Walter Becker

It's not surprising that Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker's debut solo album sounds like a Steely Dan record. What is a little surprising, though, is that, in his lead singing debut, he sounds so much like his erstwhile partner, Donald Fagen. Not that you'd mistake the two (Fagen projects more and is slightly grittier), but they sing in the same register with the same sly phrasing and the same accent. Other differences from the Dan are equally subtle: Becker adopts a sparer musical approach, for one thing, the missing element being the prominence of Fagen's keyboards (although Fagen does play on the record and co-produced it). Nothing gets in the way of Becker's voice, and he proves to be a less ornate lyricist than Fagen, restricting himself largely to tales of romantic dislocation. On the whole, this album sounds like what you'd expect – one half of Steely Dan.

The band Steely Dan - in essence the musicianship and songwriting team of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen - has long divided the critics : some have marvelled at a highly imaginative blend of intelligent, "literary" lyrics and a carefully crafted influence of jazz and Latin rhythms within the rock template, whilst others have detected a certain coldness in the work, due perhaps to over-elaboration and perfectionism. Of course, deciding to name your b.nd after a dildo in William Burroughs's cult novel Th Naked Lunch will invite criticism , but none of those who questioned Steely Dan's Status at the top of the tree of 70s rock could ever seriously dispute the immaculate execution of their vision.

For about the thousandth time, these very early recordings by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen that have remained officially unreleased for a reason: they're terrible and only vaguely resemble the actual Steely Dan that came years later. This is not to say that there is no merit to them, only very little, and only for those who are so obsessed by the Steely Dan legend they need to hear every bent note, of which there are plenty here. This is another shabby Dressed to Kill effort that should be avoided. Period.

Steely Dan's baby pictures? Sort of–these are studio demos Dan honchos Becker and Fagen made as struggling songwriters in the period before they actually conceptualized the band. Some of them–"Brooklyn," "Barrytown," "Parker's Band," "Charlie Freak," "Any World That I'm Welcome To" and "The Caves of Altamira"–later turned up on Steely Dan albums; here they're presented in bare-bones version (mostly just piano and vocals, with only adequate sound) that while interesting obviously don't have Steely Dan's trademark instrumental sheen. The unfamiliar tracks are uneven (a must to avoid: "The Mock Turtle's Song"), but even the least of them show that Becker and Fagen's writing style was fully formed even at this early stage.

The release of ‘Sun Mountain' completes the three volume set released on the Thunderbolt label and featuring the early work of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (see also 'Old Regime' CDTB 040 and 'Stone Piano' CDTB 054). The first nine tracks on this release represent the first known recordings by the duo. Prominent throughout are the distinctive lead vocals and keyboard skills of Donald Fagen with Walter Becker providing the bass line and occasional harmonies. These have been compiled with four tracks each from the earlier two releases. The first four of these are taken from 'Stone Piano' and clearly illustrate the development of artists towards a more complex instrumental backing for their compositions. The second four tracks are taken from ‘Old Regime' and show the full development of the artists who, by this time, are working with an array of fellow musicians including John Discepolo and Kenny Vance on drums, Elliot Randall on guitar, and Denny Dias on bass.

Partly because of Donald Fagen's reluctance to sing onstage, partly due to he and Walter Becker's perfectionism, and partly because the pairs' compositions and arrangements were so complex - requiring all manner of studio hardware to reproduce - Steely Dan played very few live concerts during their early career, indeed by the middle of 1974 they had given up touring entirely. The one album they did promote on the road however was their third masterpiece, the enigmatically titles 'Pretzel Logic', released in the USA on February 20th 1974. The tour started on March 9th, and this CD features the complete second show played by the group, at the University Of California the following night.

The Sultans of Swing are at it again! Fresh from the success of their Two Against Nature record, Donald Fagen & Walter Becker decided to assult nature in their own way and assembled their troops for a 3 continent world tour. Mixing several of their long standing commarades in arms, such as Cornelius Bumpus (tenor Sax), Tom Barney (Bass) and Ricky Lawson (Drums) with newcomers to the Dan world such as Jon Herrington on guitar, they dazzled audiences world wide with both old chestnuts such as "My Old School" and "FM", together with new soon-to-be-standards such as "Cousin Dupree" and "Jack Of Speed". Prepare yorself to deal with the miracle of musical virtuosity! Prepare thyself for a massive dose of live Steely Dan.

These two concerts come from a period when the band were at the point of headlining their own concerts but shortly after these concerts the band decided to concentrate on studio recordings rather than concert performances.

"Do It Again", "FM", "Bodhisattva" are only a few of the very intriguing songs that the duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have given us through the years. After a several year absence in 1996 they hit the road on another great tour. This time with a crackerjack band that featured fusion wunderkind Wayne Krantz, they proceeded to amaze audiences in arenas all over the US, For those unfortunateones who counln't make it to one of the gigs, this document we now present to you is a fitting consolation prize. For thoes fortunate ones who were there, sitting and relieve the memories of one of those fabulous nights.