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Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson is on this track, along with Patti Austin, Michael McDonald, David Sanborn is here too with Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame. It is a who's who of the most talented artists of that Era. Immaculate playing.

Its perfection and grace.

This bridge alone is a masterpiece. Incredible chord changes.

The credits for Time Out of Mind: Donald Fagen - lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer, electric piano Walter Becker - bass, guitar Mark Knopfler - lead guitar Hugh McCracken - guitar David Sanborn - alto saxophone Randy Brecker - trumpet Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone Dave Tofani - tenor saxophone Ronnie Cuber - baritone saxophone Rob Mounsey - piano, horn arrangement Rick Marotta - drums Michael McDonald, Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, Lesley Miller - backing vocals

Chasing the dragon, Walter Becker had a serious issue with heroin. All that and they still produce such great music. I think I am correct on this. If not correct me. I am cool with it.

The great Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame on the outro. And of course "Double M" on background vox.

This was one of the first to use an electronic drum machine. They auditioned several of greatest drummers, but weren’t satisfied so they paid their engineer, Roger Nichols, about $100,000 to build a drum machine....A few weeks later, he came back and they used a mix of real drums and the drum machine, known as ‘Wendel I’. Keep in mind, this machine was primitive.

I know you heard you know who in the background lol 🔥🔥🔥

This is one of the fans favorite for them to play live in concert. My brother in laws overall favorite Steely Dan track. Chasing the dragon... drug reference...

One has to MATURE to fully GET the artistry of this LP. It is a GREAT one. Lyrically, like much of The Dan's music, it goes pretty deep. The musicianship is, as usual, phenomenal. "Time Out of Mind" is one of my favorite cuts from the early 80s.

I love the horn chart on this one. So detail oriented were Don and Walt, and so on their game are the woodwind and brass sesh players(Cuber, Tofani, BRECKERs, and SANBORN, that as the chart builds in detail and scope through the song and they crescendo in the last chorus, there isn't a single 'cycle per second' (hz) difference in tuning between the players. Surgically sharp and breathtaking in 5.1 Dolby surround (DVD-Audio release.)

"Time Out of Mimd" was heavily played on the radio in L.A. back in 1980. The groove got to you. Classy, saucy, it has to be Steely Dan.

After years and years of listening to this album, somehow this is the song I keep coming back to.

Yes this is one of if not they first drumb machine used in a song. Donald told someone he wanted something like that and 100,000 dollars later he made one for him.

One of their best songs IMO, so sunny and upbeat for a song about drugs haha Also that bridge is genius, mixing jazz with gospel and the way the guitar and horns pile on little by little...there's a video somewhere of that bridge for like an hour straight lol!

Read about the making of Gaucho on Wikipedia, it has the drum machine stuff all spelled out.

Suggestion for the future: Donald Fagen solo material - he's definitely carried SD's sound forward for decades. Start with Morph the Cat (album) and you could begin with the title track.

I have to listen all over again, for the drums and horn you mentioned. My brain was focusing on piano and guitar. I loved where, and at what volume, everything was in the mix.

My second favorite Steely Dan song for sure. The groovy keys throughout the song, the lyrics, the reverb, and a strong horn section. It’s...perfection and grace to say the least.

The chorus contains three very overt drug references to my ears. Chasing the dragon is smoking heroin, water changing to cherry wine is blood coming into a syringe when you hit, and silver turning to gold is foil changing from it's normal color to gold after a lighter had been held to it and burned chasing the dragon. Im probably wrong since those references seem to overt for Walter to have written. SD never discuss who wrote what in any of their compositions but I'm pretty sure Walter wrote these lyrics.

The interviews back from Knopfler they only used a few seconds of his playing. Supposedly Fagen turned to Becker while he was playing and said "I thought you said he was good?" In fairness they (Becker/Fagen) were looking for a sound that didn't exist. And yes after the drums were laid down they had Nichols make a drum machine to fill in the spots they wanted.

This is up there with one of my fav SD songs. So upbeat and melodic.

I love this album, i was 25 when it came out , and still love it like first time i listen to it.

Donald and Walter told the engineer at the studio that they wished there was a machine where they could program the drums the way they really wanted. So Roger Nichols, the engineer, invented the drum machine they named Wendel.

This is from their "Gaucho" album, which is the most perfect sounding album I have ever heard of any genre. Just extreme genius.

Once upon a time in my life, I was introduced to the dragon. It was popular in Amsterdam. Smoked, the high is instantaneous and prolonged usage created a difficult habit to 'withdraw' from.

Prople here mention the dum machine. One of the earliest usages was Sly and the Family Stone. On 1969's "Thank You...Again." And "Family Affair." 1971.

One of their most catchy songs: Children we have it right here It's the light in my eyes It's perfection and grace It's the smile on my face Beautiful. The music swings, glides, bounces and entrances too. It was lovely to see your reactions to it as it's apparent you dig them and are instantly switched on, engaged and strapped in for the ride.

