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Steely Dan Live on CD.

wezzywest

pfm Member
Could anybody recommend me any Steely Dan concerts on CD. There seems to be quite a few available, but i am not sure of the quality of the recordings.
Cheers.
 
To the best of my knowledge Alive In America is the only legitimate one, everything else will be bootlegs/pirates, so beyond the accepted scope of this site. I’ve never heard Alive In America, but at a fiver I’ll likely take a punt!
 
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Alive in America is good, but tbh live Dan, while always worth listening to, doesn't offer any major insights you can't get from studio Dan. Occasional improvisational/jamming moments aside, the songs tend to be played pretty straight.
 
Alive in America is good as it should be as IIRC they have taken the best bits of their American tour(s) and put them on one CD.
I keep seeing the American FM radio station broadcasts but I am warry of them but I would like to be proved wrong :)
 
There's the New York Rock and Soul Review Live at the Beacon which features Donald with Michael McDonald
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000002L0E/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

And then the Dukes of September which was a sort of rerun of the NY Rock and Soul Review...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HUQC3U2/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

The Dukes of September DVD features Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs is a really good show if you're a casual fan of all three. It may not satisfy hardcore Dan fans though.

 
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Alive in America is good, but tbh live Dan, while always worth listening to, doesn't offer any major insights you can't get from studio Dan. Occasional improvisational/jamming moments aside, the songs tend to be played pretty straight.

Agreed, I bought it as it was only a fiver and I don’t feel it really adds anything of value. Not unpleasant, but they were so clearly a studio band it just ends up sounding a bit flat. I guess given the way Steely Dan worked (endless session musos auditioning for each track, no fixed personnel beyond Becker & Fagen etc) it just ends up sounding like a covers band. It’s not bad, but I can’t imagine reaching for it over any of the studio albums.

PS The best bit is the liner notes which are very dry/funny.
 
Not at all, saw them a couple of times at Hammersmith Odeon and they were superb live.
I have seen them live a couple of times and they were excellent. However we are talking here about the live audio recording, as opposed to the experience of attending a live show. In their wisdom and maybe for good reason, 'Dan only released one live official album and IMO it does not sonically cut the mustard in the way their studio albums do.
 
Has anyone heard these?

I assume they're from FM recordings.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MXFBQZG/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UI759B0/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

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I like the slight raw Midnight Special clips on you tube - they show what a fine guitar player Denny Dias was .


I think a session player (Elliot Randell?) had the guitar solo on the recording and Dias played the sitar lines.

A live set from the pre-studio Dan might tempt me


Mind you, Do It Again shows why David Palmer didn't make the cut and has a totally un Dan-like Bongo solo.
 
The problem is on the studio albums you have Wayne Shorter, Steve Gadd, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Joe Sample etc, and on the live album you don’t.


I’ve seen Steely Dan several times in the past and each time the guitarist has been the brilliant Jon Herington who featured on Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go as well as some of the Fagen solo albums. The music is however very much arranged rather than improvised - but how many live bands actually do improvisations these days what with computerised light show coordination video screens etc?
 
Forgot about Piano Jazz. Not live Dan as such but a radio broadcast of Becker & Fagen playing a selection of standards and Dan originals backed by a jazz combo.
 


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