The Royal Scam
The Royal Scam is the fifth studio album by Steely Dan released by ABC Records in 1976. The album peaked at # 15 on the charts; the Royal Scam features more prominent guitar work than the prior Steely Dan album, Katy Lied, the first without founding guitarist Jeff Baxter. Guitarists on the recording include Walter Becker, Denny Dias, Larry Carlton, Elliott Randall and Dean Parks. In common with other Steely Dan albums, The Royal Scam is littered with cryptic allusions to people and events both real and fictional. In a BBC interview in 2000, Becker and Fagen revealed that "Kid Charlemagne" is loosely based on Augustus Owsley Stanley, the notorious drug "chef", famous for manufacturing hallucinogenic compounds, that "Caves of Altamira", based on a book by Hans Baumann, is about the loss of innocence, the narrative about a visitor to the Cave of Altamira who registers his astonishment at the prehistoric drawings, it is influenced by Plato's Cave Allegory and Keats"Ode to a Grecian Urn". The album was re-issued by MCA Records in 1979 following the sale of the ABC Records label to MCA.
The album cover shows a man in a suit, sleeping on a radiator, dreaming of skyscraper-beast hybrids. The cover was created from a painting by Zox and a photograph by Charlie Ganse, was created for Van Morrison's unreleased 1975 album, Mechanical Bliss, the concept being a satire of the American Dream. In the liner notes for the 1999 remaster of the album and Becker claim it to be "the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none." In the song "Everything You Did", a lyric says, "turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening." Glenn Frey of the Eagles said, "Apparently Walter Becker's girlfriend loved the Eagles, she played them all the time. I think. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day and, the genesis of the line." Given that the two bands shared a manager and that the Eagles proclaimed their admiration for Steely Dan, this was more friendly rivalry than feud. That year in a nod back to Steely Dan for the free publicity, inspired by Steely Dan's lyric style, the Eagles penned the lyrics, "They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast" in their hit "Hotel California".
Frey commented, "We just wanted to allude to Steely Dan rather than mentioning them outright, so'Dan' got changed to'knives,', still, you know, a penile metaphor.". This comment refers to the name's claimed origin in William S. Burroughs' book Naked Lunch. Timothy B. Schmit, who sang background vocals on "The Royal Scam" would join the Eagles; the album was not as rated upon its release as its predecessors with most reviewers noting that it did not seem to represent any musical advancement. In contrast, the original Rolling Stone review was more positive, the magazine gave it five stars in a Hall of Fame review; the song "The Caves Of Altamira" was sung by a character in the SB Nation story 17776 written by Jon Bois. All tracks written except where noted. Steely Dan Donald Fagen – keyboards, background vocals Walter Becker – bass, guitarAdditional musicians Production Complete lyrics
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio and archives the history of the best-known and most influential artists, producers and other notable figures who have had some major influence on the development of rock and roll. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established on April 20, 1983, by Atlantic Records founder and chairman Ahmet Ertegun. In 1986, Cleveland was chosen as the Hall of Fame's permanent home. Founder Ahmet Ertegun assembled a team that included attorney Suzan Evans, Rolling Stone magazine editor and publisher Jann S. Wenner, attorney Allen Grubman, record executives Seymour Stein, Bob Krasnow, Noreen Woods; the Foundation began inducting artists in 1986. The search committee considered several cities, including Philadelphia, Detroit, New York City, Cleveland. Cleveland lobbied for the museum, with civic leaders in Cleveland pledging $65 million in public money to fund the construction, citing that WJW disc jockey Alan Freed both coined the term "rock and roll" and promoted the new genre—and that Cleveland was the location of Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball credited as the first major rock and roll concert.
Freed was a member of the hall of fame's inaugural class of inductees in 1986. In addition, Cleveland cited radio station WMMS, which played a key role in breaking several major acts in the U. S. during the 1970s and 1980s, including David Bowie, who began his first U. S. tour in the city, Bruce Springsteen, Roxy Music, Rush among many others. A petition drive was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland over Memphis, Cleveland ranked first in a 1986 USA Today poll asking where the Hall of Fame should be located. On May 5, 1986, the Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Author Peter Guralnick said. Cleveland may have been chosen as the organization's site because the city offered the best financial package; as The Plain Dealer music critic Michael Norman noted, "It was $65 million... Cleveland wanted it here and put up the money." Co-founder Jann Wenner said, "One of the small sad things is we didn't do it in New York in the first place," but added, "I am delighted that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland."
