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Speaker 1
Are we good? All right.

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Speaker 4
Cats. We need to address something before we do this album. One of the greatest albums ever. Yeah, but there's something that I don't want to talk about. Has to do with boats. I don't want any mention of a even a dinghy, a schooner, any boat of any kind, any nautical vessel, nothing. Any seafaring ship. Let's just keep it out of there because these guys get pissed about that kind of stuff, you know what I mean?

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Speaker 5
All right. Cool. But can we talk about yachts?

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Speaker 4
Dude, that's what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 4
Do.

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Speaker 4
I'm at a madness, and I'm Peter. Marty. And you're listening to the you'll hear it podcast.

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Speaker 5
Music explored.

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Speaker 4
Explored. Brought to you today by Open Studio. Go to open studio jazz.com for oh oh jazz lesson needs.

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Speaker 5
Oh, you really stored that one up there, I like.

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Speaker 4
It, I got a lot of energy coming off that black cow. Man, that was fun.

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Speaker 5
That was fun. That's Bob debut on bass. Oh yeah that's Caleb.

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Speaker 4
Kirby come on.

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Speaker 5
Drums.

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Speaker 4
Yeah. We were so excited to have those guys with us on this, show. Yeah. Sound. Great. Peter, today we're talking about. This is a biggie for me. Yeah, this is a big one.

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Speaker 5
I don't think anyone else ever noticed this record. So you're good. Like we're going to fly out of the radar.

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Speaker 4
Nobody's going to be finicky about this one. Right?

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Speaker 5
This is Steely Dan's Asia.

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Speaker 4
Their 1977 masterpiece and commercial masterpiece. Yes.

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Speaker 5
And I used to think this was because I was a young lad when this record came out, and when I became aware of it, I used to think it was Asia or Asia. Oh, because it's, you know, like you're looking at the, you know, on the radio, they'll never really say, yeah, like you'll hear the music and you'll see the album and it's a J.

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Speaker 4
That's right. Yeah. Did they and they probably never played the title track on the radio, especially when you were a kid.

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Speaker 5
If they did, it was not past the four minute mark. I know that.

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Speaker 4
Wouldn't have been.

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Speaker 5
Yeah, I don't think so.

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Speaker 4
Yeah. I have a different relationship because I was not of this earth when this album came in. I was not quite 77.

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Speaker 5
You hadn't seen you don't know nothing about no. 77.

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Speaker 4
No. But I do remember my father shout out Lester Menace. Yeah. Had a giant,

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Speaker 4
stereo system set up with, like, an old wooden box as, like the case. Yeah. Very 70s. Yeah. And I remember a few different album covers. I remember the Ohio Players Honey album. I remember that very vividly.

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Speaker 5
Right. Actually, that was a nice

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Speaker 5
cover.

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Speaker 4
It was a great cover. I remember Thin Lizzy's jailbreak, which my dad was a huge Thin Lizzy fan at the time, and I remember this. I remember Steely Dan's Asian striking cover, which we'll talk about more. Yeah, later in the show, in the categories. But then and then I remember hearing it for the first time on that turntable.

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Speaker 4
Yeah. And then

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Speaker 4
if you haven't heard Asia on vinyl and I know this sounds ridiculous, right? Snobby, but it sounds so good, man. Right. Like that's opening the opening Black Cow sound with the clavinet down low. And the bass. Yeah. And the drums. It's beautiful.

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Speaker 5
We could add that to our questions. Is this the best opening of an album? Just sonically?

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Speaker 4
I mean, it's.

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Speaker 5
Got to be ten, so great.

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Speaker 4
It has to be, right? Oh, can you imagine a better setting than that opening of blackout, which we'll listen to in a minute? But yeah, man, a couple of things that that we might, set the table.

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Speaker 5
Yes.

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Speaker 4
So we mentioned it was recorded in 77. It was actually this album was nominated for album of the year in 1978. It lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumors.

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Speaker 5
Well, that was a big record, right?

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Speaker 4
Yeah. I mean, really, I can't really fault anybody from that. The only Grammy it won was for Best Engineer, Non-Classical.

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Speaker 5
But that's a big I mean, I think that that that's that's held up. You know what I mean? That that that checks out.

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Speaker 5
I think that that this is an incredible,

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Speaker 5
this is the kind of thing that you want to put on some headphones, which I hadn't done in a while, and I did yesterday. Yeah. And it sounds so good.

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Speaker 5
Like the panning on it is so,

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Speaker 5
interesting and innovative and artistic, like, there's so much attention to detail. The playing is great, but I think the sound on this album might be the sleeper hit of it.

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Speaker 4
Well, let's get to the sound of the album. So let's, let's listen to the a little bit of the first track, Black Cow, and then we can even go deeper with some of these stems here. So here is the opening track of I'm.

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Speaker 5
Sorry my friend. Did you say stems?

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Speaker 4
Well, this is black Cow, by the way, for our piano nerds out there, this is Joe Sample on the clavinet. Yeah, this is Victor Feldman on the road and Victor Feldman, by the way, who we'll talk about in a minute. All over Asia. Yeah, over all these. Oh, really? Dan?

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Speaker 5
Several instruments, several instruments.

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Speaker 4
Here is the opening. The black cow. Come on.

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Speaker 5
It doesn't get better bass in that there's so much space and space and precision.

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Speaker 3
In the corner.

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Unknown
Oh, man. Oh, my. I.

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Speaker 3
Saw you in Rudy's.

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Speaker 4
Donald Fagen. Very high. You know how it is. Lead vocals on this on most is Steely Dan. And by this point of their of their trajectory.

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Speaker 5
His lead vocals may come up in a little segment. A new segment will be introducing later on called.

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Speaker 4
I mean, it's he's got such a cool, distinctive voice for me. It is like I.

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Speaker 5
It couldn't have been anybody else. Anything else.

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Speaker 4
One second of it. And you know. Exactly.

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Speaker 5
Yeah, I used to. Can we just can we go back and just.

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Speaker 4
Yeah, I want to say just I want to listen to a couple things. Oh, I can.

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Speaker 5
Say this is a great new for me. We have we're going to be doing some of this. No, no no I want to listen. Oh yeah. Yeah. You got.

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Speaker 4
It. The lazy Suzette. So just listen to this. Here's just the drums. Right? Oh, you have. It's Paul Humphrey on the drums.

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Speaker 5
Paul, I, I was going to say this. Do you know there's six different drummers on this?

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Speaker 4
I'm not surprised. Yeah, but listen to how those drum sound, man.

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Speaker 4
Is that incredible?

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Speaker 5
Incredible start. The thing is, like that is not like a super funky. Obviously it's a back B groove. He's in the pocket. Oh yeah. But it's not like it's not like the nastiest groove I don't know what do you think Caleb? I mean to me it's not really like well it's not like this nasty groove, but combined with the sound, it just gives it that well.

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Speaker 4
And one of the themes of this record is they sound gorgeous, they do pristine. The precision of them is incredible. Here's that same section with everything but drums. So here you have guitar, bass and Joe Sample in the clavinet. Oh.

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Speaker 5
And they've got this clapping somehow. Hard pan with the reverb. Yeah, some headphones on on this. What are the young and say headphones on.

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Speaker 4
And for those of you that don't know, clavinet was an instrument that was super popular 60s and late 60s and 70s and beyond. I think Stevie Wonder, superstition. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible.

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Speaker 5
That's amazing guitar playing with those simple triads. On top of that, the C7. It's interesting. This is the I mean, the way that the table is set for this record with this intro. Yeah.

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Speaker 5
And then, you know, we're going to talk a little. We're not going to get deep into lyrics and stuff because I don't understand them as much as I've heard them from so many years.

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Speaker 5
Yeah, it's such a mystery. But like there's certain references that come up, obviously there's some drug stuff right at the beginning of the album. So to me that always set the tone, even though this is not a drug lyric album.

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Speaker 4
Oh, you're talking about the accusation of.

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Speaker 6
You, were you right.

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Speaker 5
There? Because musically it connects so much. But it's like musically, I think that this is a record that has all these little,

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Speaker 5
little isms, little instances of blues. And to me, because even though this isn't a blues and Deacon Blues, which is called a blues, is not a blues either, there actually is a blues on there.

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Speaker 4
We'll talk about that.

