WALTER BECKER (1950 - 2017)

Walter Becker, the inventive guitarist, producer, songwriter and co-founder of the jazz/soul influenced rock group, Steely Dan, passed away on September 3rd. No cause of death has been given at this time but he had missed performances in July as the group was a part of the Classic East and Classic West rock festivals due to an undisclosed illness.

Born in Queens, New York, Becker was quite musical as a child and first learned to play the saxophone before later switching to the guitar. In college, he met Donald Fagen where they formed a a connection through music. They formed several bands together before Becker dropped out of school and they went to Brooklyn to try their hand as a songwriting team.

The duo ended up in Southern California in 1971 and formed Steely Dan, which at the time was a full group which included guitarists Denny Dias, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and drummer Jim Hodder. Becker was mainly the group's bass player and co-songwriter with keyboardist and vocalist, Fagen at the time before eventually becoming the guitarist by their third album, "Pretzel Logic" in 1974. This was the group's breakthrough and featured the hit, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" that peaked at number four on the pop chart. This was the last album with Steely Dan as a band as Becker and Fagen would just rely on studio musicians to fill out their sound on albums and tours which included Michael McDonald who would later join the Doobie Brothers and drummer, Jeff Porcaro who would become a part of Toto.

During the time of their success, Becker had become seriously addicted to drugs and along with that came other problems. In 1978, Becker's girlfriend, Karen Stanley died from an overdose in his apartment and was later sued by her family for wrongful death. Shortly after that, Becker was hit by a cab in New York. After the stressful recording sessions for Steely Dan's 1980 album, "Gaucho", Becker decided to end his musical partnership with Donald Fagen.

Becker moved to Maui where he sobered up and eventually found his way back to music. He produced for several acts including Ricki Lee Jones' 1987 album, "Flying Cowboys".  He first worked again with Fagen in 1986 as they both played on model/singer, Rosie Vela's debut album, "Zazu". The duo officially came back together in 1993 as they went on tour as Steely Dan for the first in nineteen years. They didn't record an album until 2000 with "Two Against Nature" which went on to win four Grammy Awards including Album of The Year. Becker released two solo albums during his career with "11 Tracks of Whack" in 1994 (which Fagen co-produced) and "Circus Money" in 2008. The musician is survived by his wife, Elinor and they have two children.

In tribute to Walter Becker, here is a song he created with Donald Fagen as Steely Dan:

"Deacon Blues" - Steely Dan (1978) mp3

ANATOMY OF A SONG

I have occasionally read Marc Myers' articles in the Wall Street Journal regarding the history and background of some of the early pop songs in the rock & roll era. They are fascinatingly detailed and researched with one regular feature, Anatomy of a Song, covering how these songs came together from the composers, producers and recording artists involved. This has lead to a compilation of these articles in a book entitled,"Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B, and Pop". These memorable songs range from 1952 to 1991 and explores the evolution of popular music.

Some of the songs covered range from classic rock ("Light My Fire" by the Doors, "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks), punk rock ("(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes by Elvis Costello, "London Calling" by the Clash), Motown ("Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes, "Reach Out I'll Be There" by the Four Tops), iconic artists ("Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley, "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones), Soul ("(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, "Shout" by The Isley Brothers), pop ("Chapel of Love" by the Dixie Cups, "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper) and country ("Fist City" by Loretta Lynn, "Big City" by Merle Haggard). This would make the perfect gift for that music lover in your life. I have included a few of my favorite songs in the book for your listening pleasure:

"Oh Happy Day" - Edwin Hawkins Singers (1967) mp3

"Groovin'" - The Young Rascals (1967) mp3

"Magic Carpet Ride" - Steppenwolf (1968) mp3





"Deacon Blues" - Steely Dan (1978) mp3

TAKE TWO: STEELY DAN

Steely Dan made a major impact on the music scene throughout the 1970's with their own unique brand of jazz-rock. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are essentially the band while using a long succession of studio musicians to help fill out their sound.

These two musicians met while attending Bard College in New York and began working together after discovering they had very similar tastes in music, particularly jazz. After finishing school in 1969, Becker and Fagen went to the famous Brill Building in Manhattan to try and sell their songs. Kenny Vance of the pop act, Jay and The Americans took an interest. The duo recorded several demos and went on tour with the band for a short period.

Since their complex tunes didn't easily fit in to the narrow confines of popular music of the time, Becker and Fagen decided they needed to find their own way. Taking their name from a strap-on dildo in the novel, "Naked Lunch", Steely Dan was born and released their debut, "Can't Buy a Thrill" in 1972. The duo wrote the album together with Becker playing bass and Fagen on keyboards and performing most of the lead vocals (with David Palmer providing additional vocals). "Reelin' In The Years" and "Do It Again" became top-twenty pop hits and the album went gold.

Although Steely Dan initially went on tour to support their music,  Becker and Fagen were never really comfortable in the spotlight and stopped performing live in 1974 to focus on just working in the studio. Many other successful albums were made with more hits including "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", "Peg", "FM (No Static At All)", and "Deacon Blues".  After a series of legal and personal difficulties, Steely Dan came to an end in 1981. Walter Becker retreated to Hawaii for a more quite life while Donald Fagen recorded a solo album "The Nightfly" that became a million seller thanks to the hit, "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)".  In 1993, Becker produced Fagen's second album, "Kamakiriad" and actually went on tour together to promote the release.

This helped open the door for a reunion of Steely Dan and after twenty years, they released their eighth studio album, "Two Against Nature" in 2000.  The long-awaited record sold over a million copies and won four Grammy Awards including Album of The Year. Three years later, Steely Dan released "Everything Must Go". Becker and Fagen have discovered the joy of live performing late in life and gone on to tour the world extensively since their last album. Steely Dan has sold over forty million records and were inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Enjoy two of my favorites from Steely Dan: