Steely Dan

Steely Dan feat. Larry Carlton - The Royal Scam Night (September 3rd, 2009) Chicago Theater, Chicago, IL - 2012 - PZJ

Steely Dan recently finished up a four-night run at the historic Chicago Theatre in which they played Aja (8/31), Gaucho (9/1) and The Royal Scam (9/3) in their entirety (the 9/4 show featured Internet requests). I was fortunate enough to be in the house for The Royal Scam along with my buddy Furr. We’d seen Steely Dan in the late-90′s in the Bay Area, and this show seemed like a good chance recapture our drunken, silly mojo from years gone by. We weren’t disappointed. It’s worth noting that this show capped a whirlwind day that saw Furr and I drinking beer in Wrigley Field, browsing through record stores, eating hamburgers in an upscale Chicago eatery, and generally trying to recreate the non-stop fun of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Unfortunately, neither of us was able to sing ‘Danke Schoen’ on a moving float during a parade – but on the upside, no expensive vintage automobiles were destroyed either. At any rate, we had just showed up and were excusing our way down the aisle to get to our seats when the house lights dimmed and the band came on. Steely Dan stopped touring back in the early 80′s because they couldn’t faithfully recreate their elaborately recorded albums. Guitarist Walter Becker and keyboardist Donald Fagen are noted perfectionists, so it wasn’t surprising to see them send a dozen musicians on stage to help them bring The Royal Scam to life. The band consisted of a four-piece horn section (tenor & alto sax, trumpet and trombone), three female backup singers, bass and drums, two guitarists (including Larry Carlton, who played on many of their albums) and a pianist (in addition to Fagen on keyboards). Clearly these guys weren’t fooling around. Steely Dan is often mistaken for a wimpy pop group, but behind their perfectly polished exterior beats the heart of a vicious punk band. The Royal Scam is perhaps their angriest album, and the venom in the title track is proof of their passive aggression. Of course, their songs are literary vehicles full of hard luck characters and off-beat references. No band this side of the Velvet Underground so consistently reached into the gutter to find writing material, and no single album captures this angle of Steely Dan better than The Royal Scam. The show opened with a Becker & Fagen-less instrumental jazz interlude that allowed the band to show off its considerable chops, before Becker & Fagen joined the group and launched into ‘Kid Charlemagne’. Seeing an album live in its entirety is cool for many reasons, but best among them might be the little musical accents that get lost on LP. From the trombone in ‘Sign In Stranger’ to Carlton’s hot licks throughout to Fagen pawing his keyboard like a big bear and throwing his head around like Ray Charles, there was a lot to absorb and observe during this concert. Except for a limp version of ‘The Fez’ (Becker, Fagen and Carlton thought little enough of the tune that they left the stage – c’mon fellas, the album’s only 9 songs long!) this was an outstanding rendering of a classic 70′s album. Of course, after they were done with The Royal Scam, they played another dozen gems from their extensive catalog. Highlights included the backup singers taking lead vocals on a sultry version of ‘Dirty Work’ and Fagen rocking the melodica on a princely version of ‘Aja’. It was an evening of luckless pedestrians, Turkish union dues, and dynamite. And the crowd stood and cheered… ***** © http://dkpresents.wordpress.com/category/concert-reviews/

Definitely one of The Dan's best live concerts from the 2000's. There have been many far worse soundboard recordings, but this one is more distinct with less audience noise during the performance. The band play the entire “Royal Scam” album with a few old favourites thrown in. On the night, Donald Fagen's voice was much better than on other concerts from around the same period. Walter doesn't sing, but his playing is excellent. Jon Herington and Larry Carlton's playing is superb. There are some incredible keyboards from Jim Beard. The horns are amazing, and Carolyn Leonhart-Escoffery, Catherine Russell, and Tawatha Agee's brilliant vocals carry some of the songs off in great style, and really help out Donald Fagen on some of the notes. On some tunes Donald leaves the vocals entirely up to the girls. All in all, an amazing concert from "Mr. Stevie Dan" & Co., and absolutely worth hearing. Every song is a classic. This is a 2xCD set and a very large file. [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 291 Mb] = Album is also divided into two rar files = 2 x Discs: Pt 1 (Disc 1 = 120 Mb, & Pt 2 (Disc 2 = 170 Mb]

DISC 1

1. Teenies Blues
2. Kid Charlemagne
3. The Caves Of Altamira
4. Don't Take Me Alive
5. Sign In Stranger
6. The Fez
7. Green Earrings
8. Haitian Divorce
9. Everything You Did
10. The Royal Scam

DISC 2

1. Hey Nineteen
2. Dirty Work
3. Black Friday
4. I Got The News
5. Aja
6. Parker's Band
7. Live Wire
8. Peg
9. Third World Man
10. Piano Intro / Josie
11. My Old School
12. Reelin' In The Years
13. Last Tango In Paris

All tracks composed by Becker & Fagen except "Teenie's Blues" composed by Oliver Nelson, "Live Wire" by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, & Edward Holland, Jr., and "Last Tango In Paris" by Gato Barbieri

MUSICIANS

Walter Becker - Guitar
Jon Herington - Guitar
Larry Carlton - Guitar
Freddie Washington - Fender Bass
Donald Fagen - Fender Rhodes, Yamaha Melodica, Vocals
Jim Beard - Piano
Keith Carlock - Drums
Walt Weiskopf - Tenor Saxophone
Roger Rosenburg - Baritone Saxophone
Michael Leonhart - Trumpet
Jim Pugh - Trombone
Catherine Russell - Vocals
Carolyn Leonhart Escoffery - Vocals
Tawatha Agee - Vocals