Steely Danish ...

Who? And why?

... was the answer to the best crossword clue I ever forgot*. It's also the brilliant name of a Steely Dan tribute band. Which brings us to today's Dancentric download of three albums influenced by Little Feat's smarter brother. The Feat was the stoner working at the auto shop, firing up a bong in the back of a project Camaro. The Dan was the law school grad floating a bowl of medical-grade cocaine in a Los Feliz infinity pool.

Although many bands wanted to be Little Feat, the Dan were never very influential, mainly because their chords and rhythms were so fucking ridiculous they could only be played by LA tube-bred session musicians who had never seen daylight. But they inspired some fair attempts, more Danish than Dan, among whom China Crisis were the least sparkling.

Far Cry enlisted Donald Fagen for backup vox on their lone '80 album, and numbers like Eldorado Escape owe an obvious Dan-debt. You'll want to travel back in time and shoot the drummer in the back of the head, but apart from that this slips down like a margarita.

Marc Jordan released a tribute album to the Mounties, as all Canuck musicians are bound to by law. But that's not why we're here today. His solo output includes this pleasingly slick dip into the Danesque, which shows how it should be done. You could, if you were a cruel person heedless of others' opinions, say it veers a little too closely into yacht rock for your comfort. But nobody cares what you think.

I'm surprised that there haven't been more jazz band covers albums, given the Dan's propensity for jazzular chordage. Maybe there have, and I haven't heard of them. Maybe you have. This is the only one I know, and it's swell. Everything You Did by The Mark Masters Ensemble (me neither) swings like your nuts in loose boxers.

*A little googling tells me it's from the LA Times (where else): Pastry with a metallic taste?