Beating a Dead Horse of a Different Color to the Beat of a Different Drummer
This little item is to soothe the guilty conscience of the reluctant file-sharer.
As you might know from reading this page, there’s a new Steely Dan album coming out next month. June 10. I’ll be at MediaPlay before they unlock their doors that day. And I won’t play it in the car, either. Oh, no. For the serious fan, that just won’t do.
Instead, I’ll drive cautiously home, going under the speed limit for the first time since my last driver’s test.
Close the garage door behind me, and enter the kitchen. There’s a good utility knife in the knife block, perfect for cutting the cellophane without risking damaging the CD jewel case. (There’s a rant to be written about CD and DVD packaging. Oh, and that hard plastic casing protecting most small high-tech items that you can’t get open without shredding the instructions and warranty card. What makes manufacturers think we’ll like their product better if they leave us unable to actually get to the stuff we bought? [Rant half written already]).
Anyway. Once the plastic wrap and sticky labels and claymore mines are all safely removed, I’ll take my treasure to the family room downstairs. That’s where the good stereo is. 6.1 channel sound. 100 watts per channel. Speakers large and dark and phallic enough to make Shaft nod knowingly, and say something about “not bad for a white boy.” Or maybe that was just in some strange dream of mine.
The CD will be lovingly placed in the DVD player, which moonlights as a CD machine. The cables are all from Monster. The equipment will all be cleaned and dusted the night before. The amp will be turned up to 11.
I’ll listen twice. Once, eyes closed, sitting in the sweet spot in the center of the sofa, almost exactly twice as far from the speakers as the speakers are from each other (serious audiophiles will understand). The second time, eyes open, reading along with the lyrics as the record plays.
But not three times. Three times in one sitting is like drinking the good scotch after you’re already six cocktails into the evening — you just aren’t able to appreciate it any longer. New Steely Dan albums don’t happen very often – nine times in 30 years, and I’ll leave the math up to you. So you’ve got to ration yourself, or you’ll dull your taste buds long before there’s another new one.
Two listens. Then it’s time to rip it to the hard drive. Download the cover art, cut’n'paste the lyrics into the song tags. Yes, I’ll even make notes about which musicians played on each song. I’ll burn a copy for the car, because there’s no way I’ll risk the original getting scratched.
So what the hell does all this fanboy obsession have to do with file sharing?
Last week, The Dan made one cut, Blues Beach, available for downloading for the low, low price of a buck forty-nine. Pay whenever, and you’ll get an email May 6 on how to download the song.
You better believe I paid up. And, yeah, I just downloaded it. Now I’m left wondering whether to listen now and ruin part of my one-two punch first listen experience, or say “screw it” and listen to the first new Steely Dan tune in three years. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll probably give in before the night is over.
And what does that have to do with file sharing?
Reprise Records made it worth my while to pony up a dollar fifty over and above the price of the album, just to get a sneak peek at how it will sound. The cost to them is almost nothing, and the cost to me isn’t much higher. As a real fan, I’m not getting what I’ll get from owning the album (liner notes, art, pride of ownership, 320kpbs encoding, etc.), but I’m going to buy the album anyway.
This surely isn’t a good marketing ploy for most bands. But for artists who already have a large fan base, it’s brilliant. Yeah, a bunch of people will make the single available on Gnutella or WinMX or wherever, but the record company will get additional pre-release publicity — and they’ll get it by charging fans like me a buck or so for the privilege.
Surely, this is a much better ploy than Madonna’s latest silliness, when she recorded herself berating file-sharers, and put her curses out in the open, disguised as a song, like a virus to be downloaded by the unwary.
File sharing is here to stay. Reprise and Steely Dan chose to profit by it. Madonna chose to annoy her most diehard fans.
Which do you prefer?
“Digital Single available only in the United States”
D’oh! Living in Canada sucks. First the Apple Music Store stiffs us, and now Becker and Fagen. This is because of that Iraq thing, right?
