Quantum Criminals

Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan

De: Alex Pappademas, Joan LeMay

Narrado por: Michael Butler Murray

Steely Dan's songs are exercises in fictional world-building. No one else in the classic-rock canon has conjured a more vivid cast of rogues and heroes, creeps and schmucks, lovers and dreamers and cold-blooded operators-or imbued their characters with so much humanity.

Pulling from history, lived experience, pulp fiction, the lore of the counterculture, and their own darkly comic imaginations, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker summoned protagonists who seemed like fully formed people with complicated pasts, scars they don't talk about, delusions and desires and memories they can't shake. Every name is a locked-room mystery, beguiling listeners and earning the band an exceptionally passionate and growing cult fandom.

Quantum Criminals presents the world of Steely Dan as it has never been seen, much less heard. Artist Joan LeMay has crafted lively, color-saturated images of her favorite characters from the Daniverse to accompany writer Alex Pappademas's explorations of the famous and obscure songs that inspired each painting, in short essays full of cultural context, wild speculation, inspired dot-connecting, and the occasional conspiracy theory. All of it is refracted through the perspectives of the characters, making for a musical companion unlike any other. Quantum Criminals is a singular celebration of Steely Dan's musical cosmos.

©2023 Alex Pappademas (P)2024 Tantor

Deep Dan Dive into Details

A song by song guide with many historical, cultural and art references - especially appreciated the author journey of disdain converted into immersion

Too many lyrics, not enough music

A few fun facts, but too much name dropping and scant musical knowledge or info. Mediocre narration wears thin. Overall, just okay.