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Friday Night Jazz: The Making of Peg

I've always been a huge Steely Dan fan, so I especially enjoyed putting together this Friday nite jazz twofer.

(Yes, I am aware this is jazz/pop, and not pure Jazz).

First, the Citizen Steely Dan: 1972-1980  contains what may very well be the best Amazon review I have ever come across. The 4 CD box set itself is simply all of the Dan's studio releases compiled on 4 discs. Simply stated, its one of the greatest catalogues in the annals of pop/jazz music history. 

The review sums up the box set thusly:

"As should be expected, Steely Dan's four-disc box set isn't like all the other rectangular pop-music retrospectives/tombstones. Not for Messrs. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen the typically bloated, ego-jacking crate padded out with childhood recordings, suspect cassette demos, and broken-down session takes, annotated by candid snapshots purloined from some distant relative. Nope, this is simply Dan Mach 1's complete oeuvre, from the craft-conscious pop of Can't Buy a Thrill to the jazzy torpor of Gaucho, laid out chronologically and neatly compressed into four discs, with not even a handful of "bonus" cuts (a live recording of "Bodhisattva," a '71 demo of "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" with Flo and Eddie on the side, "Here at the Western World," a Royal Scam outtake, and their obligatory soundtrack cameo, "FM") to color outside the lines. The liner notes are suitably smart, even if they occasionally strain trying to stay astride of B&F's patent sardonicism. For the aspiring Steely Dan completist, a fine place to start."
-Jerry McCulley

I can't find anything in there I disagree with.

If you are somehow unfamiliar with the Dan, avoid the greatest hits discs. The way to check them out is a random album; I suggest either Countdown To Ecstasy or Katy Lied BEFORE you hit the pristine studio exercises like Aja or Gaucho. All of these are a mere $2 or $3 used. If you find you like them, then you must own the 4 CD box set.

Up second, this fascinating exposition about the studio wizardary of the Dan during the glory years:

via YouTube

Enjoy!

>

UPDATE  Februrary 24, 2007 7:53pm EST

I forgot to mention, I saw them this Summer at Jones Beach Theater, August 17, 2006. Awesome show! I threw the playlist up and a few camera phone snaps

Friday, February 23, 2007 | 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (1)
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Comments

This is an AWESOME boxset Barry !!!!

Everything but their very late stuff and/or Live audio is here in one purchase.

The only shame (my opinion) is that I know Michael Mcdonald is somewhere (very miniscule) in the box set but i refuse to acknowledge his prescence...and therefore it is

Steely Dan -Ex- M. Mcdonald (Ha Ha)

have a great weekend

Posted by: MarkTX | Feb 23, 2007 5:21:15 PM