Pop music
Put it down to experience
Marcus Berkmann
These have been emotional weeks for thousands of men in their thirties and early forties, several of whom have beards. Many years ago, these men came to accept that they would never see their favourite band, Steely Dan, play live. Like the Beatles and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson before them, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had quickly established that the drudgery of touring was not for them and they would far prefer to be in the studio making records. This was in 1974.
In subsequent years, the duo split up altogether (1981), suffered long periods of creative inertia (1983-92), tentatively returned to the studio (1993-94) and, most agonisingly of all, reformed Steely Dan as an occasional live act (1993-95). For most of these years their fans had kept faith, playing Countdown To Ecstasy (the band's least well-known album, and so many Dan fans' favourite) long into the night. But, as soon as they started playing live again, we began to wonder whether they might not find time to venture over here. These were frustrating times.
For three years, such is their languid, world-weary way, Walt and Don restricted themselves to leisurely sallies around America and a quick trip to Tokyo. One or two of my barmier friends, unable to bear the suspense, ingeniously managed to book family holidays to the United States to coincide with Steely Dan dates. But the first thing you have to learn as a Steely Dan fan is patience, so the rest of us just sat back and waited, confident that Becker and Fagen would cross the Atlantic before we all died of old age.
Their two dates at Wembley Arena earli- er this month were therefore as much a cel- ebration as a re-enactment. I have rarely seen an audience so excited or, to be frank, so elderly. Balding pates gleamed in the arc lights. Many men, for Steely Dan fans tend to be men, were accompanied by younger women — new girlfriends, perhaps, or third wives — who were there to be shown why music of the 1970s was so much better than the rubbish you hear today. The new girlfriends and third wives tried hard to look interested and, later on, to stay awake. The bouncers tried just as hard to look as though there was any reason for them to be there at all. There was no crowd trouble. A mobile cardiac unit would have been more helpful. The band wandered on to raptur- ous applause, and a man behind me expressed the hope that we wouldn't have to stand up all evening as his back wouldn't last out. In the first song, the drummer launched into a drum solo, and we all laughed.
And it was all, I have to say, just a bit of a disappointment. Many of those present had been waiting 22 years for this, and although I didn't become worryingly obsessed by the band until about 1978, I felt I had been too. But you can see why they stopped playing live so early in their career. The acoustics of a barn like Wemb- ley Arena hardly complement the subtle rhythms and textures of Steely Dan's music. The drummer was far too loud, the bassist all but inaudible. Worst of all were what we music critics call 'the twiddly bits'. Walter Becker on guitar played beautifully, the second lead guitarist, who was called Wayne, embarked on a series of deafening widdly-widdly heavy metal solos that did my frontal lobes no good at all. Similarly, the featured saxophonist blasted his way through some quite horrible solos which unbalanced every song they appeared in.
'He's killing the art of conversation.' Walter and Donald didn't seem too bothered by such violently inappropriate contributions, but then they didn't really seem bothered by anything. No doubt after a few years' touring, playing the same songs again and again, wild experimentation is the only thing that keeps you interested. All I can say is that it's just as well Wayne wasn't travelling home on the Jubilee line. You can see the headlines now: 'Crap gui- tarist pushed under train — 37 men with beards detained'.
Still, it hardly matters that the concert wasn't much good: it's the experience that counts. Twenty-two years since -Steely Dan's last concert, and 22 until the next one. With any luck.
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