This Steely Dan Song Cover is Worthy of The Cover Song Hall of Shame

[PavlovsCat]

Is abomination too strong of a word for this? I'd say no...  And, FTR, I love Steely Dan's music. This deserves a special place in the Covers Hall of Shame. 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[User 905133]

ENCORE!!!!!   ENCORE!!!!!!!

 

[Bapu]

Vocals: Bapu, Daryl Greenway & Liz Greenway
Guitars: Jamesg1213, SteveStrummerUK
Other Stuff: Ed "Bapu" Kocol

Special vocal appearance on the "Oh No" lines: Jan Eiken (Old55, RIP)

Edited June 12, 2023 by Bapu

[craigb]

If there were actually any ladies in this forum, maybe one could tell us which they like better, a Steely Dan or a Thin Lizzy? 🤔

[Starship Krupa]

I detested Donny and Marie as much as any other teenage boy back then, but looking at it from an adult perspective, also knowing more about what goes into stage productions....that is some nice choreography. I wonder if it was still Jay, it looks like the style the Osmonds were doing in the "One Bad Apple" period. That stuff is hard work.

Definitely a relic of the "knock 'em dead" era of entertainment. It's the intro to the show and they start off with a Steely Dan number that ends up with them ice skating backwards.

I'd like to hear/see Donny and Marie doing one of the Dan's darker numbers like "Charlie Freak." I bet they could tear it up on "Haitian Divorce." No! A whole album: Donny and Marie Sing Donald and Walter.

Marie: "No marigolds in the promised land...."

Donny: "There's a hole in the ground where they used to grow...."

Both: "Any man left on the Rio Grande is the king of the world as far as I know!"

[PavlovsCat]

True story. The most popular band I played in had a very nice PA system and lighting owned by the lead singe who owned the rights to the band name. He also owned a mid size truck our live sound engineer and lighting man would drive ti each show.  We were with a really good agent who today books a lot of bands and artists that are well known, natonal acts, but kind of oldies bands and artists.  For example,  Willie Nelson,  Cheap Trick, Go Go's, Foreigner,, Styx, REO Speeedwagon as well as jazz artists like Herbie Hancock. 

Back in the 90s, when our band wasn't playing, the lead singer would rent out the PA, sometimes to nationally known acts (our band was a rock band that made it to college radio and the media critics predicted would break nationally,  but never did). One of those national acts was Marie Osmond. Our band's lead singer, Ron. went with the PA to the sound check and show and said Marie Osmond screamed at the band  during  the sound check -- was incredibly  foul mouthed -- and demeaned them really viciously.  He said he later spoke with the drummer,  who told him that the band did not have good feelings about her. But when the show came on, Ron said Marie put on a completely different tone and behavior, playing a very pure and sweet person that seemed a million miles away from the person she was during sound check. Ron said it seemed terrifying to see the difference between the two personalities.  

Edited June 12, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[PavlovsCat]

@Starship KrupaYou know I'm a total Starship Krupa fan. You're one of my favs here, but we're going to have to agree to disagree when it comes to Donny and Marie. I can't justify that stuff.  Just pure cringe, IMO. And you bought up an Osmond tune that I find hilarious on multiple levels,  "One Bad Apple," where the band tries to be the Jackson 5 (and I do recall that the song was actually originally written for and pitched to the Jackson 5). 

As far as covers, I would appreciate seeing Donny and Marie covering the unedited version of the Dan's  "Show Biz Kids," but that would purely be for cringe value.  

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[Starship Krupa]

5 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

"One Bad Apple," where the band tries to be the Jackson 5 (and I do recall that the song was actually originally written for and pitched to the Jackson 5)

That is a myth. Check it on Wikipedia.

For bubblegum soul, they don't do a terrible job of it. Having the Muscle Shoals house band backing them up doesn't hurt.

Yes, and "Show Biz Kids" would be an appropriate tune for them to cover.

Hey, you're a drummer, check out Jay's technique on this tune. He's miming, but he actually played on the recording (they eventually got proficient with their instruments and played on their later albums). I wish I could get my wrists to do that when I'm on the kit. He's playing power rock strokes using trad grip. Tight little fills. Also: sweet stained walnut Luddies, complete with 70's approved set of 4 concert toms and Supraphonic:

 

[PavlovsCat]

42 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

That is a myth. Check it on Wikipedia.

For bubblegum soul, they don't do a terrible job of it. Having the Muscle Shoals house band backing them up doesn't hurt.

Yes, and "Show Biz Kids" would be an appropriate tune for them to cover.

Hey, you're a drummer, check out Jay's technique on this tune. He's miming, but he actually played on the recording (they eventually got proficient with their instruments and played on their later albums). I wish I could get my wrists to do that when I'm on the kit. He's playing power rock strokes using trad grip. Tight little fills. Also: sweet stained walnut Luddies, complete with 70's approved set of 4 concert toms and Supraphonic:

 

This may the least important thing posted today (spoiler: it is), but Wikipedia., that virtually infallible source of facts, states: 

"The song was written by George Jackson, who originally had the Jackson 5 in mind when he wrote it. According to Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson later told him that the Jackson 5 almost recorded this song first, but chose to record 'ABC'  instead."

