Everything Must Go, 2012
Everything Must Go is an album by Steely Dan. It was released in 2003.
I resisted the charms of Steely Dan until a couple of years ago (they’re just hideous 70s MOR shufflers aren’t they? I would think), then I fell for them. Sure, they’re tricksy – combining cynical, sardonic lyrics with smooth, jazzy grooves at every turn, but you’ve got to do something a lot to get it right, right? I won’t go on and on about the band – you either love them or hate them.
Here’s the title track.
In our house this CD can be found: dining room, right-hand bookshelves, second shelf down.
The Future Is Papier Mâché 
And I like Steely Dan 🙂
Excellent, another fan! 🙂
Lol, don’t think I am the only one
Snap, on the Steely Dan situation! I refused to buy any of their albums at the time but somehow they would always turn up at a party on someone’s mixed tape. I now have a load of their albums on my iPod and I adore them!
Great shot btw, x does indeed mark the spot!
Thanks very much, Patti! I heard them quite a bit too, at parties and round people’s flats and had a positive aversion to them – something to do with Donald’s voice and the smoothness of the whole thing. Then a friend gave me their greatest hits on CD. It sat around pretty much unplayed for years, until I heard Ricky etc on the radio and really listened to the lyrics. Genius.
Great post. I recently posted a link to a Steely Dan song on my FB page and recieved heckles from my friends. I stood by my decision, however. Even though they are really labeled as a 70’s kind of band their music is timeless. I love just about every song they’ve made. Their sound is really unique and jazzy and original. Kudos to you! Here is one of my favorites, “Do it Again” by Steely Dan: http://youtu.be/QwxkRtNPnGg
Thanks so much. Yes, in my experience, they bring out pretty strong reactions in people. 🙂 I think I probably listen to at least one of their tracks every day. Thanks for the link.
Simple and effective again… Odd that for Everything Must Go you think Steely Dan, I think Manic Street Preachers… 🙂
Thanks, Richard 🙂 Yes, I’ve got that CD too, but not on a shelf.
Haha! 🙂
Steely Dan is a great group (or great couple of guys with great taste in session musician’s.) I have liked them from the get-go. The music is very clean, but the important part is the lyric, which is often having a laugh at its own expense. I’m trying to conjure up a perfect example of this. Maybe hey 19, while the chorus sings: the cuervo gold, the fine columbian, make tonight a wonderful thing. The innocuous voices make the song sound bland, but reveal a cynical underpinning. I’ll think about this and get back to you. Perhaps the most visual songwriting EVER.
Yes, that’s a great song – it’s like sculpture in a way – you can experience it from lots of different angles and each element adds to the whole – very difficult to write about, though 🙂 Things I Miss The Most off Everything Must Go is in a similar vein. Very deadpan, and starts with a list of the obvious things you would miss at the end of a relationship: “the talk, the sex, somebody to trust” then progresses to : “the Audi TT, the house on the vineyard, the house on the gulf coast, These are the things I miss the most.”
P.S. Of course I forgot to mention the writer who made me think about the band. Great post, Richard!
Thanks so much!
Why is the tape on the window, expecting a storm Richard.
No idea why they do that – odd isn’t it?
Yes, it is very odd.
I confess to liking Steely Dan, also. Your words made me smile!
Yes, another fan!
When Steely Dan first came out it was a very particular group of people who were listening to them and many of the ones that I knew then had musical tastes that ranged from Miles Davis to Lou Reed. I think it was the poetry of the lyrics and how they summed up so simply how they felt – “throw out your gold teeth/do you see how they roll?/The answer they reveal/life is unreal…”
Yes, I can see that – Miles Davis to Lou Reed makes a lot of sense.
For me, their lyrics bear a lot of repeated listening – although they’re simple they’re also beautifully nuanced, and they way they work with and against the grain of the music is so satisfying when they get it right (most of the time). Thanks for the comment. Love your blog.
Thanks – this form of art (blogging and all its intricacies) is sometimes what keeps it all together!
Yes, it’s a great form. It feels like a great step forward to me that you can “talk” to an artist direct as they present their work. Conversation makes it all worthwhile (and really enriches the work).
Steely Dan are one of my favourite bands ever. i am particularly drawn to the sinister undercurrents beneath the slick glossy sheen of their sound.
Really like your blog, by the way.
Best wishes, Caroline
Thanks very much, Caroline – I really like yours too. Yes, that pretty much nails SD and why their songs bear so many repeat listens!
Thanks Richard.
I think we are also both friends with Mike, the estimable M John Harrison, as well!
Yes, I’m a huge fan! He’s one of my favourite writers of all time.
He’s a brilliant writer. Course of the Heart is my favourite.
Yes, the atmosphere in Course of the Heart is so unlike anything else I’ve read – gritty, and hard and heartbreaking. One of the things I like about him is that you get the feeling the book was written by an adult.
And also genuinely chilling… what an achievement! C
Indeed! I think partly because he doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable truths.
Never been closeted about my Fagan and Becker habit.
Nor should you be! I just came to them late (better that than never). The only one I haven’t heard is Two Against Nature. Must remedy that…