During early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and Museum, the Foundation's board considered the Cuyahoga River. The chosen location was along East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland by Lake Erie, east of Cleveland Stadium. At one point in the planning phase, when a financing gap existed, planners proposed locating the Rock Hall in the then-vacant May Company Building, but decided to commission architect I. M. Pei to design a new building. Initial CEO Dr. Larry R. Thompson facilitated I. M. Pei in designs for the site. Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it; the museum tower was planned to stand 200 ft high, but had to be cut down to 162 ft due to its proximity to Burke Lakefront Airport. The building's base is 150,000 square feet; the groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 7, 1993. Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Carl Gardner of the Coasters and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum all appeared at the groundbreaking.
The museum was dedicated on September 1, 1995, with the ribbon being cut by an ensemble that included Yoko Ono and Little Richard, among others, before a crowd of more than 10,000 people. The following night an all-star concert was held at the stadium, it featured Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, many others. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the museum documents the entire history of rock and roll, regardless of induction status. Hall of Fame inductees are honored in a special exhibit located in a wing that juts out over Lake Erie. Since 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has selected new inductees; the formal induction ceremony has been held in New York City 26 times. As of 2018, the induction ceremonies alternate each year between New Cleveland; the 2009 and 2012 induction weeks were made possible by a public–private partnership between the City of Cleveland, the State of Ohio, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, local foundations, civic organizations and individuals.
Collectively these entities invested $5.8 million in 2009 and $7.9 million in 2012 to produce a week of events, including free concerts, a gospel celebration, exhibition openings, free admission to the museum, induction ceremonies filled with both fans and VIPs at Public Hall. Millions viewed the television broadcast of the Cleveland inductions; the economic impact of the 2009 induction week activities was more than $13 million, it provided an additional $20 million in media exposure for the region. The 2012 induction week yielded similar results. There are seven levels in the building. On the lower level is the Ahmet M. Ertegun Exhibition Hall, the museum's main gallery, it includes exhibits on the roots of roll. It featu
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British singer-songwriter, record producer and lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music, was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Born in 1946 in Zanzibar to Parsi parents from India, he attended English-style boarding schools in India from the age of eight, returned to Zanzibar after secondary school. In 1964, his family fled the Zanzibar Revolution, moving to England. Having studied and written music for years, he formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Are the Champions", he led a solo career and served as a producer and guest musician for other artists. Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, he confirmed the day before his death. As a member of Queen, Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 1990, he and the band Queen were awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In 1992 a tribute concert was held at London. In 2002, Mercury ranked as number 58 in the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons; the 2018 film about Mercury and Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, is the highest-grossing musical biographical film of all time. Rami Malek won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Mercury in the film, among critical praise and other accolades. Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town in the British protectorate of Zanzibar on 5 September 1946, his parents and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then-province of the Bombay Presidency in British India. They had moved to Zanzibar so that Bomi could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office; as Parsis, the Bulsara family practised the Zoroastrian religion. Mercury had a younger sister, Kashmira Bulsara, now based in Nottingham, who took her husband's surname after marrying Roger Cooke.
He was born with four supernumerary incisors. As Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963, Mercury was born a British citizen, he remained so throughout his life. Mercury spent most of his childhood in India where he began taking piano lessons at the age of seven while living with relatives. In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a British-style boarding school for boys, in Panchgani near Bombay. At the age of 12, he formed a school band, the Hectics, covered rock and roll artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard. One of Mercury's former bandmates from the Hectics has said "the only music he listened to, played, was Western pop music." A friend from the time recalls that he had "an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano". It was at St. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie", he attended St. Mary's School, Mumbai. In February 1963 he moved back to Zanzibar. In 1964, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar to escape the violence of the revolution for independence, in which thousands of ethnic Arabs and Indians were killed.
They moved into a small house at 22 Gladstone Avenue, Middlesex, England. After first studying art at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London, Mercury studied graphic art and design at Ealing Art College, graduating with a diploma in 1969, he used these skills to design heraldic arms for his band Queen. Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in Kensington Market in London with girlfriend Mary Austin, he held a job as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. Friends from the time remember him as a shy young man with a great interest in music. In 1969 he joined the Liverpool-based band Ibex renamed Wreckage, he lived in a flat above a Liverpool pub, The Dovedale Towers. When this band failed to take off, he joined another called Sour Milk Sea, but by early 1970 this group had broken up as well. In April 1970, Mercury teamed up with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, to become lead singer of their band Smile, they were joined by bassist John Deacon in 1971.
