Steely Dan - Metal Style?

What happens when members of Spirit Adrift, High On Fire and Mutoid Man cover "Reelin' In The Years" by Steely Dan? You get a wild, fun video and bananas cover of this classic track!

What I Read During 2024 (Music & Germs)

1. Lab 257 – Michael Christopher Carroll (nonfiction)

2. The Lost Tomb – Douglas Preston (nonfiction)

3. Sitcommentary – Mark Robinson (nonfiction)

4. Brothers – Alex Van Halen (nonfiction)

5. Island – Aldous Huxley (fiction)

6. 20 Fat Loss Tips for Faster Weight Loss – Gregory Groves (nonfiction) [The point of this was to learn how to market inside Amazon publishing. The text itself was awful.]

7. Penguin Perspectives on Covid – 10 – various authors (nonfiction)

8. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley (fiction)

9. Horseshoes and Hand Grenades – John Corabi (nonfiction)

10. The Great Depression: A Diary – Benjamin Roth (nonfiction)

11. An Election – John Scalzi (fiction)

12. The Black Death: A History From Beginning to End (Pandemic History) – Hourly History (nonfiction)

13. What A Fool Believes – Michael McDonald with Paul Reiser (nonfiction)

14. You Like It Darker – Stephen King (fiction)

15. 11/22/63 – Stephen King (fiction)

16. Major Dudes: A Steely Dan Companion – Barney Hoskyns (nonfiction)

17. Son of a Milkman – Brian Wheat (nonfiction)

18. Extinction: A Novel – Douglas Preston (fiction)

19. Level 4 – Virus Hunters of the CDC – Joseph B. McCormick, M. D. (nonfiction)

20. The Mist – Stephen King (fiction)

21. Under The Dome – Stephen King (fiction)

22. The Stand – Stephen King (fiction)

23. Duma Key – Stephen King (fiction)

24. The Longevity Paradox: How To Die Young at a Ripe Old Age – Steven R. Gundry, M.D. (nonfiction)

25. Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World – Theresa MacPhail (nonfiction)

Another year, another 25 books. Some were much better than others as is always the case. I typically veer toward nonfiction and this was the case again in 2024. My favorite nonfiction books were Horseshoes and Hand Grenades by John Corabi and What A Fool Believes by Michael McDonald. The stories in both are wild, especially the McDonald book. There’s a little ditty about Eddie Money that was both hilarious and sad. I’ve read heaps of books about metal bands but less about other famous musicians (Steely Dan excluded). McDonald’s book provides a whole different background on the music industry in the 70s, spanning his time as a nobody to accomplished session singer to Doobie Brothers frontman to solo star. I had no idea McDonald was so addicted to drugs, either. Rehab worked for him.

Island was the hardest novel I’ve read in ages. Classic Aldous Huxley and the companion book to one of my all-time favorites Brave New World. I re-read BNW before Island for the comparisons. Very interesting but it was a bit of a slog since I kept waiting for something "big" to happen. Island is more of slow burn.

Extinction by Douglas Preston was the craziest novel I’ve read in a long time. It’s a dystopian thriller about future technology and animal science research. I don’t want to give away any tidbits because this book is way too good for spoilers. Just read it.

Of course, Stephen King’s The Stand is perfection – there is a reason why people call the novel his masterpiece. Over a thousand pages never went quicker! Such a fun, fascinating and terrifying read. In my top 5 favorite books of all time. I’m jealous of people who get to read this book for the first time. 

Amazon Music Year In Review

Amazon Music has shared stats for my listening this year.

Eric and I share a paid premium account, and I will say he really skewed my results, but Amazon tells me I (okay, we) spent 19,831 minutes listening to music this past year! That's more than 14 days. 

 
My most played song of 2024 is “Watch The World Burn” by Falling in Reverse.  This makes sense since it is the first track on my main running playlist. 

I (we) listened to 207 different artists over the year. The most played band was Beartooth and that is 98% from Eric.

My most listened to Glam artists and songs surprised me. I listened to Tesla and Winger the most of our beloved classics and Richie Kotzen from the newer breed. “What You Give” (Tesla) and “Headed for a Heartbreak” (Winger) got the most plays when it comes to Glam – and I think Eric skewed that Winger track, too. Tesla’s “Modern Day Cowboy” also made the list.

My most listened-to genres of music were rock, metalcore, metal and post-hardcore. No kidding. My most-played non-rock track of 2024 was “Majesty” by Apashe. One more band on my list you’ve probably never heard of but should know? Stray View.

The song I’ve never heard ever and thus 100% belongs to Eric? That would be “Holiday” by Boys Like Girls.

Did Steely Dan make the list? Of course! They show up three times, and all songs are from my beloved The Royal Scam, natch.

Fun stuff.

Cool Retro Ad

Nostalgia Sunday over here.

Ok, who are we kidding? Every day is about nostalgia around these parts. I spied the post below the other day on Facebook. Check out the cool vintage ad for my beloved Aerosmith Live! Bootleg.

There are actually staged photos and copy to match, making it a true work of advertising art. There's a nice write-up of the album, too. Plus extra points for the Steely Dan write-up on the same page.

Aerosmith and Steely Dan together in one magazine spread? Oh my! It's like someone downloaded my brain and puked out Billboard's November 4, 1978 issue. Perfection.

Steely Dan, 'Gaucho' - Reaction Video

This is awesome.

I love reaction videos, especially when they are genre-blurring. The Airplay Beats channel on YouTube has lots of great reaction clips. The duo here have a great knowledge of different types of music. They are producers and really understand the complexity of songs and how long it takes to get a track just right.

"Gaucho" is from the 1980 Steely Dan album of the same name. It's a masterpiece and marks the end of the classic era of the Dan - and the title track is just genius.

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.

Happy Sunday Funday

I had a very busy day yesterday including a tax appointment. After that long appointment I just happened to see the post below and I laughed harder than I should have, I'm sure. On a music related note, I can log in to Discogs on my laptop... and not my phone. Same password of course. Make it make sense!

Since I was gone all day yesterday, all the weekend chores fall to today and that means I'm scrambling. I'll probably put on some Steely Dan while folding laundry. I can hear Eric listening to Metal downstairs while he repaints walls. I hope you have a Sunday Funday and get a little rest if possible!