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Speaker 5
Yeah, but this is blues or blues adjacent, you know what I mean? It's that dominant seventh that well.

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Speaker 4
Can I bring.

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Speaker 5
13.

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Speaker 4
Can I, can I bring what what I'm thinking up up up.

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Speaker 5
Exactly. That's 13 chord.

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Speaker 4
So listen to this below. Listen to the harmony of the horns there. Yeah. Right. So that sound that sort of like you mentioned the 13 or you might call it the six. But listen again. We'll listen with no vocals and listen just a little bit when the.

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Speaker 5
When the guitar comes in.

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Speaker 4
Yeah. Right. That same thing. That's exactly the same voicings as Freddie Freeloader. Yeah. You know, and that's what we're working with. Here's just the vocals on their own.

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Speaker 3
The corner.

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Unknown
My, I.

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Speaker 3
Saw you in roots who were very high.

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Speaker 4
You had that great background vocals. Yeah.

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Speaker 5
And that was just fake and kind of like, doubled. And then the backgrounds came in on the you.

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Speaker 4
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's so good.

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Speaker 5
I mean, the precision that's there, the precision on the drums, the bass, I mean like everything is like beyond bespoke. It's bespoke it.

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Speaker 4
And then can we talk a little bit about Victor Feldman on this. And I just want to like to me this is amazing. Victor Feldman who would have been a little bit older than these guys. Yeah.

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Speaker 4
Was British to a little more British was a jazz pianist. In fact, Victor Feldman famously was, responsible for this Miles Davis track.

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Speaker 4
The composer of seven. And he's playing on this and he's playing I.

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Speaker 5
Don't know about this version.

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Speaker 4
He's playing on this album. Yeah. Ironically, I think this might be Herbie on the song. Maybe this is all part of it is he splits the album with Herbie Williams.

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Speaker 5
Yeah.

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Speaker 4
But he's on a bunch of Cannonball records.

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Speaker 1
Yeah.

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Speaker 4
He plays vibes. He's got his own music.

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Speaker 5
He's playing marimba.

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Speaker 4
Playing marimba on this.

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Speaker 5
On Asia.

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Speaker 4
But he goes from this in the early 60s to, I mean, he's on most of Steely Dan stuff in the 70s, and he plays this beautiful road solo here.

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Speaker 5
Yeah, that's a good soul.

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Speaker 4
Again, Joe Sample on the clavinet, Victor Feldman on the road.

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Speaker 5
Oh, that's very like that harmonic moving, very Herbie Hancock, M1, DC come up with those chords, the sources in the major sevens like the and we're going to probably talk about, you know, throughout this kind of the jazz influences of this record.

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Speaker 4
Oh there's so many you know what I mean. We'll get to it in the next track specifically.

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Speaker 5
And that was a great one with the with the Freddie Freeloader. I never caught that one.

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Speaker 4
Well check out I just want to give another shout out to Paul Humphrey here. Check out this Phil in the middle of the chorus of the road solo. Listen.

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Speaker 4
Who's all he needs? Yeah, that's all you need is great.

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Speaker 5
Everything's like that kind of stuff. The stuff gap plays on. Like, it's all especially from the drums. It's like. It's like the the best, most inspired studio playing ever, you know what I mean? It's just like very this is not the way they would play it live. This is like in the studio you can hear every little like that would totally get lost in a club or something that little.

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Speaker 5
But then we can sit there and yeah, I mean that was like and it was. And that's what I think the engineering is such a good thing. It's not just the sound and the cool panning on the Clav and stuff. It's like that's brought out like you can tell the tension for us to even be able to hear that and notice.

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Speaker 4
And there's also just a ton of lore about the tracking and the mixing of this system over a year to produce this record. Yeah. So and if you don't know, something like Michael Jackson's Thriller was done in just a few weeks. Yeah. And I think it was like, I think it was like.

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Speaker 5
The tracking.

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Speaker 4
The tracking of it was like six weeks or something.

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Speaker 5
And this took some time.

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Speaker 4
This took a year. Yeah. Total to get all the tracking in the mixing together. But you can.

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Speaker 5
Hear.

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Speaker 4
You can hear the precision. You can hear the detail. You can hear the quality. And

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Speaker 4
this is something we can maybe talk about either now or later. But like, you know, I think when people have if there's any gripes about Steely Dan ever, it's almost that it's too good. Which is an interesting thing to gripe that. But it's like it's so clean, it's so pristine, it's so beautiful.

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Speaker 4
You know, Donald Fagen, I think almost if it wasn't for the gravelly leanness of his voice and the rawness of his voice, like, if you had Michael McDonald on Steely Dan, it would almost be too much. It would almost be like, right, too syrupy. Right?

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Speaker 5
Because he's on here, the background is.

00:14:00:06 - 00:14:02:18
Speaker 4
On the background. But you know what I'm saying? Or if you if you had like, just.

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Speaker 5
Like, where is the where's the grit, where is the where is the, the the dirtiness going to come on this record? I think it does come from Fagan's voice and from the crazy lyrics and stuff. Everything else is just so, you know, top shelf, you know, it's like going into a bar where everyone is dressed right and they only have the best stuff.

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Speaker 5
And then you have one guy who's a little bit like slob and Lee, and he's drinking some Jim Beam. You know, I.

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Speaker 4
Can actually think of a moment that it becomes very organic and very raw. And is maybe the apex of this entire album. And it comes from the next track. Peter.

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Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:14:38:18 - 00:14:49:22
Speaker 4
Oh, the title track. Yes. Asia. Yeah. So again Victor Feldman on piano here. Yeah.

00:14:50:00 - 00:14:54:15
Speaker 5
That's like probably one of the best studio piano sounds of an acoustic.

00:14:54:17 - 00:14:56:15
Speaker 4
And that's what I'm saying. You know everything.

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Speaker 5
And when it's not a jazz piano sound, it's a studio piano sound. Just that keys of atop the road right there.

00:15:08:23 - 00:15:14:20
Speaker 5
And it's like, very actively mixed on that piano. You can tell. And that's Victor Feldman on marimba as well.

00:15:14:20 - 00:15:16:11
Speaker 4
I believe it's nice this isn't Victor.

00:15:16:11 - 00:15:17:06
Speaker 5
From that sample.

00:15:17:09 - 00:15:22:23
Speaker 4
No, this is, Michael Omarion on piano. That's my bag. This is Joe Sample on electric piano. Yeah, yeah.

00:15:23:01 - 00:15:24:00
Speaker 5
Electric do.

00:15:24:01 - 00:15:27:03
Speaker 4
Yeah. Victor Feldman is doing percussion on this one. That's right.

00:15:27:05 - 00:15:28:11
Speaker 5
Right here.

00:15:28:13 - 00:15:31:08
Speaker 3
Do do do do do do you?

00:15:31:13 - 00:15:47:15
Speaker 5
I say just the melodies. Very simple harmonies. Super complex. Do you know right here, major seven sharp 11 major seven. So you made your seven sharp a little breaking up at the time there. We're not in for four for a minute.

00:15:47:15 - 00:15:48:01
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:15:48:06 - 00:15:49:03
Speaker 5
There's some stuff in here.

00:15:49:03 - 00:15:51:20
Speaker 4
So jazz rock.

00:15:51:22 - 00:15:55:14
Speaker 5
Well like especially you take out these little segments. Yeah.

00:15:55:16 - 00:15:58:15
Speaker 4
It's not yacht rock. And we should not disrespect.

00:15:58:17 - 00:16:00:16
Speaker 5
My only quibble bit with it being a jazz.

00:16:00:17 - 00:16:03:22
Speaker 4
According to General Beato and Donald Sagan himself.

00:16:03:22 - 00:16:21:05
Speaker 5
I definitely don't think it's yacht rock, but I think, oh man, the way that I know everything. Know my only quibble bit with, with it being jazz rock. Like, I don't know if this is really a rock album, you know what I mean? Would you classify this as a Romney? Who cares, right?

00:16:21:07 - 00:16:23:06
Speaker 4
I don't know how much.

00:16:23:07 - 00:16:40:07
Speaker 5
It's super jazz influence, but but if you think about it, the great things about this record to me, the precision, like this record was Frankenstein together. It was late, like a lot of the most spontaneous moments. And I know we're going to talk about the apex moment that I know from an interview was not done live together. It was layered up,

00:16:40:07 - 00:16:42:10
Speaker 5
with several different versions and then put together and stuff.