I'll listen to the video in a bit (I'm hanging with the family and on my phone while they're listening to music). 

[bats brew]

i need a pallette cleanser after all this...

 

black sabbath, paranoid, will set me right.

[Starship Krupa]

6 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

This may the least important thing posted today (spoiler: it is), but Wikipedia., that virtually infallible source of facts, states: 

"The song was written by George Jackson, who originally had the Jackson 5 in mind when he wrote it. According to Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson later told him that the Jackson 5 almost recorded this song first, but chose to record 'ABC'  instead."

I'll listen to the video in a bit (I'm hanging with the family and on my phone while they're listening to music). 

Oh noes, Wikipedia contradicts itself:

"The song, "One Bad Apple", written by George Jackson, was composed in the style of The Jackson 5 (it was not originally offered to The Jackson 5, though the Osmonds would later state that The Jackson 5 considered recording it)."

My faith in the infallibility of Wikipedia is hereby shaken.

When the song came out, I was in elementary school, and came up with the alternate lyric "One road apple...."

[Triangleman]

 WHOA NO!
Guadalajara won't do

 

 

[Starship Krupa]

7 minutes ago, Triangleman said:

 WHOA NO!
Guadalajara won't do

The caravan to Aruba is not the road you'd choose...

 

[Starship Krupa]

8 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

Marie Osmond screamed at the band  during  the sound check -- was incredibly  foul mouthed -- and demeaned them really viciously.

Yeah, Marie....known to have some serious mental health issues. Ugh. Going all Buddy Rich on your band is a no-no.

[PavlovsCat]

9 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Yeah, Marie....known to have some serious mental health issues. Ugh. Going all Buddy Rich on your band is a no-no.

And I have my own first hand Buddy story! I got to hang out with him on his bus and had an opportunity to sit in with his band (I wisely declined). He was brutal to his bassist all night, but he couldn't have been nicer to me. But I was a 16 year old drummer in awe of him. He loved it. If you look through my Facebook photos. I shared one of the pictures I took of Buddy that night. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[Starship Krupa]

1 minute ago, PavlovsCat said:

He was brutal to his bassist all night, but he couldn't have been nicer to me. But I was a 16 year old drummer in awe of him. He loved it.

You were supplying him with his favorite drug, approval. The poor bass player was just another musician for him to need to feel superior to.

There are certain personality disorders where the person must do whatever they can to boost their ego. This entails being as sweet as possible to people who supply them with approval and grinding down people who they see as competition, which is nearly everyone.

Check Marie's behavior. She was as sweet as could be to the audience who was cheering her, but a total shrew to the other musicians.

We all love approval and feel competitive, but this is those tendencies taken to a pathological level.

My childhood was spent in Los Angeles and I got familiar with entertainment industry types. Not a group I would seek out for companionship.

[Old Joad]

24 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

And I have my own first hand Buddy story! I got to hang out with him on his bus and had an opportunity to sit in with his band (I wisely declined). He was brutal to his bassist all night, but he couldn't have been nicer to me. But I was a 16 year old drummer in awe of him. He loved it. If you look through my Facebook photos. I shared one of the pictures I took of Buddy that night. 

Buddy is amazing..

[PavlovsCat]

13 minutes ago, Old Joad said:

Buddy is amazing..

He was, undeniably,  an incredibly gifted drummer. He was in his 60s when I met him, but he was still an amazing drummer at that age. 

[Old Joad]

But Gene Krupa was better😎

 

[Starship Krupa]

13 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

He was, undeniably,  an incredibly gifted drummer. He was in his 60s when I met him, but he was still an amazing drummer at that age. 

Well, I think you can tell from my handle whose jazz drumming I prefer. Buddy was a technician, a brilliant one. But I think of him as the Yngwie Malmsteen of drums. Amazing chops, but is it musical? Do I ever want to throw on an album where he's playing in a band, or is it just YouTube videos of his solos?

Gene could drive an entire big band. With Buddy it was all about his spotlighted solos.

Elvin Jones is another fave of mine because of the way he could drive a band. Early on in my drum learning, I read a quote from Elvin saying that in a small combo, the drummer is the conductor. That was like a lightning bolt to my understanding of the role of a drummer, the power the drummer holds over the entire band's dynamics.

A good drummer knows when to fade into the background, knows when to step forward to serve the music that's being created. I've never heard an example of Buddy doing that.

With Buddy, the rest of the band wasn't important, he probably saw them as backing him up. For a drummer, that isn't a recipe for music that I want to listen to.

I've noticed that most of the drummers I admire were/are somewhat humble regarding their role in the band. Elvin also said that he believed that his purpose in life was to play in the John Coltrane Quartet. He said that after he left Coltrane. Playing in that band was his masterwork. Neil Peart, famously reclusive. Ringo Starr, famously humble. Ever hear Alex Van Halen go on about how great he is? Nope, he left that kind of talk to his brother. Bonham? Yeah, he dissed Karen Carpenter when he lost out to her in the Playboy Poll, but I'll cut him slack for that one. Karen was a good soft rock player, but that was about it.

Just my opinion, and of course not a popular one.