Tune in Saturday July 26th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

Spotify: https://shorturl.at/SYiCV

YouTube: https://t.ly/kC_Na

1

The cognoscenti believe “Countdown to Ecstasy” is the best Steely Dan album. I love “My Old School,” really enjoy “King of the World,” but I am not really enamored of “Bodhisattva” and I like “Your Gold Teeth II” better than “Your Gold Teeth.”

And I didn’t even buy “Countdown to Ecstasy” until years after it was released.

The first Steely Dan album I purchased was “Pretzel Logic,” which I had to return to the Record Club of America because there was so much surface noise. I thought it was ABC, their pressings were legendarily substandard, but only decades later did I discover that the Record Club of America could sell albums so cheaply with no commitment because they pressed them themselves.

“Pretzel Logic” is only 33 minutes and 52 seconds long, and that was even short back in 1974, when it came out. It was a surprise that “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was such a big hit, since nothing on “Countdown to Ecstasy” broke through. Steely Dan didn’t sound like anything else. One could classify them as one hit wonders, maybe two. They came out of nowhere, were on a crappy label and broke on AM instead of FM. Yes, we learned the derivation of the band’s name, but we didn’t expect to hear much more.

And then came “Rikki.” Which was all over the radio during the early summer of ’74. And I love “Rikki,” but “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” felt so personal. And “Barrytown.”

To the point where I purchased “Katy Lied” when it came out. I loved that album. Played it in the Blaupunkt as I drove cross-country.

“Bad sneakers and a piña colada my friend stomping on the avenue by Radio City…”

It was all rushed out as one line.

And, once again, there was no hit on a Steely Dan album, but they’d made their bones, they’d earned their success, not that they were dominant on FM radio.

The real breakthrough was “Aja,” proving the point that the public has no idea what it is looking for and something completely different can stand out and triumph.

It was the reverse of “Can’t Buy a Thrill.” All the action was on FM, when FM ruled, when tracks on the format were ubiquitous, cultural signposts, known by everybody.

But before that came “The Royal Scam,” which I learned every note of as I drove from Salt Lake City to Connecticut listening to the cassette. I loved the line about turning up the Eagles because the neighbors were listening, but my absolute favorite was a track no one ever talked about, which is “Don’t Take Me Alive.”

“I’m a bookkeeper’s son

I don’t want to hurt no one”

Dark. And personal. The opposite of today’s hit records. He’s a nobody, a nerd, soft, not the boasting winner of today’s musical landscape.

And it was more than three years until “Aja” was followed up by “Gaucho,” which had no hit singles and was released in a changing landscape. Disco was demolished, corporate rock ruled, “Breakfast in America” and “The Wall” were the two biggest albums and “Gaucho” appeared out of step, which is part of what made it so great. It lived in its own universe. And it had those two great songs with those phenomenal lyrics.

“Hey nineteen

No we can’t dance together

No we can’t talk at all”

There was a new generation, labeled “X,” could a boomer relate?

Which is what stuns me about people who date those decades younger than themselves today. There isn’t the cultural common ground. They don’t remember the TV shows and the records and…

The other famous lines were:

“Tonight when I chase the dragon

The water may change to cherry wine

And the silver will turn to gold

Time out of mind”

Ultimately it was revealed that chasing the dragon was about doing heroin which seemed unfathomable the same way we didn’t believe the Beatles were on drugs. Steely Dan was two middle class guys, really?

And every one of these Steely Dan albums is great, but for a long time my favorite was the initial one, the debut, “Can’t Buy a Thrill.”

2

My sister owned it. And I borrowed it when I finally moved to L.A. permanently and bought the stereo of my dreams. And the song I loved, my favorite on the album, was one I never saw in print, one no one talked about, “Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me).”

“A tower room at Eden Roc

His golf at noon for free

Brooklyn owes the charmer under me”

The Eden Roc hotel was the apotheosis of the first wave of Miami, I knew that, but as far as Brooklyn owing the charmer…good luck on interpreting that.

But the change, the melody, the vocal…

I was hooked.

And that vocal was by David Palmer, not Donald Fagen.

As was “Dirty Work,” which might be the most famous song on the whole album.

But the hits were sung by Fagen.

“Do It Again” paved the way for “Reelin’ in the Years,” which was played more where I lived, your mileage may differ.

And the only reason I knew “Do It Again” was because my ’63 Chevy only had an AM radio. And the track was dark, when too many were bright and sunny.

And when I went to Nick’s dorm room I always put it on. That used to be a thing, you’d go to a friend’s abode and play the records you loved that they owned and you didn’t.

