Hejira has become a favorite. Amelia is the second cut on Side one (speaking in vinyl terms). Like all other tracks on the great record, it was solely written by her. Check out that beautiful and warm sound – I totally dig it!

Amelia was inspired by Mitchell’s breakup of a short relationship with John Guerin, the drummer of jazz fusion ensemble L.A. Express, her backing band from the mid to late ’70s. According to Wikipedia, The song interweaves a story of a desert journey (the “hejira within the hejira”) with the famous aviator Amelia Earhart who mysteriously vanished during a flight over the Pacific Ocean.

Mitchell has commented on the origins of the song: “I was thinking of Amelia Earhart and addressing it from one solo pilot to another… sort of reflecting on the cost of being a woman and having something you must do.” Here’s a nice live version from 1983.

Hejira had some notable guests. Amelia featured prominent session guitarist Larry Carlton, who played on hundreds of albums by artists, such as Steely Dan, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Sammy Davis, Jr. Vibraphone was provided by English jazz musician Victor Feldman, who has played with the likes of Cannonball Adderley, Gregg Allman, Johnny Cash and Rickie Lee Jones, among many others. Carlton and Feldman also appeared on various other albums by Mitchell.

Hejira, which captures Mitchell’s experiences during a period of frequent travel in late 1975 and early 1976, was received favorably when it appeared but neither matched sales nor chart performance of its predecessors. In Canada, it peaked at no. 22 and in the U.S. it climbed to no. 13. It did best in the UK where it reached no. 11.

But, as happens frequently in music, in the years since its release the album has been considered one of the gems in Mitchell’s recording catalog. The most recent revision of Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, published in September 2020, ranks Hejira at no. 133. It was also voted no. 776 in the third edition (2000) of Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums.

Following are some additional insights on Amelia by Songfacts:

Mitchell (from a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times): “I wrote the album while traveling cross-country by myself and there is this restless feeling throughout it… the sweet loneliness of solitary travel...“

Amelia Earhart vanished while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Mitchell alludes to this when she sings:

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms

Icarus is a figure from Greek mythology whose father, Daedalus, crafted him a set of wings made of wax. Despite his father’s warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted, sending him to his death in what is now called the Icarian Sea.

Joni Mitchell sings in the first verse about:

Six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

She explained the lyric to Robert Hepburn for Mojo magazine in 1994. “Basically the false alarm was the end of a relationship. Two scorpios couldn’t let each other go. It was done, but we couldn’t let go; we belonged to each other. It was winding down and I am driving solo without a driver’s license across the country. I think of Amelia I think solo flight. I can’t remember how many hotel rooms later it was complete.”

The late David Crosby, who was in a brief relationship with Joni Mitchell in 1967 and remained a friend thereafter, covered Amelia on his sixth solo album Sky Trails, which came out in September 2017. Nice rendition!

Going back to Songfacts, here’s what Crosby reportedly told Uncut about the tune:

“I’ve always wanted to sing that song. I love that song! What a stunning piece of work she did, the two levels of it talking about Amelia Earhart and taking about her own love life at the same time, so eloquently, with such a beautiful set of words. Her version is quite ornate. I tried to sing it very simply.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and hope you are spending a great morning, afternoon, evening, or night, in whichever timezone you are in. Let’s embark on another excursion into the great world of music. As always, we are doing this six tunes at a time.

The Sonny Stitt Quartet/Down Home Blues

Our first stop today is the year 1956 and New York Jazz, an album by American saxophonist Sonny Stitt. The bebop/hard bop player, who started his career in the early ’40s, was known for his warm tone, which can be heard on more than 100 albums. Some critics viewed him as a Charlie Parker mimic, especially during his early years, but he gradually developed his own sound and style. During the ’40s, he played alto saxophone in the big bands of Tiny Bradshaw, Billy Eckstine and Gene Ammons. He also led the Bebop Boys and Galaxy in 1946 and 1948, respectively. In the ’50s, he also played with other bop musicians, such as Horace Parlan, Bud Powell and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. This brings me to New York Jazz, one of the many albums Stitt recorded as a leader. His quartet also featured Jimmy Jones (piano), Ray Brown (bass) and Jo Jones (drums). Here is Down Home Blues, one of Stitt’s compositions.

Steely Dan/Josie

Let’s stay in the jazzy lane and add a dose of pop with a Steely Dan classic from September 1977: Josie, off what I feel is their Mount Rushmore, the Aja album. Starting with Katy Lied from March 1975, the Dan’s masterminds Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had abandoned the standing band concept in favor of recording with a revolving cast of top-notch session musicians. It certainly worked out nicely for them, though it also was an extensive effort, with Aja featuring nearly 40 musicians alongside Messrs. Becker and Faxen. Josie nicely illustrates the caliber of talent. In addition to Fagen (lead vocals, synthesizer, backing vocals) and Becker (guitar solo), the recording included Larry Carlton and Dean Parks (guitar), Victor Feldman (Fender Rhodes), Timothy B. Schmit (backing vocals), Chuck Rainey (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums).

