Steely Dan 1972 to 1980 #3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: An electric sitar played by Denny Dias

Unable to locate an accoustic sitar for the 'drone' they wanted in the background, Becker and Fagen settled for an electric one.
Denny Dias had never played an electric sitar before ... and hasn't played one since!

Answer: Balloon Race

As well as running a series of ads on Radio Luxembourg, taking full-page ads in the music press, and distributing display cards to retailers, Probe Records sponsored a Steely Dan balloon race at a Radio Luxembourg motor racing event at Brand's Hatch!

Answer: Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter

Jeff Baxter is currently Chairman of the Civilian Advisory Board for Ballistic Missile Defense, and has acted as an advisor to members of the House Science Committee. He was invited to serve on the Laser Advisory Board at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and has given lectures at the University of Manitoba School of Political Science on matters concerning regional conflict and missile defense. (Source: Potomac Institute)

Answer: Through With Buzz

'Through With Buzz', at 1 minute 30 seconds - considered by many to be the worst ever Steely Dan track - is surely one of the shortest tracks on any album anywhere! ('With A Gun' is the next shortest at 2 minutes 15 seconds).

Answer: False

The vendor - who was in fact 'the real thing' - apparently refused to sign the release form that would allow ABC Records to use his photograph, but after some investigating, the record company discovered that he didn't have a valid vendor's licence, so they just went ahead and used it anyway!

Answer: Denny Dias

Denny Dias, founder member of the original Steely Dan band and whose guitar solos remain some of their best. Walter Becker played electric bass only on 'Can't Buy A Thrill' and 'Countdown To Ecstasy'
His pedal steel solo on 'East St Louis Toodle-oo' on 'Pretzel Logic' - Steely Dan's first and only 'cover' - was the first time he featured playing guitar on a Steely Dan recording.

Answer: Elliot Scheiner

Having procured a 'quickie' divorce in Haiti, recording engineer Elliot Scheiner found himself being questioned at length by Becker and Fagen, little knowing they were writing a song about it!

Answer: Green Earrings

On 'Green Earrings', Denny Dias' short melodic solo is ended by some magic drum and hi-hat work from Bernard Purdie, catapulting Elliot Randall into the second solo.

Answer: The Eagles

The Eagles - Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Tim Schmit.
Roger Nichols won a Best Engineer Grammy for this song - the only time anyone ever won a Grammy award for a single.

Answer: Roger Nichols

Roger (The Immortal) Nichols engineered every Steely Dan album - studio and 'Live' recordings - as well as 'FM - No Static at All' (for which he won one of his Grammys, and all Becker and Fagen's solo albums.

Answer: A Drug Dealer

While described by Becker and Fagen as 'an artist', 'a chemist', 'a chef', 'a maker', both denied that the character was based on either Timothy Leary or Charles Manson. Becker did however admit that 'the Kid' was based on 'a real individual who hung over the song like the sword of Damocles'.

Answer: 'Home at Last' and 'Aja'

He and fellow Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey can also be heard on backing vocals on 'FM - No Static At All'.

Answer: Deacon Blues

By this time Becker was featuring mainly as a guitarist, providing solos on 'Home At Last', 'I Got The News' and 'Josie'. Chuck Rainey played bass on all the other tracks on the album.

Answer: Aja

Just after the second verse - before the solo!

Answer: Jay Graydon

What Becker and Fagen described as 'A pantonal 13-bar blues with chorus' seemed to defy every one who tackled it until local LA musician Jay Graydon - the 'last resort' - mastered it to their satisfaction. Some of the other efforts were reputedly so weird they beggared belief!

Answer: Pete Christlieb

Pete Christlieb provided the delicious tenor solo on 'Deacon Blues'. Gary Katz described him as 'a free spirit', remarking "You just run the music by him and he blows his brains out!"

Becker and Fagen subsequently produced 'Apogee', an album by Pete Christlieb and the Warne Marsh Quintet.

Answer: Aja

'Aja', made up of fragments of discarded tunes such as 'Stand By the Sea Wall', running to seven pages of sheet music, comes in at 7 minutes and 56 seconds! Played by Michael Omartian (Piano) Donald Fagen (Synthesizer) Walter Becker (Guitar) Chuck Rainey (Bass) and Steve Gadd (Drums), it features a beautiful guitar solo from Denny Dias, a 64-bar tenor sax solo from Wayne Shorter of 'Weather Report' and some spectacular drumming by Steve Gadd.
As all the players were such excellent sight readers this potentially complicated suite was 'in the can' after two takes although the improvised drum solo from Steve Gadd at the end was so stunning that it distracted the other musicians in the studio into making mistakes which led to some re-records!
Second longest is 'Glamour Profession' at 7.28, followed by 'Deacon Blues' at 7.26.
(Note to all eagle-eyed Steely Dan buffs: This quiz only covers the first seven albums - so 'West of Hollywood' doesn't come into it!)

Answer: Hoops McCann

'Glamour Profession' on the 'Gaucho' album opens with: "6.05 - outside the stadium - Special delivery for Hoops McCann".
In 1982, a year after Becker and Fagen had announced their split, 'The Hoops McCann Band', with Victor Feldman - who wrote all the arrangements - on keyboards; Mitch Holder on guitar; Chuck Rainey on bass; Paul Humphrey on drums; Jerome Richardson and Ernie Watts on reeds and Chuck Findley and Slyde Hyde on brass, performed an all-Steely Dan tribute set at the first Mount Hood Jazz Festival in Oregon. A studio album 'The Hoops McCann Band Plays the Music of Steely Dan' - sadly without Victor Feldman who had died in 1987 - and with Paul Berghofer taking over on bass, was released in 1988.

Answer: Bob Dylan

In response to an ad in an LA newspaper announcing that Bob Dylan was seeking musicians for a tour, Fagen applied for the gig using his real name - causing major excitement in the Dylan camp!
Described later as 'basically a whim' - it had more to do with his need for time and space away from the rapidly deteriorating relationship with Becker - who also needed a break to sort himself out.
Fortunately for Fagen, who loathed touring, it didn't happen. He later quipped - "As far as I'm concerned Dylan passed up on a good thing" and "Sorry Bob! I'm not available any more!".

Answer: 'Peg' and 'Black Cow'

In 1998 the hook from 'Black Cow' was sampled - without permission - by two New York rap artists 'Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz' on their song 'Déjà vu (Uptown Baby)', which went to Number One in the R&B charts. They had to pay a massive $105,000 compensation - seven or eight times the typical industry rate. Previously Becker and Fagen made rappers 'De La Soul' pay dearly for the sampled use of 'Peg' on their 1990 hit, 'Eye Know'.