00:16:42:10 - 00:16:51:06
Speaker 5
But I think a lot of this record was like that. And so that's kind of the antithesis of a jazz record. If you think about the greatest jazz records, A Love Supreme,

00:16:51:06 - 00:16:59:14
Speaker 5
even kind of blew and, you know, like where it's recorded very quickly, the spontaneity of the moment, I mean, kind of you can hear Miles comes in, two beats early and they leave.

00:16:59:14 - 00:17:24:02
Speaker 5
That ended up becomes a part of like, the beauty is in the imprecision. Yeah, right. The beauty is in the humanity of it being raw. But like, very grooving and like, like you can actually feel the intimacy of the exchange of spontaneity between the musicians here. They've created that. It sounds like when Steve Gadd and Wayne Shorter are soloing together, it sounds like they're going for great.

00:17:24:05 - 00:17:26:16
Speaker 5
They they're Steve together already laid that down.

00:17:26:16 - 00:17:27:00
Speaker 4
I know.

00:17:27:00 - 00:17:35:23
Speaker 5
Man, I mean, so this is like a crafted thing to make it feel like something. I think it's great. I'm here for it for sure. It's just the opposite of how jazz record.

00:17:35:23 - 00:17:48:16
Speaker 4
Would be made. So this brings me to like what I think is the the most raw, the most beautiful moment. Maybe the apex moment. We could talk about this because this this could be the apex moment. And this is I know, Asia, this is your pick for the desert island track. This is your favorite track.

00:17:48:16 - 00:17:49:15
Speaker 5
My dads are on the track.

00:17:49:20 - 00:18:11:22
Speaker 4
And I think the apex apex moment of the entire album ironically happens on the second track. I think this is where it peaks, but I also have another thought on this. But it is in that solo of Wayne Shorter. Yeah, where Steve Gadd scores crazy.

00:18:12:00 - 00:18:28:17
Unknown
Hey. Hey hey hey, who another?

00:18:28:19 - 00:18:38:11
Speaker 5
Minor 11. Heaven.

00:18:38:13 - 00:18:45:22
Speaker 4
So I'm assuming any Wayne Shorter makes everything literally everything better. I mean, so Wayne Shorter, of course, famously with,

00:18:45:22 - 00:18:56:19
Speaker 4
Art Blakey, with Miles Davis, but also played with Steely Dan, played a lot with Joni Mitchell, of course, Weather Report in the 70s with his band, Colette. Yeah. And I want to play that section one more time. Yeah.

00:18:56:22 - 00:19:02:00
Speaker 4
And just listen to what Steve Gadd is doing.

00:19:02:01 - 00:19:08:23
Speaker 4
This is underneath what Wayne's doing.

00:19:09:01 - 00:19:14:23
Speaker 4
What?

00:19:15:01 - 00:19:37:03
Speaker 5
I mean, the thing about it is, if you take what Steve guy's playing separately, you take what Wayne's playing, you take that apart. They're so good. But, like, it's actually not that impressive what they're doing. Like, Wayne Solo is not like, any, any different than he would do at any other. It's not like the apex moment for his solos, but a lot of people would be like, oh my God, that's my favorite Wayne solo.

00:19:37:04 - 00:19:42:10
Speaker 5
Yeah, the moment that they put together. Same thing with Steve. God, he can play like this in his sleep. Like, oh, give me the hits. Yeah, I got it.

00:19:42:10 - 00:19:52:14
Speaker 4
Well, if you're not familiar with Steve Gadd so famously the year before he recorded this, right. Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover from Still Crazy. And this is.

00:19:52:16 - 00:19:54:20
Speaker 5
Kind of more creative kind of playing for Steve Gadd.

00:19:54:22 - 00:19:59:11
Speaker 4
This is like his shtick. Yeah. This is like his thing, you know, it's great. That's a great sound too. Yeah.

00:19:59:11 - 00:20:22:05
Speaker 5
But it's just to say that like on Asia, I think it's the combination, the sound being so good, the way they put it together with Wayne coming in and just kind of layering on top, like Steve Gadd is not comping behind him. He's soloing. Yeah. And then Wayne came in and recorded that over the top of it. So like the vision, I think of Fagen and Becker and the whole, you know, the team and how they did the stuff and put it together is really what it's about.

00:20:22:05 - 00:20:28:18
Speaker 5
So it's almost like, okay, we know Wayne Shorter is going be able to come in and play over one chord, but but not play it away pretty.

00:20:28:18 - 00:20:30:14
Speaker 6
Oh yeah, they're pretty brutal.

00:20:30:14 - 00:20:50:03
Speaker 5
But you know, you're not doing any of that kind of stuff. But this way that he plays is very much how he was playing right. Even before this with Weather Report you know Cucumber Slumber a lot of that kind of those tracks. I'm thinking like, this is the way he would come in like. And I would consider whether pop much more jazz rock than Steely Dan for some reason because it's got so much more of that spontaneity.

00:20:50:05 - 00:20:58:21
Speaker 5
Like they're, they're playing with, like, you couldn't imagine a lot of that stuff. Them not doing it live. Yeah. Where's this? We know it's not live, but it's great. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's just a different thing.

00:20:58:23 - 00:21:07:03
Speaker 4
I was just thinking about Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and just the amazing music that they made for 50 years. Probably together.

00:21:07:06 - 00:21:07:12
Speaker 5
Yeah.

00:21:07:15 - 00:21:23:13
Speaker 4
And just like this tradition of duos, like, I mean, steely Dan had many iterations and they kind of shedded members as they got older and older, and it was obvious it's just the two of them that are sort of the core. Yeah, of what's going on. But do you think, of course, like Lennon-McCartney,

00:21:23:13 - 00:21:29:17
Speaker 4
you think of like, you know, even even to like the lads from Oasis, you think of obviously Steely Dan last night.

00:21:29:22 - 00:21:32:19
Speaker 4
Well, they are lads. Yeah. These two guys, Madison Martin.

00:21:32:22 - 00:21:33:20
Speaker 5
Yeah. Madison Martin.

00:21:33:20 - 00:21:38:02
Speaker 4
But there's something there's something about this I think is why like, you think of,

00:21:38:02 - 00:21:51:12
Speaker 4
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards. Like these people that bounce these things off of each other in these pairs. I guess sometimes trios too, but, like, it's really there's something about a pair. Yeah. Where you trust each other. You have a similar goal in mind.

00:21:51:12 - 00:22:05:19
Speaker 4
And then yet you hold each other accountable. You don't let you know. You don't let your partner get away with too much bullshit, and you hope that they don't let you get away with any bullshit like you really try to like, say, when one of you falters, you stay the course. Or when someone's faltering, they stay the.

00:22:05:19 - 00:22:11:07
Speaker 5
Course. And then just. Yeah, absolutely. And bringing complementary skill sets, there's something about that's nice. Like, you know, because I, like.

00:22:11:07 - 00:22:12:05
Speaker 4
You said, it was nicer.

00:22:12:05 - 00:22:12:20
Speaker 5
When, you know, this.

00:22:12:20 - 00:22:13:19
Speaker 4
Is why we're such a good team.

00:22:13:19 - 00:22:30:03
Speaker 5
But an awareness of that, like, that's partly luck. It's like, who do you team up with? And then you've got the different elements. But I know that there's stories about, you know, Fagan was going crazy. I guess Becker was even. I mean, they both were like perfectionists and like, it's got to be like this. Yeah, but I guess Becker's going crazy with the drums.

00:22:30:03 - 00:22:36:04
Speaker 5
Got to be. This thing's like, I can't even be in here anymore. You guys, they're sitting there for hours. Just about one time. Thomas out or something. So there's

00:22:36:04 - 00:22:39:21
Speaker 5
there's different skills that they bring to being able to clue in on. Yeah.

00:22:39:21 - 00:22:43:04
Speaker 5
And being able to execute on. But but yeah, it's the it's the finished product.

00:22:43:05 - 00:22:45:13
Speaker 4
You want to hit up that last solo before you check out.

00:22:45:18 - 00:23:00:03
Speaker 5
Oh yeah. Well so I like this. So Gadd has two solos. He played them both his solos I believe. But then after they come back to that that B minor 11 and oh make sure you check out we're going to talk about the nerd note. We'll do that later. What the nerd. No, no we got a new set.

