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Last update: 02/07/18

If it were up to Donald Fagen, he would refer to the post-Becker touring incarnation of the band as “Donald Fagen and the Steely Dan Band.” “I would actually prefer to call it Donald Fagen and the Steely Dan Band or something like that,” he says, noting that promoters have so far insisted that he call it Steely Dan for commercial reasons. “That’s an ongoing debate. To me, Steely Dan was just me and Walter, really – it was like a concept we had together.”

The passing of co-founder Walter Becker in September 2017 really should have closed the book on the band, but since Fagen sang on more than 98% of their recordings, his friend’s absence on stage these days is perhaps more emotional than tangible.

Blending elements of jazz, traditional pop, R&B, and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics, the band enjoyed critical and commercial success throughout a near decade long period from 1972 until 1981. Throughout their career, the duo recorded with a revolving cast of session musicians, and in 1974 retired from live performances to become a studio-only band. Rolling Stone has called them “the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies. Personally, I’m glad I never saw them live. Despite the musical free-form opportunities associated with jazz, the Dan’s multi -tracked recordings were so painstakingly conceived that literally anything resembling the minutest deviation from the original arrangement just doesn’t work. for me. I watched a Steely Dan live in 2006 DVD recently. When Becker starts improvising on guitar over the main riff on “Josie” (from their best selling “Aja” album), his motives appear sound, but unfortunately its the sheer sparseness of the original arrangement that made the track so memorable.

I recently acquired “The Best of Steely Dan 1972-1978” on vinyl from my local antiques shop. A mint unsealed double album pressing on offer for £7.50, I needed little persuading. A still glorious collection, it reminds us all why the band’s reunion in the 90’s was less than musically satisfying. Too much groove and not enough melodic twists, “Cousin Dupree” was a brief shining reminder of how things used to be.