Steely Dan — Music Videos

Songwriters with a studio ear

Steely Dan centred on the writing partnership of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Their music connects rock songwriting with jazz harmony, detailed rhythm playing and a carefully chosen range of instrumental voices. The records are also known for narrators and situations whose implications are not always straightforward. A smooth surface can carry an anxious, ironic or unsettled story, and the contrast between sound and subject gives the songs much of their lasting character.

The first album

Do It Again and Reelin’ in the Years appeared on Can’t Buy a Thrill in 1972. The first uses a steady, circling groove and a distinctive keyboard-led atmosphere; the second puts bright guitar playing and a more driving rhythm in the foreground. Heard together, they show that the group’s early identity already included both precise arrangement and an appetite for instrumental personality.

Details inside the groove

Listen for how a bass line, drum accent or instrumental answer changes the feeling of a repeated vocal phrase. As the catalogue developed, Becker and Fagen increasingly treated the studio as a place to assemble the right performance for each composition. Steely Dan are especially rewarding for listeners who enjoy clear melodies but also want to follow harmonic movement, rhythmic nuance and the contributions of individual players.