So great to see you both enjoying all aspects of these songs. Warms my heart as a Steely Dan fan!😎 I have heard this song many times however, I enjoyed hearing it this time the most. Thanks to you!

@babylonsister118

7 ай бұрын

SAME SAME!!

Next time you’re in Home Depot and see an old dude with a VietNam veteran hat, think about what music he was listening to and how bad ass he and his music was. This music keeps me sane.

They're sick. Steely Dan. Just unrivaled.

Like so many of us have, you'll find their music becoming apart of your life.

The Royal Scam is a super awesome album. The title track is killer.

This album is about to get even better, if that's even possible. The Fez, Green Earrings, and Haitian Divorce are all iconic. You may freak at Green Earrings.

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

I’m so excited to hear Green Earrings. We’ve been hearing about that one for a few weeks now.

@JU5TINPDX

Жыл бұрын

….You will not be ready for “Haitian Divorce” and that’s a good thing 👍

@russelbarnes7235

Жыл бұрын

My sentiments exactly. They will freak at Green Earrings. And, they won't be ready for Haitian Divorce. This album just keeps on giving, all the way through! It's an incredible collection of vocals, instrumentation and creativity.

@russelbarnes7235

Жыл бұрын

@@TheCornishCockney that is so true!

Donald Fagen is a badass piano player. So funky.

Such an underrated song. One of my favorite Steely Dan songs.

With the Dan it's all killer no filler.

My first exposure to Steely Dan was my freshman year at University of Virginia back in 1974. Still an avid fan and love their sophisticated musical arrangements, use of talented studio musicians and thought provoking lyrics.

I love the fact that when someone says that’s a rabbit hole worth going down….. gentlemen, you go down that rabbit hole, whole bodied, and I love that about you keep up the great work, because your reward is hearing great music and as always peace, love, joy, and hope to you and yours

@maximilianodelrio

10 ай бұрын

For real! I knew a song or two, but after discovering peg from an IG story, I just had to dig deeper. Peg knocked me off my feet, and and then it seemed like every song I listened was better than the last, steely Dan is truly something else!

When you combine their music with their lyrics it's genius. They're musical majesty! When they started out Donald Fagen was reluctant to sing thinking he was not good. Years later one of the most recognizable voices of all time.

@back2me225

29 күн бұрын

Great comment ,i love Steely Dan music.❤

Great piano work and guitar adding flavor

The Royal Scam is recognised by many Steely Dan fans as their all time best with Aja and Gaucho close second also Two against nature from 2000 won the Grammy for best album !

@hosehead58

Жыл бұрын

Can`t Buy A Thrill, Countdown To Ecstasy..and Royal Scam: their best 3, imo

@leonh.kalayjian6556

Жыл бұрын

I wouldn't quibble about which is better, royal scam or aja, but gaucho is a distant third. Might even take a back seat to can't buy a thrill as third.

@sturmination

Жыл бұрын

Two Against Nature won a Grammy and is still underrated. Steely Dan goes hard.

@scottsummers1440

Жыл бұрын

Aja. Number 1 for me. The title track is my Salirai moment. The moment I recognized genius.

@rogerhennie8939

Жыл бұрын

Pretzel Logic, Katy lied and Royal Scam are the best. After that, a bit too smooth jazz.

Hey guys. It's songs like this that make me glad I grew up when I did. (I'll be 72 next week!) What I miss about today's music is the album concept, that is, buying an album from a band you liked and then listening to it all the way through. I would always discover great songs that I was not familiar with and in most instances would find songs that I liked much better than the released single. I still have this album on vinyl and still listen to it so Steely Dan must have been doing something right. Stay on your journey. You will not be disappointed. Peace and Happy Thanksgiving.

@alldayadventures5418

Жыл бұрын

Agree: You would play each of these albums completely end to end....100's of times...

@gerhardbraatz6305

Жыл бұрын

I'm 66 and miss getting new albums and in the 70s they didn't put in fillers on albums.

@jazzyboy7784

Жыл бұрын

I'm with you guys...all the songs would not be good at first..but we would listen to that album until we liked every song on it...after all, we spent $7 of our parents hard earned money on it lol.

@tonyfleck3029

Жыл бұрын

Hi from the UK, have loved this Band from my young Teenage years back in the early 70s!! There's a Great local ten piece cover band 'Stanlee Dee' that I've seen live many times over the last 6/7 years!! Check them out on Utube, you will not be disappointed!!!...

