Factory Yoyo presents: Sanity Frowns

Hey all.
 
Here's a song I have spent entirely too much time screwing around with. A Steely Dan-inspired track that reminds me how much I have lost my singing voice. Went for their cryptic lyrics and signature tasty licks. Kinda/sorta pulled it off.
 
Mix critiques welcome.
 
https://soundcloud.com/hammertoe/sanity-frowns
 

Steely Yoyo fer sure.

My hat's off to you, sir, totally ballsy to pull this off. Degree of difficulty adds extra points . . . 
 
There is so much going on in your mix (I can see why this took you a while) that it's hard to pinpoint a comment! I think your vocals work in the Dan style, but the more you push that envelope, the more selective their appeal will get. Which is to say, Fagen won't pay the bills.     So what . . . you do a very credible emulation of his style and arrangement!
 
I think your guitar in spots comes through a bit thin in the mix - I dunno maybe 3:01 area, I'd like to hear those excellent riffs a little louder.
 
I listened to this three times, liked it better each time. Holy crap that's a monumental arrangement job! Well done, and it reminded me of the Dan meets Rush, with the proggy meter change-ups.
 
way cool.
 
-Tom

Very cool - sounds like you had tons of fun

Nice! I really wanted to hate it, too, been a Dan fan since I was 9 and asked my mom what all instruments were being played in reeling in the years - she didn't know, lol. It's been a lifetime of discovery...

Danny Danzi
LOL! You so nailed Steely with quite a bit of this. Sounded good, James. Some interesting parts coming and going on this. Mix sounded fine to me. The only thing I caught was sometimes the horns seemed to just take over...which I love. I'm a horn prostitute....grew up on early Chicago, but at times your horns just seemed to lightly bury some of the other instruments. That's ok though....we need them to hit hard once in a while. :) I think I might have compressed them just a little more or ran some tighter automation. Loved the track though, just a minor subjectivity. :)
 
I love me some horns too (with the sax being the only other instrument other than guitar I had some formal training on) Thanks Danny.

emeraldsoul
My hat's off to you, sir, totally ballsy to pull this off. Degree of difficulty adds extra points . . . 
 
There is so much going on in your mix (I can see why this took you a while) that it's hard to pinpoint a comment! I think your vocals work in the Dan style, but the more you push that envelope, the more selective their appeal will get. Which is to say, Fagen won't pay the bills.     So what . . . you do a very credible emulation of his style and arrangement!
 
I think your guitar in spots comes through a bit thin in the mix - I dunno maybe 3:01 area, I'd like to hear those excellent riffs a little louder.
 
I listened to this three times, liked it better each time. Holy crap that's a monumental arrangement job! Well done, and it reminded me of the Dan meets Rush, with the proggy meter change-ups.
 
way cool.
 
-Tom

I think I might have worked more on this tune than I have the last four put together. What a mess! The arrangement was a real PITA.
 

markno999
Excellent Steely Dan Emulation.   I thought you got Fagan to sing it when the 1st verse started:)   The only thing that I could remotely think of to push this to the next level of perfection is if you got some female studio singers to add some dimension to the BGV parts but, wow, excellent work. 
 
One other thing, I would push the chromatic guitar fill at around 3:24 up a hair to match the level of the previous riff.
 

I did get my wife's cousin to sing some parts bt she didn't really work out too well...she's buried in the mix

Very intricate piece of work James, hats off to you. There is plenty of SD in there, but you divert from the Dan groove into Zappa territory I think. Not a crit, I enjoyed it whatever the influences.

jamesyoyo
Hey all.
 
Here's a song I have spent entirely too much time screwing around with. 
https://soundcloud.com/hammertoe/sanity-frowns
 

Time well spent!
 
Jesse Q. Screed

Bert Guy
James,
 
Prodigious simulation of SD songwriting, playing, singing, recording. The vocal sound & phrasing, Fender Rhodes, and GTR are very close to the original. Apparently you have internalized their entire catalog.
 
I have no idea how you did it,
 
Cheers,
 
Bert

There's a ton of SD songs mashed in my mind with this track:
Peg with my Michael McDonald-esqe bgvocals in the chorus
My Old School with the lyrics
Reelin in the Years with the guitar vamps
Hey Nineteen verse melody

I spent an extraordinary amount of time on this tune. Probably too many stop/starts but those transitions are too cool to avoid.

Wow ...what everyone said....and I was gonna add the Zappa kudo's if not mentioned as was....very cool n inspiring stuff ...thx for that....I love SDan as well....very cool homage  

BASSJOKER
Wow ...what everyone said....and I was gonna add the Zappa kudo's if not mentioned as was....very cool n inspiring stuff ...thx for that....I love SDan as well....very cool homage  

thank you

BUMPED
because Herb liked it a lot!

mgh
fantastic piece of work, no idea about Steely Dan but do get some of the melodic Zappa vibe, great playing on everything, i think the only little thing i noticed was sometimes a noticeable change in vocal volume going from solo voice to multi-tracked. you really are amazingly talented

Appreciate the kind words, Mark.

bapu

jamesyoyo
BUMPED
because Herb liked it a lot!

An I'm just plain chopped liver.

Nah, you're more of a Pâté 

This song rocks, got that steely Dan feel to it. Killer guitar, great vocals