Steely Dan - Aja [MFSL UDCD 515]

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After meeting at the Bard College of Liberal Arts in New York in 1967, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker soon noticed their joint passion for jazz, blues, popular music and contemporary literature. They pursued composing songs together and even had a band together, The Bad Rock Group including later comedian Chevy Chase on drums. After a short hiatus in their cooperation they commenced peddling their creative output at the Brill Building, which housed most of the successful publishing companies at that time. They eventually landed a contract in 1969 with a firm which belonged to Jay and the Americans.
After all they managed to spot the tune "I Mean to Shine" which was later recorded by Barbra Streisand. In 1970 Fagen and Becker joined the tour band of Jay and the Americans, using the synonyms Tristan Fabriani (Fagen) and Gus Mahler (Becker). Both also joined the recordings of the album Capture the Moment. Around that time the two became aware of an ad in the Village Voice, placed by guitarist Denny Dias, who looked for musicians to form a bar band on Long Island. Dias was so impressed with the Fagen/Becker songs that he left his former group and ceased composing himself. This new project, now called The Original Sound Track, was hired for a film project in '71, named You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, which failed to come to the attention of a broader audience. But their works now came to the attention of freelance producer Gary Katz, who suggested to Jay Lasker, president of ABC/Dunhill Records, to sign the duo as label songwriters in 1971. Fagen & Becker took the chance and relocated to Los Angeles, where they were given office space with a piano to compose their songs. They penned a series of pop tunes which are evidenced nowadays with numerous demo recordings. In those sessions, the intrepid Becker & Fagen decided to record an album themselves, strongly encouraged by Gary Katz and with the help of some befriended musicians and guitarist Denny Dias, who was invited over from New York. The first incarnation also included Jim Hodder on drums, guitarist Jeff Baxter and vocalist David Palmer. From the William Burroughs' novel "Naked Lunch" the new band name emerged: Steely Dan. Of course, those session were produced by Gary Katz as well, and in June 1972 their debut saw release, Can't Buy a Thrill. The single taken off of it, "Do It Again" even entered the charts. Subsequent to the album's release Steely Dan played live in the US and Great Britain, but yet in varying formations.

In 1973 the group released Countdown to Ecstasy, still listing Fagen, Becker, Dias, Baxter and Hodder as the band's core, but already with the participation of skilled session musicians like Rick Derringer (guitar on "Show Biz Kids"), Victor Feldman (vibes, marimba, percussion), and others. It became apparent that Fagen and Becker increasingly turned Steely Dan into a permanent studio project, using different musicians and with decreasing live appearances. The new strategy became entirely clear with '74 Pretzel Logic, which didn't list any firm band anymore but contains strong tracks such as "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", "Any Major Dude Will Tell you" and "Barrytown". Uncomfortable with a band which isn't playing much live anymore, Baxter left the group for the Doobie Brothers. On the few live appearances Michael McDonald (vocals and piano), Jeff Porcaro (drums) and Royce Jones (percussion and vocals) would take the stage together with Fagen, Becker and Dias. The 1975 released Katy Lied sums up in its liner notes that Steely Dan used specially constructed, high fidelity studio equipment, which was a revolutionary standard at the time.

By 1976 and with the release of The Royal Scam it had become obvious that Steely Dan was now entirely a studio project, as always produced by Gary Katz and accompanied by the best-skilled musicians available for their recordings. Session musicians stated that both, Donald and Walter, were always aware that they may have been good musicians, but probably lacked the versatileness of highly experienced session musicians. Both had firm ideas about their music, which is why they had the professional attitude to rather step back and let someone better do the job. What followed were two more euphonious releases, the 1977 Aja and the 1980 Gaucho, the latter being the project's swan song for a while. The release dates show how long Becker & Fagen took in order to finish their projects. Tracks which were assumed to be finished by everyone were unexpectedly re-recorded, cancelled or re-arranged, because tiny details had to be changed, or a different feel of a certain track was requested. Always attempting to produce the perfect rock album.

Anyhow, at the beginning of the 90s Fagen and Becker separated ways, with Becker becoming a farmer on Hawaii and Fagen preparing a solo release and later composing and producing other acts. Only at the beginning of the 90s the two gathered up the threads and it was agreed that Becker produce Fagen's second solo album, which hit the market in 1993. The magic between the two musicians was there again. Fagen now supported Walter in recording his solo debut, 11 Tracks of Whack. Parallel to that, in 1993, Steely Dan reappeared in public as a band, performing various live venues as The Citizen Steely Dan Orchestra in '93/'94, which resulted in the release of Alive in America (1995). After more than ten years Steely Dan had reunited and the fans now expected a new studio album. Fagen/Becker returned with the 2000 release Two Against Nature, which won four Grammy Awards in 2001. Following its release, Steely Dan goes on a huge world tour. In 2003 Everything Must Go is published.



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