Steely Dan- Any good?

[kasperhauser]

I'm not convinced that they are particularly "good". What's special about them? Have they broken any new ground, musically?

Actually, yes. Granted, not the kind of groundbreaking stuff Lily Allen is putting out, but they were trying, bless them.

Pay particular attention to his staccato technique, the interplay with the horns, and his use of false harmonics (which hasn't been bettered, before or since, IMHO). He's pulling elements of blues technique, Travis picking, and jazz horn riffs together, with no small amount of speed.

Now, to say you don't care for his playing, why, different matter entirely, and that's your call to make. If that's the case, hey, respect.

 

[Blzebub]

Staccato is groundbreaking? Okey-dokey, you are the expert.

Lily Allen's charm is in her amusing lyrics, and general all-round cuteness.

 

[kasperhauser]

Staccato is groundbreaking? Okey-dokey, you are the expert.

Point deftly missed. Kudos.

 

[Blzebub]

You edited your post. Kudos retrospectively.

Point is, I don't care for his playing, nor their smugness, which seems spectacularly misplaced to me.

 

[kasperhauser]

You edited your post. Kudos retrospectively.

How dastardly. I bet I'm the only one who has ever done that.

Point is, I don't care for his playing

Fair point. Finally.

Lily Allen's charm is in her amusing lyrics, and general all-round cuteness.

Well, as they say, eye of the beholder, and all that.

 

[PeteH]

Check out My Old School on youtube (totally lip-synched, but hey). If you find the soloing common, I'd love to hear a few of the artists you listen to who make it seem so.

Flicking through this thread, I was mildly intrigued and watched a bit of that video, which really is utterly dire. The guitar playing is "impressive" in that way that people who mostly listen to pop music find "impressive", which is to say that that the chap in question has actually bothered to find out a little about playing his instrument before coming on stage, but the sheer awfulness of that song is spectacularly beyond redemption by a semi-competent instrumentalist.

 

[Blzebub]

If that microphone was your "Johnson", you wouldn't complain. Unless you don't smoke.

 

[kasperhauser]

The guitar playing is "impressive" in that way that people who mostly listen to pop music find "impressive"

...please, do go on.

 

[Markus S]

If that microphone was your "Johnson", you wouldn't complain. Unless you don't smoke.

Excitement is in the "Johnson" of the beholden, I guess.

 

[kasperhauser]

If that microphone was your "Johnson", you wouldn't complain. Unless you don't smoke.

I don't. And even if I did... yikes. I wouldn't f*ck her with your "johnson", and I mean that.

 

[Blzebub]

Lol. I've given up (smoking).

 

[P]

Cuteness ?

Hardly a trait I tend to call when judging. If someone's entertaining or pulling a lick from somewhere from way beyond then that's just about all there is . But if how someone looks and is a cutie and that's your bag then so be it.

Personally I find that sort of thing a little distasteful

 

[kasperhauser]

My only regret is that I'm going to be lumped in as a Steely Dan fan, which I'm not, really, any more than I'm a Clapton fan. But I find some swell guitar work here and there in his catalog, too. Oh well.

 

[Blzebub]

The main reason I like Lily Allen is that she has wit.

The main reason I hate Steely Dan is that they have none.

 

[rod]

Bring out your dead...

 

[P]

Quite . Whatever next. Sarah Brightman?

Have you ever met Keith Allen?

 

[Blzebub]

Of course I've not met Keith Allen! What's that got to do with the direness of Steely Dan?

 

[P]

Exactly.

In your humble opinion.

 

[Blzebub]

Nothing humble about it. Loads of people agree with me, for once!

 

[Markus S]

Lol. I've given up (smoking).

Good to hear.