This song is about Walter's heroin addiction. Steely Dan broke up in 1981 (until the 1990s) so Walter could dry out in Maui.

"Time out of mind"and Steely Dan is "The Best", Young People.

I know the drum machine was used on Hey Nineteen, but I’m not sure what other songs it was used on.

It's perfection and grace its a smile on my face tonight when I chase the dragon the water may turn to cherry wine 🍷 chasing the smack ( opium ) off the foil.

Probably my fav Dan tune. The instrumental section in the middle is brilliant and the musical line up of players is crazy good.

Of the hundreds of thousands of lines Michael McDonald has recorded over the years, his "children we have it right here" and "light in my eyes" that he sings after the bridge are my favorite bits of his singing ever!

That was very nice.

a tour de force of phrasing, filling, riffing and blowing our collective minds!

From 1:40 to about 1:50 the ensemble magic, timing, and artisanship strikes all together - and your faces show it..

Sorry I actually confused issues “ Michael Franks “ The Camera Never Lies “ video is the early drum machine tune w/ Steve Khan ( Chase the dragon) on guitar. !

It’s perfection and grace!

Steely Dan engineer, Roger Nichols invented a drum machine that he called Wendel for this album. I believe it is the drum machine used anywhere.

"Ruby Baby" by Donald Fagen on his solo album The Nightfly.

Aside from the extraordinary music created, I've ALWAYS found it intriguing to try to deduce what drug they are referencing in their songs! Sooo many of their songs have a drug/s reference somewhere ensconced within the lyrics. Don't know if anyone has pointed it out already, but: the band's name "Steely Dan" is a direct reference from William Burrough's book "Naked Lunch"--which contains a dildo (yes!) with the same name as the band. Burroughs, (himself being a well-known drug user) obviously inspired the duo (Fagan and Becker) tremendously. Subsequently, a great many of the songs the duo produced have obvious, (and some not-so-obvious) musings about drugs. Whoever said nothing good ever comes from drug use...is quite wrong!!

One of my favorite Dan songs.

Yes, was Michael. Yes, first drum machine named Wendel. Yes, is about heroin.

Listen to Michael Franks “Your Secrets Safe With Me “ for early drum machine “ Franks like Steely Dan was jazzy and used top studio musicians. His Classic album “ One Bad Habit” is beautifully recorded and his tune “ The Dream” is Dynamite . Try him out !

That groove though

Michael McDonald showed up on this one.

I'm so surprised so many of you don't know this song. I was born in the 70s & I'd hear them played on Black radio stations in the 70s & 80s, as well as mainstream radio. I grew up in a Southwest market, not places like Chicago or LA or Atlanta. Wow. People really don't know them.

The solo is a guitar. Indeed, heavily processed of Mark Knopfler's (Dire Straits). Knopfler in later interviews admitted he hated the sessions because of the limited spontaneity and playing the licks over and over. Mostly, I think Knopfler probably hated the effects and having his guitar lead buried in the mix. Love both Dire Straits and Steely Dan, but their approach is polar opposite in the studio. lol

This was the other single from the album. It peaked at #22 on the billboard hot 100 chart on 4/25/81.

This song as well as Hey Nineteen were chart toppers up here in Canada for a while eh. SD were more popular here than in most places. I went to England in 1985 and was in a pub asked 5 people as I recall what they thought of SD only one Brit had even heard of them.

not about a drum machine, but thought you might enjoy this classic Dan studio/tech anecdote I just stumbled on when reading about production stuff: “While Becker and Fagen were notorious perfectionists, minutely attentive to the tiniest blemishes to which human performers are inevitably prey, Fagen was probably the more neurotic, his drive to eliminate anomalies and square off every awry detail leading to legendary feats of fussiness and the nickname ‘Mother’. While recording ‘Home At Last’ on Aja, he reportedly spent four days punching in the words ‘Well, the’ (as in ‘Well, the danger on the rocks is surely past’). During mixing on Gaucho, at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles, Fagen encountered his ideal: one of Neve’s earliest automated desks, a tool which allowed incremental tweaking of infinitesimal details. After the two hundred and fiftieth mix of ‘Babylon Sisters’, the maintenance crew awarded him a ‘platinum’ floppy disk, handpainted with silver nail polish. When engineer Elliot Scheiner reached Mix No. 274, Fagen decided that an acceptable compromise had been reached and took it home to New York. A week later, everyone was back in the studio to fix the second bass note in the second bar, which ‘Mother’ had noticed was too soft.”

Porcaro was replaced by Bernard “Pretty” Purdie and his famed “Purdie Shuffle”-style playing on “Babylon Sister”, and eventually a state-of-the-art drum machine nicknamed “Wendel” that was created by a sound engineer Roger Nicolls for about $100k 1977 to Becker and Fagen’s specifications (Wendel famously received a plaque when Gaucho was certified Platinum). Imagine this as a microcosm for their entire recording process, working through each part on each track individually, performing take-after-take until getting it just right.

Smoothe as a song can be about heroine.

