What happened to... the Steely Dan Catalog in surround? (1 Viewer)

[John Kotches]

At one point there was supposed to be a release of the remainder of the Steely Dan catalog in surround...

Has anyone heard anything on when (if ever) this will see the light of day? Will these titles disappear like the proverbial sock in the laundry as Jackson Browne's Running on Empty has?

Cheers,

 

[LarryDavenport]

I think UMG is abandoning SACD. They no longer show future releases.

 

[Craig S]

:frowning:

 

[John Kotches]

If the catalog makes it to DualDisc, DVD-Audio or SA-CD I won't complain.

Cheers,

 

[Rachael B]

I'm claiming the world record for waiting on a hi-rez release. I've had King Crimson's IN THE COURT OF... on preorder for over 3 years now and counting, not crows.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I feel your pain Rachael! I remember jumping for joy on word that ITCOTCK, Rush's 2112, Pink Floyd's The Wall, and Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway were all supposed to come out. At least The Lamb has a UK release date.

I was reading old SACD news, and as late as last September Sony, UMG, and other labels were still talking up the format and talking of building more SACD plants. It's too bad, though understandable, that the youth market would rather buy or steal MP3s than have to buy a new surround system with SACD/DVDA compatibility.

 

[seanJ]

The non appearance of the Dan albums on SACD is a major disappointment......and a little curious given the release of "Gaucho" a while back on SACD ( and DTS CD for that matter )and the availability of their two most recent albums on DVDA.
There was talk on these very boards @18 months ago that surround mix maestro Elliot Scheiner was in the process of preparing The Beatles "Abbey Road" for SACD but that`s another release which appears to have bit the dust.

Here`s hopeing......

 

[questrider]

Yes, I've been waiting for these too, especially hearing how damn good "Gaucho," "Two Against Nature," and "Everything Must Go" sound.

However, alas, the Dan's best album (arguably), "Aja", cannot be remixed in 5.1 surround sound because the masters for that recording are missing the multitracks for two songs, reportedly "Black Cow" and "Aja". Here's the response I got back in November '04 from the keeper of the steelydan.com site:

"As has been noted and reported previously, the multitrack masters for two songs from Aja are missing so a surround mix among others can not be done (properly) until they are located."

If you watch the Classic Albums series on "Aja," Becker and Fagen break down most of the tracks from the multitrack mixes and listen to pieces of the songs, like the drum tracks, guitar solos, backing vocals and "deleted" tracks not used in the final mixes. They do this with the songs "Deacon Blues," "Peg," "Home At Last," and "Josie" but not "Black Cow" and "Aja" (or "I Got the News" which is only heard during the end credits). For "Black Cow" and "Aja" they simply sit and play the mixes we are all accustomed to hearing while critiquing them a bit but they don't deconstruct them. I'm assuming these are the songs that the the multitrack masters are missing because I think if they had the multitracks, they would have deconstructed these songs like the others too. For "Black Cow" they joke about the rap rip-off ("Uptown, baby! Uptown, baby!") and explain exactly what a black cow is (ice cream and root beer, depending on the geographical location you order one). And for "Aja" they basically talk about the drum break Steve Gadd and the saxaphone soloing that was done improvisationally without any charting. No multitrack breakdown for either of these songs.

Truly disappointing. That said, I wouldn't cough at the remixes of "Pretzel Logic," "Katy Lied" and "The Royal Scam." Or, heck, just remix the hits and put out "A Decade of Steely Dan" in 5.1 because that collection doesn't contain "Black Cow" or "Aja" to begin with.

Wow, it just breaks my heart to know that the masters to those two songs (two of my absolute faves!) are missing. I can't imagine what it does to Becker, Fagen, Nichols, Katz and Schiener's hearts, minds and souls!

 

[John Kotches]

Brian,

Yeah, but AJA has the unusual meter changes. Honestly, I could live with AJA not having all tracks in MC, although I wouldn't mind having the Wayne Shorter Tenor solo on the title track swoop from back to front like Chris Potter's kick-*** coda to West of Hollywood. Not possible without the multi-tracks though!

Cheers,

 

[Mike Broadman]

I'm sure their release will be announced as soon as I purchase the Citizen Dan box set, thus resulting in me wasting money.

 

[gene c]

Mike, any chance of you blowing a few bucks for the betterment of others? .... Please. (At this point, I'll try anything) And while you're at it, pick up the most expensive Genesis set you can find too.