00:23:00:03 - 00:23:02:16
Speaker 5
We got a new band. We got new segments here.

00:23:02:16 - 00:23:08:10
Speaker 5
We're going to talk about that chord in particular because it's a minor 11 is very rare in really any kind of music.

00:23:08:10 - 00:23:16:10
Speaker 4
Going to talk about a few of the chords over on the nerd note, that's for pianists who want to and for musicians who want to kind of go on a deeper dive on the theory. We'll talk about that. That's for Open Studio. Right.

00:23:16:10 - 00:23:41:04
Speaker 5
But the thing is, it's just to say that that sound of and that's what you're hearing during this whole and this kind of sets it up with this real peaceful thing. Oh, that's a B minor 11. But like, what does that sound give you? You don't know. It's not like minor but it's not major. It's very like kind of floating minor.

00:23:41:06 - 00:23:42:19
Speaker 5
See it's yeah it's very sort.

00:23:42:19 - 00:23:43:22
Speaker 1
Of soft at all.

00:23:44:00 - 00:23:48:04
Speaker 5
And then the minor move minor move kind of. But I tell you.

00:23:48:04 - 00:23:55:08
Speaker 4
With that syncopation, with that.

00:23:55:10 - 00:23:56:14
Speaker 4
I love the syntax and then.

00:23:56:14 - 00:23:59:03
Speaker 5
All that space in there for.

00:23:59:05 - 00:24:20:15
Speaker 4
All right. For me this is like drummers to take note of that. Yeah. To come out of a big Tom heavy, Phil heavy solo. Yeah I think I mean, I am such a sucker. And then like apex you're solo towards going back to like a groove that's a groove that maybe nobody's heard in this song yet. Yeah, but there's like, there's no bigger.

00:24:20:15 - 00:24:23:00
Speaker 5
This is like eight, seven minutes into the song. This is at the end.

00:24:23:02 - 00:24:36:03
Speaker 4
There's no stanky or face. Then when the drummer transitions from, like, the Phil heavy solo into just like the groove solo. Yeah, it makes me want to fall off the back of my chair. I'm. I'm serious. Like it is. It is a hair knocker backer.

00:24:36:03 - 00:24:41:12
Speaker 5
Yeah. I mean, in a way that's kind of my apex moment. Of course, the wane and. Yeah. But that one.

00:24:41:12 - 00:25:01:06
Speaker 4
Let's let's talk about this. So the apex moment of the album, undoubtedly the leading candidate has got to be this moment. I mean, if you're especially for musicians, I feel like the Wayne Gadd interaction, that chord progression at the end of it. Yeah. I don't know if I could resist a normie, someone who wasn't a musician. Yeah. If they would consider that the apex moment.

00:25:01:06 - 00:25:14:23
Speaker 4
But for me, I think a lot of musicians would have to think that, like the the appearance of Wayne Shorter on the end of this. I have a little quibbled a bit about this though. Okay, so quibble your bit. I feel like it happens too early in the record.

00:25:15:02 - 00:25:19:00
Speaker 5
Well, this is an interesting thing. So this is the second we're on the A-side do three tunes.

00:25:19:00 - 00:25:20:05
Speaker 4
Did they mess up this track order?

00:25:20:09 - 00:25:28:17
Speaker 5
Right, because you're on the second tune. It's eight minutes long and you've hit the Apex mountain, even if that's not your favorite moment, it's the loudest, it's the busiest. It's like, I get what.

00:25:28:23 - 00:25:29:18
Speaker 4
They're going for.

00:25:30:00 - 00:25:31:23
Speaker 5
I'm looking at these tracks as it go downhill after that.

00:25:31:23 - 00:25:37:07
Speaker 4
Well, so this is this is my real quibble bit. So when we get to call this we can talk about it. But I just wonder if.

00:25:37:10 - 00:25:37:21
Speaker 5
It's the way.

00:25:38:03 - 00:25:49:21
Speaker 4
No, but I wonder if it's too early for this to be the apex moment. I kind of wonder. Peter. Yeah, if the apex moment of the entire. Like if the album doesn't apex its peak isn't also my desert island.

00:25:49:21 - 00:25:50:23
Speaker 5
I was going to say, let's do that.

00:25:50:23 - 00:25:54:02
Speaker 4
Is this the intro?

00:25:54:04 - 00:25:58:23
Speaker 3
Yeah. Robbie Newton.

00:25:59:01 - 00:26:03:22
Speaker 6
Bass there. Bob you got that? All right.

00:26:04:00 - 00:26:06:02
Speaker 4
All those new chords going down.

00:26:06:04 - 00:26:10:04
Speaker 3
Yeah I see your picture I think.

00:26:10:04 - 00:26:28:17
Speaker 4
Hey this groove, everything here this is to me the apex of Asia. Right. So all of this stuff happens and maybe I'm wrong about the track order. Maybe it's it is feels like an apex because of the Asia track, the eight minute long the Wayne. And then you get to Deacon Blues. Yeah. Which is, you know, kind of a chill track.

00:26:28:19 - 00:26:33:12
Speaker 4
You know what I mean? Yeah. It's learn to work the saxophone. Yeah. There's a lot of drinking in this song.

00:26:33:12 - 00:26:50:02
Speaker 5
Yeah. But that's at the end of the A-side. Like, pegs the beginning of the B-side. That's what I'm saying. It's important positioning, but don't you think? Also, can you play the beginning a peg again? Because this kind of phase thing they do on everything, it's not on one instrument. I think it's on the whole, like the master, right?

00:26:50:04 - 00:26:51:20
Speaker 5
It might be maybe. I don't know.

00:26:51:22 - 00:26:54:11
Speaker 6
If there's any lab under there.

00:26:54:13 - 00:26:58:11
Speaker 5
Or some kind of keys.

00:26:58:13 - 00:27:00:04
Speaker 4
I don't think it's on the master, but. Okay.

00:27:00:04 - 00:27:19:08
Speaker 5
And then that place, when it's boom, instead of going right into the groove, like, man, this whole thing and then like an extra bar before then. I think that it just speaks to like the engineering being so masterful on this record. It's such a big part of it. Like, we. Because to me, that intro and just Peg in general is like, it wouldn't be the apex mount otherwise.

00:27:19:08 - 00:27:30:15
Speaker 4
Yeah. There's, some great video that you can find on YouTube of Donald Fagan talking about Peg and I mean, the great part about it is this verse is a blues, right? Yeah. So typical 12 bar blues form one chord.

00:27:30:17 - 00:27:33:03
Speaker 5
Right. But put together in a very unusual way.

00:27:33:04 - 00:27:37:13
Speaker 4
Yeah. With those plagal cadences for chord for two bars.

00:27:37:13 - 00:27:38:11
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:27:38:13 - 00:27:42:14
Speaker 4
Back to the one for key AG. And they're all major seventh chord. So major 694.

00:27:42:14 - 00:27:43:03
Speaker 5
Five.

00:27:43:03 - 00:27:46:19
Speaker 4
Five chord. Yeah. Four chord. And then back to the one.

00:27:46:20 - 00:27:58:16
Speaker 5
Yeah, yeah. And so it's kind of like in a way it's interesting because the, the, there's bluesy ness from the very beginning. The record we talked about that. And then certainly in Asia there's actually on.

00:27:58:16 - 00:28:00:05
Speaker 4
The black on the Freddie Freeloader thing is right.

00:28:00:07 - 00:28:08:09
Speaker 5
Yes, exactly. And just being on that C7 at the being built. Cool. And like that's, that's some of the groove year kind of stuff that's, that's on here.

00:28:08:09 - 00:28:12:09
Speaker 5
But the only actual blues doesn't really sound like a blues except for the form of it.

00:28:12:10 - 00:28:12:22
Speaker 4
It's a dance.

00:28:12:23 - 00:28:17:19
Speaker 5
Track. Yeah. And this is like major seven chords, you know, pretty much. So they don't they don't really,

00:28:17:19 - 00:28:27:12
Speaker 5
have that blues connotation, but the form does. So I think it's something that they were really interesting that they played with throughout the record. There's some stuff on the further on the B-side to That's Blues Adjacent.

