Review Summary: The first of many wonderful albums by a wonderfully unique band.
How the hell is there only one review of this? Steely Dan creates classics. Not in the sense of a song or album being "old" or something dumb you sing along to in the car when it comes on the radio, but in the sense that it has been over 40 years since this music has been released and it still holds up, sounds way ahead of time, and has influenced many an artist since it came out. It's legacy is definitely still being felt today, in the music of quirky indie pop artists like Mac Demarco and Ariel Pink who also use jazz as a loose blueprint for their imaginations. Despite the term hipster not really being around in pop culture yet, Steely Dan were basically the originals; the jazz nerds at the back of the class, brains racing 100 mph and silently scoffing at everyone in their line of vision. They were the first band to merge pop sensibility and off-the-wall song structure the right way, and these 10 tracks still remain as some of the best examples of that.
The album immediately gets the rhythm going and thrusts you into it's world with (arguably) the Dan's biggest hit, "Do It Again." This song gives you a good idea of their style and also exemplifies what they do best; it's a goofy mix of everything from samba to lounge music to rock, it's weird, it's catchy, and it kicks ass. After that we move on to the best slow song of the '70s, "Dirty Work." The song immediately comes alive with some warm organ chords that then take a left turn with a complex progression in the verse, and oh, that chorus: "I'm a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah!" Try getting that one out of your head. It's awesome how tight everything about this band is-they manage to subtly slip in musically complex arrangements that any music theory buff would be impressed by, but they stop just short of pretentious and keep everything catchy and balanced enough for maximum wide appeal. "Dirty Work" is a perfect example of this. While every pop singer was (and still is) shelling out big bucks for a team to write their songs, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were making it look easy. They seem painfully aware of every chord change, every lyric couplet, every melody placement. It's like watching an athlete who knows how good he is just tower over the competition, and it's quite a thing to see. Like any great artist, they have developed a unique sound and a songwriting formula, got both of those down to a T, and applied it over and over again to deliver hit after hit.
"Kings", like many songs here, is a Fagen song with a wonderful hook and a memorable guitar solo (all of which on this album were played by session musicians as Fagen and Becker are the only core musicians in the group). "Reelin' in the Years", "Fire in the Hole" etc. are all classics and wonderful in their own right, but explaining them in-depth would be redundant as they follow the same formula as the rest of the songs here. Which, as much as it works, is probably the only thing holding this album back from a 5. Steely Dan are masters of their craft and seeing how down pat they had their sound and tunes at the beginning of their career is quite impressive. If you're a fan of quirky pop or intelligent songcraft with catchy hooks, this band is a must, and this album is the perfect starting point.
