Here are the seven best albums outside of realm of jazz so far in 2014. So says me.

With Lennon and Harrison’s untimely passings, this is as close as we’ll ever get again.

“Kulee Baba,” when Steely Dan goes global. Ahhh, the CD. Those plastic discs of music we used before iTunes. With a noise reduction system Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were crying for when (mis)mastering Katy Lied. Seventy minutes worth and no static at all. CDs arrived commercially in the FallRead More

At this point, they weren’t quite brilliant yet. But Steely Dan was on its way there.

While “Planet D ‘Rhonda” may not be as great as “Miss Marlene” and “Good Stuff,” it does end ‘Sunken Condos’ on a strong and convincing musical note.

This time Fagen brings lyrics which are a equal to his stellar arrangements.

In praise of a song about bowling – yes, about bowling – from Donald Fagen’s ‘Sunken Condos.’

A force in its day, the music of this seminal funk-jazz-rock combo remains very much potent today.

<<< BACKWARD (“The New Breed”) ||| ONWARD (“Miss Marlene”) >>> *** STEELY DAN SUNDAY INDEX *** “You’re a foxy lady. Your mama has a beautiful child. You’re built like a brick house and that’s no lie.” Wait a minute, did Donald Fagen sing that? Fagen is no stranger to funkyRead More

The first thing that grabs ya’ about this new Jeff Beck tune is the gigantic groove Beck establishes from the get-go, and a soaring lead that brings this too-brief three minute funk-rock excursion to its end.