562 - Alex Pappademas (Author: Quantum Criminals)
562 - Alex Pappademas (Author: Quantum Criminals)
Appears in this episode
Alex wrote a book called Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan (beautifully illustrated by Joan LeMay). It’s a fantastic book about one of the most interesting bands of all time. They were a rock/pop/jazz band that wasn’t really a band, decided not to tour cause it was too much hassle, settled for nothing short of perfection, had no interest in fame, so cool they didn’t care a whit about being cool. I’m guessing Banksy is a fan of Steely Dan. Hope you dig the convo.
Here’s that Amazon link I mentioned, and here’s a link to more information about the Sex at Dawn retreat in Montana this summer.
Here’s a recent article about the Steely Dan’s popularity among people too young to remember the 1970s.
Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.
A little something just for subscribers, our pal Rick Beato explaining why Steely Dan is (are?) awesome.
562 - Alex Pappademas (Author: Quantum Criminals)
Just listened to this. Been a Steely Dan fan for over half a century & have so many of those lyrics emblazoned on my brain. This podcast gave me something to do with them.
Good point about Steely Dan vs the Grateful Dead. ST are tight as a drum (Bodhisattva) whereas the Dead sound like their wheels will be falling off any second.
I'd love to read "Quantum Criminals", but when I look for it on amazon it looks out of print: hard cover edition for €60 — "used, good condition". Kinda steep for a book. Over to Barnes & Noble: cheaper but out of stock.
We'll see how this goes. It'd be interesting to know whether a paperback is coming out.
A quintessential Tangentially Speaking podcast episode. Loved it. I think Dr Ryan said it best, increased my appreciation for the something I already loved. And while there was some lamenting the new technology and the loss of something special in the music with the advent, I was able to walk the woods, listen to the podcast and periodically stop and listen to the song being discussed.
While I was never the type of Steely Dan aficionado that Dr Ryan or Mr Pappademas was, I always appreciated them. On the other hand, I am a Grateful Dead fan (going to see Joe Russo’s Almost Dead tribute band tonight in New Haven). I agree that compared with Steely Dan productions the Dead were sloppy and their studio recordings for the most part are borderline unlistenable. But, I would suggest that what Steely Dan was doing in the studio, the Dead were doing on stage. Every night and with every song performed there was some gem, and occasionally an entire night was magical, but rarely. It was for the audience and the listener to do the editing and produce the perfection instead of the artist and the engineer.
If there is any interest attempt this experiment. There is website headyversion.com. The site takes fan input to rank the best live performances of Dead songs with links to the bootlegged recording. Listen to various recordings of the song Eyes of the World which is one the my favorite Dead tunes but I submit, they never performed perfectly. But, if you listen a few times, you can feel and know what the perfection of that song is. Perhaps hard to put into words but let me know if anyone tries and what the result is.