Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years by Sweet Brian;

Author:Sweet, Brian; [Sweet, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 5433918
Publisher: Music Sales
Published: 2018-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter IX

Bodacious Cowboys

When Becker and Fagen finally did return to New York, Fagen especially was delighted to be back in his adopted home town. “I moved into the Stanhope Hotel and from my window I could watch steel drum bands, Latin, salsa and even bagpipe groups playing in front of the Met,” he said with something approaching cheerfulness, although this was never a state of mind much associated with Steely Dan. “Then I’d go outside for a walk and all the way down to 43rd Street, one tenor sax would fade into another. It’s nice to have music in the streets.”

Eventually they moved into the same luxury apartment building on Central Park West, Fagen on the third floor and Becker on the 11th. Like John Lennon and Paul Simon, both of whom lived nearby, they could look down on Central Park’s sylvan delights and choose between the solitude of their remote castles or the street life at ground level.

Soon after their return, Fagen discovered a bad-taste blues singer called Root Boy Slim and The Sex Change Band with The Rootettes through a friend at a radio station. With time on their hands, Fagen and Becker took their enthusiasm for the band to unusual lengths – even attending recording sessions at Criteria Studios in Miami while on vacation, and going down to Washington, DC to see Root Boy Slim perform live. Gary Katz produced his eponymous album, which contained such delightful titles as ‘Heartbreak Of Psoriasis’, ‘Too Sick To Reggae’ and ‘Boogie ‘Til You Puke’.

Steely Dan’s patronage had no impact whatsoever upon sales of the album and Warner Bros. dropped the band. They signed to Illegal Records and followed their 1978 debut with an album entitled Zoom a year later, which was also a flop. (Root Boy Slim’s own life was an unhappy one, too. He became an alcoholic and drug addict and was admitted to various institutions several times. He turned to writing poetry but eventually died in 1993, aged 47.)

A previously unreleased Becker and Fagen composition appeared in 1979 on the eponymous debut album of a jazz-funk band called Dr Strut. The album was released on the Motown label, which was at the time trying to broaden its musical horizons, and featured Countdown To Ecstasy assistant engineer Tim Weston on guitar. Dr Strut comprised four other hot session players and songwriters, and ‘Canadian Star’ was the only song on the album not written by the band themselves. It was a superbly melodic instrumental boasting some lovely guitar and sax interplay between Weston and David Woodford. The band never achieved the recognition they deserved. They released a second LP called Struttin’ in 1980, but faded rapidly from sight after that.

Becker and Fagen began recording again themselves sometime in 1979. The sessions flitted between Soundworks, A&R Studios, Sigma Sound and Automated Sound in Manhattan, but they occasionally flew cross country to Los Angeles for sessions at their favoured Village Recorders and Producer’s Workshop.

A variety of circumstances, most of them unfortunate, caused

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