Book Review: ‘Major Dudes: A Steely Dan Companion’

Major Dudes: A Steely Dan Companion, edited by Barney Hoskyns (2018, Abrams Press).

Major Dudes is a compilation of old interviews of Steely Dan duo Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, sometimes alone but usually together. There are also old Steely Dan album reviews and live show reviews (not that there were many of those!) and a look at the secretive duo’s solo releases.

This is a book for diehard Dan heads – not your casual listener. There’s repetition because the source material is from a variety of writers – so they all pretty much have to do their setup explaining how Fagen and Becker met at Bard College, etc. Still, there are nuggets of information in each little piece for the reader to pick through and digest.

The best thing about Steely Dan for me is their cryptic song lyrics. Fagen and Becker were jazz and literature nerds and used obscure references in their tracks. There are double entendres, rhymes and riddles and so many subversive drug references that the censors missed back in the day. The appreciation of the complex musical arrangements and jazz backstory of many tracks is a great fountain of knowledge here as is also the use of so many session players to make their wonderful 70s albums. I always knew that Steely Dan were perfectionists in the studio and used only the best musicians money could buy – but I didn’t know the fade out of “Babylon Sisters” (Gaucho, 1980) alone took 55 takes.

I deeply enjoyed every mention of guitarist Larry Carlton throughout the book. He is one of my favorite guitar guys and so much more than a sideman. He has laid down some of the best solos of all time, including Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne" (from my favorite Dan album, The Royal Scam) and “Third World Man” (not to mention turns with Christopher Cross, Michael Jackson and even the Hill Street Blues theme).

So, do you need to read Major Dudes? If you don’t get the title reference, probably not. If you are a Steely Dan obsessive, you probably already have – but if you are a Dan head and journalism geek like me, this book is right up your alley. It’s an easy read and entertaining too.

Comments

[Him]

Great review, Allyson. I am a casual SD listener. But I enjoy their music. Odd ducks making odd music that hits some people right where it counts and turns off others. I get it. I've always imagined that they were nerds in a bunker, twiddling with things while swirls of fine Colombian obscured their view, with no effing care about what others thought of them, above ground.

I might pick up this book based on your review alone. Thanks for sharing!

But, I will admit that I loved and laughed at Steve Albini's slagging of them: "Music made for the sole purpose of letting the wedding band stretch out a little." RIP Albini. You were that rare bird who was hilarious to me even when I thought you were wrong. And I love people who make me laugh out loud even when I think they are full of it!!! Truly. My only hope? That I can do that one or two times in my life too!