Foo Fighters/Best of You

Time to pay a visit to the current century, more specifically June 2005. That’s when Foo Fighters issued their fifth studio album In Your Honor. At that time, the rock band from Seattle around former Nirvana drummer-turned-guitarist Dave Grohl had released a string of increasingly successful albums that enjoyed international chart success. In Your Honor was no exception, topping the charts in Australia and New Zealand, reaching no. 2 in the U.S., the UK and Ireland, and placing in the top 5 in Canada, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands. The double album also featured notable guests like John Paul Jones (ex-Led Zeppelin), Josh Homme (Queen of the Stone Age) as well as singer-songwriter and pianist Norah Jones. Here’s Best of You, credited to all four members of the band, who in addition to Grohl at the time also included Chris Shiflett (lead xuitar), Nate Mendel (bass) and Taylor Hawkins (drums). The tune also appeared separately as the album’s lead single on May 30, 2005. The Foos, who lost Hawkins in March this year due to his untimely death at the age of 50 and have honored their longtime drummer with a series of tribute concerts, appear to rock on.

Dire Straits/Industrial Disease

Our next stop are the ’80s with one of my favorite bands and an album for which I’ve gained a new appreciation, thanks in part to fellow blogger Graham from Aphoristic Album Reviews. In September 1982, Dire Straits released their fourth studio album Love Over Gold. It came two years after its predecessor Making Movies, which is one of my longtime favorites by the British rock band. Love Over Gold with its outstanding sound and Mark Knopfler’s cinematic songwriting was very well received. It became the group’s most successful album at the time, topping the charts in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and The Netherlands, climbing to no. 2 in France, and reaching no. 4 in Germany. In the U.S., it fared more moderately with a no. 19 on the Billboard 200. In Canada, it got to no. 6. Industrial Disease became the second of two singles in November of the same year. It couldn’t match the chart success of the lead single Private Investigations. Interestingly, the two markets in which Industrial Disease charted were Canada and the U.S. American and Canadian audiences would enthusiastically embrace Dire Straits less than three years later when they released Brothers in Arms, their most successful album.

Collective Soul/The World I Know

We haven’t paid a visit to the ’90s yet, so let’s travel there now. March 1995 saw the release of Collective Soul’s eponymous sophomore album, aka the Blue Album to distinguish it from the southern grunge rock band’s 2009 release, which was also self-titled. While I had heard The World I Know before, I had forgotten about this great tune until recently when I coincidentally came across it. The sing is credited to lead vocalist and guitarist Ed Roland and the group’s original lead guitarist Ross Childress (Roland since disputed that Childress had any role in writing it – CMM). The official video, which includes a warning because of the depiction of attempted suicide (though the individual recognizes in time it would be wrong and does not go through with it), is pretty powerful. The World I Know was the fourth of five singles the album spawned. It became the group’s only no. 1 in Canada, and in the U.S., it topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock and Adult Alternative Airplay charts. The single also made the top 20 in the mainstream Billboard Hot 100. Elsewhere, it reached no. 25 in New Zealand and no. 41 in Australia. Collective Soul are still around with Roland remaining part of the present line-up. In fact, they released a new album on August 12 this year, which I haven’t heard.

The Miracles/Shop Around

Recently, I saw Motown soul legend Smokey Robinson in Philadelphia. If you’re interested, I wrote about the amazing show here. One of the songs the now 82-year-old Robinson, who still is in great vocal and physical shape, did not perform to my regret and surprise is Shop Around. I’ve always loved this tune and thought it make for a great final stop of today’s music journey. Co-written by Robinson and Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., the song first appeared as a single in September 1960 for Robinson’s vocal group The Miracles, aka Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972. It became their first no. 1 in the U.S. on the Billboard R&B chart. and one of their highest-charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100 where it climbed to no. 2. The Miracles were Motown’s first million-selling artists. Shop Around was also included on the group’s debut album Hi… We’re the Miracles, which appeared in June 1961.

Last but not least, following is a Spotify playlist featuring all the above goodies. Hope there’s something that makes you smile.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

Clips & Pix: Steely Dan/Black Friday

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The idea for this post came to me spontaneously earlier this morning when I cheerfully deleted the latest batch of unsolicited advertising emails about Black Friday. Above is a small sample. While I generally don’t mind sales and getting a good deal, I just find the frenzy around Black Friday completely insane. I’m sure if I would search the Internet long enough, I’d find local news reports about folks beating up each other in stores. I certainly recall reading about such incidents in years past.

