One of my heroes.
He’s got a new album on the way in March, and the first single has already been released: “H Gang.” Not much melody, but killer grooves and plenty of those sneaky altered blues modulation strategies that the Dan has always deployed to stunning effect. Plus a bell tree and a groovin’ sax solo and a nicely skanky electric guitar solo. All your major food groups, right there.
Given that Fagen has long been an aficionado of SF and digital culture generally, I imagine he got a lot of pleasure from being alive and kicking in 2006 so he could put the following sentence in his email announcing the single:
“H GANG” DIGITAL SINGLE
Look for the title track and the debut single “H Gang,” available now at all digital retailers.
Yep, I bought mine at iTunes.
Now where’s the key to my Kamakiri…?
If you get the chance you really should catch Donald during this once in a lifetime tour. Saw him and his great band last Saturday night in Boston, a unique experience to hear tunes from The Nightfly (all but Ruby Baby, Maxine, and Walk Between the Raindrops). Only one from Kamakiriad, Teahouse on the Tracks. Of the new songs, Bright White Gown was overwhelmingly superb. And all the Dan material was great, too. Years ago, after seeing Steely Dan in ’93, I wondered when there was gonna be a Donald Fagen tour. 13 years later it came to pass.
Phil
I’m delighted to say that I did get to see him, last Monday (3/5) in D.C. It was a superb show in every respect. The Kamakiriad tune was “Snowbound,” and I wished for more. We got all the Nightfly tunes you got. And we got some tracks from the “Steely Dan File” along with three from the new album out today. I should blog on this. I even snuck a couple of pictures, though they didn’t come out very well.
Thanks for stopping by.
Got to see Fagen in Detroit last night. Did not hear about his solo tour until last minunte but still got great third rows seats in the balcony. What an awesome show!!!! The Kamakiriad tune was also “Snowbound” and “IGY” was left out instead for a fourth from the new album. The Steely Dan songs were “Home at Last”, “Black Cow”, “FM”, and “Pretzel Logic”. I also wished for more from Kamakiriad and have read he has performed “Here at the Western World” at other shows. Felt like a once in a liftetime opportunity and one I’ll be telling the grandkids about!!!
SAW MR. FAGEN THE SECOND NIGHT OF HIS TOUR IN LONG ISLAND, NY. WAS A TERRIFIC SHOW. HE DID 5 OF THE 8 TRACKS ON NIGHTFLY, OMITTING, RUBY BABY, MAXINE, AND WALK BETWEEN RAINDROPS. FROM KAMARKIRIAD HE PERFORMED TOMORROW’S GIRLS, TEAHOUSE ON THE TRACKS AND SNOWBOUND. FROM THE NEW ALBUM HE PLAYED
H-GANG, WHAT I DO, AND MARY SHUT THE GARDEN DOOR. OPENED WITH A STRANGE VERSION OF HERE AT THE WESTERN WORLD. OTHER STEELY TUNES WERE HOME AT LAST, BLACK COW, PRETZEL LOGIC, AND THIRD WORLD MAN. ALSO DID A CHUCK BERRY TUNE AND ANOTHER COVER OF A SONG I NEVER HEARD OF TO SHOWCASE HIS BAND. IF YOU CAN SEE HIM!! STEELY DAN SUPPOSEDLY TOURING THIS SUMMER.
I say DF in Chicago on Saturday night and Mpls on Sunday night. Great shows – great band. Only slightly different sets each night. Only Teahouse from Kamakiriad, and the strange Western World was gone. Each night he brought a guest onstage. In Chicago, Howard Levy came onstage, rushed over from another gig, and played harp on What I Do from the new record. The locals gave him an uproarious standing-O. In mpls, I tried to figure out who the guest might be knowing that Prince was to far beyond, and no alterna-rocky Husker Du, Replacement, Soul Asylums would show. It turned out to the Steeles – a brilliant gospel, jazz and R & B family of singers – who did a wonderful read of Maxine, featuring a gorgeous sax solo.
The only issue I had, aside of the strange last tune – a cover – was the bad sound. The last Steely Dan tour, and both of these shows have had sound that lacked any warmth or definition in the low end, and muddy midrange. I expect that a Steely Dan/Donald Fagen concert would have the Best sound engineers in the business, and a stellar P.A. system. In general the newer P.A.’s for all their time-alligned/line array compact glory – have none. We expect the same uber-fidelity of the CD’s and 5.1 mixes to translate to the concert hall, especially given today’s ticket prices. If its a human element (i.e. the sound engineer) then carry a back-up. There is no football team that travels with only one QB. If the guys ears are not happening one night, through in the back-up guy to guarantee that we, the audience, get the royal treatment.
Tom Larson
Saw the band at Pechanga Casino in Temecula, CA on 3/25/06. The consensus of my bunch: one of the best concerts in recent memory. No complaints about the sound from us – the musicians were showcased frequently in rock and jazz solos. Two great guitarists. Beautiful sax & trumpet. Lots of “Nightfly” and also “Black Friday” among the SD tunes.
You know most concert reviews are by fans so you never really get any incisive comments. let me try a few. “morph the cat” sucks. very inferior product from a true master. “what i do” and “bright whitegown” (or something like that) are listenable and the rest have no memorable music or words (mary close the bathroom door (or something like that) is listenable)
the live show rocked and swung, and the only place for fagan et. al. to go is las vegas. the band is tight, full of very good and accomplished players and playing. krantz seems kinda out of place. i suspect he is a more improvisational player in a kind of jazz space funk place and he seems restricted in the tight rhythms and changes of the donald.
the chuck berry tune is ??? and the jack teagarden tune is ???
“home at last” probably my fave SD tune of all time sent me to heaven as i closed my eyes, rested my head in the seat back and allowed myself to be transported to a place far and away. “here at the western world” was interestingly reworked. “pretzel logic” was extremely slowed down and downright delicious. the rest i cant remember. i wasn’t taking notes. it’s from memory. they could have played all night, they could have served martinis at intermission, but they didn’t. i wont be fully satisfied until SD writes a song about a “steely dan”
Well, I would love to have a chance to see DF in concert but living over in London there’s not much chance of that I reckon. Of course the wonders of the internet have allowed me to get hold of recordings of the shows from 3/3/06, 4/3/06 and 10/3/06 so I am able to to at least get an idea of what you guys have experienced live. Great to hear the songs from the Nightfly, and Third World Man and Home At Last are still wonderful songs. Oh, and the Teagarden song is, I believe, Misery and the Blues. Here At The Western World, which opened the two earlier shows, seems to have been dropped by March 10th. Anyway, maybe one day he’ll pay us a visit over on this side of the planet………