11 Tracks of Whack (1994)

Anyone have a favorite WB guitar solo? I direct your attention to the riffs on "Junkie Girl" -- that instrumental break never gets old. Just freakin' brilliant.

For whatever reason, it took me a little while to "get" 11 Tracks of Whack. My dad got an advance copy as a pledge gift from our local NPR station, and I remember listening to it a time or two and just not understanding it. And then a few months later I popped it in my little cd Walkman as I was going about whatever I was doing, and about halfway through Down In The Bottom something just reached into me and grabbed hold tight. This was music that spoke to me in the same way that Steely Dan music had long spoken to me, but rawer and sharper and edgier.

The distance between "the Steely Dan sound" and 11 Tracks of Whack, initially the obstacle I had to overcome to enjoy the album, became the very thing that long term made it so powerful for me. Where The Nightfly and Kamakiriad had in some ways felt like a natural progression of a stylistic element present in Gaucho, 11 Tracks of Whack felt like a similar progression from parts of The Royal Scam.

Circus Money proved to me that Walter was more than capable of writing songs just as harmonically, melodically, literarily, and stylistically complex as anything in the Steely Dan catalogue. 11 Tracks of Whack proved to me that he didn't have to.

Matt - that's a very fine and interesting story about SD–11 TW– SM etc. People's stories about how they came to "get" 11 TW are always interesting. Just as interesting are the stories from people who just never did "get" it. I pretty much "strongly dislike" stories that imply that those who just don't care for the album are simply "Unenlightened" in some way. That's nonsense. I hope some of the people who never clicked with 11 TW will post "their process" here as well. (lol. Process: "I just hated the damn thing. end of story". lol).

Matt - I wonder if sometime (but not now: We mods are hogging the discussions! ) you would share our conversation about "subtracting SD", which we had after listening to the earliest and I mean earliest version of… damn I forget what it was. But if you are willing to share your observation, that would make, I think, for a really interesting exchange about a topic with great variation of opinions amongst Dan fans. I can already see we're getting to trust one another pretty well. I know we'll get an discussions on that one.

Since I first started listening to SD (in '73), when I was a too-bookish kid in high school, I first concentrated on the lyrics, to the exclusion to the music. When I figured I had the lyrics knocked, I then got to float along on the music for my overall album experience (headphones on, please!). When I first listened to 11 TOW, I did likewise; but didn't get the same "feel." At first, I agreed with the people that opined that all the tracks sounded like demos, which I got, sort of. But at the same time, I kept thinking that If I were making a solo record after being in SD, I'd probably go in the same direction WB did; stripped down and kind of DIY sounding. And again, I went back to the lyrics, which were so affecting. The music came later for me, but after repeated listenings, I did come to appreciate the totality of the songs, and have come to love it (though not as much as Circus Money, which is, to me, a by far more "loveable" album).

11TOW took some time to hit for me, too. For me, the programmed drum sounds were the major hurdle; I have nothing against programmed drums in general, but the samples themselves sounded instantly dated to me. I still can't say I love the snare sound in Down In The Bottom. But that all feels like nitpicking these days because when the album hit, it hit hard.

here's a random question - does anyone know who takes the wonderfully weird and sloppy keyboard solo on Hat Too Flat? Kinda sounds like Fagen on acid to me?

OnTheCorner: I'm pretty sure it’s Fagen.

Same thing on Book of Liars, I think that's DF on the solo.

Keyboards for the entire album are credited to Donald Fagen and John Beasley. That said, those solos sound a lot like Walter, so I wouldn't be surprised if he either just didn't give himself credit or if Fagen or Beasley took a lot of direction from what Walter had done in earlier demos.

Please... is there any chance you could provide downloads of those 'outtakes/demos' from 11 TOW like Lies I Can Believe? You know, I'd pay for stuff like that if they were released properly.

all good things come to those who wait :-)

:-)

Love this album, it's so very cynical, and I love every second of it. Held together with solid guitar work. Still think my favorite tracks aren't on the album. Lies I can Believe is up there as one of my favorite outtakes, don't know how this one ended up abandoned. Fall of 92 is another great track but I can easily see why it didn't make the album (amazing that something could be too outright cynical to be on that album, quite an accomplishment) glad that one was at least released though. Ghosts of Hypno's past was pretty good track too. Sanpaiku, was an interesting track a little outtake, like some things about it but its a bit rough. Was interesting to finally hear another version of Three sisters shaking on this page, it really ticks me off apple doesn't think Walter Becker ever deserves an artist picture and to this date you get the mic for him on itunes and i devices.

I believe this to be a passage for the ages, from the personal to the universe ...

"I'm pullin' in a picture now Up off my back pages And all at once am privy to The entire grim design Of a great civilization In the terminal stages Of a slow but steady mental moral spiritual decline And so it goes And thus it is written And all I want to know is Where does a guy like me fit in??

Right where you were Walter, right where you spent your life I think.

Thank you for filling our minds with your thoughts!

we do have most Whack-era "demos" in the chute. In some cases, it's a matter of finding the best copy among very many (very many) rehearsal versions, several of which are great in their own unique way. So much so that we're mulling over how to handle certain tracks that have so many versions, many substantively different from one another, that it seems crazy to try to pick among them. In other cases it is in trying to clean up the warble and pops on a cassette. In another case, chasing down a lead on the possibility of there being a 24-track version (which we haven't gotten to yet). .. and always, I have certain principles WB expected me to follow. Since in some sense we are selecting "versions of record", we trying to be super thoughtful with our selections. Greatly appreciate your patience.

I too think Lies I Can Believe is probably my favorite of the excluded tracks. Our Lawn is a winner too.

Queued up for the next post is something very few people have heard -- from early 90s -- and something of a mystery in which your guess will be as good as mine if that mystery is to be solved.

(I know some of you think this sort of thing is lame -- involving readers instead of just spooling out the tracks. A "Shut up and Post" kinda thing. But please understand; I don't do this because I'm trying to generate interest out there; I do it to try to survive it in here. I would rather feel "oh here's a mystery, let's think about it!" than the honest truth -- which is; I can't ask him. There is so much I will never know, ever. He's gone)

TBD: that sense of being possessed by Walter's thoughts, view of the world; sometimes frightening-- always a little magical. I'm grateful for that feeling today, when it comes. Thanks for reminding...

MOD...Ugh. It's not lame, it's respectful and YOURS to process, we are grateful you're sharing anything and how you choose to do that is yours alone!! No worry on us here!