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Steely Dan FAQ: All That's Left to Know About This Elusive Band
Despite Steely Dan's popularity, its ability to cultivate an ever-growing base of avid and loyal fans, and its chart positions, relatively little has been written about the group. Steely Dan FAQ clears up some of the many misconceptions about the band and sheds new light on the genius behind the songwriting of Donald Fagan and Walter Becker, the perfection of their productions, and the myriad musicians who have played a role in creating the distinctive Steely Dan sound.
Steely Dan FAQ takes us through five decades of cryptic lyrics, sophisticated music, elusive interviews, dramatic interludes, and misconstrued sentiments. The band has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has had the majority of its albums certified platinum or double platinum in the U.S., yet the story has not been fully told. Within these pages readers will gain insight into the influences, musicians, situations, and complications that created one of the most distinctive bands in the history of rock and roll.
Steely Dan FAQ takes us through five decades of cryptic lyrics, sophisticated music, elusive interviews, dramatic interludes, and misconstrued sentiments. The band has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has had the majority of its albums certified platinum or double platinum in the U.S., yet the story has not been fully told. Within these pages readers will gain insight into the influences, musicians, situations, and complications that created one of the most distinctive bands in the history of rock and roll.
394 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 10, 2022
"Steely Dan FAQ: All That's Left to Know About This Elusive Band," while inaccurately titled, is still a worthy resource on Steely Dan. Robustelli provides a comprehensive overview of the Dan, placing proper emphasis on what I will call the canonical works (i.e. Can't Buy a Thrill to Gaucho). If you are interested in the stories behind the creation of the songs and the craftsmanship behind their sound, you will find much to enjoy. If you enjoy parsing the enigmatic lyrics, he shares some interesting tidbits here and there, but never a full blown exegesis.
Where the title is particularly misleading ("All That's Left to Know") is the biographical section, which is fairly superficial up to 1972 and then virtually non-existent thereafter. The reader learns next to nothing about Becker and Fagen, except how they operate in a studio.
"Steely Dan FAQ" included sections that were of little interest to me, such as Fagen and Becker's solo careers, thumbnail biographies of every session player who appeared on a studio album, and Becker and Fagen's work as sidemen.
Where the title is particularly misleading ("All That's Left to Know") is the biographical section, which is fairly superficial up to 1972 and then virtually non-existent thereafter. The reader learns next to nothing about Becker and Fagen, except how they operate in a studio.
"Steely Dan FAQ" included sections that were of little interest to me, such as Fagen and Becker's solo careers, thumbnail biographies of every session player who appeared on a studio album, and Becker and Fagen's work as sidemen.
January 19, 2017
This book covers everything you would want to know about Steely Dan. This book is thorough and goes into great detail about albums, musicians, tours and all aspects of Steely Dan from the beginning up to 2016. Very thorough and entertaining. While I read it through, I think it was make for browsing as well. For example, you may not want to read a synopsis of the history of every drummer who played for the Dan as well as for Fagen or Becker's solo efforts. But should you want to know who played what on what song, the information is here.
October 28, 2018
Informative...
May 24, 2019
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.0 of 5
I'm a big fan of the music of Steely Dan, though I know very little about them (other than who played on some of the songs) and so I thought that this would be a great book for me to request for review.
There is a lot of really wonderful information in this book and while I don't know that it's all factual (since it is new to me) I get the sense that author Anthony Robustelli has done a very thorough job of researching his subject.
We get a good, solid biography of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and what led up to their creating Steely Dan and a pretty decent snapshot of some of the early confusion of just who made up the members of the group.
Robustelli brings us into the very early days of the partnership with Becker and Fagen taking different work in Los Angeles and shares multiple stories about the demanding work they expected when in the studios. I'd heard stories about how demanding they could be, but to get this perspective from the people who played for them was really interesting. Something I hadn't been aware of, which I found tremendously fascinating was how Fagen and Becker would bring in multiple people to play on a track to determine which sound they liked best.
We get a very detailed breakdown of each album, the songs, and who played on them (and when). We also get an accounting of Becker and Fagen's solo careers and live performances and bootleg albums from some of the live shows.
One of the things that struck me was what I took as Robustelli's personal reactions to some of the songs, referring to the performances as a reviewer rather than an observer. This took a little bit away from me - I like to make my own reactions to a performance. A book of this nature ... a FAQ or biographical book should be a little more unbiased (in my view).
There are plenty of photos here as well, though not as many of Becker and Fagen in their younger days as one would perhaps hope for.
This is part of a series of FAQ books and I'm definitely interested in reading a few more, given the detail this book provided.
Looking for a good book? Steely Dan FAQ by Anthony Robustelli is packed full of information and is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in learning more about 'the Dan.'
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
I'm a big fan of the music of Steely Dan, though I know very little about them (other than who played on some of the songs) and so I thought that this would be a great book for me to request for review.