00:28:27:16 - 00:28:28:05
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00:28:28:05 - 00:28:30:23
Speaker 4
So we can I think I do think so.

00:28:30:23 - 00:28:34:02
Speaker 5
Let's just pin this down. Your desert island track for this is Peg.

00:28:34:03 - 00:28:45:07
Speaker 4
Is that it? Is it is Peg. Yeah. And I do light up every single time. Even though I've been listening to this for 35 years, every single time I hear it. Yeah. Another real quick peg made up,

00:28:45:07 - 00:28:46:22
Speaker 4
is well known. It's been on,

00:28:46:22 - 00:28:49:17
Speaker 4
out there for a while, but the background vocals in the chorus.

00:28:49:19 - 00:28:50:19
Speaker 5
Now of.

00:28:50:21 - 00:28:55:13
Speaker 4
Saint Louis, his own Michael McDonald. Yeah. Those high harmonies.

00:28:55:18 - 00:28:58:04
Speaker 1
Will come back to you.

00:28:58:05 - 00:29:07:21
Speaker 3
They have all the shine of shadows. You see it all the for. It's your favorite foreign movie that great.

00:29:07:21 - 00:29:09:06
Speaker 5
Was that him on everything or just the top?

00:29:09:09 - 00:29:13:07
Speaker 4
No faking on the lead and then he's just on the chorus behind that. Great though.

00:29:13:08 - 00:29:13:19
Speaker 5
That's so great.

00:29:13:19 - 00:29:31:05
Speaker 4
Little Michael McDonald. So yeah, Peg is my desert island track for this. I mean, it's really hard because, I mean, we play Black Cow. It's been in my repertoire for years, but yeah, it's for maybe 6 or 7 years. I know, it's amazing this morning. This is this morning. No, I bring it I bring it with my trio everywhere.

00:29:31:05 - 00:29:47:02
Speaker 4
It's always a big like either a good like set starter. It's a great set ender. Yeah. It's a great like if I see the audience is like, they need a little pick me up. I always play Black Cow and people light up. Yeah. You know, so it's hard for me not to pick that. But Peg, which doesn't.

00:29:47:06 - 00:29:55:11
Speaker 4
Well, we should maybe play Peg on the way out and see how we like it. I've never really played it. Played it. I mean, yeah, I mean, we just, like, take the verse and see if we can solo.

00:29:55:11 - 00:29:57:23
Speaker 5
Oh, on the actual instrument. Yeah, yeah. Be fun. Yeah, yeah.

00:29:57:23 - 00:29:58:08
Speaker 4
That's cool.

00:29:58:08 - 00:30:11:03
Speaker 4
But you are Asia for your dose. Yeah. And I think, I do think if we go to, we can start the categories now. So. Yeah. Apex moments. I am going to go with Wayne Shorter and Steve Gad's amazing,

00:30:11:03 - 00:30:18:06
Speaker 4
coda to Asia. I think it's some of the best playing of the 1970s. Honestly, it's some of my favorite moments of music in the 1970s.

00:30:18:09 - 00:30:22:04
Speaker 4
That's my favorite decade of music. So it's it's seen a lot. Yeah.

00:30:22:05 - 00:30:26:11
Speaker 5
Yeah, I would agree. I mean, my only reticence on this is like, it's so obvious in a way.

00:30:26:11 - 00:30:45:21
Speaker 5
And I hate for us to double up, but that's I mean, that's the apex moment for me. I mean, there's so many great moments, like some of the other great moments that I would have thought of are those little details like those little things like on Peg with the waiting for a bar on the drum fill, that segue between the intro and the court, like, like the verse is great, but that's not like a it's just a detail kind of thing.

00:30:45:21 - 00:31:02:01
Speaker 5
And to me, that's what this record is about. All these fun details like, this is why this record, when we talk about like Desert Island records and tracks and stuff, like a lot of times we're like, oh, this is stuff we like because it's nostalgic. It reminds us of a certain time, and this kind of does for me, but it's more like, is it something?

00:31:02:01 - 00:31:21:16
Speaker 5
It's like a movie that you can just watch over and over again. Are you actually enjoying it or are you just reliving your youth for this? You're you're like, for me, I'm excited to hear these details. It sounds great. Yeah, it feels great. It's not like the I mean, like, vocally or even like playing wise as much precision and great playing.

00:31:21:18 - 00:31:28:01
Speaker 5
This is not like Steve Gad's deepest grooves or anything, or like Victor Feldman or Joe Sample's like, I know best playing.

00:31:28:02 - 00:31:31:08
Speaker 4
It might be. It might be the apex moment for Victor Feldman. Honestly.

00:31:31:09 - 00:31:37:02
Speaker 5
Maybe. I mean, I mean, but I mean, but or like Chuck Rainey, like, well, just brain is a little different on this because he's sort of.

00:31:37:02 - 00:31:39:01
Speaker 4
The but he's, he's always into.

00:31:39:03 - 00:31:46:23
Speaker 5
He's on thousands of recordings like he really he did some kind of revolutionary bass type stuff on this on Peg where everybody's like bass players geek out on that Sonny.

00:31:46:23 - 00:31:53:10
Speaker 4
Man, I think Feldman steals the record like, I think this is his. I think he's the best part about this. Well, that's not true.

00:31:53:12 - 00:32:05:02
Speaker 5
I would almost say Chuck Rainey just because he's on like we have all we have six different drummers for seven tracks, right? We got a bunch of great keyboard players coming and going. Chuck Rein is on everything except one track. So like, what's.

00:32:05:02 - 00:32:07:01
Speaker 4
One he's done?

00:32:07:03 - 00:32:09:14
Speaker 5
One of those, on Deacon Blues on deacon. That's,

00:32:09:14 - 00:32:13:09
Speaker 5
Becker's playing on. Okay. Yeah, playing bass on nice. Yeah.

00:32:13:11 - 00:32:18:06
Speaker 4
Okay, so let's talk about. Well, we didn't really play Deacon Blues, but you know what? I'm gonna be honest.

00:32:18:08 - 00:32:19:20
Speaker 5
Deacon Blues is not your favorite. Not my.

00:32:19:20 - 00:32:20:22
Speaker 4
Favorite. No. Okay.

00:32:20:22 - 00:32:23:10
Speaker 5
So. Well, the bigger question of is this a perfect record?

00:32:23:15 - 00:32:26:11
Speaker 4
No, I guess there's no such thing. I. Well, maybe thriller, but this.

00:32:26:11 - 00:32:29:22
Speaker 5
Is one that people get that thriller on. Like thriller, like kind of blue. Yeah.

00:32:29:22 - 00:32:31:11
Speaker 5
Like rumors. Maybe if you're into that.

00:32:31:11 - 00:32:40:15
Speaker 4
Rumors might be a perfect record, actually. And kind of blue might be perfect. I don't know that we'll get into it, but I don't think it's perfect. And we have some quibble bits about that. Yeah.

00:32:40:15 - 00:32:42:11
Speaker 4
Do we want to go there right now? Let's go to the clip of this right now.

00:32:42:11 - 00:32:43:12
Speaker 5
Why evil bits are fun.

00:32:43:12 - 00:32:44:05
Speaker 4
So this is.

00:32:44:05 - 00:32:50:00
Speaker 5
A new signal for us. You can figure it out. If you were around for the wonderful Purina Ralston Purina commercials of.

00:32:50:00 - 00:32:51:07
Speaker 4
Your quibbles and bits.

00:32:51:07 - 00:32:52:17
Speaker 5
Quibbles and bits.

00:32:52:19 - 00:33:11:18
Speaker 4
My biggest quibble bit about this is that after Peg, the bangers kind of taper off. And I love Josie, but it's like it's hard to get there sometimes, you know what I mean? It's not that the two tracks that are between Peg and Josie are terrible by Steely Dan standards. They're not their best, but by any other band, standards are pretty good.

00:33:11:18 - 00:33:19:09
Speaker 5
But this was a time still in the 70s that there was an expectation once you got to that B-side, that things were going to go not downhill, but there's gonna be a little bit.

00:33:19:11 - 00:33:20:01
Speaker 4
Going to get weird.

00:33:20:01 - 00:33:30:05
Speaker 5
A little bit of a freaky going to get weird. Yeah, there was going to be a lull. I think a lot of times as jazz musicians, we're like, oh, that's the good stuff. And on this, it's kind of like, I don't the good stuff is stacked up on the second track. Right?

