#386 - Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (1974)

MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:

Released on February 20th of 1974 on ABC Records and produced by Gary Katz and engineered by Roger Nichols this is the third album by the American, Jazz, Fusion, Pop, Soft Rock band.

Donald Fagen was born in Passaic, New Jersey in 1948 and grew up in the suburbs.
Walter Becker was born in 1950 in Queens, New York and was raised there and in Scarsdale.
They both had early musical affinities and after playing various instruments Fagen found the piano and Becker chose guitar.

In the mid-‘60s they both attended Bard College at Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

One day in ‘67 Fagen first heard Becker practicing electric guitar at The Red Balloon café on campus. Fagen mistook his soulful playing for that of a black, professional, guitarist so he introduced himself and asked Becker to be in a band with him.

They immediately bonded over a love for Jazz, Beat culture, and a shared darkly cynical and misanthropic outlook and sense of humor.

They started playing in mostly cover bands at local clubs with a few different musicians including, at one point, fellow Bard student Chevy Chase on drums. Yes, that Chevy Chase.

Influenced by Jazz, Beat poetry, Soul, R&B, the Blues, and some Rock, Fagen and Becker would stay up all night in their room alone together chain-smoking Lucky Strikes and pot, practicing, writing, and recording their quirky, cynical, and darkly humorous songs.

After Fagen graduated Becker dropped out and the two moved to Brooklyn with hopes of being a songwriting team for other artists and continued to record their demos. They got noticed by Kenny Vance, one of the singers of the popular group Jay and the Americans who became their manager. They wrote songs for an early Richard Pryor movie for the money and then were hired to play with Jay and the Americans on the road for a year and a half with Walter switching to bass.

With thoughts of starting their own band and Jazz fusion starting to sweep into the Rock world they answered an ad in The Village Voice newspaper posted by local guitarist Denny Dias that said, "Looking for keyboardist and bassist. Must have jazz chops! Assholes need not apply" Donald and Walter joined his band and they started playing their songs live.

Although their only writing success in Brooklyn was having Barbra Streisand record one of their songs their talent was recognized by Kenny’s associate Gary Katz who had recently moved out to Los Angeles to become a staff producer at ABC Records. He hired Becker and Fagen to be staff songwriters and they followed him out to L.A.

However Katz soon realized that their material was too esoteric for most artists and suggested they put a band together and record their own album for ABC.

Denny Dias relocated and in L.A. they got session guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Baxter and Katz Invited Boston-area drummer and vocalist Jim Hodder to relocate and join this new band.

But Fagan was concerned about not being a strong enough live singer and the record company agreed and made them add lead vocalist David Palmer. Fagen still sang all but three songs and the separate pre-album single.

Fagen and Becker named the band after a series of strap-on dildos referred to in William S. Burroughs’ 1959 novel “Naked Lunch.”

With Gary Katz producing and studio wizard Roger Nichols engineering the now six-piece band’s first album was a critical and commercial success.

After the tour and with Katz’s and the band’s urging Fagen took over all lead vocal duties and Palmer was out.

Their second record was critically well-received and did okay but didn’t produce any hit radio singles at the time.

Becker and Fagen felt they had been rushed as many of the songs were written on the road to be performed live and contained long instrumental sections.

While never far from their Jazz influences for the next album they wanted to try constructing more diverse, shorter, and poppier sounding material and they also wanted to explore more options for musicians who could express their visions for their songs.

Also after the tour Donald was souring on being the sole, live, lead, singer and they both wanted more direct control and cared less about the band dynamic.

So to start they hired veteran studio and live drummer Jim Gordon (who you’ll remember played on George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass”) to replace Jim Hodder for the main recording with Jeff Porcaro filling in on one song.

Becker was also replaced by session bassist Chuck Rainey and returned to guitar for the first time on this album.

Then they brought in various other L.A. studio players to overdub parts.

And their instincts paid off.

It was a huge success charting at #8 and was at the top of many end of the year critics’ polls including NME’s Album of the Year and the first single, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was and still is their highest charting song.

Then after this album’s tour with Jeff Porcaro joining Jim Hodder as second drummer Becker and Fagen had decided to give up performing live and to use hired musicians for their records. Hodder quit, “Skunk” Baxter left to join The Doobie Brothers, and Denny Dias stayed on for several more albums but as a session guitarist.

After four more successful albums and lots of radio hits they succumbed to pressure and personal issues including Becker’s addiction to narcotics, the 1980 overdose death of his girlfriend who was also their manager, and the resulting wrongful death lawsuit against him.

They ended their partnership and effectively broke Steely Dan up in 1981 and Fagen and Becker released solo albums, produced, and played with other artists.

Some years later while playing on another artist’s album together they rekindled their friendship which shortly lead Becker to spontaneously join Fagen onstage at a gig.

Then in 1993 after Becker produced Fagen’s second album he joined the band for that tour.

That lead to a Steely Dan tour to promote their box set and then to an official reformation for two more new Steely Dan albums and tours.

For their first reunion album in 2000 they won three Grammys including Album of the Year and in 2001 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Tragically in 2017 Walter Becker died of esophageal cancer.

However Donald Fagen decided to honor their songs and legacy by continuing Steely Dan as the sole original member.

To date they’ve sold over forty million albums.