Shortly after publishing last week’s newsletter, “The Steely Dan AI smorgasbord,” I received an email from Ron “Boogiemonster” Gerber, host of the cult-favorite pop ephemera program Crap From the Past on community FM station KFAI in Minneapolis. You may recall that last April I published an episode of Gerber’s show during which he played numerous clips of Casey Kasem on American Top 40 introducing the chart action of Steely Dan singles.
Gerber explained that he had read with fascination—and horror—that morning’s newsletter about how artificial intelligence technologies were being applied to create Steely Dan restorations, deepfakes, and fully machine-generated songs. At that moment, he happened to be putting together Crap From the Past’s annual Valentine’s Day special, which traditionally features what Gerber has termed “woefully ineffective love songs.” He felt that restored Dan tracks such as “The Second Arrangement” (about a deluded adulterer) and “I Can’t Write Home About You” (about the perils of dating a sex worker) as well as some of the other oddities I’d gathered from the bowels of the internet would fit the bill.
So, with Gerber’s permission, I’m presenting the episode as it aired on KFAI last Friday, February 7, from 10 p.m. to midnight Central Standard Time. Below you’ll find Gerber’s rundown of the songs he played and discussed/ridiculed on the show.
Woefully Ineffective Love Songs (AI Steely Dan Edition)
“FM (No Static at All)” (unofficial AM edit recreated in 2023) – Steely Dan (1978)
“Tomorrow’s Girls” – Donald Fagen (1993)
“Kulee Baba” (restored by Michael Caplin) – Steely Dan
“I Can’t Write Home About You” (restored by Jive Miguel) – Steely Dan
“The Bear” (restored by Jive Miguel) – Steely Dan
“The Second Arrangement” (restored by Michael Caplin) – Steely Dan
“Talkin' ’Bout My Home” (restored by Michael Caplin) – Steely Dan
“Black Cow” – Steely Dan featuring AI Michael McDonald
“Glamour Profession” – Steely Dan featuring AI Michael McDonald
“Zanzibar” – AI Donald Fagen
“Alcohol” – McGruff the Crime Dog (1986)
“Alcohol” – AI Donald Fagen
“My Old Christmas” – AI Donald Fagen
“Trans-Island Skyway” – AI Michael McDonald
“Regulate” - AI Michael McDonald and AI Donald Fagen
“Area Codes” – AI Michael McDonald and AI Donald Fagen
“Cha Cha Slide” – AI Donald Fagen
“Family Guy Main Theme” – AI Donald Fagen
“Steely Dan AI Tribute” – Udio
“New Frontier” – Donald Fagen (1982)
“Kid Charlemagne” – 8-bit Chiptune
“Nellie the Elephant” – Toy Dolls (1985)
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