Steely Dan -- FM (No Static at All)

 

I'm providing this week's Reminiscings of Youth under false pretenses since this song by Steely Dan, unlike "Peg" and "Time Out of Mind", isn't something from my youth. I never heard this on the radio while I was growing up although I was certainly alive at the time of its release in 1978. In fact, I didn't hear it for the first time until I was well within my odyssey in Japan between 1994 and 2011 when I picked up that Steely Dan BEST compilation.

As well, I had never seen nor heard of the April 1978 film "FM" with its eclectic cast which included two stars from Mel Brooks' classic "Blazing Saddles": Alex Karras and Cleavon Little. It wasn't particularly well reviewed but looking at the trailer, I'd be interested in taking a gander at it.

However, it's the theme song by Steely Dan, "FM (No Static at All)", that has managed to grab me by the wide lapels of my leisure suit of the 1970s. But I'm a huge Steely Dan fan so that's no surprise. What's also no surprise is that Wikipedia has provided a rather lengthy article on the song itself so please peruse that for that analysis that I could never create. 

For me, "FM" is this heady combination of jazz, rock, R&B and romantic sophisticated pop that hits all the right places. The first three genres drive me on the nocturnal and perhaps not-so-safe streets of the metropolis while the final genre manages to lift me up into the clouds and penthouses thanks to those really silky strings. And once again, it seems as if Donald Fagen and Walter Becker managed to attract some of the best of the best in studio musicians and jazz greats such as drummer Jeff Porcaro of TOTO and saxophonist Pete Christlieb. Plus, I only found out recently that some of The Eagles had helped out as background singers. The contrasts and comparisons even extend into the relationship between the song and the movie with the lyrics condemning FM radio while the John A. Alonzo project wants to save it. As a kid who only really knew about AM radio at the time, this whole argument was lost on me. But I'll be more than happy to take "FM" for my own now. I'd also say that this would be one song that I'd play on my own radio broadcast that I mentioned some months ago.

"FM" the single was released on May 19, 1978. A few days prior, there was the Oricon Top 10 list for May 15. Let's see what was up at Nos. 1, 3 and 5.

1. Pink Lady -- Southpaw （サウスポー）

3. Momoe Yamaguchi -- Playback Part 2 （プレイバック・パート２）

5. Candies -- Hohoemigaeshi （微笑がえし）

Billy Joel -- The Stranger (album) Side B

 

Well, the usual occupational hazard has happened again on KKP where I mention that I will follow up on something soon enough and actually years go by. Mind you, it's not quite Rip van Winkle time but I wrote up on Side A of the original classic LP "The Stranger" by Billy Joel from September 1977 back in March 2022. Cue ahead almost 26 months later...

"The Stranger" is one of those albums in music history where virtually every track is a winner, loudly or quietly, and I'm happy to finally show off Side B.

Maybe those 26 months were due to the fact that I'd been waiting for the official music video (only released two weeks ago) for "Vienna" which starts off Side B. It's one of the more unusual songs by Joel because I hadn't heard it as much as I did the title track "The Stranger" and "Just The Way You Are" on the radio, and for the fact that it does have that accordion-like instrument in there to hint at that trip to Vienna which young William had taken years back. In the Wikipedia article for "The Stranger", I noticed that both "Vienna" and "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" were mentioned in the same sentence and that fit for me since the former has that similarly wistful tone as the latter although "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" is on a much larger scale. What I hadn't realized was that "Vienna" was an analogy for Joel's wish as to how the elderly should be allowed to spend their last stage in life, so it's no surprise that the song has gained greater recognition as the years have gone by.

I was surprised to hear that "Only the Good Die Young" had been released as a single in May 1978 since the first time I heard it was as a B-side on one of Joel's other singles, interestingly enough. And the crazier thing is that I swear that I'd actually heard it for the first time as a jingle for some commercial although what the product was I can't remember at all...it probably wasn't one for the Catholic church, though. The concert video above has Joel introducing the song with a bit of snark that the lyrics have something to offend everybody and yep, Catholic groups weren't impressed (which has something in common with last week's ROY tune) by Joel's message that Catholic girls were the party poopers of adolescent oat-sowing. But dang, it's a fun song to listen to.😎

"She's Always a Woman" was yet another single from "The Stranger" and unlike "Vienna", it did get onto the radio quite often. I've paired "Vienna" and "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" together and so I can do the same with "She's Always a Woman" and "Just The Way You Are" in terms of the ardor that Joel's protagonists express for the women in their lives. However, "She's Always a Woman" has a bit more of a folksier bent as Joel sings about loving a woman not only in spite of but also because of her flaws.

"Get It Right the First Time" is one of the two final songs that never got a single release and never really seemed to get onto the radio. I first heard it years ago when an enterprising radio station finally opted to show off some of Joel's more unknown numbers, and "Get It Right the First Time" is a high-energy pop-rock tune about making sure one's ready for a first-time confrontation which could span between an intra-neighbourhood spat and a presidential debate. 

"Everybody Has a Dream" is the final piece in "The Stranger" and it's a gospel pop song that I hadn't heard Joel tackle before. If the entirety of "The Stranger" was used for a concert performance and each track was performed in order, then this is the song to finish things off properly and satisfyingly see off the audience back home. Mind you, encores would be inevitable, though.

Now, for something as legendary as this album, I can only do the comparison with Japanese music by having the Top 3 albums of 1977 via Oricon underneath.

1. Hi-Fi Set            Love Collection

2. The Eagles          Hotel California

3. Kei Ogura           Tosagaru Fuukei（遠ざかる風景）

And how about that? I've made this post just a week shy of The Piano Man's 75th birthday!