It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! Turn that TV off! It is summertime and there is so much music to listen to both old and new! This week the featured vinyl is a first time vinyl pressing of a Record Store Day release from June 12, 2021. This album made a debut on the leap day of February 29, 2000. In this year the music was released in the CD format as the thinking at that time was vinyl was dead. Well time proved this “vinyl is dead” thinking to be incorrect and now for the Record Store Day June 2021 release there were 10,000 copies pressed for worldwide distribution in 180 gram audiophile grade beautiful black vinyl. 5,000 of those copies are in circulation in the United States. I was in New York City week before last and had worked to find a copy of this album for my collection. Thank you Cat, Sharone, and all the staff at Rock and Soul DJ Equipment and Records https://rockandsoul.com/ for your help with all the album purchases! This store is full of great vinyl and equipment. The mail order service is great as well. Go visit them when you are in town!
If you would like to listen to my companion podcast you can listen here or subscribe for free on any of the streaming services you use. My podcast is easily searchable on any streaming service where you get your podcasts by searching “Andrew Talbert.” Look for the World Wide Music Media logo. I’ll talk to you on your mobile device!
Steely Dan. As a lifetime fan I started my journey on a Friday night so long ago watching them perform “Reeling in the Years” on Don Kirshner’s ‘Rock Concert.” This addiction to this music never faltered through the years. I would get every album the day it came out or as soon as I could. I read about all the artists they worked with and all the production notes. I remember most trips to go buy audio gear always included the best duplication of a Steely Dan recording as a part of the audition. I am fairly sure I have written about this before but I tried to go to every tour date I could when Steely Dan started playing during the last 3 decades. From the 1990’s – 2000 decades I remember having row 4 center Ticketbastard seats on the aisle in Charlotte as my standing seats thanks to a scalper in Austin, Texas who had my American Express card on file back then. All it took was a phone call and Federal Express would deliver the goods to my door. There are so many Steely Dan shows I have attended they really all sort of blur together. Some of these theater shows allowed me to try my hand at photography while others did not allow cameras. I can safely say most of the concerts I attended were some where between row 1 and 4 and to me that is not bragging as much as it is telling you about how bad I wanted to be close to experience this unique sound and talent from this band. I was totally addicted to attending Steely Dan shows. I remember after working very long 12 hour days at my desk in corporate America the best pharmaceutical product to release stress was to stand a few feet from Donald and Walter as they commanded a stage full of extraordinary musical talent.
The sound from a Steely Dan album is stellar thanks to the relentless perfectionism of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen as well as all the talent they hired to either play the tracks or engineer the recordings. The sound in a live setting is also amazing as there is nothing like standing in front of a horn section and feeling the percussion of Keith Carlock pounding the drums in front of you. Anyone who has the good fortune to find their way on to a Steely Dan sound stage or recording session is generally one of the best at their craft and there have been a long line of musicians to add this work to their resume. I have always somehow been attracted to the legend of Steely Dan from the pursuit of incredible music tracks while hiding insanely brilliant lyrics that contain deep topics and humor.
The sticker on the shrink wrap 
The Track List on the back cover. 
The back side of the lyric sheet.
In February of 2000 on the leap year day which is one of those details Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have never missed the pair released their long-awaited album Two Against Nature which was released following a twenty-year hiatus in the recording studio. The album earned a Platinum certification in the USA and went on to win four Grammy Awards including the prestigious Album of the Year. The vinyl was cut by the album’s original mastering engineer Scott Hull. It is pressed on audiophile 180g double black vinyl for the discerning Steely Dan fans and features an etching on Side 4. I plan to dig into the track list and a story or two as well as some background on all of the musicians who worked on the album. I also plan to give a nod to the engineers who help make the magic happen in the studio. So tune into the companion podcast for this episode to dive a bit deeper into this incredible record.
I will meet you out on the podcast to talk more! Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.