And yesterday “Do It Again” came up in rotation on Spotify. How many times have I heard this? I debated fast-forwarding through it, just to see what the algorithm would present next, but I would be home nearly instantly and how much longer was I going to listen anyway. And when I opened the front door, I heard the solo.

3

Who played what? Good luck on that. Well, the internet helps with that. Not the liner notes. There is no credit for “Do It Again.” But if you do research, you find out it was Denny Dias. Forgotten in the history of Steely Dan.

People talk about Larry Carlton’s solos. Skunk Baxter joined the Doobie Brothers when Walter and Donald fired the original band. Dias…he ultimately became a computer programmer. I mean how good was he?

Very good, it turns out.

Research told me that not only did Dias cut the solo, he did it on an electric sitar, purchased used for $50 by Pip Williams, working with Bloodstone at the same time at the Village Recorder. You can read the complete story here: https://shorturl.at/dG2xJ

And Dias didn’t use it again, it was one and done on “Do It Again.”

And there are so many famous gunslingers, especially from the sixties and seventies, and Dias is never mentioned. And the style of the solos…

Doesn’t sound like this.

On the album track, Donald doesn’t even start to sing until after a minute intro. Needless to say this was cut for the single. As was the later organ solo. And that Yamaha YC-30 organ gives “Do It Again” that dark feeling. This was back when getting sounds in the studio was key. Before everything was produced for earbuds at low resolution.

Speaking of which, be sure to play “Do It Again” in Ultra HD on the platform of your choice, it may be over fifty years old. but it sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

So Denny starts his solo at 2:38. And it’s not like he’s showing off, it doesn’t stick out from the track, it’s baked in, you know the sound, the licks, but they’re part of the wash until they’re not.

What exactly is happening here? This is not the rhythm of the meat and potatoes seventies FM rock, it’s not what the English bluesmeisters were delivering. It’s mellifluous, yet choppy. As if Dias is whacking at a tree at double speed, swinging independent of what is happening in the rest of the track, yet fitting right in. This is not something you can dance to, move to, but your brain is following along, on a unique trip.

And it’s just part of a record.

4

Now if it were the old days… Well, if it were the old days you wouldn’t even be reading this, the internet, never mind e-mail, didn’t exist. But you’d drop the disc on the platter of your Dual, your B.I.C., hopefully not your Garrard, maybe your Technics, possibly AR or even a Thorens turntable, crank the volume on your receiver and this sound would come out of the big speakers and…

You know exactly what I’m talking about. Sounds would reveal themselves. We lived to get inside these records. But despite all this, Denny Dias’s solo in “Do It Again” didn’t really reach me until yesterday.

Actually, it was Dias who got the band together, via an ad in the “Village Voice” looking for a bassist and keyboard player, writing that they “must have jazz chops and no hang-ups.”

And Walter and Donald drove out to Hicksville and merged with Dias’s band and…

The rest is history.

Don Gehman has produced records for everybody from Stephen Stills to John Mellencamp to R.E.M. to Bruce Hornsby to Tracy Chapman to Hootie and the Blowfish. This is his story from Pennsylvania and Clair Brothers, to Florida and Criteria, to name producer. Quite a journey!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/don-gehman/id1316200737?i=1000663309969

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/3dce7ce5-c100-4f8f-bf82-46aa4a9deadb/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-don-gehman

Spotify: https://rb.gy/3ocfrw

YouTube: https://rb.gy/idggbx

1

“For you to think about me.”

Meat and potatoes rock and roll flourished in the midwest, in the south, had a presence in the west but was pooh-poohed in the northeast. “Free Bird” caught on in New York after it broke elsewhere. I don’t remember ever hearing Foghat on FM, nor did anybody own the records, even though I got hooked on the band hearing “Boogie Motel” and “Stone Blue” on FM when I moved to Los Angeles.

One of the reasons meat and potatoes rock gets a bad rep is the lyrics. Simple. Misogynistic. Anything but vulnerable.

But when I heard “Never Been Any Reason” on Spotify today…

I started with “Rocky Mountain High,” I had a hankering to hear it. And from there the instant radio station slipped into “Listen to the Music” and then “Foreplay/Long Time,” not that I saw the John Denver cut being aligned with the latter, but in truth we could be fans of all sounds back in the day. Today everything is available online, just a click away, but despite all the hoopla about the grazing of the youngsters it seems people end up in their silos.

