Was (Not Was) backstage interview on Later with Jools Holland

One of our favourites from the 80's have gotten together for a tour and a new album; Was (Not Was) from Detroit.

The new album is great and even though the same can't be said for the following interview backstage in England on BBC's Later with Jools Holland, it's still an amusing 6 minutes and 20 seconds with Don and David Was explaining how they and Bob Dylan wrote a song for Paula Abdul ... a song she turned down. And then there's the story of how a pre-career Madonna did the vocals on one Was (Not Was) track, got replaced by Ozzy Osbourne and finally actress Kim Basinger!!


Your Luck Won't Last:


Semi Interesting Week:

Interview shock! Fagen: We've lost our sense of humour!

Seriously though; here's a brand new interview with Donald Fagen in the Montreal Gazette. A couple of new quotes as he and the reporter revisit the Steely Dan saga once more.

Weekend music: Steely Week?

File under I-have-a-search-engine-and-I-know-how-to-use-it:

Stumbled across a blogger comparing a group called The Week That Was with Steely Dan. Quote:

Peter claims musical inspiration came from the early '80s when people were obsessed with Fairlight synthesizers and the Linn drum. But as I was listening to the album's first single, "Scratch the Surface," the more I listened the more it reminded me of Steely Dan than anything else. ("Night by Night," specifically.)

Well. Make up your own mind. Here's the song.

(Radio Dupree's Pop Department says: A catchy little song!)

P.S. The full blog post on The Week That Was (including mp3) can be found here.

Walter Becker on the radio

Still a couple of chances to catch Walter do his Celebrity Shuffle on Super Shuffle/Sirius Satellite Radio.
Here's what it says on the homepage:

Fridays at 6 am, 1 pm and 8 pm ET
Saturdays at 12 am, 10 am and 5 pm ET
Sundays at 3 am, 2 pm and 11 pm ET
Every week a different celebrity takes over Super Shuffle for the weekend, playing tunes that inspired them, made them laugh, made them cry or songs that are just their favorites. You never know who'll be shuffling each week; it could be a singer, actor, comedian, athlete...you'll never know what's on next during Celebrity Shuffle!

So how was the show? A no-frills 60 minute show where he played music from the 70s ... even though he could've picked from any year/era. Apparently a misunderstanding, as he explained towards the end of the show:

"I picked a bunch of 70s tunes because you know, frankly, I was misinformed. This was a sort of a management sort of a slip up where i thought I was gonna be picking all these cheesy 70s tunes and that's what the show is all about. It turns out that's not the case, but I'm sticking with the original plan anyway. And just to prove it I'd like to play a track by David Bowie called Ashes To Ashes."

The format of the show was a jingle or two stating the name of the show, then Walter saying his name and doing a short presentation of the next artist/song. Then came the song followed by another jingle and so on.

Just once did he come on after the station/show jingle with another name than his own:

"Bob Dylan. I never say my name before Bob Dylan. I'm not Bob Dylan and neither are you. Unless you happen to be Bob Dylan in which case; wow, awesome dude!!!
But whom am I? I guess I'm Walter Becker from Steely Dan, which is not so bad. It's not Bob Dylan but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right?"

And then he presented Bob Dylan singing Isis.

Walter sounded like he had a good time and this listener sure did. He laughed before presenting "perhaps the cheesiest song" of the show; Eddie Money's Baby Hold On.

During the show we also got to learn that Walter thinks that Rickie Lee Jones' Pirates is "a masterpiece".

Before playing Parliament:

"We must have played this thing about 20 times a night back in the 70s when I was visiting with various friends and sitting on their couches expounding and expanding on various subjects."

And finally:

"You can always tell what my favorite cut om my album is, cause I put it first. So let's listen to Door Number Two!"

Playlist:

The Band The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Bob Marley & The Wailers I Shot The Sheriff
Parliament P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)
Rickie Lee Jones We Belong Together
Warren Zevon Boom Boom Mancini
Eddie Money Baby Hold On
Bob Dylan Isis
Elvis Costello Watching The Detectives
David Bowie Ashes to Ashes
Spinners Love Don't Love Nobody
Walter Becker Door Number Two

Next show on Walter's Sirius Satellite Radio trek this month? The Totally '70s channel this Thursday!

Steely Dan’s Walter Becker
Thurs 6/26 12:00 pm ET
We have a plan for Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker... play anything in our library starting with the letter 'S' in hopes he'll play a lot of Dan. Will our scheme work? Plus, he promises to spin a tune from his just released solo album, Circus Money. Becker takes a break from the Steely Dan North America tour to guest DJ on Totally '70s. Totally epic!

Hmmm... What 1970s artists start with the letter S?

Oh! And we couldn't help but notice that with the exception of Eddie Money all the artists played by Walter also pops up on Radio Dupree's playlist now and then. Awesowme, dude...