This brings me to Messrs. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and the opener of Steely Dan’s fourth studio album Katy Lied that appeared in March 1975. Black Friday was also released separately as the record’s lead single in April of the same year. The tune reached no. 57 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 mainstream chart, a modest showing, but I doubt Becker and Fagen lost much sleep over it!

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Here’s some background on the tune from Songfacts: Long before the term came to denote the shopping frenzy on the day after Thanksgiving, Steely Dan released this song about the original “Black Friday,” when on Friday, September 24, 1869 a failed ploy left many wealthy investors broke. The investors tried to corner the market on gold, buying as much of it as they could and driving up the price, but when the government found out, it released $4 million worth of gold into the market, driving down the price and clobbering the investors.

As for how it became a retail reference, sometime in the ’60s, the term was bandied about to indicate the key day in the holiday shopping season when the stores would be “in the black,” meaning making money (black ink indicates profit, red ink indicates loss).

…Steely Dan used various guitarists on the Katy Lied album, including Rick Derringer, Hugh McCracken and Larry Carlton. On this track, however, Walter Becker played the solo. He did it using the Fender Telecaster belonging to another guitarist who played on the album, Denny Dias. Becker used it because he liked how Dias had it set up. Once again goes to show what a kickass guitarist Becker was!

And then, there’re shocking news headlines like the following:

Black Friday sales kick off the holiday shopping season, but expect to pay more this year
Black Friday Shopping Is Back, but the Doorbusters Aren’t
Experts say not to expect too much from Black Friday deals
Avoid these 3 holiday scams on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. Again, there’s nothing wrong per se to look for a good deal. But Black Friday just isn’t my thing and never has been – can you tell? If you’re out there hitting the stores, please be safe. Or shop over the Internet. Or even better, watch the Disney+ Peter Jackson docuseries The Beatles: Get Back. You can get a 1-month trial to the Micky Mouse channel. It’s a great deal! 🙂

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another installment of The Sunday Six, my weekly recurring feature where I stretch out across different genres and different decades to celebrate music I dig, six tracks at a time. This edition features blue-eyed soul/R&B, Americana rock and Stax soul, bookended by two beautiful guitar-driven instrumentals. It touches the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2021.

Marisa Anderson & William Tyler/Hurricane Light

Kicking off this post is beautiful instrumental music by Portland, Ore.-based guitarist and composer Marisa Anderson. From her website: Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. Her deeply original work applies elements of minimalism, electronic music, drone and 20th century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel and country music, re-imagining the landscape of American music…Classically trained, she honed her skills playing in country, jazz and circus bands. Originally from Northern California, Anderson dropped out of college at age nineteen to walk across the US and after more than decade of wandering landed in Portland, Oregon, where she currently lives. Hurricane Light is a track from Anderson’s new album, Lost Futures, which appeared on August 27 and which she recorded together with William Tyler, a fellow guitarist from Nashville, Tenn. I find this music super relaxing. It’s got a cinematic feel to it, which perhaps isn’t surprising. Anderson’s website also notes she writes scores for short films and soundtracks.

Boz Scaggs/Lowdown

Let’s jump back 45 years to a very cool tune by Boz Scaggs. Lowdown, which features a seductive funky bassline and is smooth at the same time, is from Scaggs’ seventh studio album Silk Degrees released in February 1976. Co-written by Scaggs and then-future Toto co-founder David Paich, the song also became the highest-charting single off the album, climbing to no. 3 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, it peaked at no. 2. It also charted in the UK and Australia. BTW, that neat bassline was played by David Hungate, another soon-to-become original member of Toto. And there was a third musician who would join Paich and Hungate to form Toto the following year, together with Steve Lukather and Bobby Kimball: drummer Jeff Porcaro. Scaggs started his career in 1959 in high school as vocalist in Steve Miller’s first band The Marksmen. The two musicians continued to play together in a few other groups, including Steve Miller Band. After staying with them for the first two albums, Scaggs secured a recording deal for himself and focused on his solo career. He is still active and has released 19 solo albums to date, the most recent of which, Out of the Blues, appeared in July 2018.

Steve Earle & The Dukes/I Ain’t Ever Satisfied

When my streaming music provider served up I Ain’t Ever Satisfied the other day, I was immediately hooked. I’ve listened to some of Steve Earle’s catalog, but there is a lot left for me to explore. I Ain’t Ever Satisfied, written by Earle, appeared on his sophomore album Exit 0 from May 1987, which he recorded together with his backing band The Dukes. The album placed in the U.S. and Canadian mainstream charts at no. 90 and no. 36, respectively, and earned Earle two 1988 Grammy nominations for Best Male Country Vocalist and Best Country Song. Earle has released 21 studio albums to date, including collaborations with Del McCoury Band and Shawn Colvin. His most recent album J.T., a tribute to his oldest son Justin Townes Earle who passed away from a drug overdose in August 2020, was released in early January this year. I previously reviewed it here.