Despite the reservations of the other members and Trident Studios, the band's initial management, Mercury chose the name "Queen" for the new band. He said, "It's regal and it sounds splendid. It's a strong name universal and immediate. I was aware of the gay connotations, but, just one facet of it." At about the same time, he changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury. Shortly before the release of Queen's self-titled first album, Mercury designed the band's logo, known as the "Queen crest"; the logo combines the zodiac signs of the four band members: two lions for Deacon and Taylor, a crab for May, two fairies for Mercury. The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, the crab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, the fairies are each sheltering below a lion. A crown is shown inside the Q, the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix; the Queen crest bears a passing resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with the lion supporters. Although Mercury's speaking voice fell in the baritone range, he delivered most songs in the tenor range.
His known vocal range extended from bass low F to soprano high F. He co
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U. S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's estimated 2018 population of 501,334 makes it the sixth-largest city in California and the ninth largest capital in the United States. Sacramento is the seat of the California Assembly, the Governor of California, Supreme Court of California, making it the state's political center and a hub for lobbying and think tanks. Sacramento is the cultural and economic core of the Sacramento metropolitan area, which had 2010 population of 2,414,783, making it the fifth largest in California. Sacramento is the fastest-growing major city in California, owing to its status as a notable financial center on the West Coast and as a major educational hub, home of Sacramento State University and University of California, Davis. Sacramento is a major center for the California healthcare industry, as the seat of Sutter Health, the world-renowned UC Davis Medical Center, the UC Davis School of Medicine, notable tourist destination in California, as the site of The California Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, California Hall of Fame, the California State Capitol Museum, the Old Sacramento State Historic Park.
Sacramento is known for its evolving contemporary culture, dubbed the most "hipster city" in California. In 2002, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project conducted for Time magazine named Sacramento "America's Most Diverse City". Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by the Nisenan people indigenous peoples of California. Spanish cavalryman Gabriel Moraga surveyed and named the Rio del Santísimo Sacramento in 1808, after the Blessed Sacrament, referring to the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. In 1839, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Mexican governor of Alta California granted the responsibility of colonizing the Sacramento Valley to Swiss-born, Mexican citizen John Augustus Sutter, who subsequently established Sutter's Fort and the settlement at the Rancho Nueva Helvetia. Following the American Conquest of California and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the waterfront developed by Sutter began to be developed and incorporated in 1850 as the City of Sacramento; as a result of the California Gold Rush, Sacramento became a major commercial center and distribution point for Northern California, serving as the terminus for the Pony Express and the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Nisenan and Plains Miwok Native Americans had lived in the area for thousands of years. Unlike the settlers who would make Sacramento their home, these Native Americans left little evidence of their existence. Traditionally, their diet was dominated by acorns taken from the plentiful oak trees in the region, by fruits, bulbs and roots gathered throughout the year. In 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River. A Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote: "Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths; the air was like champagne, drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. "¡Es como el sagrado sacramento!" The valley and the river were christened after the "Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ", referring to the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist. John Sutter Sr. first arrived in the area on August 13, 1839, at the divergence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of 50,000 acres.
The next year, he and his party established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls eighteen feet high and three feet thick. Representing Mexico, Sutter Sr. called his colony New Helvetia, a Swiss inspired name, was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more pioneers headed west. Within just a few short years, Sutter Sr. had become a grand success, owning a ten-acre orchard and a herd of thirteen thousand cattle. Fort Sutter became a regular stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847 Sutter Sr. received 2,000 fruit trees, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. That same year, Sutter Sr. hired James Marshall to build a sawmill so that he could continue to expand his empire, unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on some thin margins of credit. In 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, a large number of gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population.