00:33:30:05 - 00:33:37:05
Speaker 4
And I think, I think the, the b side of this could have had either they could've had some kind of,

00:33:37:05 - 00:33:40:17
Speaker 4
ambiance, like an ambient track, a slow ballad.

00:33:40:21 - 00:33:42:13
Speaker 5
Whole of ambient.

00:33:42:15 - 00:33:46:18
Speaker 4
I know.

00:33:46:20 - 00:33:53:01
Speaker 4
Everything is driving on this album and everything has a groove from the beginning. I wanted, I want a slow ballad.

00:33:53:06 - 00:34:01:20
Speaker 5
Come on, man, I know, but this is like, I like this because it's like moving to another thing, you know what I mean?

00:34:01:22 - 00:34:03:19
Speaker 4
I mean, does this belong on Gaucho, though?

00:34:03:21 - 00:34:06:22
Speaker 5
Yeah. Well, maybe that's why it's like, you know what I mean. What Gaucho was before this, though?

00:34:06:23 - 00:34:07:22
Speaker 4
Gaucho was the one after this.

00:34:07:22 - 00:34:09:00
Speaker 5
Oh. Was after. Oh, yeah. Well that's.

00:34:09:00 - 00:34:22:16
Speaker 4
Perfect. I think it goes right to Garcia. Which maybe it's a great. That's what I'm saying. Joe's a great track, but I don't know if it. But I don't know. It's just the two that are between Peg and Jose. I don't know. For me, it just lulls. I would have loved to have some kind of, like, really quiet moment on the album.

00:34:22:16 - 00:34:26:19
Speaker 4
I think would have been cool, but so that's why I think it's not perfect. I think it's like a nine out of ten, but I don't think it's you're.

00:34:26:19 - 00:34:36:05
Speaker 5
Right, right. Because this is a little quibble bit for me. This is not my favorite moment of the record. This little piano.

00:34:36:07 - 00:34:39:16
Speaker 5
I mean, it's tight, like everything the groove is cool, but this is neat.

00:34:39:16 - 00:34:47:00
Speaker 4
So I want to shout out, what track is this? Is this, Home at Last? Right at last.

00:34:47:02 - 00:35:03:11
Speaker 5
But you know what? That's a great thing about funk, but great records is there's always those ones where you're like. And it's not that you don't like. Whoa. Sorry about that. It's not that you don't like those tracks. It's just when the level is set high, especially with the songwriting, with the tune, like, yeah, you always have those ones where you're like, I, you skipped over.

00:35:03:13 - 00:35:06:13
Speaker 4
That's Victor Feldman again on piano, and I just this gives us an opportunity to shout out,

00:35:06:13 - 00:35:10:07
Speaker 4
our open studio member, Dawn Bright Hop, who sent me this,

00:35:10:07 - 00:35:19:00
Speaker 4
this book that he wrote for 33 and a third great series. Great series of books. And Don, you just crushed it on here. All of the he interviewed Donald Fagan for this.

00:35:19:01 - 00:35:26:06
Speaker 4
Yeah. Get some incredible insights about the production, even about the harmony and things like that. So pick up your Asia by Dawn bright hop. It's amazing. Yeah.

00:35:27:02 - 00:35:35:19
Speaker 5
Okay. My quibble bit. It's just a small thing. Deacon Blues is not a blues. Okay, now I have a I have a pet peeve about this. Even, like going.

00:35:35:19 - 00:35:37:12
Speaker 4
To drink, right? It's like supposed to be a drink.

00:35:37:12 - 00:35:39:13
Speaker 5
I guess. Yeah, but, I mean, the,

00:35:39:13 - 00:35:40:21
Speaker 5
not the blackout was a drink.

00:35:40:21 - 00:35:44:00
Speaker 4
I think it's all drinks, man. They were drinking a lot at this point. I thought they were doing drugs.

00:35:44:00 - 00:35:44:14
Speaker 5
They were drinking too.

00:35:44:19 - 00:35:46:12
Speaker 4
Well, they're going on. They were. They were having fun.

00:35:46:12 - 00:36:00:05
Speaker 5
Okay, so. But no, I mean, just. I'm not I'm not a big fan of that. Maybe, maybe even going back to, like, old standards. Like, I've got the right to sing the blues. That's not a blues. Don't call it a blues. Anyway, that's. But that's small. That's for me, because it's a great record.

00:36:00:05 - 00:36:05:10
Speaker 5
I would agree on the lore on side B, it was just more accepted and expected and accepted.

00:36:05:12 - 00:36:06:13
Speaker 4
Okay, what about,

00:36:06:13 - 00:36:16:03
Speaker 4
another category here, a bespoke playlist title? Oh, yeah. If this were going to go on a Spotify playlist, what would be some examples of the titles of the playlist? I have a few.

00:36:16:05 - 00:36:20:09
Speaker 5
Yeah, well, why don't you hit yours first? Because I'm actually amending mine.

00:36:20:10 - 00:36:24:04
Speaker 4
These are all with love, by the way. I just want to point. So first.

00:36:24:04 - 00:36:25:10
Speaker 6
With the Fagan.

00:36:25:11 - 00:36:27:20
Speaker 4
Hi-Fi store demo jams with a Z.

00:36:27:20 - 00:36:31:16
Speaker 5
I love that one because that's actually a playlist I would subscribe to.

00:36:31:17 - 00:36:32:05
Speaker 4
There's no.

00:36:32:05 - 00:36:32:13
Speaker 5
Way.

00:36:32:13 - 00:36:45:01
Speaker 4
Subscribe to Hi-Fi salesman in the early 80s. Didn't use Asia every single time, you know what I mean? Yeah, they're probably still using it because you put that on a Hi-Fi store in 1981. Yeah. Come on man.

00:36:45:03 - 00:36:50:11
Speaker 5
Yeah. No. And I think it's I actually love tracks that I love, I love a good,

00:36:50:11 - 00:37:03:04
Speaker 5
curated list or association of tracks that sound great with headphones that sound great with good monitor speaker. They can be all different styles, but but for sure this will be up there. So I've got mine. It's kind of silly. I've got jazzy yacht rock.

00:37:03:06 - 00:37:04:10
Speaker 4
Jazzy yacht rock.

00:37:04:10 - 00:37:07:21
Speaker 5
Yeah, because I had yacht, you know, that swings. But this doesn't swing.

00:37:07:21 - 00:37:09:07
Speaker 4
That's offensive, is it?

00:37:09:07 - 00:37:09:17
Speaker 5
Is this.

00:37:09:22 - 00:37:16:05
Speaker 4
Yacht? Rock is offensive. I have this one's not, though. I have classic commercial bangers.

00:37:16:07 - 00:37:17:16
Speaker 5
Speaks for itself.

00:37:17:17 - 00:37:20:14
Speaker 4
You know how, like, in singles commercials, they're always going to like a smooth jazz.

00:37:20:17 - 00:37:22:09
Speaker 5
I say this speaks for itself.

00:37:22:11 - 00:37:34:07
Speaker 4
And then I have it. I have one more. If you've seen the yacht rock documentary, which they called Donald, actually, Rick Beato has a great thing on on why he doesn't use rock yacht rock. And he mentions this interview. Yeah. And,

00:37:34:07 - 00:37:41:19
Speaker 4
so the playlist could be go f yourself Rock. And if you saw that documentary, you know what that's about.

00:37:41:21 - 00:37:49:09
Speaker 4
What about up next, Peter? Like, so if something were to autoplay, if an album were to be a part of this, maybe unexpectedly, because obviously any other Steely Dan.

00:37:49:09 - 00:37:50:19
Speaker 5
Like a really good up next, like a.

00:37:50:19 - 00:37:53:07
Speaker 4
Really good and maybe surprising up next.

00:37:53:07 - 00:37:53:23
Speaker 5
So I got,

00:37:53:23 - 00:38:07:07
Speaker 5
Mysterious Traveler by Weather Report. Like, I would love to hear that, especially from coming out of Asia thinking about Wayne Shorter solo, Steve Gadd the way like that would lead me right into this. A similar kind of spirited playing of Wayne Shorter.

00:38:07:07 - 00:38:10:01
Speaker 5
A little bit earlier than this, I guess. Not much though.

