Steely Dan

This album started it all for Steely Dan. Tracks such as "Reeling In The Years" were considered ahead of their time, yet appealed to everyone from straight-ahead jazz aficionados to barhopping rock fans. Some tracks, such as "Dirty Work," feature David Palmer on lead vocals rather than bandleader Donald Fagen.

Mary is strapping on a rubber penis. "Steely Dan III from Yokohama," she says, caressing the
shaft. "What happen to Steely Dan I?" "He was torn in two by a bull dyke. She could cave in
a lead pipe." "And Steely Dan II?" "Chewed to bits by a famished candiru in the Upper
Baboonsasshole. And don't say 'wheeeeeeee!' this time." -- William S. Burroughs, Naked
Lunch I doubt that "wheee!" will be your response to this Steely Dan, an L.A. roc... More >

How about that--a good album with two hit singles attached. And as you might expect of New York natives who reside in the City of the Angels, both brim with ambivalence: "Do It Again," a catchy modified mambo with homogenized vocals that divert one's attention from its tragic tale of a loser so compulsive he can't get himself hanged, and "Reelin' in the Years," a hate song to a professed genius. Think of the Dan as the first post-boogie band: the beat swings more than it blasts or blisters, the chord changes defy our primitive subconscious expectations, and the lyrics underline their own difficulty--as well as the difficulty of the reality to which they refer--with arbitrary personal allusions, most of which are ruses. (Grade - A)