In August 1848 Sutter Sr.'s son, John Sutter Jr. arrived in the area to assist his father in relieving his indebtedness. Now compounding the problem of his father's indebtedness, was the additional strain placed on the Sutters by the ongoing arrival of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many quite content to squat on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands, or to abscond with various unattended Sutter properties or belongings if they could. In Sutter's case, rather than being a'boon' for Sutter, his employee's discovery of gold in the area turned out to be more of a personal'bane' for him. By December 1848, John Sutter Jr. in association with Sam Brannan, began laying out the City of Sacramento, 2 miles south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr. however the father, being in debt, was in no position to stop the venture. For
Don Henley
Donald Hugh Henley is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and founding member of the Eagles. He was the drummer and co-lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971 to 1980, when the band broke up, from 1994 to 2016, when they reunited. Following a year-long break due to Eagles founder Glenn Frey's death, Henley reformed the band in summer 2017 for the Classic West and Classic East rock festivals, hiring Vince Gill and Deacon Frey to replace Glenn. Henley has been the only constant member of the band since its formation. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Desperado", "Best of My Love", "One of These Nights", "Hotel California", "Life in the Fast Lane", "The Long Run" and "Get Over It". After the Eagles broke up in 1980, Henley pursued a solo career and released his debut album I Can't Stand Still, in 1982, he has released five studio albums, two compilation albums, one live DVD. His solo hits include "Dirty Laundry", "The Boys of Summer", "All She Wants to Do Is Dance", "The Heart of the Matter", "The Last Worthless Evening", "Sunset Grill", "Not Enough Love in the World", "The End of the Innocence".
The Eagles have sold over 150 million albums worldwide, won six Grammy Awards, had five No. 1 singles, 17 Top 40 singles, six No. 1 albums. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and are the biggest selling American band in history; as a solo artist, Henley has sold over 10 million albums worldwide, had eight Top 40 singles, won two Grammy Awards and five MTV Video Music Awards. Combined with the Eagles and as a solo artist, Henley has released 25 Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, he has released seven studio albums with the Eagles and five as a solo artist. In 2008, he was ranked as the 87th greatest singer of all time by the Rolling Stone magazine. Henley has played a founding role in several environmental and political causes, most notably the Walden Woods Project. From 1994 to 2016, he divided his musical activities between his solo career. Donald Hugh Henley grew up in the small northeast Texas town of Linden, he is the son of C. J. Henley, he has Irish and Scottish ancestry.
Henley attended Linden-Kildare High School where he played football, but due to his small build his coach suggested that he quit, he joined the high school band instead. He first played the trombone in the percussion section. After leaving high school in 1965, he attended college at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, he attended North Texas State University in Denton, from 1967 to 1969. Henley left school to spend time with his father, dying from heart and arterial disease. While still at high school, Henley was asked to join a Dixieland band formed by his childhood friend Richard Bowden's father Elmer, together with another school friend Jerry Surratt, they formed a band called the Four Speeds. In 1964 the band was renamed Felicity finally Shiloh, went through a number of changes in band personnel; as Felicity they were signed to a local producer and released a Henley-penned song called "Hurtin'". In 1969, they met by chance fellow Texan Kenny Rogers, they changed their name to Shiloh and recorded a few songs for Rogers, "Jennifer" was released as their first single.
Surratt however died in a dirt bike accident just before their single was released, the band members became Henley, Richard Bowden and his cousin Michael Bowden, Al Perkins, Jim Ed Norman. Rogers helped sign the band to Amos Records, brought the band to Los Angeles in June 1970, they recorded a self-titled album produced by Rogers at Larrabee Studios, while living at the home of Rogers for a few months. Shiloh disbanded in 1971 over the band's leadership and creative differences between Henley and Bowden,In Los Angeles, Henley met Glenn Frey as they were both signed to the same label, they were recruited by John Boylan to be members of Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her tour in 1971. Touring with her was the catalyst for forming a group, as Henley and Frey decided to form their own band, they were joined by Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon who played in Ronstadt's backing band and became the Eagles. The Eagles were formed in September 1971, signed to David Geffen's label Asylum Records, they released their first studio album in 1972, which contained the hit song "Take It Easy," written by Jackson Browne.