@jahdonkey

Жыл бұрын

I think that now that basically all music ever is available at the click of a button, it doesn't have the same worth or value. It's just become another disposable item.

I'm with the other posters here - it's great to see you two digging the Dan's gritty perfection. SCAM is a rare collection of songs - any individual track here would be any other group's once in a lifetime song. SD crammed 9 absolute gems onto one piece of vinyl. Buckle up boys... you're getting into some of the filthiest stuff SD ever laid down. You will come back to this album and smile every time the rest of your lives.

Steely Dan owns THE GROOVE!

Perfect, perfect, perfect album! 🤩

The Royal Scam is my absolute favorite Steely Dan album....until I listen to one of their other albums. Then that one is my favorite Steely Dan album.....until I listen to a different one....

Just love these sessions guys.

Got to be one of the best albums ever recorded, along with Fagen’s solo album, “The Nightfly.”

Great reaction - you guys really catch all the nuances. The guitarist on this track was the great Elliot Randall who played on many SD tracks and his style is kind of "wild", for lack of a better term, full of inventive ideas and off-kilter rhythms

Watching Steely Dan reaction vids always puts a smile on my face. Seeing someone else experience one of my favorite bands for the first time is a trip. It honestly takes me back to the first time I heard these songs and they similarly blew my mind. Yalls reaction to these is a cut above some others I've seen just because you guys GET IT. Steely Dan goes hard. If you react to any more, please consider some of my personal favorites: -Green Earrings -FM -Bad Sneakers -Gaucho (that whole album is fire, truthfully) Yall keep exploring music. There's a ton of fantastic shit to discover. Much love.

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Green earrings is actually coming up next

@sturmination

Жыл бұрын

@@AirplayBeats That's legit exciting. In my opinion, it might be their coldest groove. I'm here for it.

🤩 Learned to appreciate this song hearing it Live on Royal Scam Night during SD Beacon Theater Residency Shows. I miss them performing every Oct! 😞 RIP Walter Becker. 🙏🏿🐰

This is one fine piano feature.

It's such a banger you banged your head on the mic!

If you've ever seen the movie "From Dusk Til Dawn" this song is about the fabled Mexican town owned by the criminals that the bank robbing duo of brothers is trying to get to. It gets a mild shout out in Natural Born Killers. The story goes that for a significant buy in you cn become a resident and live in relative safety. Pepe, the guy with the scar ear to ear, will vanish your mugshot and give you a new identity. That's why they call him a zombie, and laud the fact that they don't have policeman one, talk about how good the food is. Taking the YO Yo for a walk (Doing Coke, Paying "Turkish Union dues'" dealing/smoking hash) Signing in is picking your new name...and you're a "Stranger" because you're starting a whole new life. Just a lil added layer of awesome from one of the best bands in the world! Loving your reviews of the Dan band...

@noyfb4769

Жыл бұрын

Well the song DEFINITELY predates the movie, and it's set in a dystopian future where we're colonizing other planets but it sure as fuck ain't Star Trek, the mafia's running the show. The movie's set in Mexico. Though if in fact Rodriguez and Tarantino are germinating any of their scripts from SD lyrics, it just makes their work even more awesome, so I don't really wanna disbelieve you . . . Gotta love SD's lyrics; every song probably has half a dozen or more interpretations.

@RexAVision

Жыл бұрын

@@noyfb4769 The legend of the town starts in the late 1900's, which, I'm pretty sure, predates all of this.

Another all time fave Dan song, you nailed it the guitar piano interplay, another song about alienation and gentleman losers seeking a new identity on the plant Nizar 5 or such, a sci fi reference. (The Gentleman Loser was a bar in an early sci fi book.) LOVE your takes on the Dan and condolences then.

Great song guys

Royal Scam is my favorite album of theirs. This song is one reason

The drummer is Bernard Purdie. That is his signature groove, aptly named 'The Purdie Shuffle'. The Dan used that groove on a number of their tunes...

Paul Griffen on piano, Elliot Randall on guitar. The next three cuts off "The Royal Scam" are real bangers, looking forward to seeing your reactions to them. Hope you do all of "Katy Lied" at some point too, Michael Omartian plays a Bosendorfer grand purchased specifically for the recording sessions.

@RADThird1

Жыл бұрын

"Katy Lied" Yeah. And don't forget the great Phil Woods on alto!

@makethebestofwhatsstillaro425

Жыл бұрын

Great reaction! I am looking forward to your Green Earrings episode.

@hklinker

Жыл бұрын

@R C I’ve never heard that detail about Omartian and that piano. He does some beautiful playing.

