Brilliant rhythms, harmonies, melodies and orchestrations with out-of-this-world lyrics. What a creator!
Along with many other keyboard players, Fagen was interviewed for a book titled, "Down The Rhodes," about the history and uses of the Fender Rhodes electric piano which is featured on most of Fagen's recordings. He tells the story about when he and Walter Becker were recording in LA using a 1970s synthesizer called the Arp Odyssey. Apparently, the instrument was giving them a lot of problems, constantly fading out of tune, (Fagen is a well-known perfectionist of pitch and rhythmical accuracy). They got so angry they took the keyboard to the roof of the studio and threw it to the ground. Then they stomped on it, lit it on fire and urinated on the fire to put it out. The studio owner thought this was hysterical so he salvaged the destroyed instrument, had it framed and it hangs in the lobby of his studio to this day!
Fagen has written and recorded far too many great songs for me to have a favorite. Here are a few unusual choices, though:
True Companion
H Gang
Out Of The Ghetto
Century's End
Ruby, Baby (Fagen's arrangement of Lieber & Stoller's classic)
What I Do
Teahouse On The Tracks
Happy birthday, maestro!
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