last update: 2008aug13
name: robert pincetl website: referred by: just surfed on in! from: california time: 1997-02-19 19:20:00comments: to donald and walter, i am a very estute 49 year old with a doctoratein finance, before that i was maybe the finest drunner/percussionist, next to hal blaine, the metronome. i have gone through my floyd years, my jazz years, and i have to say that of all the music that came to us in a form called "steely dan", has had the greatest mental impact on my life, which so far has been a very good one.....watching this band in the seventies, and hearing the band in the nineties, i still feel that as much as you hear this crap, the mix on all the stuff to my ear, i rarely find a flaw. this goes for both solo albums, and walters intresting work, that is finally receiving the credit it deserves..a beautiful piece of work for a man considered by many as the shadow of donald fagen, which if you publish this, is so far from the truth.....these two guys need each other to make the majic. as far as know it has been a long time, with any successful band, that i have spent fifteen minutes looking for one cut to cure the pain of the real world. i pull out 'your gold teeth" and sit back and listen to the chord progressions, and visualize howit must have felt to be isolated all that time. the horn work in my rival, some of the best i have ever heard. the fez has alot to say, and it has taken me a while to really feel what my largest life soundtrack is and the answer, as i am now listening to martha davis and feeling pretty good,steely dan has had the biggest impact on my life by providing the sound track something that is so important to people who dream that everything's goin to be alright. even though pesimistic in some tunes, a let's wait and see who casts the last vote in the opinion if the united states of america is a virtual world, with a glass pane, between you and the real world. i believe that both becker and fagen have the horsepower to have broken that glass without resorting to megadeth volume, but with the taste of fine wine, barely hearing the crash, and gently let us feel one step at a time, t he world most people don't see. listening to sd , along with personal success, and failures, seemed to help me cope with the goodbye look,gone are the testubes and the scales, a visual most california boys have seen, and third world man, the everso puzzling piece that makes you look at johnny your neighbor....after seeing you i saw some changes, and was astounded how good drew zingg really is, but this kid is in another world...but the most impressive was walter with his chops and lips back better than ever, steve jordan makes that band work live, his syncopation, and sense of the upbeat,offbeat, jumpband style of play seems a perfect match for just about any song ever written and performed professionally for the public. jeff porcaros' death was a terrible thing, as he drove this band as well as any, as did steve gadd, and even though it isn't written anywhere, the brilliant flowing sax solo of gold, had to be plas johnson, at that period of time nobody had his taste for the reed, and flow is what he was famous for. of all the sax solo's that come to mind the best is a tie with dick parry, on dark side of the moon, and pulse, plas for any given tune in any given studio is my vote for the best sax man on vinyl or cd. to me there have been many songwriters, from bruce cockburns beautiful stuff, to the 93 recorded live concert cd by van morrison and georgie fame, no matter how you are read to me you are the act of a lifetime, and don't let gary katz cheap peddle ya at these old ages, the biggest thrill in my life, had a steely dan soundtrack to it at anthonys' bar and grill, and that same soundtrack was there in the rough times,night by night, follow directions, and we're all alot less screwed up. i can go on for days, but this is something a fan has to say, when he has made an agonizing decision of the effects of his life. thank you donald, thank you walter, thank you gary, and to every musician that made the cut for every session that was pressed,you all have a special place in my heart and mind. thank you for the haunting melodies, the endless number of background singers, and tuneweavers, and the mastering that keeps the music as clear as money can buy.thank you for my soundtrack that i hope never ends, 'cause without you would be devistating, there is always new stuff, but not quality stuff, i'm sure you will find it in you to wait until you have the guts to challenge the tide,....walter, donald, thank you..... bob pincetl way4u2go@swb.com
name: bob pincetl website: referred by: net search from: orange county california time: 1997-03-05 22:31:00
comments: this correspondence is for both donald and walter. i have been waiting a long time to tell you guys that you have been the soundtrack to my life and i will be 50 june 1. i, being an x-musician, actually i was dick dales first drummer at 13, and ended up taking overflow for hal blaine at radio recorders, when in 1964 there were only four drummers in the rolodex at local 47 in los angeles, i ended up making a very good living waiting to see which studio hal was going to pass on, and i think in my teen years i damn near played with everybody, except you guys, mainly because you are the only east coast influence band that really sounded like a california movie soundtrack, only it was real life. i really like you got tired of fans wanting to know who i thought the best at this and that was, because your tastes change so often. as wrapped up as i was with pink floyd, the band, van morrison, i have to say that even though i am now just a humble c.p.a. pushing a pencil, and sitting in on occasion, that there were times in my life that your music was truly heart felt to me. the perfection shown in all the mixes had to drive most guys crazy, and the only first hand story i have is from bernard "pretty"purdie, who says donald is the most obsessive compulsive genius he has ever driven for, and he says that as a compliment. as i sit here and listen to the 94 release of jeffrey gaines, and wonder why this album never sold, i need to tell you that at this point in my life, i have realized that you guys are more than a band..you are lyrical energy for the masses, and the upperclass lyrics in some of the stuff you have done, have been done to the simplest of vamps, not an east task. aja everyones favorite, my old school, everyones drinking song, have let the true artwork go unnoticed in the taken for granted sd stuff in my opinion. i have to say to this date your gold teeth is a phenominal piece of work in my opinion, along with night by night, and gaucho has a ring of art that should be framed with the oth er two and hung in the guggenheim. you guys have made a major difference in the attitude in my life, and when you get my age, i think someone should thank people that have had a tremendious effect of the way their life turned out. in my 'vette right now in the citizen steely dan collection, along with the new york rock and soul revue, as well as the nightfly, kamikiriad, and of course walters whack album, which really surprised me how good it really is. no offense, but you seem to keep a lower profile than donald, something like roger waters in the early years with floyd, no one would have ever known that that shy bass player, wrote such haunting stuff. i have to disount the special studio effects, and enormous light shows as show business, not content, and you gentlemen are content to the max. i want to take this time to thank you for making the roads of my life easier to maneuver, just by writing and playing what you feel, instead of packaging a record promoting tour of studio musicians every year. i was ill when you guys were here i paid two thousand dollars for stage side seats, and couldn"t go, and by the time i was well, you were gone, but alive in america is one tremendous representatiion of what your art crimes concert tour must have been like. listening to the steve jordan solo in peg makes me want to cry, and i hear drew zingg is something to watch, but skunk, and walter have kept this ax section at peak level since day one as far as i am concerned. thank you again, and i thank the musicians that i know had to work tirelessly, to say they were part of the steely dan phenominon, since the beginning, and god bless jeff porcaro, as he had the range of a drummer, i have yet to see equalled, every time i see rosanna arquette all i can think of is jeff, and how unhappy he must have been. his chops will live on. god rest your soul jeff. it must be an unreal feeling to know that your work will live long after we all pass on to a less violent place, and maybe the lyrics, even with the synasizm, will have a fam iliar ring. you have made me very happy in my life, and i think that people should communicate more, listen more, and try to help more. for anyone to get the pure pleasure of steely dan all any one has to do is listen. as i am about to put on "teeth" i almost want to believe that god did me a favor letting me live the last three decades, with the help of the steely dan image, lyric, and presence that you have shown to the world. thank you for all you have done. i really love you guys. bob pincetl way4u2go@swbell.com. i would cherish hearing from one of you, but i know that is out of line. thanks to both of you again. bob.
last update: 2008aug13