@rc1363

Жыл бұрын

@@hklinker Yeah, Donald and Walter liked the sound of Bosendorfers - being jazz fans it was possibly from listening to Oscar Peterson - so they talked Omartian into auditioning and selecting one from the piano store across the street from the recording studio. They charged it to ABC as a recording expense ;-) OMartian said that he saw the piano at the studio a couple of years later and it had cigarette burns all over it, what a shame.

@jimmoore8951

Жыл бұрын

My older sisters, both keyboard players, just dropped that they were friends with Michael O and his wife back in the day… I just grew a whole new level of respect for my sisters.

You guys need to finish Royal Scam album. Love watching your unique perspectives.

Great to see you guys enjoying this music i have been into for 40 years ❤

Great reactions, guys and love the Dan/Janis jag you are on. Keep up the great work

Hey Brothers, hope you’re doing great! Steely Dan fans know every album & song so well… diving album by album is great, and you’ll pull in a lot of views along the way because we love seeing new blood getting into the Dan! As we often see with reactors, you went with what many believe is their pinnacle album - Aja - first. But there are legions of us who put Royal Scam right there next to it on that pedestal! Steely Dan was really like several bands in one, because of the way they evolved from jazz-tinged pop/rock to the full hybrid jazz/rock of RS, and finally the sedate jazz of Gaucho at the end of their initial run. 7 full albums in 8 years - evolving all throughout that time … and the fans growing along with them. It’s was made cooler for many of us who were 13 when the 1st album came out (Can’t Buy a Thrill) - because we grew into adults while waiting for our yearly dose of the Dan. By the time I was 20, they were done! Quite a music upbringing from my musical parents - Donald and Walter! Anyway, glad to see ur having so much fun - they are amazing for the ear and the soul! Peace & happy holidays!

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching. Happy holidays

@russelbarnes7235

Жыл бұрын

I agree with everything you said, but it was important to me,and I was 22, by the time their initial run ended. LOL But seriously, you hit the proverbial nail on the head.

Back in the day, if you were good enough to be on a Steely Dan album, your career as a session musician was set. That’s all you needed to put on your resume.

Just another day of living on the 5th planet of Mizar - A star in the constellation Ursa Major (better known as the "Big Dipper"), approximately 88 light years from Earth. In fact, Mizar is not just a single star, but a quadruple star - consisting of two binary stars orbiting each other.

The guitar solo was Elliott Randall. The piano was performed by Paul Griffin. Fagan and Becker hand pick certain musicians for specific parts of a song. It is not unusual to have two lead guitarists on a track. They do everything for a reason because they are looking for a specific sound at a specific time on the track. I personally am not aware of any band that gathered so many top shelf musicians for every album they recorded. I agree... this album is more "gritty" than "Aja". Take care.

And just wait until you find Goucho. You are still just scratching the surface! So fun watching you both

Another favorite from this album ❤

I have to say every record just got better and better. I picked up Everything must go and Two against nature and they are now my favorite SD albums of all time.. lol

After seeing Steely Dan live, my friend Jim declared Donald Fagan as "The funkiest white man alive".

The Fez is coming, and the ending, the Reggae Groove fused with a Middle Eastern Groove, creates a vibe that is unique to me out of all other music, and sets you up for the remaining 4 songs. Green Earrings will Melt Your Musical Minds. The Entire Album is A Masterpiece. I suppose I should note the "Would You like to take a Yo Yo for a Ride" hearkens back to another great SD song from "Can't Buy A Thrill" that almost seems like it could be on this album "Do It Again". Walter and Donald Poking fun as the insanity of the human animal, repeating the same mistake, but expecting a different outcome.

This song is 🔥. Happy Thanksgiving🍁.

Wicked!

Love your analysis, as always. You dudes definitely know your music. I would like to suggest another band in the same genre, Traffic. They predate Steely Dan by 5 years (1967) and their sound is more raw and spontaneous sounding (some would say less overproduced). The song to begin with is their magnum opus, "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" (1971) Steve Winwood - vocals, piano, Hammond organ, Chris Wood - Tenor Sax, Jim Capaldi - additional percussion, Ric Grech - bass, Jim Gordon - drums, Reebop Kwaku Baah - congas

New Orleans taste for sure on that piano. Really enjoy that you young men appreciate this stuff as much as I do still and did when it came out. Thanks for letting me relive such great music and see now the future loving it now! Great Channel

They don't even have police man one. Damn. Heard dat.

