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- [00:00]
A
Welcome back to Jokerman podcast for the Christmas gift that has been so long a coming. Santa's been busy for years now. I think it's been a long time that we've, when we first were in contact with Santa saying we want eventually for this to be the gift that we give to our listeners, to ourselves, frankly, to ourselves and music lovers all.
- [00:27]
B
Around the world, the whole world, basically every single person on the planet.
- [00:30]
A
The Holiday Gift Guide as you know, the Jokerman Holiday Gift Guide this year has one thing on it and it is a link to the website where you can purchase Circus Money by Walter Becker for $9.99 plus shipping and handling. This is the same website that has a lot of Jimmy Buffett. For some reason I believe Jimmy Buffett's.
- [00:55]
C
Label actually put out the album Mailboat Records.
- [00:58]
A
I think, yes, mailboat records.com, purchase circus money for 9.99 and then wait for the speedy shipping to be fulfilled and then listen to it and then you're ready to play along with myself, Evan.
- [01:15]
B
And also Ian and back again after too long away, Alex Price, the man of Good bad, Steely Dan takes an august name in the Steely Dan online universe. Alex, thank you so much.
- [01:30]
C
Yeah, thanks for having me back, guys. It's always a pleasure.
- [01:32]
B
I think we're finally ready for this. This of course is a long awaited follow up to the 11 tracks of whack episode that took place some number of years ago, but I think sort of a hallmark moment in the history of Jokerman. Yep, that was of course Walter Becker's first album at the time. I think you, Alex, introduced us, or at least introduced me to the concept of Walter Becker's second album. He only made two Circus Money, which sort of befuddled and perplexed me just right from the jump with the image and the COVID about which there's all sorts of things to say. So it's taken a little bit of time to get here, but I feel like we've really put in our hours over time and are finally ready to unpack the mysteries of this incredible album.
- [02:18]
C
Yeah, there is an air of mystery around this one, I think in part because it's, I think the least discussed album like of all the Steely Dan and Donald and Walter albums and also just the COVID art and the fact that it kind of is basically a reggae album. Like all of those things together, just air and mystery.
- [02:40]
B
It's a delightful package from the first song to last. How familiar you obviously are one of the Dan heads par excellence out there. Circus Money itself before we set our minds to podcasting about this eventually. Was this an album you had ever really had much familiarity with before you kind of got invested into the Steely Dan world online?
- [03:05]
C
Barely at all, honestly. I actually do remember when it came out because I was working in the Barnes and Noble CD and DVD section in 2008, so I remember like, wow, seeing it, but that's it. I never listened to it. I presume a few customers did buy it, but yeah, I didn't think about it until years and years later when I was taking that deep dive, getting into Comic Curiad and Morph the Cat and obviously tracks of Whack. But I think this was the last stop, honestly, for me.
- [03:41]
B
Yeah, I think that's a common fact. I think for many people out there, the last stop on the Donald and Walter Story solo journey. Although maybe it shouldn't be the last stop. Boy, imagine being a person, a man just walking into. Because I'm sure it was a man. Anyone who was buying Circus Money at Barnes and Noble on CD in 2008, imagine being that guy. That's the life of a king.
- [04:05]
A
I feel like this has been a hard album to get into. Not hard in the sense that it's maybe even difficult music or anything like that. It's just. It's unique, this record. It's probably the most unlike any other Steely Dan or Donald Fagan project. In certain ways, I think in some.
- [04:27]
B
Ways it is very much a Walter Becker, Steely Dan universe type project. And in other ways it isn't. At least musically speaking. I was doing some reading and some research into the making of this record, which we can maybe talk about in a little bit. But I don't know, at a certain point, and I reached this point on 11 tracks of whack, also, like a switch flips, something just kind of clicks in my brain. And I mean, this is. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself in advance, but like, this is. This is up there with 11 tracks of whack, if not even higher in my personal estimation, is just like a record that I'm so deeply, madly in love with for any number of reasons. Are you kind of on that same wavelength, Alex?
- [05:08]
C
I prefer tracks of Back. I do really like this album. I don't know how much I would like it if I weren't already so kind of invested in the, you know, the mythos of Walter Becker. But yeah, I'm very glad it exists. And I'm like always happy to go back to It. Yeah, I know. You're almost a bigger Walt head than me, Ian. So I'm actually, like, anticipating what you're going to say about the album, like, what new insights you're going to. Because I'll admit it's probably the record I've listened to least of all the solo ones. So.
- [05:44]
B
Interesting. Even less than, like, Sunken Condos or Morph.
- [05:47]
C
Yeah. Because Donald. This is the one that Donald just was not involved in at all. And in terms of, like, Don or Walt, I think I still lean Donald at the end of the day.
- [05:58]
B
Interesting.
- [05:58]
C
But it's. I mean, it's like the band is still all, like, Steely Dan people. And again, it is very much like a pure Walter experience, which, you know, is, given that there are only two Walter solo albums, that's very valuable.
- [06:12]
B
Pure, uncut, black tar Walt. Are you Evan? Are you a Dawn or a Walt man? At the end of the day?
- [06:20]
A
I'm a Walt guy.
- [06:21]
B
I think you're a Walt guy. Yeah.
- [06:22]
A
It's a similar experience for, like. I could relate it to how I enjoy Lindsey Buckingham's solo work. When I listen to his solo records. When I first got really into them, I was like, hold the phone. Okay. This is. This is what I love about Fleetwood Mac mostly, is coming from this source, this direction. Not that there aren't other great things in that group, you know, that as a group that they put out, but, like, that certain flair for, like, kind of weirdly angry or strange or freaky that is coming from Lindsey Buckingham in that context a lot of the time. And in the case of Celie Dan and Walter Becker, I feel like 11 tracks of whack was revelatory and kind of making me realize that maybe some of the darker, more existential themes of Steely Dan tended to be coming from Walter's direction. There's a distinct poetic perspective that I think he's using a lot that happens to merge perfectly and create a really nuanced and a deep stew when it's paired with the more romantic Fagin.
- [07:50]
B
Yeah, I've been thinking about it a little bit along the lines of the Beatles. Also, you and I obviously haven't been watching the Anthology stuff recently for a Neverending Stories episode that I think has run by the time this episode ends up coming out. But, like, you know, you think about the Beatles and, like, it's. Most people are either gonna be a Paul or a John person, you know, and they are the Beatles in many people's minds. And you got George and Ringo in the back. But, like, I kind of fancy myself a George guy of all of them because I just, I feel like he kind of like, I don't know, the Lennon McCartney pairing partnership is like, it's almost two dimensional. And George is kind of what snaps that into the Third Dimen and really kind of makes the Beatles the Beatles instead of just Paul McCartney and John Lennon, which, you know, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, they're fantastic. That would have been good enough. But like, you need the George to make it the Beatles. Donald and Walt, I kind of think, think along the same lines. Like, I think if you know a Steely Dan song or know a steely dan member, 9 times out of 10 it's going to be Donald Fagan. He sings it. He's got more of the well known solo career and he's still touring or has still toured. I guess he hasn't played a show in a while at this point, but he kind of is the Steely Dan brand at this point. But Walter is really what makes Steely Dan like Steely Dan to me. Like, you need him and his presence and his gravitas and his sound and his philosophy. That's what kind of gives it that depth and that third dimension. And so when you only get that, when you get that full uncut Becker experience as you do on these two records, it's an intense flavor that I don't know, is kind of unlike any other musician or music listening experience that I've ever had.