A new Steely Dan album! Wild applause. I’ve never forgotten the thrill of first encountering the Royal Scam and Aja. Enjoy it in comfort, Stephen.
But — as soon as it’s over, go to Glass Hammer’s website –http://www.glasshammer.com — and discover truly leading-edge music. Lex Rex in particular.
dude, Steely Dan sucks….
Imagine my surprise ten years ago, when my favorite radio station (KGSR, Austin) popped on My Old School unexpectedly one Saturday afternoon.
I was driving the old Dodge Omni (long since junked at 100,000 miles), ferrying my daughter from somewhere (ballet? art class?). I cranked the volume and smiled, and then… my daughter (then aged 7) started singing along!
“How do you know that song?” I asked.
“Oh, Emma’s mom plays it a lot.”
But the kid knew the words! All of them!
That tune means a lot to me. The ripping Skunk solo towards the end was the closing theme to the public affairs television show I used to appear on semi-regularly in Boston back in ’74. As a once-aspiring guitarist, I’ve always thought it should be hung on a wall at MoMA.
To know that my daughter, talented artist that she’s always been, had latched on to it, made me wonder at the connectedness of the world, and all of that Birkenstock sandals with grey socks stuff. Amazing.
My daughter, now 17+ (yikes), Beatles aficionado par excell
But not three times. Three times in one sitting is like drinking the good scotch after you’re already six cocktails into the evening — you just aren’t able to appreciate it any longer.
You missed the good martini analogy, VP.
One olive is elegant; two olives, proper; but three olives are a meal.
When I saw the headline “beating a dead horse”, I really thought someone was finally going to chide Andrew Sullivan and the NRO folks for their obession with the Bill Bennett non-story.
On another note, yeah, that’s a great point about making the song available for download. I bet they’ll make some good coin from the true fans.
Next on the RIAA to do list:
When a burned CD is placed in a car CD player, the car will explode a la Godfather.
When you start a CD copy program in your computer, an RIAA program will fill your hard drive with porn and place a call to the local police department.
All CDS will be embedded with special chips and reduced in size by 50 megs. When the CD is ripped by a copy program, the chip will lock out all songs except the extra track, a random William Shatner cover tune.
New legislation introduced by the RIAA requiring your computer to be hooked up to your gas main. Opening a CD copy program will cause a spark, thereby leveling your house in a small mushroom cloud.
OK so I should probably patent this one as I could make <Dr. Evil Voice>MILLIONS</Dr. Evil Voice>, but for you…priceless.
Opening CD Cases 101
Niall — A guy at the local new/used CD place taught me the “pry the hinge” trick. I am forever in his debt. I hate those damned stickers!
If you rip the stuff via Windows Media Player, the cover art will already be there.
Did someone dare to state suck and Steely Dan in the same sentence. Must have been born post MTV. For those of us prior to that particular music holocaust we rate and savor the moments we first heard SD on the radio and still didn’t know who they were.
You Go Steve-but hold out for the whole experience.
The album will also be coming out in the DVD-A (Dvd Audio) format with full 5.1 audio mixing. You might want to look into that too.
Most people who either work in a music store or collect lots of music find that after a while you build up a very strong thumbnail.
I honestly had NO idea those guys were still together. Thank god for Blogs, I learn something every day. With two, yes two classic rock stations down here, I’m sure I’ll be hearing this most of the summer. While I was born pre-mtv, and think suck is a lil harsh, they were always a bit too studio-geeky perfectionist for my tastes…
Cool use of new tech though…
Re: Ricky
Yeah, as they said jokingly in their ‘reunion tour’ of 1998, they ran out of the money from their previous tour, which is roughly around 1976.
As for sucks, I’m still amazed at how GOOD the two sounded in “Two Against Nature”.