There is a lot of really wonderful information in this book and while I don't know that it's all factual (since it is new to me) I get the sense that author Anthony Robustelli has done a very thorough job of researching his subject.
We get a good, solid biography of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and what led up to their creating Steely Dan and a pretty decent snapshot of some of the early confusion of just who made up the members of the group.
Robustelli brings us into the very early days of the partnership with Becker and Fagen taking different work in Los Angeles and shares multiple stories about the demanding work they expected when in the studios. I'd heard stories about how demanding they could be, but to get this perspective from the people who played for them was really interesting. Something I hadn't been aware of, which I found tremendously fascinating was how Fagen and Becker would bring in multiple people to play on a track to determine which sound they liked best.
We get a very detailed breakdown of each album, the songs, and who played on them (and when). We also get an accounting of Becker and Fagen's solo careers and live performances and bootleg albums from some of the live shows.
One of the things that struck me was what I took as Robustelli's personal reactions to some of the songs, referring to the performances as a reviewer rather than an observer. This took a little bit away from me - I like to make my own reactions to a performance. A book of this nature ... a FAQ or biographical book should be a little more unbiased (in my view).
There are plenty of photos here as well, though not as many of Becker and Fagen in their younger days as one would perhaps hope for.
This is part of a series of FAQ books and I'm definitely interested in reading a few more, given the detail this book provided.
Looking for a good book? Steely Dan FAQ by Anthony Robustelli is packed full of information and is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in learning more about 'the Dan.'
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
October 9, 2023
I've been a Steely Dan fan for years, and this book enabled me to appreciate them even more. I knew that basically the band was Donald Fagan and Walter Becker and a revolving host of sidemen, but I had NO idea how many different musicians they used over the years, both in their recording sessions and on their tours.
The book really does tell you everything you would want to know about Steely Dan, and even more (it's 370 pages). You learn about how Fagan and Becker met, their exposure to and love of jazz, their early years in the music business, through the recording years, through the years when they only issued solo albums (although each worked on the other's albums, so they kept in touch all along), through their later albums and their tours. Robustelli goes into detail about every song they recorded, and also details every guitarist, drummer, keyboardist, and singer the band employed. Not being a musician myself, I didn't understand much of the musical details he noted; musicians would appreciate this even more than I did.
I was stunned to read how frequent and customary it was in the rock business to use a variety of side musicians; it seems as though virtually every group used them to some extent. The background of some of Steely Dan's songs was interesting; it was a good reminder that songwriters write out of what they know or have experienced. As James Taylor has said, he made a career out of "putting his business in the street."
This book is a must for Dan Fans.
The book really does tell you everything you would want to know about Steely Dan, and even more (it's 370 pages). You learn about how Fagan and Becker met, their exposure to and love of jazz, their early years in the music business, through the recording years, through the years when they only issued solo albums (although each worked on the other's albums, so they kept in touch all along), through their later albums and their tours. Robustelli goes into detail about every song they recorded, and also details every guitarist, drummer, keyboardist, and singer the band employed. Not being a musician myself, I didn't understand much of the musical details he noted; musicians would appreciate this even more than I did.
I was stunned to read how frequent and customary it was in the rock business to use a variety of side musicians; it seems as though virtually every group used them to some extent. The background of some of Steely Dan's songs was interesting; it was a good reminder that songwriters write out of what they know or have experienced. As James Taylor has said, he made a career out of "putting his business in the street."
This book is a must for Dan Fans.
May 6, 2024
This book contains a fair bit of interesting info for those of us who are intrigued by the Dan. On the other hand it has to be said that it's more of an information dump than a read. A lot of the info is repeated several times in different sections, too, if we're going to pick nits. So, as a magical immersion in the eccentric universe of the Steelies (as nobody calls them), it's a major letdown.
On the other hand, the title is "Steely Dan FAQ", so Mr Robustelli can't fairly be accused of misrepresentation. Still, it would have been nice if he'd made an effort to turn it into "Ripping yarns of Steely Dan" instead. To be fair, the reserved, sarky and laconic duo quite likely don't really have much to offer in the way of ripping yarns: the magic is most likely just in the music, not the bios. Just don't buy it as a beach read, is all I'm saying.
On the other hand, the title is "Steely Dan FAQ", so Mr Robustelli can't fairly be accused of misrepresentation. Still, it would have been nice if he'd made an effort to turn it into "Ripping yarns of Steely Dan" instead. To be fair, the reserved, sarky and laconic duo quite likely don't really have much to offer in the way of ripping yarns: the magic is most likely just in the music, not the bios. Just don't buy it as a beach read, is all I'm saying.
September 16, 2017
Great Read. Lots of interesting details about every album, including solo albums and every song.
May 1, 2020
Great read on one of America's most subversive bands.
July 20, 2022
Great fun for Dan fans!!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews