This is my fifth visit in the last 12 years. Believe me, if I could see them more often I would. The lag in between has more to do with their schedules than mine. It has been two years since I have seen Uncles Walt and Don and it really did feel like a reunion of sorts.
I grew up listening to these guys. My parents didn't play the records, but the radio stations they listened to played all of the (then) current hits of Steely Dan. Getting a 3 year jump on me, they released their third album, Pretzel Logic the year I was born. All of the earlier hits were still fresh and being played in constant rotation.
Fast-forward to 1992. I was away at college, sitting at the desk in my dorm room looking for a classic rock station on the FM dial. The one I found was questionable, but far better than any of the other shit I could find. They had a penchant for playing Peg, which I have always loved, and other memorable tunes by this Steely Dan. I was a member of a music club at the time and was able to get my hands on some of their stuff. I was amazed at how much I knew! It was definitely a warm homey feeling for a kid living away from home for the first time. And the songs that I didn't know displayed the talents of these jazz-rock studio musicians as well as the songwriting skills and musicianship of the aforementioned "uncles".
At any rate I have recently seen Steely Dan live on the "Think Fast '08" tour. The following is the song list they played that evening.
Introduction: Instrumental by the band featuring
-Everyone's Gone to the Movies and the Fez
The Royal Scam
I Got the News
Show Biz Kids
Everything You Did
Two Against Nature
Hey Nineteen
Godwhacker
Babylon Sisters
New Frontier
Gaucho (Walter Becker on lead vocals)
Glamour Profession
Parker's Band (lead vocals by the ladies)
Josie
Aja
Keep Me Yearning (Walter Becker introduces the band during vocals by the ladies)
Peg
FM (No static at all)
Encore: Kid Charlemagne
While I was disappointed that Pretzel Logic and Don't Take Me Alive were not included in the (very thin) ONE song encore, that was my only disappointment. These guys love what they are doing and love to share it with us. Even the songs that I skip over on the albums kick ass live. They change, adapt, take on new personalities by whoever is happening to be in the touring band this year... which brings me to Aja. Whenever I hear any track from this phenomenal album I am transported to my childhood home on a summer's night many years ago. I found a mint copy on vinyl and bought it because it had "Peg" on it, however, only three songs on Side One forewarned me that this was not an ordinary album. Little did I know that new doors would soon be open to me. I took it home and vividly remember sitting on my bed, in the dark, "absorbing" the album as I had done with Dark Side of the Moon a few years before. Anyway, the coming off of Josie and sliding right into Aja sparked something. I sat down, closed my eyes, and just experienced this living, breathing, creature that was the music produced by this group of individuals. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I realized that generations to come will look back on this and say, "I wish I was there...". Hell, I do that with certain events.
Whatever tomorrow may bring, I count myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend 5 evenings with Donald Fagen and Walter Becker sharing their chunk of American History with me.