During the band's run, Henley co-wrote most of the band's best-known songs. "Witchy Woman", co-written with Leadon, was his first commercially successful song, while "Desperado" marks the beginning of his songwriting partnership with Frey. Henley sang lead vocals on many of the band's popular songs, including "Desperado," "Witchy Woman," "Best of My Love," "One of These Nights", "Hotel California", "The Long Run", "Life in the Fast Lane" and "Wasted Time." The Eagles won numerous Grammy Awards during the 1970s and became one of the world's most successful rock bands of all time. They are among the top 5 overall best-selling bands of all time in America and the highest selling American band in U. S. history. Henley and Frey have been called the American version of Lennon; the band broke up in 1980, following a difficult tour and personal tensions that arose during the recording of The Long Run. The Eagles reunited 14 years in 1994. Henley continues to record with the Eagles. Their
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter and record producer who has sold over 30 million records. He had a stream of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", murder ballad "Hazard", "At the Beginning" with Donna Lewis. Although some of his major hit songs were love songs, many of his songs have had a classic rock style, such as "Don't Mean Nothing", "Should've Known Better", "Satisfied", "Too Late to Say Goodbye". Marx placed himself in the record books by being the first solo artist to have his first seven singles hit the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, his record sales worldwide exceed 30 million. He has written or collaborated on songs with other artists such as "This I Promise You" by NSYNC and "Dance with My Father" by Luther Vandross; the latter song won several Grammy Awards. His 14th and latest chart-topper, "Long Hot Summer", performed by Keith Urban, gave Marx the distinction of having a song he wrote or co-wrote top the charts in four different decades.
Marx was born in Chicago, the only child of Ruth, a former singer, Dick Marx, a jazz musician and founder of a successful jingle company in the early 1960s. He attended North Shore Country Day School, he has three half-siblings from his father's previous marriage. Marx began his career in music at the age of 5, singing commercial jingles written by his father's company. Marx was 17 and living in Highland Park, Illinois when a tape of his songs ended up in the hands of Lionel Richie. Richie thought Marx had talent and told the teen, "I can't promise you anything, but you should come to L. A." After graduating from North Shore Country Day School in 1981, Marx moved to Los Angeles and visited Richie. Marx sang backing vocals for various artists, had a minor acting role in the television movie Coach Of The Year, which starred Robert Conrad, he was singing for Kenny Rogers in 1984. Within days, Marx gave him the demo of "Crazy." Rogers recorded it, along with another of Marx’s songs, "What About Me?" This featured James Ingram and Kim Carnes.
The trio recording hit #1 Adult Contemporary and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1984 while "Crazy" hit #1 Country and #5 AC the following year. Soon after, Marx began working with producer David Foster and writing songs for the group Chicago and R&B singer Freddie Jackson. While working as a songwriter and doing background vocals, Marx continued to pursue his own record deal, his demo tape was rejected by every label in Hollywood until four years after moving to Los Angeles, the president of EMI/Manhattan Records, Bruce Lundvall, signed him. Marx contacted his friend Fee Waybill, frontman of The Tubes, some other musicians, including Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner of the Eagles, to create a ten-track debut album. Marx's self-titled debut album, released in June 1987, yielded four hit singles and sold nearly four million copies in the US; the debut single, "Don't Mean Nothing," about the potential pitfalls of the music business, had been released the previous month, it climbed to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as #1 on Billboard's Album Rock charts.
Marx became the first new artist played on 117 radio stations nationwide during his initial week on the charts. The next two singles, "Should’ve Known Better" and "Endless Summer Nights" reached #3 and #2, respectively; the fourth single release, "Hold On to the Nights," earned Marx his first #1 Pop single. With the success of his self-titled album, he embarked on his first world tour opening for REO Speedwagon, but began headlining his own shows, his first tour kept him on the road for 14 months. In 1988, Marx was nominated for a Grammy Award for'Best Rock Vocal Performance - Solo' for "Don’t Mean Nothing." Repeat Offender, Marx’s second album, was released in May 1989. It rose to #1 on Billboard's album chart, it went triple platinum within a few months and sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone. The first two singles, "Satisfied" and the platinum-selling "Right Here Waiting," both reached #1. "Right Here Waiting" has been covered numerous times, most notably by Monica and 112 in a 1998 duet.
Another single from the album, "Children of the Night," was written and composed in support of a Van Nuys-based organization for runaways. It became the sixth single from Repeat Offender. Marx performed the Beatles’ "Help" at the Berlin Wall in late 1989. Marx received his second Grammy nomination in 1990 for "Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male" for "Right Here Waiting." Marx went on to release a number of other albums. In 1991 he released Rush Street; this album saw artists such as Luther Vandross and Billy Joel appear as backing vocalists and guest pianists. The disc's first single, "Keep Coming Back," went to #12 pop as well as #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts for 4 weeks running. In early 1994, as he and his family permanently left Los Angeles behind and returned to Chicago, Marx released Paid Vacation, scored his fourth consecutive platinum album; the acoustic ballad "Now and Forever" peaked at #7 on the Hot 100. The year 1997 saw Bone, Marx's final studio album on the Capitol imprint.
