Episode 160: Eli Lake / Steely Dan

Introducing the Band:
Your hosts Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) and Jeff Blehar (@EsotericCD) with guest Eli Lake. Eli is a columnist for The Free Press, contributing editor at Commentary, and host of Breaking History. You can follow him on Twitter/x @EliLake.

Eli’s Music Pick: Steely Dan
In what is likely the last of our past episodes to be completely re-recorded, we present a totally new edition of our look at the music and career of Steely Dan. Jeff long has despised the sound of his microphone on the original show (our version of a Katy Lied-esque mishap), which also was recorded in a back-up studio. It makes sense to get something on tape that will stand the test of time. 

There may not be a more unlikely story in rock history than Steely Dan, more specifically the braintrust of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Michael McDonald, who provided backing vocals for the band later in its career, wrote that Fagen had the "physique of an 80-year-old woman" and Becker gave off the distinct vibe of a "lab technician working on some nefarious government experiment." These two guys, who famously didn't even like the idea of being in a conventional rock band, somehow became one of the most distinctive and enduring acts of the 1970s. They took the sounds of jazz, R&B, soul, blues, pop, and rock, ran them through a filter of studio perfectionism and darkly funny songwriting, and came out with something that sounded like nobody else. And somehow, against all odds, some of the most musically complicated songs of their era became radio staples. 

The Steely Dan story is also a story of constant reinvention. From the sly pop-rock of Can't Buy a Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy, through the increasingly ambitious Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied, and The Royal Scam, Becker and Fagen gradually turned the recording studio into their own musical laboratory. Then came Aja, the masterpiece that may be the ultimate expression of their obsession with precision, groove, and impeccable musicianship. The term “Yacht Rock” might as well have been born right then and there. Gaucho pushed that approach even further, even as the band's perfectionism and internal tensions reached a breaking point. 

We dig into the music, the personalities, the bizarre characters, the legendary studio sessions, and the songs that make Steely Dan so endlessly rewarding. Because beneath all the perfectionism and complexity, Steely Dan always understood one fundamental thing: A great song still needs a great groove.

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