Steely Dan: Bodhisattva
[listen free at last.fm]
I posted the original 1973 version of this song here on Star Maker Machine way back in the summer of 2008; I won't bother to linkback, as the download is long dead, but I stand by what I said at the time:
A jamming, loose, eminently danceable tune, paced out as a 1950s jitterbug and famous for its guitarwork, this classic hit from the masters of otherwise-smooth, high-arrangement jazzrock has frenzied ecstasy all over it...carefully constructed to reflect a general tone of hysterical, almost desperate upheaval and unpredictability just on the other side of the suburban picket fence...among the greatest, rawest demonstrations of the carefully crafted genius that is Steely Dan at its best...make sure you've got your air guitar handy.
It's hard to beat the controlled chaos of the original. But this classic live version, recorded the following year, is goddamn glorious, the song on speed: a little breathless, and a hell of a lot more punk. Sure, you can bop to the other, but you can mosh to this. Air drummers, take your marks...
