R.I.P. Walter Becker (Steely Dan)

VoidTerraFirma said:
No Marigolds in the promised land...
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OT except for the apocalyptic subject matter of "King of the World":

My 15y/o son and I are watching The Abyss right now, as part of my Dad's Movies You Should See curriculum*. Because of the prevalence of Russian nuclear paranoia in the movie, we had a conversation last night about my generation's existential fear that our world would almost inevitably end in a paroxysm of nuclear flame.

I told him about the ridiculous duck-and-cover civil emergency drills we had to go through in school a few times a year, and about the incessant battlefield NBC training I got as a Armored Cav Scout in the Cold War Army. As if we would survive a nuclear blast on a battlefield. o_O

He said: "So you all thought that everything would end up like the Fallout games or Mad Max?" (he's playing Fallout 4 right now). I agreed, noting that the Fallout games are a satirical funhouse mirror reflection of that fatalistic mindset.

The whole concept seemed ridiculous and practically incomprehensible to him .... for which I'm glad. Oh my sweet summer child, I hope it always seems that way to you.

Sorry for the digression.

* The last few films in our line up have been: Night of the Comet, Trading Places, Coming to America, Mad Max and The Road Warrior.
 
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I'd go with Aja, Two Against Nature, and Katy Lied. Though I've probably listened more to Becker's 1st solo album than any Dan record in the past few years. I really like that record! I've really been trying to get into his second record, Circus Money, since yesterday. It has some great lyrics but in general, the music hasn't ever grabbed me.
 
One half of one of our greatest songwriting teams, IMO. Walter was also an underrated guitar player. Understandable, with all the best of the best players Steely Dan employed, but he had his moments. His solos on Black Friday are glorious mayhem! RIP.
 
VoidTerraFirma said:
When he missed the "Classic" dates this summer I was a little concerned, but they had been leaking out Fall tour dates as recently as last week. My gang was formulating a plan to hit the Baltimore date in October.

Ugh...I'm heartbroken.
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RIP Walter, another one taken too young.

I was keeping an eye on the Pier 6 show as well. Is Fagen going to continue the tour, and if so, will he continue to use the Steely Dan name, or will it become a Donald Fagen tour? :shrug:
 
shoeless said:
RIP Walter, another one taken too young.

I was keeping an eye on the Pier 6 show as well. Is Fagen going to continue the tour, and if so, will he continue to use the Steely Dan name, or will it become a Donald Fagen tour? :shrug:
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Per Mr. Fagen's letter, he intends to keep the music alive as long as he can with the Steely Dan band. One can reasonably assume that these dates were booked knowing that Walter wouldn't be part of the tour...and with his blessing.
 
iamjethro said:
I have always maintained tha tAja was the most near perfect album in totality (mixing, recording, writing, performance) ever. I used to use it to test people's stereo set up in the olden days.
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I have the orig master gold disk just for that.

Defintely a SD fan. Also have 11 tracks of wack and while there are some gems on that disk, it's kinda all over the place and has an unfinished feel to it.
 
The original albums are all fantastic, just different. The last two have their moments, but it's tough to compete. With rare exception I usually just recommend people work their way chronologically.
 
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