Top 10 Songs from Coachella band Steely Dan

For some inexplicable reason, Steely Dan is playing at Coachella this year. Yeah, the group your dad still listens to. The one that hasn’t made a new studio album since 2003. The group that infamously won the Grammy Album of the Year for 2001 against Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP and Radiohead’s Kid A. Yeah, that one.

But - and this is a big BUT - the fact remains that Steely Dan is one of the most unique bands in the history of pop music. They are really only two men - singer/keyboardist Donald Fagen and bassist Walter Becker - and they put their albums together like directors make movies. They hired the best session musicians in the business to back them up.

Their lyrics are often downright weird and their music is unlike anyone else’s. Becker and Fagen mixed together jazz and rock on their nine studio albums, but still managed to find success on the radio. Indeed, one could say that they were among the best singles acts in the 1970s, even though they stopped touring after their third record.

Anyway, let’s go back to My Old School and put on a pair of Your Gold Teeth for a trip to Steely Dan’s world.

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10. Gaucho was the band’s last album before their two-decade break between 1980 and 2000. The album only has seven tracks and struggles a bit to avoid being Aja - Part II, but it certainly has its highlights. “Time Out Of Mind” is a funky track that features smooth horns and a neat guitar solo from Mark Knopfler.

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9. “Godwacker” is a groovy track on their final album, 2003’s Everything Must Go. While Becker and Fagen have continued to tour, they haven’t recorded a new album since. While 2000’s Two Against Nature sounds like a Steely Dan album that could have been made in 1980, Everything Must Go has a few interesting things going on.

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8. From 1975’s Katy Lied, “Bad Sneakers” is one of those songs that only Steely Dan could come up with. The lyrics paint a perfect picture and Fagen’s smooth vocals are backed by an even slicker backing track and vocals... and now we need a pina colada.

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7. Countdown to Ecstasy is a criminally underrated album, filled with grittier workouts from the band, which was still a typical “band” in 1973. “Show Biz Kids” is the central piece of the album, filled with digs at fame. Skunk Baxter’s guitar is rarely better.

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6. Sticking with Countdown, the album’s final track, “King of the World,” is one killer track. Pay attention to Jim Hodder’s drumming.

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5. The ultimate Steely Dan album is Aja. Just looking at the credits inside the album can make you dizzy. The album’s hit single is “Peg,” a smooth-jazz track highlighted by horns and stand-out guitar work.

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4. “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” the lead single and opening track from Pretzel Logic, is one of my favorite hits from the band. It’s got a slow opening, but when Fagen starts singing, he instantly pulls the listener in.

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3. “Do It Again” introduced the world to Steely Dan, as it’s their most famous hit and the opening song on their debut, Can’t Buy A Thrill. Sure, it’s been played to death in movies and on the radio, but it’s slick mix of jazz and rock defines the group for many.

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2. This may be a surprising No. 2, but the title track for The Royal Scam is a thumping, defining closing track for that album and features a great guitar from Larry Carlton. The squeaky horns add to the apocalyptic feel of the whole song. It’s certainly an interesting way to finish an album.

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1. Sure, I could go with something well-known like “Dirty Work,” “Reelin’ In The Years” or “My Old School,” but just to be different, I’m going to go with the title track from Aja. It’s their best-selling album, so I guess it’s not too far off the beaten-path. The song runs an astonishing eight minutes, and is a track that epitomizes what Steely Dan’s music means. Sure, it’s as too-slick as the rest of Aja, but if you like your pop music messy, you aren’t listening to Steely Dan anyway.

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