I say Pretzel Logic in a walk.
Close call between Pretzel Logic and Gaucho.
i’d rather play teh pervert and pick that early demos collection.
(yeh. just did it!)
tough choice between ‘aja’ and ‘can’t buy a thrill’.
aja
during recording one of the albums was played and re-played by a variety of different sets of studio session musicians, over and over until they all went mad—which one was that?
i MUST read me a steely dan biog one of these days.
WOW!! can’t wait for this.
Don Breithaupt? he posts on here doesn’t he?
I’m gonna say The Royal Scam, although it could just as easily be Countdown To Ecstasy (or Pretzel Logic (or Aja)). has anyone heard this—http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Jazz-McPartland-Steely-Dan/dp/B0007TKH8E/sr=8-17/qid=1171290783/ref=sr_1_17/103-5218563-7319021?ie=UTF8&s=music—and is it worth checking out?
Countdown to Ecstasy
Mainly because it has my favorite Steely Dan song, The Boston Rag. But Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied are also very worthy choices.
i was just talking about this yesterday, hearing PL for the first time. still C2E so far though
it’s the only one you own, dude!
anyway either Katy Lied or Gaucho for me
Apart from Royal Scam, every album has been my fave at some point. Musically, it would probably be Pretzel, but right now Gaucho seems to me the best encapsulation of everything I adore about them.
Katy Lied
Katy Lied.
Either of the 4 from 1973–76 has been my favourite at one time, for different reasons. I’ve liked the stretched-out jamming aspect of “Ecstasy”, and the compact tunes of “Pretzel”. But “Royal Scam” is just so sleek and polished that it’s my current infatuation.
Incidentally, how come the second song on EVERY one of the first five is my least favourite on that LP?
I don’t know why, because “Night By Night” and “The Caves Of Altamira” are great. So is “Dirty Work,” actually.
RAZOR BOY
Katy Lied.
Countdown to Ecstasy is solid gold.
iTunes started spazzing out when i was playing Gaucho. It played “My Rival” inbetween all of the other songs. I like Gaucho that way, though.
I predict no consensus.
Katy Lied.
what are Steely Dan’s non-studio albums?
Alive in America...um...
I’d guess he means no comps either: Gold, Greatest Hits, Showbiz Kids, etc.
“Katy Lied.”
royal scam
I always say “The Royal Scam” but, when all’s said and done, it’s probably “Countdown to Ecstasy”
there wasn’t much of a consensus last time we did this if i recall, although KATY LIED seems to be running away with it.
... which is what I’d expect from ILM
add me to the list of those who can’t fathom why katy lied would be #1 if you’ve ever heard any other steely dan lps
The Royal Scam was the last album of theirs I bought and always seemed like Katy Lied leftovers; other than “Don’t Take Me Alive” and “Kid Charlemagne” there wasn’t anything they hadn’t done better before.
I say Countdown to Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic are their most essential, with Gaucho and the first side of KL close behind.
Yeah, Royal Scam is the one SD album that seems a step below.
no way is it a step below Gaucho, or Can’t Buy A Thrill, or Two Against Nature.
it’s pretzel logic for me baby
tasteful and tuneful. in small doses
I don’t know why, because “Night By Night” and “The Caves Of Altamira” are great. So is “Dirty Work,” actually.
Sure, but not as good as “Midnight Cruiser” or “Charlie Freak” or “Sign In Stranger”! (But then, I’ve a persistent pattern of always liking the “wrong” songs off the right albums, so I dunno what my problem is...)
...or even the wrong album by the right band.
Countdown to Ecstasy and Aja are the ones to beat for me—the former is more exciting, because the vision is pretty new, and some of the lyricism is so cutting and savage. Aja’s the more mature work obviously—musically it’s just shockingly together—but it’s also the languid one, the more resigned one. Countdown for when I’m young, Aja for when I know I’m really not.
Countdown
...because it’s the most enjoyable to listen to straight through. No out-of-place songs or mood-breakers. Quality is consistently high. The lyrics are focused, engaged, and not as inscrutable as the Dan can sometimes be.
add me to the list of those who can’t fathom why katy lied would be #1 if you’ve ever heard any other steely dan lps
It was the first one I heard, and it has “Doctor Wu,” which is probably my favorite Steely Dan song. By contrast, Countdown to Ecstasy has “Show Biz Kids,” which I really don’t like. Gaucho and Aja sometimes get a little TOO smooth. Pretzel Logic and The Royal Scam are both very good, and on some days, I probably do prefer them to Katy Lied. I haven’t heard Can’t Buy a Thrill often enough, I thought Two Against Nature was subpar, and Everything Must Go is great but not really classic.
