Circus Money 10 Year anniversary

So glad I have a place to say this:

Although I'd really liked 11 Tracks when it came out, when I first read about Circus Money, it just didn't sound like my thing. To be honest, it sounded a bit like a recipe for disaster: aging white rock star makes a reggae record with a producer whose work I wasn't all that fond of...I couldn't bear to even check it out. Yes, I know - stupid and closed-minded. What a mistake...

Five or so years pass and I get curious enough to stream it. And holy shit. Fell in love with this brilliant record from the first spin. The songs, the playing, the incredible production, and that singing - I just wasn't prepared for how much this record spoke to me. I'm not so much of a lyric person and yet so many of these songs moved me deeply.

However many years after that, I'm still spinning it regularly: at home, while I'm walking through the East Village, when I'm on a flight. Simply put, it's a record that makes me feel great, reminds me of why I love music. It's one maybe a half dozen records from my life that remains fresh, that speaks to my love of melody and rhythm.

And while I can't thank Walter Becker, thanks to anybody here who had anything to do with creating this masterpiece. It brings me peace.

Thanks! It’s been awhile...

Happy 11th to our much-cherished "Circus Monkey", still swinging amongst the tree-tops, uncaged.

Completely agree with you on Upside Looking Down!

II I spent two reorganizing  my studio . Today was day two and I pulled up circus money to see how the room was sounding it is such a beautiful amazing record I was mesmerized today by upside looking down complete Genius lyrics nobody goes right to the heart of the matter like Walter did. I still mourn his tragic departure

Flat hat tip? Why thank you! I knew that Ph.D. would get some use eventually. I love Hat's too flat--brilliant and more timely than ever. And Little Kawai right after--another sweet/funny song that would never, ever, be on a SD album! Great review by Jon Pareles, thanks for bringing it up, Randy, and thanks for posting, D-Mod. I really enjoyed reading such a thoughtful review. Thanks for sharing that. Very smart man that Pareles...I remember sitting next to him at a Robert Fripp solo gig and he was furiously taking notes.  few days later I read his really insightful review...not many like him around.

Here's the full article from NYT's Jon Pareles, the "Dean of Rock Criticism", when including 11 Tracks of Whack on his Top 10 of 1994: Fifteen years later, we find out who put the edge into Steely Dan. It was Walter Becker...

......the desperate characters and elliptical narratives, the jazz harmonies and the ingeniously warped structures. And it turns out he has exactly the right voice for his own words: a groan that's jaded, long-suffering, cranky and shrewd. The first words Becker sings are "In case you're wondering, it's alive and well." Read in 1994 NYT. Yes I need a dictionary.

... and the big stuffed bunny from the top row goes to amontuori; I'm not often sent to the dictionary. And for such a pluperfect Becker word, too! Flat Hat tip, brother.

Thanks for reminding me that it was Dean Parks who played that achingly gorgeous solo on Upside Looking Down. It’s one of my favorite moments on the album and one of my all-time favorite solos. In fact I originally thought it was Walter because it really sounds like his style of playing. I think my only regret about C$ is the fact that WB didn’t play more guitar than he did. But I’m glad he played so much bass!

Circus Money is right up there with my favorite albums. Whereas with DF albums you know you're going to get something that could be SD, not least because of DF's voice but also because the overall vibe and sound are similar, w/WB it's so much more raw and vulnerable and filled w/saudade. The lyrics are ridiculously smart (Darkling Down? Who throws in a buzzard's banquet and a cupo of spleen with a puke-streaked tunic? So funny and yet so deliciously--and troublingly--dark...) but there's just so much feeling--if SD cooly observes our human foibles and failings, WB speaks in the first person, and that's a big switch.

Anyway, I could go on so I'll spare you, but I do also want to add that the performances by the musicians are stellar--Chris Potter on Paging Audrey and Dean Parks on Upside looking Down are just two examples. Yes, they really did play their hearts out. When Dean Parks comes in for his solo it's like a revelation, the heavens opening up, and Potter's never sounded better, never more melodic. 

I'm so glad this forum is here--Walter's work has been so significant for me, it's wonderful to have the opportunity to read the words of people who also clearly appreciate and understand his contribution, so thank you guys for creating this and sharing the love and the sounds.

Thanks D

Came by to check out the new post (Hi Randy), and for the first time in a while, I read through all the comments in this thread. And man...how I wish Walter could read them too. A cliche, a bad one: "how I wish X was here to see Y". But I'm telling you; you guys laid down some incredible individual comments. And when taken together, they convey such a warm admiration and appreciation, it's pretty mind-blowing. Makes me feel so grateful that he had listeners as expansive and discriminating as you.

I believe Walter knew you were out there.

But to hear actual testimonies like these .... I can only say...Amen.

As was told to me it is like a fine whiskey, better with time. I pick up more every time I listen..

wow - that's 2 reported long-lasting relationship birthed in part by...Walter Becker?! As Howard Rodman said "...our lives are long and strange and on a good night, not unwonderful"

I revisit CM every couple of weeks and find something new to fall in love with almost every time. On the topic of love, my 11ToW CD went missing for weeks. I found it in my then-girlfriend's Honda, at which point I knew I had to marry her. That was 17 years ago this month (we're still married, got two great kids.)

Hey, Sam. You captured something important and ineffable about Walter (“life may or may not get better but…”) and that can be hard to do.

His advice to Berklee graduates was "The blues. Playing the blues. Play the blues -- it works over everything.” He’d often say something like that — I think I read somewhere that he whispered much the same thing to a guitarists who was having trouble wth a solo — and most people figured it was just a cute little affectation Uncle Walt liked to style.

But he really meant it — much the way, I think, you seem to mean it too. All manner of music can often stop the bleeding. It’s just that some people seem to bleed alot…and for them, only a certain type will do. And even that won’t “ cure” them. It will nurture them just enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other... and for them, that is as much of a "cure" as one could hope for.

Welcome, Sam.

This is the last album I truly anticipated and bought the day it was released. I loved it immediately though there was a song or two I tended to skip. Now those songs I felt were lesser are some of my favorites. I remember checking the Steely Dan page daily and googling Don and Walt when I first got to work. When the news of this album came out I was thrilled. Walter has always been my favorite part of the Dan. I feel such a profound lost now that he’s not here. My life has been a series of disappointments and something about Walter’s lyrics (I feel I know which are his) always feel relatable.He has been the soundtrack to my life. He gave the sense that life may or may not get better but a little rhythm and blues makes it tolerable.

Hoping to have more from that Slims SF thing we got 3 Sisters from...:-)

I heard the 2011 solo- or club-date rumors too, & socked some money aside, & told my staff that they could expect me to disappear on short to no notice. Figured I'd be going to some small room in NYC, or LA, or (& maybe this was just wishful thinking) Maui, where the audience might only consist of a hundred or hundred & fifty bodies, tops. Not to be, & I understand the cost involved in hiring & rehearsing sidemen. & etc., "charts of doom," transportation, catering & the rest so maybe there was a bit of wishful thinking involved. & still...