Monday, September 11, 2017

Okay, Maybe It WON'T Be Butch Walker Week

From 2000, and the soundtrack to the mediocre Jim Carrey vehicle Me, Myself and Irene (which is a de facto Steely Dan tribute album)...


...please sort of enjoy Butch Walker and the Marvelous 3 (who I had, deservedly, nice things to say about a couple of days ago) and their cover of the Dan's "Reelin' in the Years."



I'm sort of a born again Butch Walker fan, but I gotta say...this one doesn't do it for me. The phrase that comes to mind immediately is -- rinky-dink.

That said, the original is so perfect that I can't imagine anybody else doing justice to the song.

Your thoughts?

8 comments:

danny1959 said...

A bit too Bon Jovi for my taste.

Billy B said...

As you mention, the original was perfect so this was a bad song to cover. The fuzzy guitars don't work for me. As does the fact that Butch can't play a solo like Skunk or Dias. Plus he doesn't have the vocal chops Mr. Fagen possesses.

Anonymous said...

Check out Brian Setzer/Bodhisattva.
A cover worthy of Todd Rundrens "Faithful"

rob

Billy B said...

rob - the Setzer cover is killer. I also looked up the solo for Reelin' in the Years and learned it was Elliott Randall who played the solo. Oops. I remember Skunk Baxter playing it live from the TV in later 72...

Anonymous said...

Billy,
Denny Diaz / lead on Reeln' - Midnight Special
Looked, sounded live. Saw some equipment cords, Denny has his foot on an effects pedal.
David Palmer looks woefully out of place, also has bad teeth. ;-)

rob

pete said...

Vocal doesn't swing.

Billy B said...

rob -

I probably saw that as I didn't miss too many MS or In Concerts (and later Don Kirschner's show). The Baxter solo on Reelin' was from In Concert. I am also pretty sure it was live because I had seen enough bands play to their records to recognize the difference.

Fagen and Becker always had very talented guitarists - Diaz, Baxter, Larry Carlton ,and so on.

Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

Check out David Palmers website. He went on to a photo career but has a section called "Lost Demos". He had a band "Mydle Class", you can hear the Foreigner influence.
Turns out Carole King won a Grammy for a song he co-wrote...

rob