Katy Lied is pretty good—perhaps it would be by second or third choice. It does seem perhaps a bit lacking in memorable melodies and catchy hooks though, at least as compared to the other albums (with a couple of notable exceptions, e.g. “Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City No More” and “Bad Sneakers”).
...my second or third choice...
I kind of agrre with what Don and Walt wrote about Katy Lied in the notes for The Royal Scam remaster.
I would still take Katy Lied over Can’t Buy a Thrill (some memorable songs, but they’d not quite perfected their style yet) or Aja (a bit too disengaged).
1. Countdown to Ecstasy
2. Pretzel Logic
3. Katy Lied
4. Can’t Buy a Thrill
5. Aja
The others, I haven’t listened to enough to judge.
How about a ‘Two Against Nature’ vs ‘Everything Must Go’?
I know that the latter has a better rep, but I never managed to really get into it. 2vsN on the other hand is pretty enjoyable.
‘two against nature’ is a good record for mine. love the lyrical themes on it.
didn’t purchase ‘everything must go’, and actually wasn’t aware that it had even been released until a few months after it was
this changes all the time for me but right now it’s Can’t Buy a Thrill. anyways thought the sandbox could use a steely dan thread in SNA
i circulate through favorites pretty regularly. the only ones that i don’t listen to incessantly when their time comes around are Countdown, Scam and Pretzel Logic... so i guess those are my three least favorite, even though i love them.
(this does not include 2AN or EMG, which i’ve never really gotten into)
i used to wrestle with this question but the answer’s been the same since the first time i answered it itt four years ago: Royal Scam
Royal Scam for me too.
hard to choose, but I’d have to go with Aja
I listened to Can’t Buy a Thrill last night and marveled how every song — every song — is as exquisitely written as they come.
Five or six of my favourite songs are on either Pretzel Logic or Katy Lied, so one of those two.
can’t buy a thrill
The only imperial phase record which makes me impatient is TRS.
I totally love “Sign In Stranger,” though.
Yes. “Kid Charlemagne” too, bien sur. And “Don’t Take Me Alive.” The rest is clavinets and guitars through bad amps.
and caves and the fez and the title track but yeah
I listened to Kamikarand or whatever it’s called for the first time in years the other day and I totally forgot how great it is.
my OPO is Aja
I think TRS has some of the Dan’s sweetest keyboard tones
Pretzel Logic
Fagen/Becker seem to dislike Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied, which are my favorites
Katy Lied was an infamously rough recording experience with equipment/sound problems that left them unhappy w/ the final product and i think in general they favor the later stuff after they became a ‘studio’ band and got more ambitious with the session musician perfectionism, so i think that’s not really a reflection on the songs or anything to really dwell on.
Thanks, some dude—from a cursory look at their set lists a long time ago, it seemed like they didn’t play a lot of tracks from those two. But they’re definitely the end of SD Phase One
Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied also seem like SD at their most depressive and/or vulnerable (if that’s possible)
I listened to Can’t Buy a Thrill last night and marveled how every song — every song — is as exquisitely written as they come.
^^^this. the other albums are great, but none of ’em have this 100% hit ratio for me
Katy Lied comes close
Fagen/Becker seem to dislike Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied, which are my favorites
Because they don’t play them as often? Could be. I’d guess these, the former at least, are not as in demand by the classic-rock/easy-listening-esque audience.
funny that this tread came up as i listened to Gaucho last night but my vote has to go with Aja.
Babylon Sisters has been my singin in the shower jam lately.
I would be lying if I didn’t say Aja but Gaucho is an amazing album
Forever it was Aja, but I think I now lean towards The Royal Scam.
Countdown to Ecstasy followed closely by Aja. Pretzel Logic is probably my least favourite album of the original run because ‘With a Gun’ and the version of ‘East St. Louis Toodle-Oo’ are kind of throwaway for me (by SD standards at least).