STEELY FUCKIN DAN
pretty much 'nuff said right there. but of course i'm gonna go on about it a little more. just so you know though, you needn't read any more, all you need to know is STEELY FUCKIN DAN. and thats saying a damn thing because of how this show happened. wanna hear? come with me children, lets speak with cheeky admiration of walking the fine line of easy-listening and funky jazz rock at its most immaculate. there is nothing pure in this sleazy world of bad influences and rock's indulgent STDs, but there is considerable allure, there is the promise of unrepentant seduction. come with me, i'll show ya, i'll make ya knees shake and ya hair curl, come on come on. turn off your computers and your TV sets, put down your booze and get up out your sensibly furnished living rooms, come shake your shapely bodies, lets just be ok with each other, lets just be ok. enough of the stupid scenes, the shitty 'zines, the shaggy hair and the black-rimmed glasses, the self-imposed understanding of rock classes. what you know is for naught anymore babies, what you don't know is about everything so lets just be ok.
so lemme set tha scene, ok? dave and i drive down in bad traffic and rain and get to our out of door seats and its damn pouring rain. michael mcdonald is in full swing and we have no pot so were pretty much bummin really hard. but what the hell are you gonna do seemed to be some kind of an idea and as mike took it to the streets we just started laughing at the frozen rain.
thankfully the rain abated as the stage was being set for the dan.
the band, minus becker and fagen, warmed up a little. this was pleasant and their technique was undeniable, but what the hell would one expect from the minds that brought us aja? of course this was going to be a most pristine excercise in tasteful renditions of immaculate studio gems. i was pretty psyched.
and then they came on with little fanfare and a couple waves to the crowd. they took their spots and without pause began bodhisattva. it moved and it sounded good but lacked its onetime energy. i wonder if these guys have lost some fervor in the thirty-plus years since they recorded that song? but still, i wanted the smoking of skunk and dias and this rendition was weak by comparison. this could really set the tone for the show but the dan has developed, in all these years, a great deal of sense and sensibility and they moved into territory which was, almost exclusively good vibes.
aja stretched out and the band sounded superb. this stands as a grand steely statement and it shimmered and shone. hey nineteen reveled in its sleazy jive breaking for a pretty cornball horn duel and even cornier introduction to "the cuervo gold, the fine colombian make tonight a wonderful thing." but this is a kind of corny song and through it all it retained its appeal. the crowd was delighted at the mention of "sweet things from boston, so young and weeeeeeelling"
i know that to many the admission that hey nineteen manages to overcome its silliness with sly winks, tongues in cheeks and an undeniable, if somewhat shameful (looking at you synthesizers), groove is hopelessly misguided. to so many hey nineteen is just a most egregious example in an extensive catalogue of slick, soulless shams. i dont want to dwell too long on this because i dont want all my musical taste to be driven by the feeling that i'm some kind of outsider, like i'm a musical smoker sneaking outside with likeminded folks to burn a little black friday before anyone notices we're gone. but black friday aint no soulless jam, thats a right rocking crazy piece. i know i can't make this case to people who do not dig but i'll bet i could make a mixtape that would do the trick.
of course the show focused on later period dan but first run (read aja, katy lied NOT two against nature, everything must go) that is not to say that they did not run through some air-tight rockers. green earrings and kid charlemagne were played close to the vest but guitarist john herrington allowed a few stary flourishes accentuate his able copping of larry carlton's album work.
and so a splendid time was indeed had and michael mcdonald reappeared to sing showbiz kids and do it again and lend his prodigious background noise to peg. i wish fagen sang showbiz kids and i wish it was more gritty like the album version but alas. its just thats a real fav for me and mcdonald is not, yet...
the encore was FM and my old school. fucking sweet. steely fuckin dan! even drenched and cold and sober i had a most excellent time and though i know i can't reccomend this to everyone it made me very content. on the return trip we stopped in portsmouth to see aidan and we also spoke with his friend aaron (better guys name than girls...discuss) who hates Steely Dan. this did not come to blows but instead began a very interesting discussion of musical taste and what occurs in its maturation. while we could argue relative merits we were all friendly and were all very bright and insightful people and opted to identify and interrogate our respective adult-contemporary leanings. and i think that everyone has them.
