WALTER BECKER R.I.P.

Sad news once again from the rock and roll firmament today, as I awoke to the news that Steely Dan linchpin Walter Becker had shuffled off this mortal coil at the far too young age of 67. In tandem with lead vocalist and fellow songwriter Donald Fagen, Becker - and his glorious guitar playing - helped to solidify Steely Dan's stature as one of THE great American bands. Famed for their unique style of melding classic rock textures, old school R&B, jazz and catchy pop and then binding it all together with an arch world view and lyrical style that could be described as dry, laconic, sardonic, or perhaps even smug, The Dan went on to sell 40m records during their imperial phase of the mid-70s. They also had hit singles by the bucket load, with tracks like Reelin In The Years, Do It Again, Rikki Don't Lose That Number and Peg nestling snugly atop charts worldwide and which are still staples of classic rock radio to this day. After a slightly acrimonious split in 1981, Becker and Fagen reconvened where they had left off and returned to the fray in 2001 with the splendid Two Against Nature album  which promptly won them a brace of Grammys. They were also inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in that same year. Over the last two decades, Becker and Fagen have been solidly touring with an ever-evolving troupe of shit-hot session musicians as well as popping out the odd release here and there - together as well as solo. The current incarnation of Steely Dan had been putting in the touring hours pretty heftily of late - with UK dates due in October - and Becker had recently missed a couple of concerts due to an unspecified illness. His death was announced late on Sunday night and Fagen had this to say of his long-time friend, musical partner and rock and roll compadre:

"Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my band-mate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. He was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny."

My own love affair with Steely Dan began way back in the mid-70s, in no small part thanks to my step-father's heaving collection of jazz and rock records. I can remember many a family holiday driving around the West Country with Dan albums like Countdown To Ecstasy, Can't Buy A Thrill and The Royal Scam on constant rotation on the battered old in-car tape player. The big hits resonated first off of course, with Do It Again in particular becoming a firm family favourite. As I got older, I would investigate the deeper album cuts with tracks like Bodhisattva, Razor Boy and Any Major Dude Will Tell You filtering their way into my cerebellum. It was obvious to me that this band - and I was unaware at the time that The Dan were really just a duo - were as good as The Beatles, Led Zep, Pink Floyd and all the other classic bands that kids who grew up in the 70s were supposed to be listening to. As I got older still, Becker and Fagen's lyrics began to resonate more with me. I was a sarcastic, cynical teenager and on first listen, it can seem that there is a large element of both in every Steely Dan song. However, the more you delve into the words, the more it becomes apparent that there is real heart and feeling within - you just have to get past the cast of creeps, low-life's and weirdos that populate each of their albums. Steely Dan have been an integral part of my music-listening experience for most of my life now. When I first left home at 18, one of the first CDs I bought to listen to in my pokey little bedsit was The Best Of Steely Dan. When I got into hip-hop in a big way in the late 80s, I was overjoyed to discover De La Soul sampling Steely's Peg on their masterful Three Feet High And Rising LP. Half of the reason I got into writers like William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac was due to the fact that Steely Dan had named themselves after a steam-powered dildo contraption in Burroughs' Naked Lunch. And finally, when I decided earlier this year to start writing this blog, there was only one choice when it came to naming it. As Steely Dan so wonderfully sang back in 1978:

"Give her some funked up music, she treats you nice.
Feed her some hungry reggae, she'll love you twice.
The girls don't seem to care tonight,
As long as the mood is right.
FM - No Static At All..."

R.I.P. Walter, and thank you for all the music.

My Steely Dan Top Twenty

20: Blues Beach
19: Jack Of Speed
18: Home At Last
17: Black Friday
16: Razor Boy
15: Sign In Stranger
14: Babylon Sisters
13: King Of The World
12: Deacon Blues
11: Rikki Don't Lose That Number
10: Hey Nineteen
9:  Reelin' In The Years
8:  Peg
7:  Do It Again
6:  Haitian Divorce
5:  Bodhisattva 
4:  Showbiz Kids
3:  My Old School
2:  Kid Charlemagne
1:  Black Cow