The mid-1990s were a great time to be a Steely Dan fan. We were first treated to Donald Fagen’s long-awaited follow-up to The Nightfly, and while that album fell well short of the classic first one, it was the first significant output from either him or Walter Becker in eleven years. The following year, Becker dropped his own solo album on top of us, a provocative and often delightful revelation on the “quiet” half of the Steely Dan duo. During the time that both of these solo albums first appeared, the boys assembled a band and went touring with it, which might have been the biggest treat of all. Since, you know, they never toured after the first couple years of existence, and not many came out to see the band then.
To cap off a three-year run of surprises, they released the most unlikely album of all: an official Steely Dan live album. Alive In America culls recordings from both the ’93 and ’94 tours, with Becker and Fagan holding no one over from the classic era of the band, save for engineer Roger Nichols. But it’s a heckuva band. No one knew who Chris Potter was in ’93, but the jazz world does now. The late Cornelius Bumpus was also a fine saxophonist. And Dennis Chambers and Peter Erskine are well known and respected by drum aficionados everywhere.
Alive In America starts with the same tune as the prior SD album: “Babylon Sisters.” The earlier times I wrote about “Babylon sisters” — yes, this is my third article on the song — I gushed pretty hard on it, declaring that “insofar as the pursuit of co-opting the jazz swing of Ellington and Basie into a severely tight, precise contemporary groove, they perfected that right here.” But this was conceived and meticulously constructed as a studio creation, so hearing how the band can translate the charm of this song to stage is a great point of interest.
They pass the test, but I’ve got two specific comments about this rendition. Chambers is a sensational drummer (just listen to some Niacin recordings if you don’t believe me), but even he can’t quite get the Purdie Shuffle down like Bernard can. It’s good, but “Pretty” took that song to a whole ‘nother level on the studio version. Secondly, the all-girl backup singers is a staple on all Steely Dan live shows in the post-hiatus era and we find that out right off from this first track. And what a song to show them off. Fagan sings so cool and reserved, even more so than on Gaucho. Meanwhile, the gals — Diane Garisto, Catherine Russell and Brenda White-King — contrast him with sass. The crowd gets amped up over the “yougottashakeitbaby yougottashakeitbaby yougottashake-eeet” ending chorus, and who can blame them?
As the ultimate studio rock band, a live album isn’t going to be one of their standout releases, but one cut in, it does the job of presenting the band decently well in concert. Now let’s see how the rest of the album goes…
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