its a fun/funny/waste of time thing to think about. i feel like maybe when i was 10 or so i began to comprehend a social aspect to music. my friends and i all really liked tom petty and each had a copy of the greatest hits tape. this is nice to reminisce cause i think that collection is still so damn solid. i was fuckin cool as soon as i understood that concept. after that its a really quick and unweildy spiral of amassing useless knowledge of where music fits in cultural schema. for some of us this takes on great levels of importance and i cannot argue with its relevence. its funny to think about the amount of time in my life i have spent on this and have very little to show for it. i mean i do know that jackson browne's only #1 hit was not an album track but the single "somebody's baby" from the fast times at ridgemont high soundtrack but that has, to date, accomplished very little for me, aside from fueling a smug sense of satisfaction which is expanding to unhealthy proportions.
this is not the point though. the idea, as we saw it and as i see it is that eventually one grows weary of the cultural place of music and slowly dials down the influences and the informed opinions. do we end up as we once were, vaguely aware of pleasant noise? this is sort of depressing and yet its also comforting. you thought it was, but it wasn't, now disappear. like everything that appears herein these are just thoughts that occupy the dome-piece and probably just clutter up what could have been a fine machine. alas.
anyway, the young and the hip are loathe to identify and admit their ties to adult-contemporary music. it is frightening to think that one day we will find ourselves wanting only to hear vaguely familiar, inoffensive pablum and still we may. i think that we must accept it, as we must accept our eventual death. it is a necessary part of life and fighting it only turns you into that dude at the record store asking me about nickelback...dude, you're trying too hard, you've lost the touch. dude i'd much rather discuss fleetwood mac, and i don't really like them its just we'll both feel much less phony. but here's the shock, maybe nickelback is highly appealing to the adult contempo crowd. and if thats the case i need to accept, in a manner of speaking, that i hate nickelback but i also love nickelback.
whoa
pretty much 'nuff said right there. but of course i'm gonna go on about it a little more. just so you know though, you needn't read any more, all you need to know is STEELY FUCKIN DAN. and thats saying a damn thing because of how this show happened. wanna hear? come with me children, lets speak with cheeky admiration of walking the fine line of easy-listening and funky jazz rock at its most immaculate. there is nothing pure in this sleazy world of bad influences and rock's indulgent STDs, but there is considerable allure, there is the promise of unrepentant seduction. come with me, i'll show ya, i'll make ya knees shake and ya hair curl, come on come on. turn off your computers and your TV sets, put down your booze and get up out your sensibly furnished living rooms, come shake your shapely bodies, lets just be ok with each other, lets just be ok. enough of the stupid scenes, the shitty 'zines, the shaggy hair and the black-rimmed glasses, the self-imposed understanding of rock classes. what you know is for naught anymore babies, what you don't know is about everything so lets just be ok.
so lemme set tha scene, ok? dave and i drive down in bad traffic and rain and get to our out of door seats and its damn pouring rain. michael mcdonald is in full swing and we have no pot so were pretty much bummin really hard. but what the hell are you gonna do seemed to be some kind of an idea and as mike took it to the streets we just started laughing at the frozen rain.
thankfully the rain abated as the stage was being set for the dan.
the band, minus becker and fagen, warmed up a little. this was pleasant and their technique was undeniable, but what the hell would one expect from the minds that brought us aja? of course this was going to be a most pristine excercise in tasteful renditions of immaculate studio gems. i was pretty psyched.
and then they came on with little fanfare and a couple waves to the crowd. they took their spots and without pause began bodhisattva. it moved and it sounded good but lacked its onetime energy. i wonder if these guys have lost some fervor in the thirty-plus years since they recorded that song? but still, i wanted the smoking of skunk and dias and this rendition was weak by comparison. this could really set the tone for the show but the dan has developed, in all these years, a great deal of sense and sensibility and they moved into territory which was, almost exclusively good vibes.
