Ashamed as I am to admit it, I only knowingly heard a Steely Dan song for the first time less than a week ago. I've no idea what it was, only remember that I liked it a lot. Lame, eh?
Anyway, which two albums should I look for to start with as a way in to Steely Dan?
Pretzel Logic
absolutely awesome record, have a listen to Barrytown here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Steely+Dan/_/Barrytown
Barrytown
Fashanu endorsed
John or Justin?
Actually, either is good for me.
.
http://tinyurl.com/ytdmwu
Aja
apparently
they took their name from a vibrator... or something.
It's what William Burroughs
calls a dildo in Naked Lunch.
urgh, don't do it!
.
Only a fool would do that.
Not lame at all. Brilliant, brilliant band.
Katy Lied is a great place to start. Every track is brisk, melodic and showcases their way with a great lyric. Also contains the finest calypso-paedolphile jam on record ('Everyone's Gone To The Movies') - and somebody's also mentioned Pretzel Logic, a similarly tuneful, fun album with some of their best purely pop moments (i.e. not the potentially alienating jazz of 'Aja' or the similarly potentially alienating sleaze and slickness of 'Gaucho')
I love this band to bits, and it took me a couple of years, but I got all the way through their back catalogue - they may not be fashionable. But don't let that put you off.
Agreed
Katy Lied is awesome. And the Best Of is pretty awesome as a way in too..
anything
Aja or earlier will do the trick.
personally, i think their second album, Countdown To Ecstacy is bloody genius and if you`re a fan of the Super Furry Animals you can play guess the sample when it gets to Showbiz Kids...
black friday
It's a pretty sweet track.
The guitar for their solo's is something else, I love the production of steely dan tracks.
do it agaaaaaain
wheeeeeeeeels turning round and round
The amazing thing about Steely Dan is that
every single one of their albums from "Countdown to Ecstasy" to "Aja" is absolutely wickeeeeed
That's a pretty good run in my opinion, like six solid albums in a row or something
I would favour The Royal Scam/Aja, more jazzy hehe than the earlier southern rock type things
whoops I meant
"can't by a thrill" to "aja"
Can't Buy A Thrill
Is a pretty natural place to start. For debut it's stupidly accomplished and the work of true perfectionists in creating the best kind of pop.
So good...
seconded
.
...
i'm a totaly steely dan bore, but cant really add much to the pretty accurate stuff said already.
it's really only gaucho that i dont love, and thats because it's just too slick whereas the earlier stuff always retained something personal about it.
personal faves:
pretzel logic - patchy but has some of my favourite tracks
royal scam - diamond hard!
Countdown to ectasy!!
Wicked album!!
Razor boy, My old school, your gold teeth! Just class!!
And Aja is amazing!! A must have in anyones collection!!
^^
Its gotta be Aja, not an average song on it. And the Classic Albums documentary on it is easily the best in that series.
so, to summarize:
start with the first 6 and go from there?
while this is annoying in a way as EVERYONE DISAGREES, or rather everyone agrees all the albums are great, it's reassuring and making me quite look forward to getting some albums :)
...
Definitly a good thing when people can't agree where to start on a band. That's the sign of a great band to me, bit like The Byrds where do you start?
the royal scam
is probably my favourite. but, like everyone else is saying, the first 6 albums are all amazing.
Agreed -
All their first seven albums are swwweeeet - But has anyone heard Walter Becker's "11 tracks of wack"? Is it any good?
Yea thats wicked!!
Theres a track on it called Junkie Girl!! Just amazing!! Its deff worth getting!! Has anyone got any of the Donald Fagen albums?? The nightfly is as gud as early Steely Dan!!
nightfly
too slick for me.
11 tracks of wack is a great title.
hold the presses....
its 'whack' not wack. not nearly as cool.
Steely Dan's run of form from 1972-1980...
...is, imho, as astonishing as the likes of Bowie 1971-80 for just unbroken brilliance.
I thought I'd have to hide my love for SD under a bushel here but I'm over the moon to see so many come out in support!
Saw em at Hammersmith Apollo last year as well - awesome.
Just to recap, then - you might as well buy all the albums and listen to them all, lots.
Nightfly took a while for me to get into,
as it's main selling point was that it was 'the most perfect digital recording of its time, or in the history of the world' or whatever.
But, despite its slickness, there are some gems there - I.G.Y, the title track and The Goodbye Look. And I really like the front cover.
Also 'Morph The Cat' is pretty good, again with a few gems to recommend it - but I kinda think it slides into an indistinguishable smooth-jazz slickness for much of it
Grestest Hits and Aja
Greatest Hits is pretty action packed and Aja is the album they want to be remembered for.