http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41140441 In memory of Walter Becker. One co-founding half of Steely Dan. One of my favourites. FM.
Oh no....gutted...Steely Dan have given me an immense amount of pleasure for most of my life.. RIP Walter...
Roundabout must be the most linked song on the thread. Three times, I've seen it separately linked, I believe. Who'd have thought a fairly obscure Yes song would do that. OK, it's not that obscure. But anyway, I think it might be the only Yes song that's been linked. Better change that. Here's a very nice video of The Revealing Science of God from the album Tales From Topographic Oceans. Vinyl owners may object to the CD added overture at the beginning, before you get the start of the well known indulgence at around 1m 55s, so skip to there by all means. I loved the whole double album to bits after just a few plays. Albums really can become friends for life. This one could bring me to tears I loved it so much. It still can on the odd occasion. Anyway, this is the opening track: One particular young wag on Youtube recently wrote: I regret so much having started to listen to progressive rock! Now all other genres of music suck in comparison. And there is no more progressive like this being made... I'm doomed! He's got a point.
Going to feature another B-side. As we probably all know, Brian Wilson wanted to make music that otherwise didn't just directly make money. He wanted to be more creative, but his domineering father, Murray, insisted on the high sales surf sound. Well, none of the Beach Boys were surfers except drummer Dennis, so the creative interest just wasn't there. So, at a particular point, Brian Wilson started dropping a couple of slightly different sounding tunes into the surfing mix as B-sides to surfing hits. I've mentioned before that my family used to buy Beach Boys singles, and they played the living daylights out of the A-sides, but didn't touch the B-sides. They weren't alone in that. This one is the B-side to I Get Around. It's Don't Worry Baby: Interesting video. This is 1963-64, and the BBs were sometimes marketed as a close harmony group, rather than a pop, and later, a rock band. Here, they look uncomfortable, to say the least. As a 5 year old, I was always playing I Get Around. It sounded so different. Before it, the BBs sound was pleasant, but really just pop pulp, to these ears. Many years later I found out that it was the first single that Murray Wilson had no input into, and it led to his being sacked by Brian as the band's manager. This was probably the first single I ever flipped over, because I've liked the b-side for as long as I can remember.