Son Volt/Driving the View

Alternative country and Americana rock band Son Volt are a recent discovery for me. They entered my radar screen with their latest album Electro Melodier, which came out at the end of July. I featured a tune from it in a previous Best of What’s New installment. The group around singer-songwriter and guitarist Jay Farrar was formed by him in 1994 after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo, another alt. country outfit he had co-founded in 1987. Son Volt’s studio debut Trace appeared in September 1995. To date, the band has released 10 albums. In addition to Farrar, the current members include Chris Frame (guitar), Mark Spencer (keyboards, steel guitar),  Andrew DuPlantis (bass) and Mark Patterson (drums). Here’s Driving the View, a great track from Son Volt’s third studio album Wide Swing Tremolo that appeared in October 1998.

Wilson Pickett/In the Midnight Hour

Next we’re going back to 1965 and Memphis, Tenn. for some sweet soul music recorded at the Stax studio. By the time Atlantic recording artist Wilson Pickett recorded In the Midnight Hour, Stax founder Jim Stewart had signed a formal national distribution deal with Atlantic Records, a contract that would come to haunt him when Atlantic Records was sold to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1967 and Stax would lose the rights to all Atlantic-distributed recordings between 1960 and 1967. Coming back to a happier subject, In the Midnight Hour was co-written by Pickett and guitarist Steve Cropper, a founding member of Stax house band Booker T. & the M.G.s, who also was the label’s A&R man. M.G.s members Al Jackson Jr. (drums) and Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass) participated in the recording session. In the Midnight Hour, which appeared in June 1965, also was the title track of Pickett’s sophomore album released the same year. The tune became Pickett’s first no. 1 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart and his highest charting song at the time on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100, where it reached no. 21. Just a timeless soul classic!

Robben Ford/A Dragon Tail

For the last track in this installment, we’re going back to the present time and a killer instrumental by guitarist extraordinaire Robben Ford, off his new album Pure that came out on August 27. Ford, who began playing the saxophone at age 10 before he discovered the guitar as a 13-year-old, has had a remarkable career. He has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Charlie Musselwhite, Larry Carlton and Little Feat, among many others. His solo debut Schizophonic, a jazz album, came out in 1976. Ford has since released close to 30 additional records under his name. This doesn’t include any of his collaboration albums. While primarily being associated with blues, Ford has played many other genres, including jazz, rock and funk. He has been nominated for five Grammys and was named one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century” by trade publication Musician magazine that folded in 1999. Here’s A Dragon Tail from Ford’s above mentioned new album. Check out this amazing sound!

Sources: Wikipedia; Marissa Anderson website; YouTube

The Sunday Six

By now it’s safe to assume more frequent visitors know what’s about to happen. To new readers, The Sunday Six is all about enjoying the diversity and beauty of music. I make a deliberate effort to feature different music genres including some I don’t listen to frequently. While the resulting picks, therefore, can appear to be random, these posts don’t capture the first six tunes that come to my mind. At the end of the day, anything goes as long as it speaks to me.

George Benson/Breezin’

Kicking is off is some groovy guitar pop jazz by George Benson. Benson started to play the guitar as an eight-year-old, following the ukulele he had picked up a year earlier. Incredibly, he already recorded by the age of 9, which means his career now stands at a whooping 57 years and counting! He gained initial popularity in the 1960s, performing together with jazz organist Jack McDuff. Starting with the 1963 live album Brother Jack McDuff Live!, Benson appeared on various McDuff records. In 1964, he released his debut as a bandleader, The New Boss Guitar of George Benson, which featured McDuff on piano and organ. In the ’70s, Benson started to venture beyond jazz into pop and R&B. Breezin’ from May 1976 is a good example. Not only did it top Billboard’s jazz chart, but it also climbed to no. 1 on the R&B and mainstream charts. Here’s the title track, written by Bobby Womack who also originally recorded it in December 1970, together with Hungarian jazz guitar great Gábor Szabó. It appeared on Szabó’s 1971 album High Contrast. Here’s Benson’s version. The smooth and happy sound are perfect for a Sunday morning!