I can’t hear about Steely Dan now without laughing (through no fault of their own). Remember the Grammy Awards a while back, with the big handwringing was over Eminem? The whole schtick over whether or not to reward a talented misogynist prick spewing hate? The voters got around it by voting for Steely Dan, whose album contained a song about gaslighting his wife and one about statutory rape. Gotta love meaningless awards that are beyond satire…
petie — “savor the moments we first heard SD on the radio and still didn’t know who they were”
not to mention the days when we didn’t know what “the fine Columbian” meant.
well that’s great, cause you know our president is making the world safe for little white boys such as yourself to sit there and listen to your new steely dan. uh-huh. well since you don’t have to worry about saddam showing up at your door with a bucket of anthrax perhaps you’ll be able to let a thought intrude about how great our leader looked in costume on that set I mean aircraft carrier turned at the most photogenic angle. it’s not a cynical exploitation of manufactured death, it’s the launch of a reelection campaign. and because no one will call them on it and laugh in his face that he just left the national guard cause daddy was connected then it must be ok. since everyone is in on the farce, why not! I love your sort, you expose the whole scared lie of your support for this fake – we know what you’re doing, it’s evil, but it lets us blow up brown people and drive around in SUVs like the meathead country we are. you’re giving control of Iraqi oil over to the vp’s company which is still paying him? well, nothing wrong with that! i felt bad after 9/11 and though this is completely unrelated and we’ve all had a scam pulled on us (well no, it was really too obvious to anyone who wanted to see that it was a scam) I feel much better now, so it’s fine! oops. sorry, this is supposed to be about digital downloading etc. you know that new steely dan I can’t WAIT! and man, some comedian should do a bit on how it’s hard to open CD’s! hahah! you know I’d like to see maybe a recipe for caesar salad, that would be really great.
and by the way, you CHOP romaine.
Summary of Poodle’s comment:
“Boy, do I really, really hate Bush. And people who don’t hate him enough.”
There. Now you don’t have to even skim it.
First, thaks to Sigvald for his public service. I am addicted to punctuation.
Second, Dennis Miller has the CD and DVD packaging rant covered: “It’s now easier to break into the movies than into the packaging the movies come in”.
Hey Vodka Guy! Thanks for the head’s up on the new Steely D. CD. BTW, why are those things so hard to open? They are worth what, like a buck?
There can’t be too many folks 40ish that can smile a Steely D. memory. “Here come those Santa Ana winds again…’
While I respect your methodology as pure and sincere…. I am much more of the rip it open in the parking lot (thank you Leatherman), stick it in the ole Harmon Kardon, roll down the windows, peel back the sun roof, crank it up loud enough to garner unpleasant “looks” from the elders, and let it rip. It’s almost like being 20-something again!
Can’t wait!
p.s. to the chad that thinks Steely D. sucks…WTF? But not too worry…you will grow up, in spite of your stupid self. But in the meantime, try to think of BROADENING your horizons. The close-minded thing is SO over!
OOp, the preview button is my friend.
“….can’t smile a Steely D. memory.” CAN’T
Ah yes, Steely Dan…
As to Chris and poodlelover, well, only a fool would say that. Oh, and definitely thanks to Sigivald. And no poodlelover, you do not chop romaine, though I do have other issues with Steve’s Caesar salad recipe. (Haven’t we been here before?) Check out Mark Miller’s recipe.
Denise — some of us have always known what “the fine Columbian” meant. Don’t we all wish we were 22 again, in grad school and listening to Steely Dan’s latest release — Gaucho?
I have some low-end high-end audio equipment that I love (Linn). I knew another, younger, audiofile that only knew Steely Dan from listening to it from the back of his station wagon while his parents played it on their vacations. His appreciation of Steely Dan soared after playing Gaucho for him on a fine system.
Enjoy it Steve. For the rest of you, get a copy of Aja or Gaucho or the latest CD, take it to a high-end audio store and tell the owner you are thinking of spending about $80K and want to listen to the CDs you brought.
Enough rambling.
Here’s a question for the Dan fans– what the hell are the backing singers saying in “Show Biz Kids”? “Lost wages”? “Lot’s wages?” “Las Vegas?”