Future "unforseeable" according to Becker

Here's a short interview with Walter Becker from the Boston Herald. Apparently done via phone with Walter standing on 25th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in Manhattan, New York.
Subjects: Walter's solso album Circus Money, the current tour and ... the future!

This day in music ... June 21

Found this:

Today in music - June 21

1732 - Composer Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was born.

1941 - Wayne King and his orchestra recorded “Time Was” with Buddy Clark.

1948 - Columbia Records began the first mass production of the 33 1/3 RPM LP.

1952 - Fats Domino’s “Goin’ Home” became his first #1 hit.

1955 - Johnny Cash’s first single, “Cry Cry Cry,” was released.

1975 - Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple to form Rainbow.

1975 - James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is” was released.

1979 - Mick Taylor released his first solo album after leaving the Rolling Stones four years before.

1981 - Donald Fagan and Walter Becker announced the break-up of Steely Dan.

1985 - Ron Howard directed his first music video for “Gravity” by Michael Sembello.

1989 - The New Kids on the Block released “Hangin’ Tough.”

1990 - Little Richard received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

1999 - Pantera rode a float in the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory parade in downtown Dallas. Pantera is responsible for the Stars’ theme song.

And I started to write something about how the importance of the items from the years included really doesn't seem to grow as you go down the list and closer to here and now. But then I decided not to... After all its just a list.

A big HAVE A GREAT, WONDERFUL AND EVERLASTING EVENING to all attendning the final night at the Beacon in N.Y. including the after party.
You never thought you'd be there tonight that day back in 1981 when Steely Dan called it quits. ;)

Fresh pics from the Beacon

With just the final of six nights to go at the Beacon Theatre in New York, msg.com has published eight photos of Steely Dan on stage.

Go here for the photos and to the blog named The Monitor if you went to one or more and want to share your thoughts about the shows.

Walter Becker the DJ on Sirius Radio this weekend!

Donald Fagen did three shows on Sirius Satellite Radio in February this year, and now it's time for Walter Becker to do the same.

It was announced on walterbecker.com a couple of weeks ago:

Becker DJs on Sirius Radio in Coming Weeks
Pure Jazz | Classic Vinyl | The Vault | Super Shuffle |
Radio Margaratiaville | Totally '70s

And now we have the first dates and first channel. Here's what's currently on Super Shuffle's page:

Celebrity Shuffle: Walter Becker
Tomorrow 6:00 am ET
Steely Dan’s Walter Becker is dropping by our SIRIUS studios to discuss songs off his recent solo album Circus Money. Don’t miss it when Walter Becker hosts Celebrity Shuffle!

Rebroadcast: Fri., June 20th @ 1 pm & 8 pm ET; Sat., June 21st @ 12 am, 10 am & 5 pm ET; Sun., June 22nd @ 3 am, 2 pm & 11 pm ET.

"Tomorrow" above meaning Friday June 20. You can sign up for a free three day trial and hear it online. Just like when Donald was guest-DJ:ing we'll try to catch the show and report back what was being played and said.

UPDATE June 20:

OK. So I've missed the first two airings of this show ... but am getting ready to catch the third in a couple of hours. While I haven't heard a single second of the show I did manage to find a playlist that I think is complete. If so; here's what Walter played!

The Band The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Bob Marley & The Wailers I Shot The Sheriff
Parliament P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)
Rickie Lee Jones We Belong Together
Warren Zevon Boom Boom Mancini
Eddie Money Baby Hold On
Bob Dylan Isis
Elvis Costello Watching The Detectives
David Bowie Ashes to Ashes
Spinners Love Don't Love Nobody
Walter Becker Door Number Two

Some expected names and a couple of surprises. It will be interesting to hear what Walter has to say about ... Eddie Money.
Expect another update Saturday. And let's end this one with those swinging guys and gals ready to save us all with some uncut funk!

Swedish jazz musician Esbjörn Svensson dies

Sveriges Radio reports that the swedish jazz musician Esbjörn Svensson died yesterday in a diving accident. Svensson played piano in the group Esbjörn Svensson Trio (EST) which sold many albums and turned a younger audience to jazz. Esbjörn Svensson was 44 years old.

Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Dodge the Dodo(Live)(Part 1/2):


e.s.t. - a picture of doris travelling with boris

e.s.t. Round midnight

New Zappa release from the vault

This just in from http://www.zappa.com/
A new CD with stuff from the Zappa Family Trust vault.
Parts of this seems to be taken from The Impossible Concert, a collection of outtakes first put together by Frank Zappa ca 1976.
All tracks on the CD are produced by Frank. The CD is produced by Gail Zappa and Joe Travers.