Now I’ve heard “Never Been Any Reason” more as an oldie than when it was originally released in 1975. And it got a boost from its inclusion in “Dazed and Confused,” back in 1993, seems just like yesterday. Teen exploitation films are no longer a thing, at least at the multiplex, they can appear on streaming outlets, but they used to be a ritual. First and foremost with the B pictures of the sixties and seventies, and even through “American Pie” in the nineties. Then again, are today’s kids optimistic? Can they ignore the realities of climate change, income inequality and financial hardship? By time the seventies rolled around, politics was in the background, especially after Nixon was gone and Vietnam wound down. There was a level of hedonism boomers hadn’t seen previously, the seriousness of the sixties was history, we were luxuriating in our achievements.

We had weed, whites and wine, and things were pretty good.

The concert business was built in the sixties and matured in the seventies. The sound was finally good, you expected it. And shows were not exotic, they were a ritual, you went on a regular basis, they were affordable. And the touring artists could live quite well on the income.

So you banged your head. Let go. Felt alive. Untroubled.

Of course this wasn’t completely true, but the music got you through.

2

“Have you ever been lonely, do you have any fun”

One thing about the over-criticized internet, it has brought the lonely together, you can go online and find your tribe. It seems like the only people testifying about the ills of the internet are those who had/have no problem functioning in regular society, going to prom, getting laid, being a member of the group. But that leaves plenty of people out. And for this group the internet has been a godsend. The fact that money and looks aren’t everything online aids those who don’t ring the bell regarding these criteria. Sure, there are social media influencers parading their assets, then again Mr. Beast didn’t make it on looks. Nerds rule the internet and the cool people of yore don’t like this.

So who is this person the singer is asking these questions of? It sounds like the underdog. But it’s not. She’s his heart’s desire, she’s the winner.

“Did you see any action

Did you make any friends

Would you like some affection

Before I leave again”

Typical macho rock star a*shole, right? I mean listen to the music, it’s energetic, breezy, but in reality it’s a cover-up.

“I’ve been walking behind you

Since you’ve been able to see

There’s never been any reason

For you to think about me”

They grew up in the same neighborhood. She never took him seriously. He’s got a crush. Girls talk about their crushes all the time, they share this information, plot strategies of connection. But boys…they josh and jive and rate the girls, it’s all posturing, truth is never revealed, because you don’t want to look weak. Your crush is secret. And if it comes out oftentimes you’re an object of ridicule.

“Would you be my companion

Is there even a chance”

You know, go on the road, to live the rock and roll lifestyle, getting high, getting laid, getting paid. But if this is so, why do so many of these male stars get married so soon? For every Gene Simmons there are scores of stars who went on the road and came home and married their local sweetheart before leaving town again. You see the road is lonely. Sure, there’s sex, not for everyone, despite the legend, but human beings crave connection, intimacy, and the road is antithetical to this.

“You’ve been talking in circles

Since I’ve been able to cry

There’s never been any reason

For ever telling me why”

The lyrics are not clear, they don’t make complete sense, but that’s de rigueur for rock and roll. On one hand he’s longing in isolation, but you can also argue that they’ve had intimate relations. In any event, whatever has happened, or not, she’s not giving him what he wants. She’s elusive.

We’ve all been there. Even if there are moments of connection you’re never quite sure whether they’re into you. You can’t read the situation, and you can’t get any answers.

She’s so fine.

“Woman with the sweet lovin’, better than a white line”

But he’s holding the short end of the stick, if he’s holding it at all.

So he postures.

“There’s never been any reason

For me to think about you”

But he can’t hold that position.

“Save my life, I’m going down for the last time”

3

There’s a vulnerability in “Never Give Any Reason” that I didn’t catch until today.

And the truth is so many of the meat and potatoes rock tracks have unperceived depth.

But as the decades wore on…

MTV became about posturing, by the new wave of English bands.

And then Nirvana brought on the era of alienation. There’d always been alienation in rock, but this was the ethos of Kurt Cobain and the rest of the Seattle sound and then…

Hip-hop was all about posturing. Bragging.

Rock lost its way.

Pop gained inroads unseen since the sixties. Mariah Carey. The divas. The center of the universe moved from rock and roll to a blend of pop and hip-hop, and rock has never recovered.

Sure, we had Coldplay, but that band has a core of wimpiness, there’s no edge. And Dave Matthews is not about edge. And Radiohead is its own spacey thing, and more of a cult than mainstream.

And all those acts broke before the old paradigm evaporated. They were boosted by music television and terrestrial radio. And once that died…

So did rock and roll.

Today’s rock and roll is anti-internet. It’s far from vulnerable. It’s the uber-alienated playing for the uber-alienated. The rock audience used to be mainstream, but today’s “Active Rock” appeals to the downtrodden, the blue collar, the left out. It’s a bubble. It doesn’t stream. It doesn’t sync. It’s a narrow construct. As for mainstream rock and roll…

It’s dead.