Their studio engineer extraordinaire Roger Nichols was one of the early pioneers of the drum machine and I believe he invented one called Wendell that they used on Gaucho although I don’t know which song or songs they used it on

Michael McDonald solo would be a good dive for you guys.

This was Steely Dans final charted single.

Michael McDonald elevates every song he brings his voice to.

chasing the dragon is smoking opium or doing smack.....water into cherry wine is the water turning red inside a syringe when hitting the vain. Becker had a bad heroin habit. Great track.

Oh, Yeah - "Chasing the Dragon", 'rolling in the snow' we're hearing about opium (which inspired tons of great music) - jus' sayin'. If you want to review a GREAT album from this time period, Check RICKIE LEE JONES' debut album (titled 'Rickie Lee Jones') - some of the best session musicians available ('78?), back when it was considered hip and fashionable to be on the street at night around Hollywood and Vine - I don't think there's a bad cut or filler on the whole album. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT FOR A REACTION! My faves = 'Weasel And The White Boys Cool', 'Young Blood', 'Chuck E's In Love', 'Last Chance Texaco' ...

Alchemical allusions as well heroin freebasing. Time out of mind.....local space-time being manipulated by local space time geometry...and a perfection of the alchemical philosophers stone. And yes. Valerie Simpson on background. You can hear Valerie Simpson and Luther vandross on David Bowie's album....Young Americans.

Sounds like a phaser/chorus on the guitar part which doubles as a keyboard sound.

No band has ever had more great drummers on their projects: Rick Marotta, Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Jeff Porcaro, Kieth Carlock. Gotta have that legendary shuffle groove beat to play in the Dan! And backup singers like Patti Austin and Michael McDonald? Steely Dan don't play around!

Did you notice future lead singer of the Doobie brothers Micheal McDonald singing back up vocals?

Please PLEASE review Advanced Romance by Frank Zappa from the Bongo Fury Album. Seductive slide guitar and immersive blues with harmonica.

Yes, it's obviously full of imagery a junkie would see and feel. I think the story on this is that Donald wrote it for Walter because of his heroin problems. It took Walter a long time to get himself straight.

Walter Becker had a heroin problem in that era.

Vocals Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen all the musicians are pretty much session musicians except for Donald Fagen and Walter Becker

Mark Knopfler on guitar, didn't know, wasn't expecting that; sounds fairly characteristic of him though, restrained, fluid, tasty. Poor Walter, all strung out at this time, though I gotta say, I'm tiring of the "smack dab in the middle-of-the-road" themes. Past hip into how sad, if not ho-hum, but for the expert if facile tuneful near-perfection we know and luuurve. 8'>\

There is an explanation about this song in which the dragon is the heroin, the cherry wine is when a small amount of blood enters the syringe (making sure your in the vein when pulling it back) and the heated foil, when melting it down, turns into a gold color.

mark knopfler of Dire Straits on lead guitar

Cool music to a serious topic, heroin addiction!

Don't forget, Michael popped up there.. .. Again.. 😉

their songs are classics. and I'm surprised that people are listening.

chasing the dragon is smoking opium-herion

No wonder he hit writers block

Michael MacDonald in the back.

This is the one song that doesn’t deserve criticism.. cmon bro

You can't handle Steely Dan

I can almost guarantee that Michael Jackson and/or Quincy Jones heard this track and “borrowed” the drum sound and horn section vibe for the song Billy Jean. That’s not a knock against MJ or QJ as they were already a great artist and producer in their own right, but I’m sure they heard this and said “wow, we can DO something with this”. I can imagine MJ dancing to this and doing the moonwalk!

Def double MM.

Hey SAD, would you ever consider reacting to a live video from Steely Dan? I know you said you were only doing the studio albums but there is a live performance of a song called "Jack of Speed" from their next album "Two Against Nature". This was from a concert recorded in 2000. It sounds close to the studio version so I think it would be a good one for you two to check out. The quality of the video is really good too so I feel it would be worth a reaction. Here is the link to the video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gMyPkste3dG1ep8.html

Can u review yellow flowers by in the sky music?

OMG Smoking Heroine/Opium

uh... was there some reference to illegal substances in this song? If they had been even a tiny bit more explicit they would have had the cops busting down the door.

Michael Mc Donald very clear at 3:29 Not sure if you noticed.

Chasing the dragon is a heroin experience! Though rolling in the snow ?

I might be mistaken but I think the first use of the drum machine was John Lennon on "Instant Karma". I know he used a non-human drummer on it and it made me sad. Maybe they called it something else. To go from Ringo to R2D2 was depressing.

Walter Becker did have a brown issue.

A Love song to heroin. Good tune.

I hate drum mchines but think this is real . Its like the Tiller Girls high kickin in step. and that dont fit with opium. The backing singers doing Brazil 66 had big

I wish they would have extended the end hear more guitar

It’s a bad Steely Dan song.

how dare you take a drink during filming. That's disrespectful to SD. Who do you think you are

their songs are classics. and I'm surprised that people are listening.