Can't Buy a Thrill is my favorite Dan album. It isn't the best album, but it is my favorite. I'm actually listening to it right now as I tye. As 10 year old I heard "Reelin' In the Years" on the radio and loved it. That lead guitar hooked me. I bought the 45. Somehow, I got the album too, I think I trade for it. It is a real band album. I like the vocals from the other member, especially Jim Hodder. Now if I could just figure out which lines Walter Becker sings on "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again". I think its the first lines of the verses, but I can't tell after all of these years.
More personality, yes, perhaps. But for me, Palmer's vocals fit those two songs because of his softer and slightly more melodic delivery. I also enjoyed Jim Hodder's vocal on Midnite Cruiser; he serves that song well, too.
My favorite Steely Dan album. Still. (Katy Lied is second.). CTE is all over the map in some ways, but perhaps that is its charm. And Reelin' in the Years is timeless.
Dias' solo playing is unique to my ears given how he simply doesn't utilize bending a note. Not many guitarist play extended solo's without bending a few strings!
^^ Or is it not simply because he plays on an electric sitar here? Can one bend notes on such an instrument?
I see this as a solid debut, by a band that hasn't found it's voice (more ways than one). I know I had the album in the early 70s, but can't recall if I bought it the year it was released or a year or two later. The songs just don't thrill me like later SD which is why it ranks in my bottom tier Dan.
So is the "on me" part used like "Have a drink on me" or literally and physically on him (like: cry on my shoulder)?
It seems it comes down to which side of Steely Dan you like. If you go more for the pop/rock Dan, this album will likely rate highly. If you're more into the jazzy/sophisticated Dan, you'll likely rate it low. Both are valid.
The only songs I never grew to like was Kings, and Change of the Guard. I did not get it at time of release...it was in 74 I think. Bern
After hearing 'Do It Again' and 'Reelin' in the Years' on the radio, I just knew I had to buy this. And unlike so many albums where you end up disappointed with the rest after hearing the radio hits, this never falters. I like every track. Might just about be the best LP released in 1972. Or, at least my favourite. Making a quick iTunes playlist of 'Year is 1972', only Todd's Something/Anything, Randy's Sail Away, Poco's A Good Feelin' to Know and Jerry Garcia's first solo album rank with it.
You could play these back to back and still not tell which was which. It's like Poco's is the 'public service' version of the song: "Hey, Tim told us that Don and Walt don't want anything to do with this and you'll probably never get to hear it otherwise, but we think it's a great song so we're going to put it out there with the same arrangement that they did." Like Poco, I like 'Dallas' a lot, and I think including it on CBAT may have marginally improved the album. I like 'Sail the Waterway' too, but its inclusion on CBAT would probably have marginally have diminished it.
At least in the case of "Dirty Work," I agree that Palmer's sweet, naive sound fits the song more than Fagen's edgier style probably would have. Also liked "Midnite Cruiser," which Becker sang in 1996 (the first of two times I have seen SD live).
Change of the Guard is something special. Like they're talking about the future. Which, back then, didn't include punk rock coming along and changing everything a few years later; meanwhile, Aja was defining and perfecting the past....just a thought....
Reelin' in the Years The amazing side two opener from Can't Buy A Thrill The song explodes out of the box with Elliott Randall' amazing guitar sound. His tone is nasally and tough sounding. He starts off the song with a variation on the melodic hook of the chorus. The intro is a fairly simple boogie variation of G9 to A. The intro is modal based on A Mixolydian which is basically D Major key but focuses on the A. Listen for a cool descending line straight down the D Major scale starting on a G note at :20. The verse starts at :31 and is based on a descending line with D-A/C#-Bm7-A chords. At :38 Fagen throws in a cool blues turnaround based on Em7-Ebdim-Dminor-A/C#. The chorus proper comes in at :45 and repeats at 1:00 with Elliott Randall adding some call and response guitar lines with some biting double note lines. The verse returns at 1:15 with chorus following and with call and response lines again in the chorus repeat. Elliott Randall's epic solo begins at 1:58 with a repeating lines that outline G-A the chorus chords. Correct me if this is not Randall at this point. It may be Skunk playing this line. At 2:12 the line is harmonized in thirds. Randall's solo proper enters at 2:27. His solo is based around A mixolydian and D major figures. One of the most stunning parts of the solo for me occurs 2:40-2:45 with an amazing show of rhythmic displacement and slight variations on the repeating line. The line then descends in a mind blowing repeating figure that once again is a variation on the line before it. Randall's control of timing is amazing. At 2:48 Randall plays an ascending line with a chromatic hook to end his solo. The verse and chorus reenters with Randall playing great lines along with Fagen's vocals. At 3:39 the chorus/interlude returns with the repeating line once again in thirds but this time some horn like pulloffs stab at the end of the lines. At 3:53 Randall starts his outro solo. At 4:00-4:07 he plays some amazing horn like lines that would make John Coltrane proud. At 4:11 listen for some bluesy bends ...something that was somewhat absent in his playing up till now. His playing is mostly based on a jazz approach. The most astounding fact regarding this solo is-according to Randall-the solo was a one off and not written out.