Steely Dan: The Royal Scam
Bud Scoppa, Circus, 24 August 1976
DONALD FAGEN AND Walter Becker don't play by the rules. They won't tour, they won't talk to interviewers, they won't keep a band together — instead they prefer to ship out their best players to the Doobie Brothers and hire hand-picked freelance musicians for specific parts on specific tracks (they've been known to fly players from New York to Los Angeles just to lay down 30-second solos).
Total word count of piece: 560
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
RBP on Spotify: The genius of Judee Sill
RBP Album Club in Chicago, June 30th: Paul Yamada and Liam (Plush) Hayes celebrate a Curtis Mayfield classic
Essential Listening: Roy Trakin meets the Replacements in '87
Essential Reading: Andrew Smith's history of the first dotcom boom
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Join the Facebook group now