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"FM (No Static At All)" is a song by American jazz-rock band Steely Dan. It is the title theme to the 1978 film ''FM''. It made the US Top Forty that year when released as a single, a success relative to the film it was from, which failed at the box office and has remained obscure since then. Musically, it is a complex jazz-rock composition driven by its bass, guitar and piano parts, typical of the band's sound from this period; its lyrics look askance at the album-oriented rock format of many FM radio stations at that time, in contrast to the film's celebration of it. It was the first single Steely Dan released on MCA Records (which had released the soundtrack), predating MCA's acquisition of ABC Records, the band's previous label, by one year. At the time of its release, the band's album ''Aja'' was enjoying great critical and commercial success, leading some listeners to assume that "FM" was also on that album.〔 It was not, although it has since been included on some of the band's compilation albums. However, it had been recorded during the same sessions as ''Aja'' and employed some of the same studio musicians and recording personnel, in addition to band members and songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Among them were saxophonist Pete Christlieb and drummer Jeff Porcaro; several members of the Eagles sang backing vocals. Several aspects of the song make it notable among the band's work. It was the first time Becker and Fagen had written music for a film since 1971's ''You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat'', a year before Steely Dan released its debut album. It also features a string section arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel, only the second time the band had used strings in a song. Lastly, it is the only time that Becker (bass and guitar) and Fagen (piano) have handled most of a song's instrumental work themselves. Engineer Roger Nichols won that year's Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical for his work on "FM", the only time that award was ever given for a single song.〔 ==Background and recording== Donald Fagen told ''American Songwriter'' in 2013, 35 years later, that the process of writing and recording the song was rather straightforward. He and Becker were in California finishing up ''Aja'' when the call came. "There was a film called ''FM'' and we were asked to do the title song," he recalled. "And I said, 'Does it have to have any specific words?' And they said, 'No, it just has to be about FM radio.'" It took a day or two to write. The duo had not written music for a film since ''You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat'', a 1971 film that featured another of the coming decade's stars, Richard Pryor, in a small role. But they knew what was expected of them. "We wrote a song that would sound good with a big production, and an overdub of strings that would sound good coming out of movie-theater speakers," Fagen says in ''Reelin' in the Years'', Brian Sweet's 2007 history of the band.〔 It would be the band's first use of strings in a song since the short "Through with Buzz", on 1974's ''Pretzel Logic'', and only the second time in their career overall.〔 When they went to the studio, they were able to record it as quickly as they had written it.〔 It was built up from a click track. Fagen played piano, and Becker handled all the bass and guitar work, including the solo on the song's outro. This was the only time on a Steely Dan song where the two of them performed most of the instrumental work.〔 They were accompanied by musicians who had played with the band on their ''Aja'' sessions. Studio veteran Jeff Porcaro, who had then also recently helped form Toto, plays the drums. Jazz great Pete Christlieb plays the tenor saxophone solo, and Timothy B. Schmit, who had recently left Poco, was joined by his new bandmates in the Eagles, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, in singing backing vocals.〔 "Johnny Mandel came in and did the string chart," Fagen recalled to ''American Songwriter''. "It was fun to meet ()."〔 Roger Nichols, who had been the engineer for the ''Aja'' sessions, did the same for "FM".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「FM (No Static at All)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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