The tracks:
01. Bathtub Man
02. Space Boogers
03. Hermitage
04. Trudgin' Across The Tundra
05. Occam's Razor
06. Heidelberg
07. The Illinois Enema Bandit
08. Australian Yellow Snow
09. Rollo

Since the Radio Dupree staff has heard several versions of some of this stuff that has been circulating for years we dare to speculate a little:
The title Space Boogers sounds like it might be another example of George Duke improvisations on the theme of space ships, booger bears and various touring folklore, a tradition during the fall 1974 tours.
Hermitage is probably a hard driving funk jam from 1974-75.
Occam's Razor might be a guitar solo from More Trouble Every Day 1974.
Heidelberg is most likely the 77/78 Yo' Mama (?) guitar solo included on the Guitar World cassette released in 1987.
Australian Yellow Snow must be from June 1973, a funny tape that has been around for a while but really deserves an official release like this.
Hey, Gail! The nest project would be a complete show with this lineup, the band with Jean-Luc Ponty!
Rollo, the last piece, probably works as the coda for the Yellow Snow suite. It can't be nothing else but a recording from Royce Hall (the two Orchestral Favorites concerts that took place in 1975).

C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$ C$

C$?

Spells "Circus Money"! Beautify your surroundings by visiting Ginas's Mizar 5 and help spread the word using a lovingly crafted sticker.

C$!

"Circus Money"? It's Walter Becker's new album. Listen here.

Great new Walter Becker and Donald Fagen interviews

Do not miss this interview with Walter Becker in Time Out New York. Lots of talk about the new album, songwriting and Steely Dan!
New insights even for those of those who have read each and every line written about the band, Walter and Donald.

ADDED: And here's a new review of the Wednesday gig in Alpharetta, Georgia. After reading the diehard fans reactions and thoughts it's interesting to read this review of the show written by a guy that admits he's not that familiar with Steely Dan but ends up with a positive view of the evening.

AND FINALLY YET ANOTHER ADDITION TO THIS POST: Another brand new interview appeared today. It's with Donald Fagen and can be read over at the Gothamist.

And the winner is...

Time to announce the winner of our little competition announced this Sunday, just hours before the first show of the Think Fast Steely Dan tour.

The subject of the competition was to name 15 songs that would be on that first night's setlist.
Not much time to come up with a entr but quite a few did. And the guy that managed to find eight correct songs is Matt Kearns!

A copy of the international version of Walter Becker's Circus Money is the price.

So what songs were played? What did the setlist look like?
We won't be posting it here. We did the mistake to do that last year for the 2007 tour, and got a few rightfully sour reactions from people who were going to see the band and didn't want to know in advance what was being played.

SO if you want to know the setlists you can snip on over to Hoops bluebook were they usually appear shortly after each and every show.

Judging by the setlists so far this year's tour looks like a very good one for the Steely Dan fan. We're sad we won't make any of the shows this time around...

*goes off to sulk and perhaps try to find that smile again playing Circus Money on repeat*

Toto breaks up

The group Toto breaks up. At least that is what guitarist Steve Lukather declares on his website:
"The fact is yes I have left Toto. There is no more Toto. This is NOT a break. It is over. I really cant go out and play Hold the Line with a straight face anymore. I was 19 when we cut the record. I am 50 now."
Lukather was the only member of the recent group that also played in the original lineup in the 70's.

Competition time! Think fast and win!

Sunday evening marks the start of Steely Dan's 2008 Think Fast Steely Dan '08-tour. The first stop is Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.

What songs will be played? The same old chestnuts or maybe some surprises? List 15 tracks you think will be played and we'll see to it that the person with the most correct songs win a copy of the international version of Walter Becker's Circus Money album complete with the bonus track Dark Horse Dub!

Get your answers in before the show starts and we'll announce the winner Monday once we check the actual setlist and compare it with the submitted suggested dittos.

Once again: List 15 tracks that you think will be played by Steely Dan in Florida Sunday June 8. Send it to radiodupree@yahoo.se and wait for the show and winner!

This competition has absolutely nothing to do with Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker and/or thei various managements/record companies/whatever. It's just Radio Dupree's way to make a little merry. We'll order and pay for a copy of the album once it is released mid-July.
We can't check this, but the competition is of course closed to all involved in the Steely Dan Think Fast tour with one exception: Skip Gildersleeve may enter the competition just because he has a cool name!

Circus Money bonus track

And it's official that the international version of Walter Becker's Circus Money will include one track more than the US/Canadian version released June 10. The song is titled Dark Horse Dub and how it sounds we may have to wait until July 14 to hear. That's the release date for the international version of the album. You can pre-order it here.

In the meantime you can read up on what dub is and speculate if Dark Horse Dub might be

a) A song about a horse getting a knighthood.
b) A five minute "studio experiement" created from the Darkling Down multitracks by Walter, Larry and most probably also Skip after a late session in and out of the studio.
c) Something completely different.

