Live at the Rainbow, London, England, May 20, 1974. [no label 2CD]
With just two albums to their name, Steely Dan arrived in London to promote their third, Pretzel Logic. Now… what is that? A pretzel is a salty biscuit, twisted into a curious knot with three "holes". The bread stick is likely of German origin and some claim that its origins have a Christian history. Is that the "pretzel logic" of Steely Dan? That the unique pretzel shape with three holes or rings represents third time "lucky" for the band? A holy trinity of albums? If yes, the single Rikki Don’t Lose That Number from Pretzel Logic brought them their international hit.
The Dan are with the classic lineup of Jeff Baxter, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder and even Michael McDonald on piano. The melodic songs from Can’t Buy A Thrill and Countdown To Ecstasy are played for all their worth. It’s unknown why this show in London was recorded. This source is from a tape of the soundboard recording. It shows its age, the drums are poorly miked, but thankfully Donald Fagen’s voice is nicely centered and you can hear all the guitars and keyboard parts.
After the flood of jazz-rock bands, it was really cool to listen to Steely Dan’s piano-centered jazz-rock with not a tooting horn in sight. Taking the opening bars from Horace Silver’s Song For My Father, Becker and Fagen create the fantastic pop hit Rikki Don’t Lose That Number. Silver was not amused and demanded they remove it. None of the current CD releases with this song retains that special piano intro. Luckily it survives on this live recording. The Dan have never released a live recording from this era. They were not circus showmen.
It’s a real kick to finally hear the Dan in their younger days play such great tunes as The Boston Rag, Do It Again, Brooklyn and King Of The World.
The band:
Donald Fagen - piano, vocals
Walter Becker - bass
Jeff Baxter - guitar
Denny Dias - guitar
Jim Hodder - drums
Jeff Porcaro - drums
Royce Jones - percussion, vocals
Michael McDonald - electric piano, vocals
Disc 1
01 intro > Bodhisattva
02 The Boston Rag
03 Do It Again
04 Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)
05 King Of The World
06 Rikki Don't Lose That Number
07 Pretzel Logic
08 band introductions
Disc 2
01 My Old//School *
02 Dirty Work
03 Instrumental (Your Gold Teeth II) >
04 Reelin' In The Years
05 crowd and tuning
encores
06 Show Biz Kids
07 crowd and tuning
08 This All Too Mobile Home
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Comments welcome.
12 comments:
Going to grab this one and give it a listen
Many thanks
I like to think that this is very similar to the radio show from the same year(Oh Boy Records)Wasn't that Cleveland? maybe I'm wrong, I'm just to lazy to get the disc and look. Denny Dias,for a guy in overalls, stout and with a beard, not unlike Rich Williams from Kansas...looks can be decieving. He can play.......Steely Dan was that kind of band, that when you heard them, you were left confused as to what it is exactly. But you certainly found yourself getting into a groove, and you bobbed your heard, and almost got up to move....but some songs were just to sit and listen to. Whether purposeful or not,Fagen and Becker, shunned the ever present pressure to become that mainstream, commercial band everyone was expecting any minute. They remained true to themselves, very intuitive and insightful feelings for any band on the precipise of greatness, with a record company breathing down their neck. Always remembered for being the best underated band of all time. Fagen's writings can stand up to anyones. This a perfect example of what you would have expected to see if you were lucky enough to see them in their heyday(as it were)
I DLed a few Dan files from you...The 1996 rehersals BLEW ME AWAY!!!!! Thanx a million!!!!!!
Wow, after giving this a listen (it's playing as I write)I would have to say this is the best SD bootleg I have heard so far, both in terms of sound quality but also performance.
This is a band that sounds fresh and not just going through the motions (as some of the later gigs sound like)
Another great post my friend
I had this one, but in mp3 files, it's great to listen to it with better quality. This one is even better than the 1974 Los Angeles concert (post from May, 28).
I don't listen yet the 1996 concert...
Merci Dave !
Thanks very much!
:)
Pretzel Logic simply means Twisted Logic. I heard them talk about it in an interview once.
Thank you SO much for this great boot, keep up the good work, love the blog! C
Another great one. Thanks.
Chris
This is one excellent mofo show! Back in the day when the Dan were a R&R band. Check out those double leads from Skunk and Denny in synch with Porcaro's beats. The vocals sound rough till your ears atune to the offkilter harmony that make SD unique.
2.0 - ur da man, thanks! -bluesmutt
I agree Pretzel Logic simply means Twisted Logic, a mobius loop of thought, another brilliant bootleg, thanks.
I was amazed when my friend offered me a ticket to this show at the Rainbow. This was the first time I saw Jeff Porcaro play live, Boz Scaggs in 1975, then Toto in '82, 88 and 90. It still makes me cry when I think of this tiny guy behind this big kit making the most beautiful noise. First view of Mike McDonald as well, the following year ('75), the Warner Brothers roadshow came to the Rainbow, Little Feat, The Doobies and Tower of Power, great years, great music, great memories.
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