For those who don’t know, MOR is a radio term standing for Middle of the Road.  An acronym that was a euphemism for bland inoffensive music.  It should’ve been BIM.  Captain and Tenille fit perfectly in.  Some of the music really wasn’t that bad and was deceptively complex in its simplicity (how’s that for a sentence, lol!).  Most of it, however, was very disposable.  This is ancient history from the 70’s.  Steely Dan was played on such radio stations but they were also played on AOR (Album Oriented Rock) stations as well  (this acronym was also used for “Adult Oriented Rock” laughably).  They were always referred to as a mystery.

Steely Dan was named after “Steely Dan III from Yokohama”, a strap-on dildo mentioned in the novel Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.  This is common knowledge amongst the heavy fans but if you looking for citations, Wikipedia has two but there many more (including interviews).  Now is that any way for a nice Jazz-Rock band to be named?  Their music is mostly very easy on the ears: complex but smooth, somewhat relaxing and can easily used as background music.  The lyrics range from tales of drug addiction to gambling to murder to alcoholism to convicts to con artists to violence to divorce to anxiety over aging to the music industry.  To add to this paradox within a paradox, they started out as a touring, hard working band with revolving members and within a few years became a studio-only band with just two members and a ton of session musicians.

I always liked some of their songs and was aware of their strangeness but never thought much of it.  There was, however, a strange quote in a Dec. 1982 Musician magazine that has always intrigued me (incredible issue in my opinion with a GREAT interview with David Gilmour).  Unfortunately, I no longer have the issue since it was stolen by one of my roommate’s “friends” years ago so I’ll give a rough paraphrase.  “We’re a strange band but our fans are stranger.  That guy who just hijacked that bus on 33rd street probably owns five copies of The Royal Scam.”

What was so strange about this album amongst all their others that a (hypothetical) nutcase would be obsessed with it?  I was only familiar with “Kid Charlemagne.”  I had to eventually get my hands on this album and investigate.  Thirty-four years later I finally did (Note for the nosy: I was 16 at the time of the magazine’s publication so you can do the math on my age, folks.  Any way, a little math never hurt anyone. At least, I think so . . .).  Little did I know . . . The Royal Scam seems to be one of the crown jewels of their history.   It seems to be a parade of misfits, failures and insanity.  Some of the titles give you some indication of the contents (“The Fez,” “Haitian Divorce” and “The Royal Scam”).  Each song is novel in and of itself.

My favourite is “Don’t Take Me Alive.”  To me, there are many ways to interpret this song.  It could be a violent, delusional young man with a whole paranoid world in his head.  The character could have discovered some shady dealings his bookkeeper father was involved in and is running for his life.  He, himself, could have embezzled money.  It is obvious that he is not willing to go to jail or be caught by parties unknown.  An abstract but complex story, great lyrics and good music; what more could you ask for?  This is very typical of the album.

If you didn’t pay any attention to the lyrics, you could easily make it your happy soundtrack for housework.  The streets meet MOR.  The music, if you listen carefully is more complex than most people notice.  Everything is so seemingly effortless that the musicianship and lyrics are easily missed except by the nutcase fans 🙂

I’m so crazy that I think I can identify most of the parts Larry Carlton played (a great Jazz guitarist, not a lot of flash but incredible guitar pulled off with such ease).

Now I know what Walter Becker meant by his quote in that issue.  All of Steely Dan’s albums have the same qualities but I don’t think they was ever pulled off so well as on this album.  It’s well worth looking into. “See the glory/ Of the Royal Scam” that is Steely Dan.

This entry was brought to you by a man with too much caffeine and a restless mind 🙂