00:38:10:03 - 00:38:12:15
Speaker 5
And a little bit of an off beat. It's not their best known.

00:38:12:15 - 00:38:19:17
Speaker 5
Partly because there's no Jocko on that record, but it's a great record, kind of under the radar. Mysterious traveler.

00:38:19:19 - 00:38:20:11
Speaker 4
I have,

00:38:20:11 - 00:38:24:05
Speaker 4
whether Michael Jackson's off the wall. Yeah, which is more of a disco album.

00:38:24:05 - 00:38:34:07
Speaker 4
We were talking earlier, but I do think. I do think it would be a good next to each other. Yeah. Kind of situation. Right. Similar textures. Yep.

00:38:34:07 - 00:38:36:09
Speaker 6
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo dooby dooby doo.

00:38:36:14 - 00:38:38:15
Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah. And then also I have,

00:38:38:15 - 00:38:57:07
Speaker 4
Herbie Hancock's album from 2008, I believe, the Joni Letters. Yes, also featuring Wayne Shorter. And there's something about that album that I don't know. It has Asia remnants to, you know what I mean? It's all the music of Joni Mitchell, which I think is a definitely a cool category here. Like Joni's Caught in Spark would be a nice pairing, right?

00:38:57:07 - 00:38:58:08
Speaker 4
Asia as well.

00:38:58:08 - 00:38:58:13
Speaker 5
For.

00:38:58:13 - 00:38:59:05
Speaker 4
Sure.

00:38:59:05 - 00:39:02:02
Speaker 4
But for some reason, the Joni letters just,

00:39:02:02 - 00:39:02:13
Speaker 4
they spoke to.

00:39:02:13 - 00:39:04:20
Speaker 6
Me. Good good good good.

00:39:04:21 - 00:39:07:14
Speaker 5
Okay, we talked about. Is this a perfect album?

00:39:07:14 - 00:39:14:07
Speaker 5
And you said. No, I, I, I'm thinking it's an Uber clean studio sound, but very high level.

00:39:14:07 - 00:39:22:18
Speaker 5
And, you know, I think it feels like they're trying to make a perfect album. And I think that that was kind of a part of the Steely Dan thing. It's like, let's craft this perfect thing.

00:39:22:18 - 00:39:29:02
Speaker 5
And and I think it's for whatever it is. It's a great record. But no, it's not perfect.

00:39:29:04 - 00:39:30:23
Speaker 4
I agree, I don't think it's perfect.

00:39:30:23 - 00:39:44:19
Speaker 4
For the reasons I mentioned, I think it has that little dip where again, really good songs, but not equal to the other five on the album. And yeah, I wonder too, how snobby do you think this album is? What does it get on this anemometer?

00:39:44:22 - 00:39:47:07
Speaker 5
Yes. Well, this anemometer can just be quick.

00:39:47:07 - 00:40:00:19
Speaker 4
So Snap monitor is a rating system of 1 to 10 where one is the least snobby thing. My Aunt Linda would love it. Linda, not a fan of like, you know, with love with complicated music. She likes melody.

00:40:00:19 - 00:40:02:01
Speaker 5
Does she like Katy Perry?

00:40:02:03 - 00:40:10:13
Speaker 4
No. Oh no. Two to excitable. Oh yeah, but that's Taylor Swift. That's just because my aunt Linda's 80 years old. But okay. Yeah, but

00:40:10:13 - 00:40:19:03
Speaker 4
just in general, she likes digestible things. Okay. And then the ten we always use Ethan Iverson, the great pianist from the bad plus fame as,

00:40:19:03 - 00:40:22:06
Speaker 4
the sort of ten the the avatar of the snob.

00:40:22:08 - 00:40:25:08
Speaker 4
Not because he's, like, stuck up or anything, but because he's got impeccable taste.

00:40:25:08 - 00:40:39:09
Speaker 5
Right. So I'm going five on this because, I mean, in general, Steely Dan can be like really high on this novel meter, for a lot of the reasons that we've talked about, but because this is their most commercially successful, sold them most number of records.

00:40:39:09 - 00:40:39:12
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00:40:39:13 - 00:40:45:21
Speaker 5
Yeah, it's kind of like the number one that a lot of snobs would be like, oh no, but have you checked out Pretzel Logic?

00:40:45:21 - 00:40:47:20
Speaker 4
Pretzel logic would be like eight and a half.

00:40:47:22 - 00:40:50:07
Speaker 5
That's right. Right. So it's more just sort of perception.

00:40:50:07 - 00:40:52:09
Speaker 4
I'm gonna agree with you. I think it's right in the middle. I think although.

00:40:52:09 - 00:40:55:23
Speaker 5
Wayne Shorter being on it, that that pushes it a little snobby or kind.

00:40:55:23 - 00:41:02:06
Speaker 4
Of maybe, I don't know. But Gad kind of pulls them back, you know what I mean? Is it better than kind of blue? No, no,

00:41:02:06 - 00:41:02:19
Speaker 4
that's easy.

00:41:02:19 - 00:41:03:19
Speaker 4
Accouterments because.

00:41:03:21 - 00:41:04:11
Speaker 5
It maybe.

00:41:04:17 - 00:41:10:09
Speaker 4
I know and I thought about and I said, no, I was still thinking about I. Yeah.

00:41:10:11 - 00:41:27:06
Speaker 5
A Cookie Monster album cover. I, I give it an eight. It's very good, but it's these kind of records and we can look at it there. It's just, you know, it's like, how do you take it away? Like the legend of the. It's such. So connect with the sound, with the time, with your experience with it. But if you were to show me I, I'm thinking about this as a record.

00:41:27:09 - 00:41:29:04
Speaker 5
I'd never seen it, but I guess it's fine.

00:41:29:06 - 00:41:45:23
Speaker 4
Yeah, I love it. I gave it an okay. I think it's amazing. Okay. I think it's distinctive. Yeah, I love everything. I love the imagery. I can't really see this person's face. I think it's a woman. But I just. I only see this, like, red and white stripe down the middle. And I just love the whole. The whole look of it.

00:41:46:02 - 00:41:47:02
Speaker 4
Yeah. Thanks. Great.

00:41:47:02 - 00:41:50:03
Speaker 4
So, hey, how about a little comments? How about a.

00:41:50:05 - 00:41:50:08
Speaker 1
How.

00:41:50:08 - 00:41:51:07
Speaker 5
Do you like the new format?

00:41:51:07 - 00:41:56:12
Speaker 4
Yeah, we don't want to talk about too much, but we did change everything. Yeah, yeah.

00:41:56:12 - 00:42:02:22
Speaker 4
Leave a comment in the YouTube comments about what your favorite track is on Asia. Let us know how wrong we are.

00:42:02:22 - 00:42:04:08
Speaker 5
Right. All right. We are.

00:42:04:09 - 00:42:08:17
Speaker 4
Yeah. And we accept either. And you can actually leave a can. Do you know this. You can leave a comment on Spotify.

00:42:08:17 - 00:42:20:01
Speaker 5
Now let's not encourage that because I don't know how to do it. I don't like people doing stuff that I don't know how to do. Okay. We did. You guys notice we're not in the pod front anymore? For the OG listeners, don't worry, it's still right over there. But we've moved in here.

00:42:20:01 - 00:42:24:22
Speaker 4
I like it in here, man. It's nice in here. Yeah. It's warm. We've got Caleb and Bob. Yeah, well,

00:42:24:22 - 00:42:28:10
Speaker 4
oh. Also for open studio members, because we've got a ton of open studio members. Yeah.

00:42:28:10 - 00:42:29:13
Speaker 4
That listen to the pod,

00:42:29:13 - 00:42:32:08
Speaker 4
over on the hang, which is our community. Yes. Check out.

00:42:32:08 - 00:42:33:08
Speaker 5
Award winning community.

00:42:33:09 - 00:42:33:22
Speaker 4
Award winning.

00:42:33:22 - 00:42:34:22
Speaker 5
Community up by Bob taboo.

00:42:34:22 - 00:42:41:19
Speaker 4
Go to the nerd nook. We're going to be talking just after this. We're going to make a little video breaking down some of the chord voicings that you might hear here.