Steely Dan/Home at Last

Let’s stay in pop jazzy lane for a bit longer with Steely Dan, one of my all-time favorite bands. I trust Messrs. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who first met in 1967 as students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. and quickly bonded over their mutual admiration for jazz and other music, don’t need much of an introduction. By the time they met guitarist Denny Dias in the summer of 1970, they already had written a good amount of original music. Steely Dan’s  first lineup was assembled in December 1971, after Becker, Fagen and Dias had moved to Los Angeles. The additional members included Jeff “Skunk” Baxter  (guitar), Jim Hodder (drums) and David Palmer (vocals). Earlier, Gary Katz, a staff producer at ABC Records, had hired Becker and Fagen as staff songwriters. It was also Katz who signed the Dan to the label. By the time their sixth and, in my opinion, best album Aja appeared in September 1977, Steely Dan had become a studio project by Fagen and Becker who surrounded themselves with a changing cast of top-notch session musicians and other artists. In this case, the latter included Larry Carlton (guitar), Chuck Rainey (bass), Jim Keltner (drums) and Michael McDonald (backing vocals), among others. Here’s Home at Last, which like all other tracks on the album was co-written by Fagen and Becker. In addition to them, the track featured Carlton (though the solo was played by Becker who oftentimes left lead guitar responsibilities to a session guitarist like Carlton), Rainey (bass), Victor Feldman (vibraphone), Bernard Purdie (drums), Timothy B. Schmit (backing vocals), and of course an amazing horn section, including Jim Horn (what an appropriate name!), Bill Perkins, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso, Chuck Findley, Lou McCreary and Dick Hyde.

The Temptations/Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone

Time to start switching up things with a dose of ’70s funk and psychedelic soul, don’t you agree? Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone by The Temptations is one of the coolest tunes I can think of in this context. Co-written by Motown’s Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, the song was first released as a single in May 1972 by the label’s recording act The Undisputed Truth. While the original to which you can listen here is pretty good as well, it’s the great rendition by The Temptations I heard first and have come to love! They recorded an 11-minute-plus take for their studio album All Directions from July 1972. In September that year, The Temptations also released a 6:54-minute single version of the song. While it still was a pretty long edit for a single, it yielded the group their second no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the ’70s. It would also be their last no. 1 hit on the U.S. mainstream chart. By the time Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone appeared, the group already had seen various changes and only featured two members of the classic line-up: Otis Williams (baritone) and Melvin Franklin (bass). The other members were Dennis Edwards (tenor), Damon Harris (tenor) and Richard Street (second tenor). Amazingly, The Temptations still exist after some 60 years (not counting the group’s predecessors), with 79-year-old Otis Williams remaining as the only original member. I have tickets to see them together with The Four Tops in early November – keeping fingers crossed! Meanwhile, here’s Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone, of course, the mighty album version, coz I don’t do things half ass here! 🙂

Peter Gabriel/Don’t Give Up (feat. Kate Bush)

Let’s go to a different decade with another artist I’ve come to dig, which in no small part was due to this album: Peter Gabriel and So, his fifth studio release from May 1986. It’s probably Gabriel’s most mainstream-oriented album. Much of the former Genesis lead vocalist’s other solo work has been more of an acquired taste. I also didn’t pay much attention after his follow-on Us that appeared in September 1992. Fueled by the hit single Sledgehammer, which topped the mainstream charts in the U.S. and Canada, peaked at no. 3 in Australia and New Zealand, and reached the top 10 in Germany and various other European countries, So became Gabriel’s best-selling solo album. I did catch him during the supporting tour in Cologne, Germany, and still have fond memories of that gig. Here’s Don’t Give Up, a haunting duet with Kate Bush. Inspired by U.S. Depression era photos from the 1930s Gabriel had seen, he applied the theme to the difficult economic conditions in Margaret Thatcher’s mid-1980s England. While the tune is a bit of a Debbie Downer, I find it extremely powerful. You can literally picture the lyrics as a movie. I also think the vocals alternating between Gabriel and Bush work perfectly.

The Turtles/Happy Together

I suppose after the previous tune, we all could need some cheering up. A song that always puts me in a good mood is Happy Together by The Turtles. Plus, it broadens our little musical journey to include the ’60s, one of my favorite decades in music. The Turtles started performing under that name in 1965. Their original members, Howard Kaylan (lead vocals, keyboards), Mark Volman (backing vocals, guitar, percussion), Al Nichol (lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Jim Tucker (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Chuck Portz (bass) and Don Murray (drums), had all played together in a surf rock-oriented band called The Crossfires. That group turned into The Tyrtles, a folk rock outfit, before becoming The Turtles and adopting more of a sunshine pop style. The band’s initial run lasted until 1970. Vollman and Kaylan subsequently launched pop duo Flo & Eddie and released a series of records between 1972 and 2009. In 1983, Vollman and Kaylan legally regained the use of the name The Turtles and started touring as The Turtles…Featuring Flo and Eddie. Instead of seeking to reunite with their former bandmates, Vollman and Kaylan relied on other musicians. The group remains active in this fashion to this day. Their website lists a poster for a Happy Together Tour 2021 “this summer,” though currently, no gigs are posted. Happy Together was the title track of the band’s third studio album from April 1967. Co-written by Alan Gordon and Garry Bonner, the infectious tune became The Turtles’ biggest hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100, climbing to no. 2 in Canada, and reaching no. 12 in the UK, marking their first charting single there.

