What was steely dan named after

The band also elected to play, for the most part, in cities they hadn't reached on the tour. Wadenius and Chambers brought a fresh sound to the Dan songs with their unique styles. And some changes were made to the set list for this tour as well. In addition, Walter performed two different songs -- "Down at the Bottom" and "Hard Up Case" -- from his solo album which was released at the end of September Becker's "11 Tracks Of Whack" caught many Steely Dan fans by surprise, hearing Walter sing lead vocals on songs for the first time, with stripped-down instrumentation that almost amounted to a release of demo tapes [thanks, Pete, I'm going to hand-pick your seats for the shows this year myself -- Ed.

The album was well received by [ most ] critics and Dan fans. Following the tours, the band took a well-deserved rest, and then began to go through two years' worth of live tapes to come up with some material for a live album.

Selection and mixing were done in the spring of , and the live album, Steely Dan's first, was released on October 17, Engineer Roger Nichols cracked that the album was titled "Alive in America" partly due to the fact that some of the songs were "patched" in the studio, so they wanted to get away from calling it a "live" album.

No matter, it came out sounding great, with selections from both the '93 and '94 tours. The band put together a mini-promotional tour for the album, doing a live radio broadcast, playing the David Letterman Show "Josie" , and a 2-day stint at New York's Roseland ballroom.

The Roseland shows, both quick sellouts, were highlighted by some new additions to the set list like "East St. Most of the '93 lineup was back; the exception was John Beasley replacing Warren Bernhardt on piano.

Beasley's more aggressive style added some nice touches to the tunes. In a sign that they were opening up to promotional ideas, Becker and Fagen consented to a VH-1 special on "Alive in America", where they returned to their old Brooklyn apartment building and were interviewed.

Donald and Walter also tried their hand at doing online interviews for the first time, appearing on Prodigy, Compuserve and The Microsoft Network for live "chats" with fans. They apparently liked the experience since soon afterwards work began on their own official website, steelydan. Donald and Walter had been writing new songs together on and off beginning in the mid's, and serious discussions regarding a new studio album began in February Around this time, word began to get out that the Dan were going on the road again in the summer of , this time hitting both the U.

The tour was eagerly anticipated by Dan fans since they were expecting to hear some of the new studio material Donald and Walter were working on, and they were not disappointed; "Jack of Speed", "Cash Only Island" and "Wet Side Story" were played at various venues during the tour, and were very warmly received.

Some fans were shocked to hear Walter taking the lead vocals on the very first new song played, "Jack of Speed", and wondered what that may mean for the overall lead-vocals situation in Steely Dan. During the tour Walter also traded lead vocals with Donald on "Everyone's Gone to the Movies", performed "Midnight Cruiser" solo and in the process making everyone forget Jim Hodder's original lead vocal on the tune , and also performed "My Waterloo" from "11 Tracks of Whack".

Changes to the touring lineup for the '96 tour included Michael Leonhart on yes trumpet, Ari Ambrose on tenor sax, Wayne Krantz on lead guitar, the great Ricky Lawson on drums, Beasley once again on piano, and Carolyn Leonhart and Michelle Wiley on backup vocals.

Following the '96 tour, Fagen and Becker dove headlong into the songwriting process for their new Steely Dan album. Continuing to shun touring in favor of recording the album, they went through the rest of '98 and most of '99 putting on the finishing touches, which included many fantastic lead guitar solos by Walter, horn parts by Chris Potter, Michael Leonhart and Lou Marini, percussion from Gordon Gottlieb and Steve Shapiro, and backup vocals from Michael's sister Carolyn Leonhart, Cynthia Calhoun, and Michael Harvey.

As it turned out Donald had once again assumed all the lead-vocal duties; he said he asked Walter if he wanted to do "Jack of Speed" but Walter declined. Michael Leonhart played a large role in the recording process by contributing to some of the horn arrangements, while Gary Blu was once again entrusted with writing out the charts.

Potter also left a major impression by coming up with the incredible 3. Becker and Fagen had originally intended that part of the tune to be a guitar solo, but Potter asked if he could take it home for a couple of days and work on it, and when he came back in and started blowing -- well, the results speak for themselves.

The tune thus became an epic in the manner of "Deacon Blues" and "Aja" -- ironic since it began as a reggae piece when Donald and Walter first came up with the idea in The rest of the songs all came together during this period.

Others, like the various rumored outtakes and the previously played "Cash Only Island" and "Wet Side Story", were shelved, hopefully to be resurrected for future albums someday. Donald and Walter took a short break from the recording process in January of '99 to record "The Making of Aja" for the Classic Albums series.

They brought "Aja" musicians Bernard Purdie, Chuck Rainey and the late Paul Griffin to River Sound where they joined in reminiscing about the recording of the '77 album. New guys Herington and Barney joined the vets on instrumental jams of some of the tunes, and the resulting video was released to TV, DVD and video later that year. During '98 and '99, various sources including Nichols, who poked fun at the shroud of secrecy surrounding the project began to report the name of the upcoming album as "Two Against Nature" and to float various tentative release dates.

Finally, in November of '99, the first reviewer Roger Friedman of Fox News reported he had gotten an advance copy of the CD and disclosed the titles of the 9 tunes, in the process spoiling the "Match the Tracks" contest Steely Dan had put up on the official site.

Then it was made official: the release date was to be Feb. Being a once-inyears leap date, it somehow seemed entirely appropriate. They performed several of the songs from the new CD as well as some older favorites, and they never sounded better. When the CD was released on Feb. To some, it seemed like they had never left, while for others, it was like being reunited with an old, dear friend.

After the tour ended, the thrills continued for Steely Dan and their fans. In December '00 it was announced that they were finally getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , with the ceremonies scheduled for March ' In February '01 they stunned many though not most fans by winning 4 Grammy awards for "Two Against Nature" -- including the top honor for "Album of the Year".

So some were surprised when a "mere" three years later, Steely Dan released a new studio album "Everything Must Go" in , followed by North American tours in and , and a world tour in What happens next? Who knows. But visitors to Steely Dan's Website will get the first official word. First, let's dispatch with a few perennial favorites:. Did anyone in Steely Dan ever attend the University of Alabama? For a condensed history, see the SD Timeline. The Pre-Dan Era. The Early Steely Dan Era.

The Later Steely Dan Era. The Post-Dan Era. The New Steely Dan Era. And so we decided to disband and concentrate on recording and writing music, which takes a lot of time and thought, and to eventually put another band together, perhaps, and go out. But I guess inertia set in, and we ended up just making records. The retirement from the stage was never meant to be permanent. In , while still considered commercial superstars, Becker and Fagen announced the dissolution of their partnership.

A few Steely Dan oldies found their way into the set, and eventually Becker even sat in on a few dates. And the technology of touring has become refined and much more comfortable, much more human.

In terms of the massive contemporary appreciation of irony as a replacement for old-school rock idealism, it rather seems the world caught up with the cynical voice that Fagen and Becker were able to claim from the get-go. But the fact was that we did have the attitude that we were brought up with inauthentic values, etc. We were looking for that in a very aggressive way. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour ». Coachella Who exactly was Steely Dan trying to reel in? Steely Dan with strings at the Hollywood Bowl?

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