00:42:41:19 - 00:42:46:14
Speaker 5
Yeah, I want to do I'm going to do that. That be minor one for sure. There's that other Mu one

00:42:46:14 - 00:42:48:00
Speaker 5
yeah that'll that's going to be cool.

00:42:48:03 - 00:42:48:20
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00:42:48:20 - 00:42:57:01
Speaker 4
Should we maybe go out on some peg. Yeah. And like maybe just see what we can do with the ver. I've never played this, but I know, I mean, I know what the voicings. Yeah.

00:42:57:01 - 00:42:59:01
Speaker 5
What key is it in G.

00:42:59:03 - 00:43:02:05
Speaker 4
And it's like got that plagal thing. Yeah. Oh that's good.

00:43:02:07 - 00:43:04:18
Speaker 5
That's right, that's right. Good. So next time you'll.

00:43:04:18 - 00:43:05:04
Speaker 4
Hear it you'll.

00:43:05:04 - 00:44:10:09
Speaker 5
Hear it.

00:44:10:11 - 00:45:36:20
Speaker 3
And.

00:45:36:21 - 00:45:37:04
Speaker 1
Two.

00:45:37:04 - 00:45:39:04

00:45:39:04 - 00:46:15:15

00:46:15:15 - 00:46:22:03
Speaker 1
Let's keep it rolling and.

00:46:22:05 - 00:46:26:12
Speaker 1
The.

00:46:26:14 - 00:46:57:01
Speaker 1
Guys, just hanging out. We're just gonna like.

00:47:44:02 - 00:47:49:10
Speaker 4
Hey, Peter. Go. Yeah. Let's talk about these voicings a little bit here. All right.

00:47:49:12 - 00:47:52:03
Speaker 5
Well, I just picked him up from watching you.

00:47:52:05 - 00:47:57:11
Speaker 4
Okay, let's keep going. Bob, break it down for a minute. So to me.

00:47:57:13 - 00:47:58:21
Speaker 5
I'm not even sure if I'm. Yeah, I'm playing.

00:47:58:23 - 00:48:06:16
Speaker 4
The most interesting part about this. And Donald Fagen talks about this is it's like the C major seven. Yep. Going to an open studio move.

00:48:06:22 - 00:48:08:03
Speaker 5
Is that what Fagan called it?

00:48:08:05 - 00:48:27:00
Speaker 4
He never says that. But that's that's what we're going to call it. So here I've got like C as the root. Yeah. And then I've got in my right hand an E minor triad in the second inversion. And then it's going to a B as the bass in my left hand, not as the bass note at the root of the chord.

00:48:27:02 - 00:48:28:23
Speaker 4
And then like fourths add and G.

00:48:28:23 - 00:48:33:03
Speaker 5
Yeah. Straight perfect perfect force. So the G stays the same on top.

00:48:33:04 - 00:48:44:07
Speaker 4
Yeah. And then Bob he's not playing C to B he's playing CDG. He'll never.

00:48:44:09 - 00:48:46:21
Speaker 5
Write like play to play a B instead of the G.

00:48:46:21 - 00:48:52:02
Speaker 3
It's a very different sound. Yeah.

00:48:52:04 - 00:48:53:04
Speaker 3
Yeah yeah.

00:48:53:06 - 00:49:05:18
Speaker 4
Is that cool? That's great. All kinds of chords like this are found all over Asia. You know, you have, like, the Deacon Blues. Yeah. Which is the same.

00:49:05:20 - 00:49:28:13
Speaker 5
Yeah. Thing. Yeah, yeah. And you know what is tricky about this in picking it up. And it's still like we get these kind of like, biases. Like for me like 5 to 1 kind of movement is so much easier than like a 4 to 1 movement. Right. So almost we.

00:49:28:15 - 00:49:33:14
Speaker 5
It's all like a 4 to 1. Yeah. On a blues. I'm thinking.

00:49:33:16 - 00:49:35:13
Speaker 4
It's hard. This is a tough tune.

00:49:35:13 - 00:49:36:20
Speaker 5
Yeah. Because it's a major seven.

00:49:36:20 - 00:49:38:09
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:49:38:11 - 00:49:39:06
Speaker 4
And then do you play.

00:49:39:06 - 00:49:40:18
Speaker 5
The major seven on the 1 or 9.

00:49:40:18 - 00:49:57:21
Speaker 4
Well let's talk about that. Just the the minutia of that. So it's G blues right. Yeah. But it's got this plagal this C right before it. And then when it goes to the four chord which is C it does the same thing. Check it out. Yeah. As I said the the same voicings two.

00:49:57:23 - 00:50:02:08
Speaker 5
And then the blue the minor blues stuff does work.

00:50:02:08 - 00:50:07:19
Speaker 4
And then on the five chord down to the four.

00:50:07:21 - 00:50:12:20
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:50:12:22 - 00:50:25:19
Speaker 5
Yeah yeah I found that they're really works good is like the safest place on this pentatonic for.

00:50:25:21 - 00:50:28:16
Speaker 5
The the G major. Pentatonic. Yeah.

00:50:28:16 - 00:50:36:00
Speaker 3
On the four part.

00:50:36:02 - 00:50:55:09
Speaker 4
You could do the A major pentatonic over the five chord. Can we do the the, let's do the five chord. Two. The,

00:50:55:10 - 00:50:57:10
Speaker 6
Yeah. Right. Yeah. There you go. That's great.

00:50:57:11 - 00:50:58:17
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:50:58:19 - 00:51:01:06
Speaker 4
Well, thanks, everybody, for joining us for our very first.

00:51:01:11 - 00:51:11:21
Speaker 5
Oh, we got nothing. Oh, we got one more thing for the nerd dunk gadget. Come on. I said I was going to show you that B minor. So I never really thought about this, but this time.

00:51:11:23 - 00:51:17:04
Speaker 4
Well, don't start now. Oh. On the Asia thing. Yeah.

00:51:17:05 - 00:51:40:12
Speaker 5
Very simple thing. The voicing. So it's it's B minor 11. And then you've got this cluster here. Right. The ninth, the minor third and the 11th. So it's really, it's funny I like how you, how I would think about it is like an A major with a fourth. Yeah. A major triad with the fourth with the D over the B minor.

00:51:40:12 - 00:51:43:21
Speaker 5
Yeah. Yeah yeah. And like it's such an important sound. Yeah. Like a lot of.

00:51:43:22 - 00:51:45:09
Speaker 4
A c sharp d e.

00:51:45:09 - 00:52:02:12
Speaker 5
Exactly. Yeah. Like we're usually spreading out our minor 11th. Right. But this is all very compact and like repeated and and then they go to some other ones. They're all the same voicing over that minor 11th. But that's why we should give a name to so good.

00:52:02:12 - 00:52:03:20
Speaker 4
Yeah. That's so crunchy.

00:52:03:22 - 00:52:04:11
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:52:04:13 - 00:52:05:20
Speaker 4
That's C sharp D and E. Yeah.

00:52:05:20 - 00:52:11:11
Speaker 5
It's a combination of crunchy but also very. The minor 11 is a very kind of ethereal settled.

00:52:11:11 - 00:52:20:19
Speaker 4
So right. You'll like usually like you were saying with the minor 11, it would be like something like, like this. Like.

00:52:20:21 - 00:52:27:21
Speaker 5
Or actually Wayne Shorter on his. So it kind of plays around with that. His first big ascending thing. He avoids that, that 13.

00:52:27:23 - 00:52:28:01
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:52:28:03 - 00:52:35:14
Speaker 5
Then and then when he hits it it's like because the question is is it.

00:52:35:16 - 00:52:36:10
Speaker 4
Yeah. Interesting.

00:52:36:10 - 00:52:38:17
Speaker 5
You know a little duality with the modality.

00:52:38:21 - 00:52:40:05
Speaker 4
Well that's our first nerd nook.

00:52:40:05 - 00:52:43:08
Speaker 5
I like it. Know I'm kind of back here at Nerd Nook. I'm in a nerd.

00:52:43:10 - 00:52:44:06
Speaker 4
If you are in the nerd.

00:52:44:09 - 00:52:47:02
Speaker 5
You know what books and records are good. Yeah. I like being a nerd.

00:52:47:03 - 00:52:47:17
Speaker 4
Until next time.

00:52:47:23 - 00:52:50:23
Speaker 5
You'll hear it. All right, nerd nook edition.