Simple Minds/Stand by Love

I can’t believe it’s already time to wrap up this latest installment of The Sunday Six. For this last tune, I decided to pick a song from the early ’90s: Stand by Love by Simple Minds. While I wouldn’t call myself a fan of the Scottish new wave and pop rock band and don’t follow them closely, I generally enjoy their music. I also got to see them live once in Stuttgart, Germany in the early ’90s and remember it as a good show. Simple Minds emerged in late 1977 from the remains of short-lived punk band Johnny & The Self-Abusers. By late 1978, the band’s first stable line-up was in place, featuring Jim Kerr (lead vocals), Charlie Burchill (guitar), Mick MacNeil (keyboards), Derek Forbes (bass) and Brian McGee (drums). That formation recorded Simple Minds’ debut album Life in a Day released in April 1979. Their fifth studio album New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84) was the first to bring more significant commercial success in the UK and Europe. This was followed by a series of additional successful albums that appeared between 1984 and 1995, which included the band’s biggest hits, such as Don’t You (Forget About Me), Alive and Kicking, Belfast Child and Let There Be Love. Today, more than 40 years after their formation, Simple Minds are still around, with Kerr and Burchill remaining part of the current line-up. Here’s Stand by Love, co-written by Burchill and Kerr, from the band’s ninth studio album Real Life that came out in April 1991. This is quite a catchy tune. I also dig the backing vocals by what sounds like gospel choir, which become more prominent as the song progresses.

Sources: Wikipedia; The Turtles…Featuring Flo and Eddie website; YouTube

My Playlist: Steely Dan

Together with a handful of other bands and artists I’ve dug for many years, I couldn’t think of a better group to dedicate the first playlist of 2021 than to the amazing Steely Dan. While I’ve covered them on previous occasions, this is the first time I’ve put together a career-spanning playlist.

Before getting to some music, as usual, I’d like to provide a bit of background, for which I’m going to borrow from previous posts. The original masterminds behind Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, first met in 1967 as students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Fagen was impressed with Becker’s guitar skills. They soon discovered they liked similar music and decided to write songs together. They also started playing together in various local bands.

The seeds for Steely Dan were sown in the summer of 1970, when Fagen and Becker responded to a Village Voice ad by guitarist Denny Dias, looking for a “bassist and keyboard player with jazz chops.” Becker was playing bass at the time and would switch to the electric guitar later. When they met Dias, Becker and Fagen had already written a good amount of original music.

Walter Becker (left) and Donald Fagen

Steely Dan’s first lineup was assembled in December 1971, after Becker, Fagen and Dias had moved to Los Angeles. The additional members included Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (guitar), Jim Hodder (drums) and David Palmer (vocals). Earlier, Gary Katz, a staff producer at ABC Records, had hired Becker and Fagen as staff song writers. It was also Katz who signed the band to the label.

In 1972, Steely Dan’s first single Dallas was released but sold poorly. The debut studio album Can’t Buy a Thrill followed in November that year. The producer was Katz, who also served in that role for each of the band’s following seven studio albums: Countdown To Ecstasy (1973), Pretzel Logic (1974), Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), Aja (1977) and Gaucho (1980).

Steely Dan in 1972 (from left): Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, Walter Becker, David Palmer, Denny Dias, Donald Fagen and Jim Hodder

In June 1981, Fagen and Becker disbanded and went on a 20-year recording hiatus. Becker and his family moved to Maui where he became sober from drug use and eventually started working as a record producer. Fagen went on to launch a solo career.

In 1993, Fagen and Becker reunited for an American tour in support of Fagen’s second studio album Kamakiriad, which had appeared in May that year and had been produced by Becker. While Fagen and Becker continued Steely Dan tours, it took until February 2000 before their next new album Two Against Nature appeared. One more album followed: Everything Must Go from June 2003.

Walter Becker (left) and Donald Fagen

After the release of Fagen’s third solo album Morph the Cat in March 2006, Steely Dan resumed regular touring. At the same time, Becker and Fagan occasionally released solo albums without involvement of the other partner. On September 3, 2017, Becker passed away from esophageal cancer at the age of 67.

At the time of Becker’s death, Donald Fagen said on his Facebook page, “I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.” And that’s exactly what he has been doing until COVID-19 hit. I was fortunate to see him twice in 2018 and wrote about it here and here. I’m currently scheduled to see him again open air in early July together with Steve Winwood – keeping fingers crossed. Time for some music!

