so true dudehttps://youtu.be/PQMRrJG_QC0?is=RpdGgJ5rzaVulFRP watch the section starting around 5:53 regarding the guitar solo for peg. fifty bajillion takes on it, fagen and becker play some and then say “speaks for itself” and it does! the solos stink! then they drop in the final product, this sleazy “hawaiian, polynesian” riff that pulls off into a small little show, like a guy drunkenly stumbling out of his car to be lit up by the neon glow of a giant sign for a tiki-themed motel, little gnats flying through the bright night’s air, and it’s immediately clear that riff’s the one. how could that not be the one? that’s aja: it speaks for itself. you get it on the first listen and you get it even more on the 50th. why is that such a bad thing to aspire to? in a twitter rant about “the dan”, steve albini said there are “two types of perfectionist: one will prepare, revise and rehearse carefully, with intent, honing an idea to a keen edge, ready to cut the cloth of execution. the other makes other people responsible by saying, 'do it again, until by chance they are satisfied, then take all credit.” there’s something to be said about the plight of the studio player, but fagen and becker always struck me as the first type. to them, their work speaks for itself. who cares about the quibbles in the sessions or what your process looks like or some meaningless insider purity tests? they’re making something over here. if it’s so easy, why don’t you do it?
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