When you hear the full story the erasure of the track boils down to miscommunication and the studio dynamics of recording that record. It’s really sad and unfortunate accident.
Very disco beat. Doesn’t hit a grove like Time Out of Mind or have a riff like Gaucho, but has the foundation for Glamour Profession. Love this album ❤
Totally agree. You could play this as background on a Rockford Files Gandy episode and it would be right at home. Thus I'm mixed on this - it's got lyric potential but the music is overly repetitive and ultimately unresolved. It's a B on an album with mostly A material and Glamour Profession is a much better example of this type.
Guys. This song is well documented. It was supposed to be the first single from Gaucho, but an assistant engineer accidentally put the multitrack master on a bulk eraser. It devastated Becker & Fagen. Great tune; I named my boat after it!
@sdmartintn To be fair to the tape operator, Becker and Raven always played with fire with how they used the studio. They were so concerned with sound quality they never made safety copies, and only worked with masters. They were worried about generational loss hurting sound quality. The tape operator was just following SOP by getting it ready. In 1967 Jimi Hendrix and someone else left the master tape of side 2 of _Axis: Bold as Love_ in a cab on the way to the record company. They had to go back and create a completely new mix in just that afternoon. Like the expression Forrest Gump made famous, shit happens.
Yeah, it was "wiped" but not with a bulk eraser; the assistant engineer found it on the tape reel, thinking it was for a recording session, so he recorded a test tone to confirm that the equipment was in order. When he hit "Stop" he heard a song fade out. He'd recorded over all but 14 seconds of the *only master* recording. As @fasillimerick7394 points out, the band refused to keep backups as they would be 2nd generation and hence not "perfect". Sigh... Perfection is the enemy of Good Enough...
just curious... is there any reference to the session guys who played on this? Knowing the period, I could guess. They may have been well into Wendel at this point. I've been recently enjoying the remake of this. Great song, and the remake is very well done.
The original version was recorded by a producer, Roger Nichols but then forgotten about. Nichols died in 2011, six years before Walter Becker did. His daughter found the tape during the pandemic and eventually after de-noising, was finally cleaned up and uploaded.
In a nutshell, it was because a rookie engineer had accidentally deleted the original tape by overriting it with a blank one. Of course, Fagen and Becker were devastated, and only around 20% of the song remained intact. They tried to rerecord it multiple times but they never hit the same high they did with that deleted tape, so they decided to scrap it. It only surfaced on the internet after the daughter of the senior engineer that had worked with them in that session found it stashed somewhere on her dad's house. Still, this recording is technically not the same one that was deleted, since the Dan probably worked on it more in the studio before it was gone. Note that, as we speak, the daughter of the senior engineer is working with some people to upload the tape with the highest quality possible and properly release it to the public. Though, I guess there's probably a lot of legal jargon they'll have to comb through to make that happen, but a man can dream, right?
Appreciate your effort but I don’t think this was a great loss to the album because Gaucho, and particularly this track, was when SD really went middle of the road (and I say that as a life long SD fan).
A bit too middle of the road and formulaic for me. Interesting that Gaucho was the last album before the comeback many years later. They sound a bit played out by this time .
@@justphil2394 Agreed, not to mention the that loping along sound would honestly fit the sound of gaucho, it's mostly groove based even in more complex songs like glamour profession
We all respect your honesty here. It’s a serious affair. I must disagree as I do not hear Night Fever at all. And if I don’t have it in my Jedi archives it doesn’t exist !
Wow, Gaucho is such a fantastic album, but add this tune to it and it becomes perfection ! Love it
I will never forgive that audio engineer that deleted this
When you hear the full story the erasure of the track boils down to miscommunication and the studio dynamics of recording that record. It’s really sad and unfortunate accident.
Low key one of the best lost songs I’ve ever heard from a band/artist
2:07 christ that guitar line is so good. and the hits going into it. so glad youtube showed me this lol
Also, I like how your version sounds more than alot of the other ones I’ve found on here.
Interesting, it’s got some Aja and Royal Scam hooks in there! Never been a Steely Dan tune did not catch my ear!
I'm with you! Can never get enough!
I like the Michael Omartian and Tom Hemby (on Guitar ) most of all but these outakes and demos show the perfection of the DAN
Very disco beat. Doesn’t hit a grove like Time Out of Mind or have a riff like Gaucho, but has the foundation for Glamour Profession. Love this album ❤
have to disagree. i hated disco but love Steely Dan
Totally agree. You could play this as background on a Rockford Files Gandy episode and it would be right at home. Thus I'm mixed on this - it's got lyric potential but the music is overly repetitive and ultimately unresolved. It's a B on an album with mostly A material and Glamour Profession is a much better example of this type.
I believe this is the re-recording they did after the tape got erased. The version that Don said wasn't as good as the first. Which is bizarre.