I’d to kick things off with the aforementioned Dallas, Steely Dan’s first single. Like all tracks in this post, the song was co-written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Sung by drummer Jim Hodder, the county-flavored tune was not included on Steely Dan’s debut album but appeared in 1978 on a compilation titled Steely Dan.

Perhaps my favorite early Dan tune is the rocker Reelin’ In the Years, which first appeared on the band’s debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill from November 1972. It also became the album’s second single in March 1973. The song’s kickass guitar solo was played by session musician Elliott Randall, which none other than Jimmy Page called his favorite guitar solo of all time.

Countdown to Ecstasy, Steely Dan’s sophomore release from July 1973, was the band’s first album without vocalist David Palmer that saw Donald Fagen sing lead on every tune. Here’s the album’s second single My Old School. While the record didn’t have a hit and couldn’t match the debut’s chart success, it was well received by critics at the time, and My Old School became a fan favorite.

Pretzel Logic, Dan’s third studio album released in February 1974, was the last to feature the full core lineup of Fagen, Becker, Dias, Baxter and Hodder. It also included contributions from many prominent LA musicians, such as future Toto members David Paich (piano, keyboards) and Jeff Porcaro (drums), then-Poco bassist and vocalist Timothy B. Schmit (backing vocals) who would later join the Eagles, and session bassist Chuck Rainey. Here’s opener Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, which also became the lead single in April 1974.

By the time Steely Dan’s next album Katy Lied came out in March 1975, most of their original members had left. The band essentially became Becker and Fagen who continued to hire top-notch musicians to support their recording sessions. In addition to Paich and Porcaro, the latter included Rick Derringer and Michael McDonald. Katy Lied also became the first Dan album to feature amazing session guitarist Larry Carlton. Here’s Doctor Wu. The alto saxophone solo was played by jazz saxophonist Phil Woods.

Next up: Kid Charlemagne, the lead single from The Royal Scam, Steely Dan’s fifth studio album. Both appeared in May 1976. The funky tune features the above noted Larry Carlton whose guitar solo was ranked #80 in Rolling Stone’s list of The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs in May 2008. I also dig Chuck Rainey’s bass work on that tune.

This brings me to Aja, which to me is Steely Dan’s Mount Rushmore. Released in September 1977, this album is pure perfection. While I could have selected any track, I simply couldn’t ignore my all-time favorite Dan tune: Deacon Blues. Even after having listened to it countless times, I still get excited about this song. I think it represents a perfect blend of jazz, pop and rock, and I love the smooth sound. BTW, Becker played bass on this one. But the real standout are the horns.

Steely Dan’s next album Gaucho from November 1980 proved to be a huge challenge to make, which ultimately resulted in the above breakup in June 1981. Driven by Fagen’s and Becker’s perfectionism, the recording sessions used at least 42 musicians and took more than a year. In January 1980, Becker’s girlfriend Karen Roberta Stanley died of a drug overdose at his home. Her family subsequently brought a $17.5 million lawsuit, charging he had introduced her to drugs. The case was settled out of court. Shortly after Stanley’s death, Becker was hit by a taxi shattering his right leg. During his six-month recovery, he and Fagen collaborated via phone. Here’s the album’s lead track Babylon Sisters.

February 2000 saw the release of Two Against Nature, Fagen’s and Becker’s first new Steely Dan studio album in 20 years since Gaucho. It became one of their most successful albums. In addition to earning a Platinum certification in the U.S., Two Against Nature won four Grammy Awards in 2001, including Album of the Year. Here’s the groovy Cousin Dupree, which won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

The last tune I’d like to call out is the title track of Steely Dan’s ninth studio album Everything Must Go, the final with Walter Becker, released in June 2003. I think Apple Music correctly notes the lyrics sound like the song is a permanent sign-off: Guess it’s time for us to book it/Talk about the famous road not taken/In the end we never took it/And if somewhere on the way/We good a few good licks in/No one’s ever gonna know/Cause we’re goin’ out of business/Everything must go.

If Everything Must Go indeed signaled Steely Dan’s final studio album, it wasn’t a total sign-off. Fagen and Becker continued to tour as Steely Dan almost every year thereafter until 2017. Becker’s final performance was on May 27 that year at the Greenwich Town Party in Greenwich, Conn.

Steely Dan have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. In December 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Steely Dan at No. 15 on its list of 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; YouTube

What I’ve Been Listening to: Donald Fagen/The Nightfly

The other day, I found myself listening to Donald Fagen’s excellent solo debut album The Nightfly. More frequent visitors of the blog know I dig Steely Dan big time, so one wonders what took me so long to write about this record released in October 1982. Well, to my defense, I included The Nightfly in a previous post about Fagen’s 70th birthday in January 2018 but haven’t dedicated an entire piece to this gem. Until now.