aja stretched out and the band sounded superb. this stands as a grand steely statement and it shimmered and shone. hey nineteen reveled in its sleazy jive breaking for a pretty cornball horn duel and even cornier introduction to "the cuervo gold, the fine colombian make tonight a wonderful thing." but this is a kind of corny song and through it all it retained its appeal. the crowd was delighted at the mention of "sweet things from boston, so young and weeeeeeelling"
i know that to many the admission that hey nineteen manages to overcome its silliness with sly winks, tongues in cheeks and an undeniable, if somewhat shameful (looking at you synthesizers), groove is hopelessly misguided. to so many hey nineteen is just a most egregious example in an extensive catalogue of slick, soulless shams. i dont want to dwell too long on this because i dont want all my musical taste to be driven by the feeling that i'm some kind of outsider, like i'm a musical smoker sneaking outside with likeminded folks to burn a little black friday before anyone notices we're gone. but black friday aint no soulless jam, thats a right rocking crazy piece. i know i can't make this case to people who do not dig but i'll bet i could make a mixtape that would do the trick.
of course the show focused on later period dan but first run (read aja, katy lied NOT two against nature, everything must go) that is not to say that they did not run through some air-tight rockers. green earrings and kid charlemagne were played close to the vest but guitarist john herrington allowed a few stary flourishes accentuate his able copping of larry carlton's album work.
and so a splendid time was indeed had and michael mcdonald reappeared to sing showbiz kids and do it again and lend his prodigious background noise to peg. i wish fagen sang showbiz kids and i wish it was more gritty like the album version but alas. its just thats a real fav for me and mcdonald is not, yet...
the encore was FM and my old school. fucking sweet. steely fuckin dan! even drenched and cold and sober i had a most excellent time and though i know i can't reccomend this to everyone it made me very content. on the return trip we stopped in portsmouth to see aidan and we also spoke with his friend aaron (better guys name than girls...discuss) who hates Steely Dan. this did not come to blows but instead began a very interesting discussion of musical taste and what occurs in its maturation. while we could argue relative merits we were all friendly and were all very bright and insightful people and opted to identify and interrogate our respective adult-contemporary leanings. and i think that everyone has them.
its a fun/funny/waste of time thing to think about. i feel like maybe when i was 10 or so i began to comprehend a social aspect to music. my friends and i all really liked tom petty and each had a copy of the greatest hits tape. this is nice to reminisce cause i think that collection is still so damn solid. i was fuckin cool as soon as i understood that concept. after that its a really quick and unweildy spiral of amassing useless knowledge of where music fits in cultural schema. for some of us this takes on great levels of importance and i cannot argue with its relevence. its funny to think about the amount of time in my life i have spent on this and have very little to show for it. i mean i do know that jackson browne's only #1 hit was not an album track but the single "somebody's baby" from the fast times at ridgemont high soundtrack but that has, to date, accomplished very little for me, aside from fueling a smug sense of satisfaction which is expanding to unhealthy proportions.
this is not the point though. the idea, as we saw it and as i see it is that eventually one grows weary of the cultural place of music and slowly dials down the influences and the informed opinions. do we end up as we once were, vaguely aware of pleasant noise? this is sort of depressing and yet its also comforting. you thought it was, but it wasn't, now disappear. like everything that appears herein these are just thoughts that occupy the dome-piece and probably just clutter up what could have been a fine machine. alas.
anyway, the young and the hip are loathe to identify and admit their ties to adult-contemporary music. it is frightening to think that one day we will find ourselves wanting only to hear vaguely familiar, inoffensive pablum and still we may. i think that we must accept it, as we must accept our eventual death. it is a necessary part of life and fighting it only turns you into that dude at the record store asking me about nickelback...dude, you're trying too hard, you've lost the touch. dude i'd much rather discuss fleetwood mac, and i don't really like them its just we'll both feel much less phony. but here's the shock, maybe nickelback is highly appealing to the adult contempo crowd. and if thats the case i need to accept, in a manner of speaking, that i hate nickelback but i also love nickelback.
whoa
also. let us never take Yo La Tengo for granted. they are most excellent and their newest offering only further proves it. they are as energetic and engaging as ever. pick up, or steal from the internet I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass!
i used to hate AC/DC. i downloaded back in black. i do not hate AC/DC. they are cool.
this is really predictable but i hadn't heard Scab Dates (live Mars Volta album) its most excellent. there is some fucking nutsack effects work on that. those guys...wow
how've you been?
-vw
posted by vw at 1:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home