Can't imagine NOT "liking" everyones five ....all so good. The Royal Scam was another pick for me...that whole album was a revelation back in the day.
I discovered Steely Dan's music listening to the local station on the one speaker AM radio in my parents' 1978 Baby Blue Chevy Impala Station Wagon Land Yacht like this one right here. Peg and Hey Nineteen, primarily. I usually try to be contrarian and go off the beaten path but I gotta say Aja's my favorite Dan album. I like them all though. Pretzel Logic and Countdown to Ecstasy close behind. Now for my Dan Top 5, off the top of my head: Josie Kings Green Earrings Peg Night by Night
So tonight, new list of fave five...pretty much in order as I listen. Kid Charlemagne Caves Of Altamira Don't Take Me Alive Haitian Divorce Royal Scam How Steely Dan Pulled Off The Royal Scam How Steely Dan Pulled Off 'The Royal Scam' Expectations were high when Steely Dan's fifth album was released May 31, 1976. The Royal Scam featured the band's most cynical lyrics to date in its tales of outlaws, drug dealers and cheaters. While the LP reached No. 15 on the Billboard albums chart, its two singles, "Kid Charlemagne" and "The Fez," barely made a dent. Critical response was a mix of raves and disappointment. Rolling Stone called it "some of their most accomplished and enjoyable music" while AllMusic retroactively pouted, "The Royal Scam is the first Steely Dan record that doesn't exhibit significant musical progress from its predecessor." "The mystery is what makes it interesting, isn't it?" Becker asked. "If we were to tell you what that song meant we would be doing a disservice to the song and we would always be lending credence to the notion that in order to enjoy the song you have to know exactly what it means, Or that it does mean exactly one thing. And it doesn't really. None of those things are true.Read More: How Steely Dan Pulled Off 'The Royal Scam' | How Steely Dan Pulled Off 'The Royal Scam' "The reason critics were disappointed was that they get tired," Fagen told Music Gig. "The first LP is always the easiest to like, the second they still like, the third they think is pretty good. The longer you last as a group the harder the critics are. That accounts for some of the disappointment. Myself, I think it’s one of the best ones we’ve done. I think, in fact, that each record is a little better than the last." All of the songs were written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who remade Steely Dan as a duo when they dropped the five-piece lineup of previous albums. Acclaimed session players like guitarist Larry Carlton and Chuck Rainey on bass contributed to many of the tracks. "Kid Charlemagne" opens the album, a tour de force that features Carlton's memorable guitar solo. "It was very loosely inspired by a character named Owsley," the late Becker revealed in a BBC online chat. "He was a well-known psychedelic chef of the day." Owsley, of course, was Owsley Stanley, the notorious chemist who made hundreds of thousands of tabs of LSD during the psychedelic '60s. "Don't Take Me Alive" continues the outlaw theme: "Got a case of dynamite / I could hold out here all night." "'Don't Take Me Alive' is very much a song of these troubled times," Fagen told NME in 1976. "In Los Angeles and through the world in general, terrorism is a way of life actually for a lot of people. The song was inspired by a run of news items in Los Angeles where people would barricade themselves inside an apartment house or a saloon with an arsenal of weapons. It's about individual madness rather than political situations." Fagen speculated that ABC Records released "The Fez," a danceable tune, as the second single from the album to cash in on the disco fever of the times. The song has a rarely credited third writer, organist Paul Griffin. "He wrote the main theme," Fagen said. "I wouldn't call it the main theme," Becker countered, tongue firmly in cheek. "He wrote a melody that is featured. At least he says he wrote it. […] When we decided to build that melody up to a greater position, since we had some suspicion that perhaps this melody wasn't entirely Paul's invention, we'd decided we'd give him composer credit in case later on some sort of scandal developed, he would take the brunt of the impact." "Haitian Divorce" was reportedly inspired by a recording engineer who asked for time off to fly to the Caribbean nation and obtain a quickie marriage annulment. Intrigued, Fagen and Becker asked for details on his return and later wrote the song about a woman. Dean Parks played the guitar riff that Becker later altered with a talk box. "Everything You Did," which calls out a cheating lover, includes the line, "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening." Eagles' drummer Don Henley told Uncut, "I know them pretty well, and it was like he was sort of saying, 'Everybody's in L.A.'s playing this f##kin' record, and I'm sick of it!' It was a little bit of an acknowledgment and a little bit taking the piss, because we had the same management – still do – but you know, they're very droll, Fagen in particular." The title track closes the album. "'The Royal Scam' isn't the key song," said Fagen. "It's regrettable that if you do name an album after one of the songs, which is something we don't do all the time, people take it for more than it is. We like each song to be listened to individually without relating to the whole album, although if you record a certain selection of songs the album will have a certain character." Both were reluctant to reveal what "The Royal Scam" is about. Becker's explanation can be applied to much of the Steely Dan catalog.
And, so the story goes, the Eagles repaid the favor the following year with their reference to "steely knives" in Hotel California.
