![]() Still, after Steely Dan's tour in support of Pretzel Logic (MCA, 1974), the group was disbanded and Steely Dan became a studio-only group, with Becker and Fagen developing a reputation as perfectionists who were prepared, after conducting sessions with a particular line-up, to discard the sessions entirely and start again from scratch. Though Becker and Fagen's pre-Steely Dan stint as staff songwriters for ABC/Dunhill in Los Angeles was more in line with their aspiration to be professional songwriters (as opposed to performing musicians) a la New York's The Brill Building, producer Gary Katz's suggestion that they form a band to record their songs ended up turning them into a group with an identity. Steely Danthe rock group that emerged in the 1970s as a collective but ultimately whittled itself down to its two songwriting components, Walter Becker and Donald Fagenhas demonstrated it's possible to write contemporary songs that have commercial appeal but, at the same time, possess the kind of harmonic depth that make them more than simple pop confections of the moment. There are those who bemoan the apparent lack of sophistication in contemporary pop music, although there are plenty of examples proving that it's not all about 'dumbing down' for the masses.
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