Steely Dan: Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Continuing my list of the Top 20 albums of 1974, coming in at #13 is Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan. In the world of classic rock criticism, one of the most polarizing bands is Steely Dan. Those who love them, which includes the entire Faux household, understand that the musicianship, deep understanding of jazz and blues music theory, and incredible songwriting talent of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen make them the first Top 40 band to understand that rock and pop music has no boundaries. Those who hate them, and I mean they hate them with a passion, simply don’t get them. These are most likely the same people who think that the Rolling Stones are the greatest band ever and that Led Zeppelin are still relevant. Pretzel Logic is the third album for Steely Dan, and it gave them their biggest hit single at #4 with “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” It is amazing that they had any Top 10 hits at all because even this song does not give in to the pop music demands of the time. It has a great melody, chorus, and lyrics, but like most of their songs, it doesn’t present any other aspects that would make it seem like a pop hit and is much more advanced musically than most of the other hits of the time. If anything, the song I selected (“Any Major Dude Will Tell You”) has more of a pop structure, with a memorable guitar riff, a mid-tempo drumbeat, and a fantastic bridge section that leads into a nice guitar solo. Steely Dan’s albums got better with each successive album, culminating with the incredible Aja in 1977, but they had already perfected their songwriting craft by 1974.
To learn more about Steely Dan, check out their website.
To check out all of the old Faux Show Best of the Year Shows, visit The Year In Review Series page.
To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.
The Radio Faux Show 
Hey, DeeJay Faux! If today’s Song of the Day is also tomorrow’s and the next day’s, you won’t hear any complaints from me. In fact, I just listened to it last night. For me, there’s something nostalgic about it that is right up there with Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts/Charlie Brown soundtracks. There’s a timelessness, as well. Albeit much less timeless, is there any chance that “Kung Fu Fighting” might close out ’74?! If so, bring it on!
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Howdy ff west! You know I’d listen to the Dan every day. I hadn’t thought about throwing in some singles from ’74 but now I think I have to…fast as lightning!
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