I guess it's time to answer my own question --- in no particular order: Gaucho Deacon Blues The Caves of Altamira Home At Last Third World Man
OK, so my experience of SD goes right back to the beginning. In late 72/early 73 I was 13 and listening mostly to chart music - we used to listen to the chart rundown at lunchtime at school and I was into T Rex and ELO. The one day at home I heard this new song from a band I'd never heard of before on Radio 1, and when I heard their follow-up single I decided to get the album - of course it was that one over there <<<<<. I played CBAT to death until the next one came out which was bought as soon as it was released, and likewise with each album after that. Now...apart from Katy which I like in parts, the one I have a real issue with is Gaucho. Wind back over 40 years...I loved Aja when it came out and there's a not a single bad track on the album. But then I waited for the follow-up...and waited...and waited. meanwhile my musical taste had moved on, and by 1979-80 I was listening to as much jazz as I could afford. Enter Gaucho. Is that it, I thought? It was just a bit too smooth for me, and having waited over three years for it, it was a massive letdown. Played a couple of times and then out it away. I love 'Third World Man' though. 'The Second Arrangement' is one of those "legendary" tracks that failed to convince once I'd heard it - really not that great. Two years later, Fagen put out The Nightfly which I thought a far superior album. I saw SD in 1996 at Wembley Pool, and in 2007 at Hammersmith Apollo - both hugely enjoyable although I've no really desire to see them again since - ticket prices way too high and with the lack of any new material I wasn't particularly bothered to see what was just a nostalgia show. My five with a little cheating... Midnite Cruiser Razor Boy or The Boston Rag Parker's Band Charlie Freak or Barrytown The Caves of Altamira
It was a really big deal when Kamakiriad hit. 12 years since any previous album. It lived up to the expectations too. It was my soundtrack for moving to California from New York in 93. And also getting married. 1993, a great year! I'm an old school Steely head and love every single thing they've done. I love the modern albums too and Becker's solo albums. I've only seen them once in concert though. You guessed it! In 1993! Steely Pro Tip- If you're a vinyl lover, find a copy of Fagen's Cheap XMas box set. It is NOT cheap!
I’m going to need more time to compile my desert island all time top five songs, but you have no idea how excited I am to buy the new hi res Bernie Grundman remaster of Countdown To Ecstasy today and sit down in front of it tonight. Hands down my favorite of their albums although to be fair plenty of others are very close. I didn’t have anything to do with picking the songs, but our High School graduation committee chose Hot Tuna’s ‘Water Song’ for walking in and ‘My Old School’ for our exit. I’d been playing the vinyl Greatest Hits for years and my Dad casually liked them; but afterwards became a super fan of that song.
No such thing as a top 5 songs from them. Did you get the new vinyl? Which one, stock reissue or UHQR? They are taking FOREVER to release these things!! I want to be alive by Gaucho!!!
Turn That Heartbeat Over Again Razor Boy Pearl Of The Quarter The Boston Rag Rikki Don’t Take Me Alive Couldn’t stop at 5
We're gonna break out the hats and hooters When Josie comes home We're gonna rev up the motor scooters When Josie comes home to stay We're gonna park in the street Sleep on the beach and make it Throw down the jam till the girls say when Lay down the law and break it When Josie comes home. They have so many great songs, but Josie is up there for me. They do that laid back funk so well. It’s got that kinda “hot summer evening vibe” that I just adore.
I actually got their Countdown album first. Couldn't believe the difference between this group, and what I would normally hear on the radio. In addition to their lyrics, the thing that struck me most was the horn arrangements. So sophisticated, to these ears. There was no group in the 70's that I listened to more than the Dan. Countdown remains my favorite, but I love 'em all.
Me too. The song was playing on a ride home one day, and the wife and I were trying to think of a name for our Great Dane. Perfect timing.
I also have a couple of their SACD's, I don't think I hear any appreciable difference, but then, I am 72 so it could be my hearing.
No my vinyl days are long over. The hi res of what should be the SACD if CBAT is a guide. I use ProStudioMasters. Will listen tonight. I'm excited this one dropped, I was beginning to worry these would drag on forever, although yeah by the time Gaucho hits who knows.
Post#92, two posts above yours. Don't Take Me Alive Deacon Blues My Old School Your Gold Teeth Doctor Wu
Barrytown has always been a fave too. I remember when Gaucho came out...I lived in Phoenix..the wonderful underground FM station KDKB was the best! The DJ spun the new Steely Dan album after expressing real disappointment...me to when I heard it. It's still is my least listened to SD. The wonderful album cover made for a disappointment within. On what happened to the great underground station KDKB in the 90's (an all too common theme) The article from the Phoenix hippie freak underground paper, The New Times. KDKB AT 20IN THE HANDS OF BILL COMPTON, THE STATION SHAPED A GENERATION--THEN FELL VICTIM TO ITS OWN SUCCESS I do like the title track a lot though...a bit more bluesy jazzy & the sax/horns... a great groove... it takes me back to those sweet warm Phoenix daze...Phoenix is a hell hole nowadays. I wish the whole album was more like this. It harkens back to earlier daze. Guess I'll give the album a spin today for a reassessment after my big diss.
I never knew what they were referring to with that line'' they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast'' until now, the beast being the Eagles, of course.
Interesting. I always thought Gaucho was as great as Aja. For me, these two albums are the twin peaks of their output. I do love The Royal Scam and Katy Lied, too. Their first three albums have always given me a bit of a problem, because their jazz rock sound hadn't quite crystalized. It's been a long-time since I've listened to these albums, though, so I'm definitely do for a revisit.
