RIP Walter Becker

richardhomer

Kebabkid said:

Hey Nineteen

Love that song - and Becker's Knopfleresque guitar playing on it.

dindude

Kebabkid said:

I've been listening to the SD collection all day while decorating and then threw on 11 tracks of Whack. Becker's solo stuff was more poppy, quirky and angular in comparison to Fagen's solo offerings, yet meld them together and you have the beauty and the genius that's Steely Dan.

Anyone here like Becker's voice? That was a pleasant surprise when I first heard it.

It's so hard to pick a favourite track and where do you start with Hey Nineteen, Babylon Sisters, Haitian Divorce, Josie, Peg, Reelin' and Kid Charlemagne etc but today, "My Old School" really did it for me featuring lovely guitar work by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter who was also lucky enough to also play in The Doobies.

I often wonder if we would've had some of the artists that emerged and were inspired by them and there's 2 guitarists who I know love their work but never graced any of their albums - Steve Lukather and Robben Ford.

Funny you should mention that Cos, I think My Old School is prob my fav SD song - it's far from typical SD but it has everything going on, and yes the cheeky guitar from the Skunk is sublime.

JezWynd

Perfection

west

Sublime ...... x

Kebabkid

richardhomer said:

Kebabkid said:

Hey Nineteen

Love that song - and Becker's Knopfleresque guitar playing on it.

Not sure it was Richard. I think that was Hugh McCraken on that track. 

Skipped

I keep thinking about the incredible lyrics to Things I Miss the Most. Such a poignant song.

Rolling Stone has said: "Becker lurked so far in the background, nobody knew he was writing half the lyrics as well as music – in fact, nobody was sure what he did. He liked it that way."

I wonder if  Walter Becker wrote the lyrics for Things I Miss the Most. The writer is missing his '54 Strat.

Chris777

I listen to some Steely Dan at least once a week, and have done so since the early 70's, their music always remains fresh and exciting to me, very sad news indeed