Charles — I wasn’t in grad school for Gaucho. I was gradE school. I liked the music a lot, but I admit that drug reference flew right over my head.
John Parker – Yes.
Denise — no problem. But I’ll bet that we can’t dance together.
Having worked in retail, I can tell you why CDs and DVDs are such a pain to open: it’s to make it harder for people to unobtrusively slip out the disks and slip out the front door without paying.
The store I worked at didn’t use the wrap-around plastic frames on jewel cases. The last holiday season I worked there, the other cashiers and I had to check every single CD and DVD that customers brought up. People had been slitting the sides with blades, puckering the case open, and pilfering the disks. The now-empty cases looked normal at first glance, so people would pick them up and buy them.
Before we started checking cases, we probably had many people who opened their new CDs or movies only to find no disk. And naturally, they couldn’t return or exchange an empty case.
Hey Poodle Lover:
Take your big black cow and get outta here………..
Charles — No, we can’t talk at all.
Hey PoodleLover. Take your shtick back to The Fool. You’re much funnier there.
‘Though I’d like to see you pull this crap on Cavey. She’d kick your ass.
Back in college, the complaint I always heard from the “Steely Dan sucks” crowd was “Their songs all sound alike.” (put on “Dirty Work” for anyone you know who makes that comment, and just don’t tell them who it is).
Since I’ll be visiting one of my friends from college who shares that view when I’m in New York on June 10, a trip to J&R Music World will definitely be in order, if just for the reaction no matter what the CD ends up sounding like.
Steely Dan…can’t get enough. Going to play their greatest hits on the jukebox tomorrow night on the jukebox while shooting pool. “Drink scotch whiskey all night long” but will pass on the die behind the wheel…
Extra credit for those who know the source of the name “Steely Dan”….
It’s something of a pleasuring device, if I remember correctly.
Bingo… the name of the metallic phallus in “The Naked Lunch”.. Give that man a “free one”. (another obscure reference from “Unforgiven”).
DVD-A is the way to go. Two Against Nature sounds phenomenal in the new format. I hope they price it competitively with the regular CD, as Fleetwood Mac did for Say You Will. I can’t wait. I was lucky enough to meet Becker a couple of years ago. Swell guy on top of it all.
sigivald- you forgot the “white boys love to kill brown people” part of the synopsis. But yeah.
And chopping the lettuce makes it rust, you tear it.
do you have any job openings at your site?
Poodlelover –
Any major dude will tell you that in your case, the demon is not at your door, but in your head. Take a pill.
As for Steve’s caesar salad recipe…no, you don’t chop romaine. Throw out the hardware, let’s do it right…TEAR it. The recipe is perfection and grace. It produced a smile on my wife’s face.
All well and good Steve – great to see you’re a fan of the ever-living Dan – but what’s with all you fools talking fondly about Gaucho? COME ON NOW! That album is a desiccated disgrace to the Steely Dan name and sends me screaming back to my copies of Aja, Katy Lied and Countdown To Ecstasy. Gimme “Deacon Blues” or “Doctor Wu” or “My Old School” over “Babylon Sisters” anyday.
And by the way, the Steely Dan virus is cross-generational: I’m 21, started with that old A Decade Of Steely Dan compilation, and socks-shocked-off to find that that great “Reeling In The Years” song was a Steely Dan song. How would I have known, given their supposed reputation for gnomic jazz-rock?
John Parker: “We’re going to Las Wages” is what they’re singing, and it’s a pun, of course, on Las Vegas that reflects the, shall we say, seedier pecuniary aspects of that town.
I might add that the phallus in the Naked Lunch wasn’t just ANY old oversized marital aid, but a milk-squirting one at that. Lovely. Wonder if that made it into the film adaptation?
Steve,
Now I know you’re erudite. I’m a little too young to have caught Steely Dan in their prime — not that I’m alone since they only toured once, but came to love them and own everything they’ve done.
Of their songs my favorite is a tie between “Don’t Take Me Alive” and “Peg”. What a bass part in “Peg”!!