Marx's Greatest Hits compilation was released in November 1997. The 16-track album includes a variety of hit singles from his first five albums plus "Angel’s Lullaby," a song written about his children appearing on For Our Children, Too, a compilation CD released in 1996 to
Pretzel Logic
Pretzel Logic is the third studio album by the American rock band Steely Dan, released on February 20, 1974, by ABC Records. It was written by principal band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, recorded at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles with producer Gary Katz, it was the final album to feature the full five-member band of Becker, Denny Dias, Skunk Baxter, Jim Hodder, featured significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians. The album was a critical success upon its release, its hit single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" helped restore Steely Dan's radio presence after the disappointing performance of their 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy. Pretzel Logic was reissued on CD in 1987 and remastered in 1999 to retrospective acclaim from critics. Pretzel Logic was recorded at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, it was produced by Gary Katz and written by Walter Becker and bandleader Donald Fagen, who sang and played keyboard. The album marked Fagen's roles as Steely Dan's principal members.
They enlisted prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians to record Pretzel Logic, but used them only for occasional overdubs. Steely Dan's Jeff "Skunk" Baxter played pedal steel hand drums; the cover photo featuring a New York pretzel vendor was taken by Raeanne Rubenstein, a photographer of musicians and Hollywood celebrities. She shot the photo on the west side of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street, just above the 79th Street Transverse, at the park entrance called "Miners' Gate". Pretzel Logic has shorter songs and fewer instrumental jams than the group's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy. Steely Dan considered it their attempt at complete musical statements within the three-minute pop-song format; the album's music is characterized by harmonies, counter-melodies, bop phrasing. It relies on straightforward pop influences; the syncopated piano line that opens "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" develops into a pop melody, the title track transitions from a blues song to a jazzy chorus. Steely Dan incorporated jazz into their music during the 1970s.
"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" appropriates the bass pattern from Horace Silver's 1965 song "Song for My Father", while "Parker's Band" features Charlie Parker–influenced riffs and a lyric that invites listeners to "take a piece of Mr. Parker's band." Baxter's guitar playing drew on rock and roll influences. On Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-oo", he imitates a ragtime mute-trombone solo. Certain songs incorporate additional instrumentation, including exotic percussion, violin sections and horns. Music critic Robert Christgau wrote that the solos are "functional rather than personal or expressive, locked into the workings of the music". Pretzel Logic was released by ABC Records on February 1974, to high sales, it became Steely Dan's third gold-certified album. After the disappointing performance of Countdown to Ecstasy, the album restored their radio presence with the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", which became the biggest pop hit of their career and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
On September 7, 1993, Pretzel Logic was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having shipped one million copies in the United States. Pretzel Logic was praised by contemporary critics. Bud Scoppa from Rolling Stone magazine found the album's "wonderfully fluid ensemble sound" unprecedented in popular music and said that the ambiguous lyrics "create an charged atmosphere, the best are quite affecting." Down Beat asserted that "there are no better rock recording groups in America, damn few worldwide." Christgau found the record innovative, writing in Creem: "The music can be called jazzy without implying an insult, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are the real world's answer to Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia." In a mixed review, Noel Coppage of Stereo Review was impressed by the music, but said that "the lyrics baffle me. Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it number one in his own list, he wrote that the album encapsulated Steely Dan's "chewy perversity as aptly as its title", with vocals by Fagen that "seem like the golden mean of pop ensemble singing, stripped of histrionics and displays of technique, almost... sincere, modest."In 1994, Pretzel Logic was ranked number 67 in the All Time Top 1000 Albums by writer Colin Larkin, who felt the album's mix of jazz, R&B, pop styles was "highly inventive" and "greater than the sum of its parts".
In The All-Music Guide to Rock, Rick Clark gave it five stars and said that, with the album, Steely Dan "most synthesized their love for jazz into their dense pop/rock sound." Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it their "richest album" and wrote that Becker and Fagen's songwriting had become "seamless while remaining idiosyncratic and thrillingly accessible." Stylus Magazine's Patrick McKay said that the "superb" album found them "relying instead on crack studio musicians that could realize their complex compositions." In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Pretzel Logic number 385 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Rob Sheffield, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, said "Steely Dan's songwriting and Fagen's singing were at their peak of fluid power: The whole album is flawle