When you get the chance, listen again, but focus hard on Chuck Rainey's absolute gangsta bass line...that bad boy should be illegal it's so nasty.

Tickle them ivories, steely Dan I just put them on and do house work to it all day

Looks like I got some catching up to do 😎

Ain't ONE weak track on this bad boy!! Love this album more than I can even say. 🥰

steely dan again.wow i love it.

The album does have an edge to it as the vibe is more rockish in nature than full on jazz. If you like the 1st side just be very, very prepared for the flip side as it takes the album to another level. After this album I suggest you do Gaucho because it will sound very different than Royal Scam as Gaucho is much more closely related to Aja in overall tone and jazz refinement.

Yeah, I knew that one would crush you. No one sees Sign in Stranger coming. You’re not quite halfway on this album. Lots more to enjoy.

Purdie on drums again

About 500 listens-I got it! Meet your maker.

As you dive into more Dan you'll find the lyrics don't always fill you in or even make since. Donald wrote about personal things and was more often than not very cryptic with their meaning.

Got some GREAT work still coming. And the final song is like a anthem. A march. Like yall said in the video, this album is dirtier. It really is. I know it's hard to listen to the music and lyrics because they are both so fucking stupendous! But you can spend 5 hours researching and breaking down what's happening musically and lyrically. I can't wait until you guys hear "Goucho". Talk about gritty. Gaucho I'd around the time Walter Brcker's girlfriend O D.'d and was sued by her parents, blaming Walter for her addiction. He was hit by car and in the hospital for a very long time. SUPER GRITTY. They also introduce a drum machine and other 80's type instrumentation. Great album. Thanks for the reaction fellas.

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Thanks again for your support on the channel. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

DF and WB were into sci fi growing up. The reference to Mizar Five is a nod to an old Jack Vance story.

Hi guys Happy Thanksgiving Don't forget CANT BUY A THRILL😄

The guy singing is also playing the piano. Donald Fagen

@AirplayBeats

26 күн бұрын

We know now

I took my screen name from this song.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the time with family and friends! I love you rocking the Chi town Bulls merch!

Not to sound like I know so much but THIS I learned from a great show based on a great book called "The Man Who Fell to Earth" from a character who is an elderly black artist and jazz musician, the technique you are talking about is called "call and response" and while it's most common in jazz, if you listen you will hear it clearly in other types of music, as well! I really just LOVE info like that so had to share!

Funny, I was going to say what Russel said below. Love watching for-real appreciation of these masters! What you'll find is that there is often an incongruence between melody and lyrics. Fez, next....pretty cool with some chart success and...clever subject, but then GREEN EARRINGS...one of my fav.s! Sorry for your loss fellas! Happy Thanksgiving nonetheless!

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Steely Dan just takes you for rides.. It’s not fair

I suggest you guys react to "Haitian Divorce" from this record if at all possible. It's my favorite track.

8:30 sounds like when Nip said “my final destination is the clouds its a one way”

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Do you see nip behind us?

@metaphoria3

Жыл бұрын

Oh yeah wearing the Magic jersey! Thats rad you guys are such big fans too

Larry Carlton's short guitar accent riffs are second to non in the biz.. He is nicknamed "Swami" by his contemporaries..

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤👍

Sorry I forgot its show biz kids, not lost wages. FUNKINA

now check out their song green earrings..super funky

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Green earrings is coming soon. Right after The Fez.

Happy Thanksgiving, gentlemen!

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. Hope you had a happy thanksgiving as well!

Gritty? Yeah, for sure. But the title track, that one takes you right down to the concrete. And then explodes it, by putting the whole thing into a larger context ~~~

It's about a guy who will give new identities to criminals

Is that Skunk Baxter playing guitar?

Steely dan content is with steelyben.

Srsly one of their best beats. Just so down low.

Been a fan since 74

This may be considered a weak song for this album. As nice as this song is, the album overall is just sick. I see you digging this song after song. You have some very special songs coming up. Personally, I'm enjoying this journey with the two of you. Keep it up my friends. You are appreciated.

@z-man2343

Жыл бұрын

Weak?!? Are you freakin' nuts? The groove that Rainey and Purdie are laying down is as badass as you'll hear anywhere, not to mention the piano player melting the keys for goodness sake. Ain't no band, nowhere playin' nuttin' like these guys. Weak...wtf.

@dickcnormis1444

Жыл бұрын

If this is weak , then Joe Biden is a great public speaker.