: : : : : : :

In related news: Radio Dupree's Album of the Month is Circus Money. One of the few stations on and off the Internet that play e-v-e-r-y song on the album. Even that dub thingy once somebody in charge find it in his (or her) heart to mail us a copy. The other 12 songs are spinning as I type.
Here's a link to Radio Dupree. Just click this link and listen!

Whoever. Whatever. Walter!

Happy day!

Rarely do the undersigned get a chance to feel in time, much less ahead of whatever. So it felt nice to come home to the computer and find a message from the Walter Becker store saying that the ordered download of Circus Money is now ready and waiting. The thing is that the mail was posted a couple of hours after I had finished downloading the 12 tracks plus cover and pdf-booklet.

Spinning it for the first time and have reached Paging Audrey. Sounds good so far. And it is funny how the brain have constructed the songs mentally from the 20, 30, 40 second clips that have been up for a few weeks now. It's surprising to find a sax solo here, an unexpected choir there, twists and turns...

As it happens a google alert served me an article from kansascity.com where one Mr. Hamersly lists the coming weeks new releases, summing up Walter Becker's Circus Money with the line "Steely Dan guitarist dabbles in jazz, reggae and rock."

Now, English is not my first language, but "dabble" didn't sound like a word I'd use in this context. Checked the definition and Merriam-Webster's is "to work or involve oneself superficially or intermittently especially in a secondary activity or interest <dabbles in art>".

Walter superficial when it comes to music? I don't think so.

So the download is here. Radio Dupree is a happier place. And Circus Money is our Album of the Month. Walter on the playlist June an beyond.

/Neb S.

Walter Becker radio interviews

It's a 10 minute interview he did on the Atlanta radio station The River 97.1, and it's up now on walterbecker.com.

If you've read the press material and the articles published so far there's not much new stuff mantioned in the interview. With one big exception:
When asked if he'll do any songs from the album on the upcoming Steely Dan tour he says no and explains why.
Walter also mentions his favourite track from Circus Money and why it is his favourite.

Well worth a listen. Walter's entertaining as always.

UPDATE June 6: Here's the link to another radio interview online kindly posted by Dimension Skipper in the comments:

"Not as interesting, but here's another 10 minute by-phone interview Walter did on WMGK recently (May 28th) with long-time rock DJ John DeBella on Classic Rock WMGK, 102.9 in Philadelphia."

Walter sounds in a good mood and is able to rephrase the answers to some familiar questions.

Walter Becker's Circus Money: Different soundclips on Amazon

For those of us who're still waiting for the real deal, Amazon.com has just put up a different set of clips than has been available on walterbecker.com. Might be worth a listen if you want a bit more.

Also: The download mp3 version of the album is listed as 256 kbps. Fair enough, I guess, if you go the mp3 route.

UPDATE June 3: According to a sentence in this article the album will start streaming on walterbecker.com this Thursday (June 5).

Steely Dan tour 2008: Special guests

Opening acts have been announced for the Steely Dan tour that will start in less than a fortnight.

Bill Charlap Trio
Jun 13 - Beacon Theater - New York NY
Jun 14 - Beacon Theater - New York NY

The Chris Cheek Group
Jun 17 - Beacon Theater - New York NY
Jun 18 - Beacon Theater - New York NY

Catherine Russell
Jul 01 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC
Jul 02 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC

Sam Yahel Organ Trio
Jun 09 - Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL
Jun 11 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Alpharetta, GA
Jun 20 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 21 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 23 - Bank of America Pavilion - Boston, MA
Jun 25 - Chevrolet Theatre - Wallingford, CT
Jun 28 - Susquehanna Bank Ctr. - Camden, NJ

More will be added here:
http://steelydan.com/tour08guests.html

According to the latest newsletter more dates will be added.

Led Zeppelin wins drum album poll

UK:s Rhythm Magazine asked the readers to vote for the top drum albums of all time. A whole lot of Led Zeppelin in the Top 50 including the top spot with Led Zeppelin IV.
Steely Dan's Aja clocks in at #7.

Here's a blog rundown of the Top 50.

And here's an inspired drum solo from Stevie Wonder who drummed his way to #16 with his 1973 album Innervisions.

Walter Becker's Circus Money: Arrived!

Apparently a couple of fans who ordered the album early got their copies in time for the weekend. If you want some fan reviews/reactions please go to dandom.com/guestbook.
Radio Dupree is still waiting for our copy, as are most of those who placed an "early bird order".
The official release date is June 10 for the US and Canada and July 14 for the rest of the world.

UPDATE: Here's a link to Angel's blog where she gives a quick rundown of the tracks and her impressions after hearing them.