tigerwoodKhorns Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 I have always enjoyed the music of Steely Dan.... It is amazing how many folks haven't looked up the origin of the bands name.... Always funny when a woman explains how much she loves Steely Dan... They reformatter this site and the design is crappy, but still interesting. Steely Dan Dictionary: http://www.steelydandictionary.com/ BTW - I also think it is funny when a woman says "I bent over backwards for him"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Live in Paris is another must have. I have this one also... Excellent live recording... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Live in Paris is another must have. I have this one also... Excellent live recording... Peter Gabriel also has a great live album. I forget the name, but it is a must have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Steely Dan is one of those bands where you can put any album on and just let it play and enjoy everything. No duds. Couldn't agree with you more on that and there are very few albums from any artist that I can say that about, but, I have some little feet and some Dave Matthews........................getting off track again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) I really like Steely Dan. I agree that Aja or Gaucho are great for showing off the system. I have all of their studio albums. Add Donald Fagen's "the Nightfly" to that list. Being the first guy in Michigan to own a CD player (back then it was Sony or nothing), I had that recording on LP before the CD was available (and there were very few CD's available then). It is still a benchmark of excellence in recording today and the music is good. My favorite cut is "the Goodbye Look." Great dynamics, micro detail, and not too bassy. CD's got a bad rap back then because, being flat from 4 Hz. to 20 Khz. they revealed bad recordings more so than the crappy recycled vinyl did at the time and got the blame for it. Still to this day, only classical recordings take full advantange of the extra 30 db of dynamic range afforded by the CD or even the extra 60 DB one can get from uncompressed Blue Ray Audio formats. Shameful, really. Let's hear it from crappy compressed 128 Kilobit MP3's........................PRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT(rasberries galore) Edited February 18, 2014 by ClaudeJ1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) Just got the Aja CD from Amazon(1999 remaster) today and loaded it within 5 minutes of pulling the package out of the mailbox. It is clearly better than the Amazon Cloud Player MP3(LAME) download. No doubt more dynamic and detailed. That is saying a lot considering the MP3 is pretty good.In this package from Amazon also came a BD copy of the Eagles "Farewell I Tour Live From Melbourne" and Peter Gabriel "Secret World Live" BD. I have the DVD version of Secret World and audio quality is pretty darn good with it's DTS version but the video is lousy and very grainy. I am expecting a marginal improvement in audio but video wise, it should be a very noticeable improvement.Bill Edited February 16, 2014 by willland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackGTS Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 I really like Steely Dan as well. I feel the same way about Pink Floyd as you do about Steely Dan. Everything is so well thought out without sounding contrived. Ron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 They have some great music. Been a fan for many many years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickFL Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Love the Dan. From early songs like Rose Darling(check out the background vocals from Michael McDonald) to the later album "Two Against Nature". Great production is the standard. Naked Lunch author William Burroughs died recently from which the group took their name from a certain device in this novel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iRONic Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Straight from the horses mouth; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8GwEX7nn6o Becker, Fagen, and the session musicians talk about recording 'Aja'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Just got the Aja CD from Amazon(1999 remaster) today and loaded it within 5 minutes of pulling the package out of the mailbox. It is clearly better than the Amazon Cloud Player MP3(LAME) download. No doubt more dynamic and detailed. That is saying a lot considering the MP3 is pretty good. In this package from Amazon also came a BD copy of the Eagles "Farewell I Tour Live From Melbourne" and Peter Gabriel "Secret World Live" BD. I have the DVD version of Secret World and audio quality is pretty darn good with it's DTS version but the video is lousy and very grainy. I am expecting a marginal improvement in audio but video wise, it should be a very noticeable improvement. Bill I'd be interested to hear about the comparison of the BD with the DVD version of Secret World. I can tell you that the mix sounds completely different between the DVD and the audio CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 (edited) I have every album and also bought Citizen Steely Dan. Same songs on 4 CD's The box set is a keeper. Edited February 18, 2014 by russ69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Peter Gabriel "Secret World Live" BD. I have the DVD version of Secret World and audio quality is pretty darn good with it's DTS version but the video is lousy and very grainy. I am expecting a marginal improvement in audio but video wise, it should be a very noticeable improvement. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I just remembered the name of the album. Peter Gabriel Plays Live. Great live album, an dbefore he (and Phil Collins) started with all of the sappy love songs in the 80s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I have come to really appreciate what Becker and Fagen can do. The arrangements are incredible, the recordings should be the templates on how to record, and need I mention dynamic range. These guys will never be accused of scaling down for the digital era. I picked up a "Two Against Nature" CD about two months ago and just ordered the "Aja" CD from Amazon for $4.99 which came with an MP3 download from Amazon Cloud Player. If the Aja CD is at least as good as the MP3 download, then I know I am in for a treat. I converted the MP3 with dBpoweramp(free trial) to LAME MP3 at 320kbs. I compared it to an also converted WAV copy and could not tell the difference. When the CD arrives, I will rip it also in WAV and LAME MP3 and A-B them. Steely Dan's music has become my go to demo music to show off and test my gear, in 2-channel and multichannel. Bill I got the Cisco 180 gram vinyl version of Aja a few years back after rave reviews on a thread here somewhere... It is very good. I've listened to it or at least parts of it on CP1's Jubilee rig a few tracks and a side. Michael queued up standard issue CD in his Aha CD player with the LP on his turntable (forget the model and cartridge). Said it was no contast on a track with lots of cymbal. Both sounded great to me and switching back to the CD I about jumped out of my skin due to level mismatches. Michael could tell, on the LP version, that the drum sticks were nylon tipped, not sure on the CD version. I think I could hear a difference but not sure what I was hearing. As far as we could tell no remastering for the LP other than I'm sure cutting a new lacquer. In any case, excellent album. I'll need to get over there and see if we can get a level matched comparison. Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" CD is also very good for a CD. Many live sound engineers, Michael included, use it to check the sound of their rigs. The remastered CD is even better I'm told. Never really compared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 (edited) Fagen's sound singnature has not changed. Oct. 2012 release Edited February 18, 2014 by Max2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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