@jimmoore8951

Жыл бұрын

Don’t know why I like this song so much. Love the piano (and I don’t even play piano), the groove, the guitar and the vocals… even the lyrics make me smile. Glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks this album starts off 4-4.

@hklinker

Жыл бұрын

Seriously? Who would consider this weak? Speak for yourself and you’ll be ok.

@russelbarnes7235

Жыл бұрын

If anyone of you can tell me that this song is lauded like Kid Charlemagne, Don't Take Me Alive, The Fez, Haitian Divorce, Green Earrings or Royal Scam then go ahead and lie. Otherwise give me a damned break. I said may be considered weak, in the context of the overall album. Im going to add, that this is my favorite album of all time! Been listening to it since i first bought it on vinyl 46 years ago. SMH

Off world, before off-worlds were cool.

Sorry to hear about your friend guys synchronicities has a way of working thru music thankfully

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much. Love your comments!!!

4:56 - 'Call and Response'.

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

That’s the term I was looking for.

@annbeguity5932

Жыл бұрын

You could almost call it “trading 2s”: In jazz, most commonly this sort of thing comes in the form of “trading 4s”-which is when one instrument (or vocalist) blows for 4 bars, then another instrument (or vocalist) blows the next 4- and back and forth. Trading 2s is less common but can be found. Donald and Walter were jazzbos and in this case adopted a classic jazz form. Trivia: they even used a lyric of “trading 4s” in 2000’s “Jack Of Speed”

@johnburton1686

Жыл бұрын

Call and response is also evident on Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin between John Bonham and John Paul Jones during the middle part.

@teelurizzo8542

Жыл бұрын

@@annbeguity5932 Yeah, I'm a big Jazz fan, I know about trading 4s and 2s and Don & Walt's love for Jazz but even before Jazz solo trading came to be, 'call and response' was part of many world musical traditions, African being perhaps the most prominent in this case.

@teelurizzo8542

Жыл бұрын

@@johnburton1686 Yep, in this case, Led Zep's music is full of The Blues, again coming for the African Musical tradition. But many musical traditions have a 'conversational' aspect, in one form or another.

"Just another scurvy brother..."

I was a bit intrigued by the lyrics also when I first heard this song, many years ago. I did some research and what they are talking about is almost like a Sci-Fi story. Mizar 5 is a planet, a "wild and wooly" planet similar to the boom towns of the old West. Doesn't matter where you're from or what you've done, no one cares there. You can get a whole new identity from PePe, who has a scar from ear to ear from plastic surgery to hide his identity. Just about anything goes there, including "taking a yoyo for a ride", Mob slang for bumping someone off.

@markblom8039

Жыл бұрын

Actually I thought Pepe was killed to give the narrator a new identity. I always assume the darkest interpretation on this album.

I got a solo project I’m working on a lil more like this would be fun to collab!

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Email us so we can talk. Email should be in our description

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Airplaybeats@gmail.com

@metaphoria3

Жыл бұрын

@@AirplayBeats sweeet I’ll email you later when I get a chance

@metaphoria3

Жыл бұрын

@@AirplayBeats my bad took a lil while sent you an email w links

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop pausing the song in the middle of an instrumental solo! Its sacrilegious. You completely missed the flow and virtuosity of Paul Griffin's unsurpassed keyboard riff. Whatever comment you want to make will wait until the solo is complete.

Yeah, that audio is unlistenable for me. But, I gave ya a thumbs up anyway and I'll know you'll be back on track for the next one, so I'll be here for that one.

@AirplayBeats

Жыл бұрын

Sorry bout that. We will get it together on the next one. Thank you so much

Not gritty, stanky!

1 more thing Check out TIME by PINK FLOYD

WHEN YOU GET TO THE TITLE TRACK ....... IT WILL BE GRITTY AND POLISHED AT THE SAME TIME....ALL THE INSTRUMENTATION WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. THE LYRICS WILL MAKE YOU WONDER ABOUT AMERICA.... AND WHAT IT IS AND ISN'T. THIS WILL BE YOUR FAVORITE ALBUM...TILL THE NEXT ONE.

David Crosbys favorite band…

Gentlemen, make use of that excellent resource to find out who played what; who sang backing vocals, and the timeline of the albums. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Scam

@Jack-D-Ripper

Жыл бұрын

…and by-the-way, I really enjoy your reactions to Steely Dan. You’ve checked out Yes’ fabulous “Close to the Edge”, well you should check out their album “Fragile”, their stunning live album “Yessongs”, “Relayer”, and if you’re up to it, try “Tales from Topographic Oceans”.