In many ways, The Nightfly mirrors previous Steely Dan albums. To start with, the producer was Gary Katz, who also had produced all of the Dan’s seven records that had appeared by then. Driven by Fagen’s and Katz’s perfectionism and some technical challenges, The Nightfly took eight months to record, about on par with the Aja album, though shorter than Gaucho, Steely Dan’s final album prior to their 20-year recording hiatus. Like previous Steely Dan records, The Nightfly featured an army of top-notch session musicians. Larry Carlton (guitar), Chuck Rainey (bass), Jeff Porcaro (drums), Rick Derringer (guitar) and many other of these guys had played on Steely Dan albums.

But one musician was absent: Fagen’s long-time collaborator Walter Becker. While initially, Fagen thought he could easily handle the song-writing by himself, there came a point when he began to struggle. After the album’s release, he developed a full-blown writer’s block. It would take more than 11 years for his second solo album Kamakiriad to come out. That record was produced by Becker and was the first time he and Fagen collaborated since their breakup in 1981. Another key difference compared to Steely Dan albums were the largely autobiographical lyrics. Many of the songs incorporated topics from Fagen’s childhood in suburban New Jersey. Unlike most Steely Dan albums that were recorded live, for The Nightfly, Fagen opted to overdub each part separately.

Let’s get to some music. I was going to skip the excellent opener I.G.Y., since it was included in my above-mentioned post on Fagen’s 70th birthday. But as one of the album’s standouts, I simply couldn’t resist. I.G.Y, which stands for International Geophysical Year, captures America’s widespread optimistic vision about the country’s future in the late 1950s. The song includes concepts like undersea rail, solar-powered cities and public space travel – and a good dose of sarcasm. I.G.Y. also became the album’s lead single. It peaked at no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is Donald Fagen’s only solo top 40 single on that chart.

According to Wikipedia, the title of the next song Green Flower Street was inspired by the jazz standard On Green Dolphin Street. During his childhood, Fagen became a huge jazz fan. It’s no coincidence that the album’s cover pictures him as a radio DJ with a turntable and a copy of 1958 jazz album Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders.

Ruby Baby is the only cover on the album. Co-written by music songwriting machine Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the tune was first recorded by The Drifters in 1956. Fagen’s take is jazzier than the original doo-wop version. It also was released as the record’s third and final single.

Another great tune is New Frontier. The title was taken from a quote by John F. Kennedy, who said during his acceptance speech for the Presidential nomination in 1960: “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier—the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats.” The lyrics are about teenage romance, which prompted a Wall Street Journal reporter to speculate the title may be a humorous metaphor to sex and adulthood. Here’s the song’s official video clip, which combines animation and live action, and is considered an early classic played on MTV. The tune also appeared separately as a single.

I’m Lester the Nightfly
Hello Baton Rouge
Won’t you turn your radio down
Respect the seven second delay we use

This is the first verse from the album’s title track, which captures Fagen’s fascination with jazz during his teenage years and his dream to become a late-night radio DJ. It’s the final tune I’d like to call out.

During a British radio segment about The Nightfly, which apparently aired around the time of Fagen’s 70’s birthday and featured archive interview soundbites of him from 1982, he commented: “I guess I’m 34 now, and I started to think back about how I came to be a musician. And in exploring that, I started thinking about the late ’50s and early ’60s when I first started listening to jazz and rhythm and blues and that kind of music. And that’s the kind of music that formed a lot of my attitudes at the time, not only the music but the whole culture connected with jazz and late-night radio and hipster culture and all those things, which I thought of as an alternative to the rather bland life I was leading out in the suburbs near New York City. So that theme runs through most all of the songs in the album.”

The Nightfly was not only a standout musically, but also technologically. It is one of the earliest fully digitally recorded albums. In fact, it brought to a successful conclusion Fagen’s and Katz’s previous experimentation with digital recording on Steely Dan’s Gaucho, which ended up being an analog record. But it wasn’t an easy feat and led to various challenges with the digital recording machines. In a 1983 story by Billboard magazine, Fagen said, “I was ready to transfer to analog and give it up on several occasions, but my engineering staff kept talking me into it.”

The album was positively received by music critics. It was also nominated for seven Grammy Awards in 1983. While performing worse commercially than Dan’s Gaucho, The Nightfly still was certified platinum in the U.S. and the UK. It climbed to no. 11 on the Billboard 200, making it Fagen’s second-best chart performing solo album after Kamakiriad, which peaked at no. 10 on that chart.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; Billboard Magazine; YouTube