The Fez

Dirty guitar.

So you got Don't Take Me Alive, uh, Sign In Stranger, The Fez, Green Earrings, Haitian Divorce.

Yeah, that was everything on the radio.

Everything.

I'm the Mike, and this week we're talking to 8 Fetterolf about his song pick.

8 and I recorded the Fez on two keyboards.

We sadly weren't able to manage the drums with the foot pedals that night, but the synthesizer patches 8 found were just perfect.

Before the performance, we discuss the song in detail, but stick around if you're here for some nerdy music theory talk.

Eight and I have a great discussion on the NyQuest rate and overtones.

I'll see you at the other end.

So I want to start with the song that I chose to play, The Fez.

I gave you the choice of picking any song from these two albums, and we did a version of The Fez where we got together and played on two keyboards.

This was the second time Becker had given up the bass part to another player.

But Rainey did so well on that track that Becker had him play three songs on Katy Lied, and most of the songs on The Royal Scam and Asia.

Becker and Fagen also kept two other musicians around from the third tour.

Jeff Porcaro was a young drummer who already played for Sonny & Cher, Joe Cocker, and Seals & Croft.

Jeff Porcaro would go on to be one of the founding members of Toto, and a major studio drummer throughout the '80s.

The other member of the third tour that would become a major part of the Steely Dan sound is Michael McDonald.

Michael joined them as a second keyboard player, but quickly took over lead vocals on several David Palmer intended songs.

Michael would be used as featured background vocalist on several songs starting with Katy Lied.

We'll cover the Dan as they enter their studio-only era and talk about the albums Katie Lied and The Royal Scam.

Ate's chosen Steely Dan cover is The Fez, which you can hear right here on the next Minisoad.

And special thanks to Michael Vincent Bramley for our channel artwork.

Check out my daily Steely Dan covers on Instagram by following Slaytron11.