Well... Don and Walt did a lot of bizzare things.
long live steely dan
Ughh... imo, Gaucho needed this to lighten the mood some... great tune
Guys. This song is well documented. It was supposed to be the first single from Gaucho, but an assistant engineer accidentally put the multitrack master on a bulk eraser. It devastated Becker & Fagen. Great tune; I named my boat after it!
@sdmartintn To be fair to the tape operator, Becker and Raven always played with fire with how they used the studio. They were so concerned with sound quality they never made safety copies, and only worked with masters. They were worried about generational loss hurting sound quality. The tape operator was just following SOP by getting it ready.
In 1967 Jimi Hendrix and someone else left the master tape of side 2 of _Axis: Bold as Love_ in a cab on the way to the record company. They had to go back and create a completely new mix in just that afternoon. Like the expression Forrest Gump made famous, shit happens.
Yeah, it was "wiped" but not with a bulk eraser; the assistant engineer found it on the tape reel, thinking it was for a recording session, so he recorded a test tone to confirm that the equipment was in order. When he hit "Stop" he heard a song fade out. He'd recorded over all but 14 seconds of the *only master* recording. As @fasillimerick7394 points out, the band refused to keep backups as they would be 2nd generation and hence not "perfect". Sigh... Perfection is the enemy of Good Enough...
Sounds like a Nightfly outtake.
Yes, because of that drum machine sound.
Very nice, thank you
Brilliant, well done. It’s a shame it went belly up originally. Thanks.
They take they wanted got accentually erased...
🏃♂️ Engineer 🤬Donald 😤 Walter
just curious... is there any reference to the session guys who played on this? Knowing the period, I could guess. They may have been well into Wendel at this point. I've been recently enjoying the remake of this. Great song, and the remake is very well done.
brings to mind 'green flower street' or 'new frontier' from df's the nightfly record... pure dead brilliant.
Bit of a reggae feel. Restrained good.
Donalds unique in that he can sing off key brilliantly but he doesnt have a particularly good voice but its unique and endearing enough.
Dan Lite
I'm a massive fan this is OK but doesn't blow me away it's one that would have to grow on me right now its an album filler probably last track
👍👍👍👍
thank you...by the way, are you related to the infamous jeffrey lebowski?
...or the Big?
Was this their attempt to re-record it after it was lost?
The original version was recorded by a producer, Roger Nichols but then forgotten about. Nichols died in 2011, six years before Walter Becker did. His daughter found the tape during the pandemic and eventually after de-noising, was finally cleaned up and uploaded.
Sweeeet!
The 70s was great for modern hits. The 70s was in love with hits. They should be.
Gran Travieso th-cam.com/video/fZW6L4FC9Ss/w-d-xo.html
Why didn't it make the cut? Anyone know?
In a nutshell, it was because a rookie engineer had accidentally deleted the original tape by overriting it with a blank one. Of course, Fagen and Becker were devastated, and only around 20% of the song remained intact. They tried to rerecord it multiple times but they never hit the same high they did with that deleted tape, so they decided to scrap it. It only surfaced on the internet after the daughter of the senior engineer that had worked with them in that session found it stashed somewhere on her dad's house. Still, this recording is technically not the same one that was deleted, since the Dan probably worked on it more in the studio before it was gone.
Note that, as we speak, the daughter of the senior engineer is working with some people to upload the tape with the highest quality possible and properly release it to the public. Though, I guess there's probably a lot of legal jargon they'll have to comb through to make that happen, but a man can dream, right?
No way it’s just a windup they are just messing around for god sake they gave you the perfect record
Should've been on Nightfly instead of Ruby.
Appreciate your effort but I don’t think this was a great loss to the album because Gaucho, and particularly this track, was when SD really went middle of the road (and I say that as a life long SD fan).
The first song I really heard from Steely Dan was Peg.
It just isnt Dan Perf enough
A bit too middle of the road and formulaic for me. Interesting that Gaucho was the last album before the comeback many years later. They sound a bit played out by this time .
It just never catches fire, kind of lopes along…I see why they left it off of gaucho.
it got deleted, not a conscious decision to leave it off
@@justphil2394 Agreed, not to mention the that loping along sound would honestly fit the sound of gaucho, it's mostly groove based even in more complex songs like glamour profession
It’s literally missing half the lyrics and horns, it got deleted
I never really considered this, and I kinda have to agree but I still feel like the song is just perfection throughout which makes up for it.
Most of Gaucho lopes along, where's the energy?
All I can hear in the guitar is The BeeGees Night Fever. Sorry.
At least you tried. I'm sure if you keep working at it, you'll improve. Your apology is accepted in the same good faith it was expressed.
We all respect your honesty here. It’s a serious affair. I must disagree as I do not hear Night Fever at all. And if I don’t have it in my Jedi archives it doesn’t exist !
I hear a lot of tape hiss ,, never heard this on the original record 🤷♂️
Cause it's not on the original record!
So you didn’t bother to read the description.
It was lost during the sessions for Gaucho, and seemingly believed to be lost forever.
Goucho, better without it.
Good not great song..
Nah.