Steely Dan album purchase advice?

[JJJimmy]

"I know that "Aja" and "Gaucho" are considered stellar, but each of them has too much overlap with "Decade..." I think".

"Decade" is great when you just want to hear a good mix of the Dan's stuff...but if you REALLY enjoy their music, you GOTTA listen to the entire presentation of each album. The two albums above are what got me hooked, and still consider them my favorites. These are the albums I use to evaluate system changes since I know them both so well, and they both have enough sonic differences between tracks to test and adjust and tweak your system to its potential.

If you haven't bought one yet, PM me with your address and I'll send you one of my 6 copies of "Aja" (a - because I'm originally from Tucson, b - I LOVE "The Big Lebowski", and c - you really need ALL their albums!) as a gift from one AK'er to another.

Jimmy

 

[MarkinIowa]

Look on e-bay for the "Citizen Steely Dan" box if cds are ok. Everything through Gaucho. A must-have if just simply for the live version of Bohistivata. Also I have a boot from the Record Plant in 1972 or 73 that is stellar. You can usually find it to download. Personal faves; Countdown and Royal Scam.
Mark

 

[similost]

I don't understand the "trying to decide" part...

If I like a band, like Steely Dan, I look for any and all of their albums, and buy them when I can. I don't just pick and choose based on what is best.... A person never can have too many albums, especially when they like the band they are from.

 

[electronjohn]

Steely Dan...what to do, what to do?

Simple...buy 'em all! Have both CD and vinyl at the ready depending upon your whim. Then...make up a mix disc laden with the stuff that isn't on the compilations: "Boston Rag", ""Dr. Wu", both "Gold Teeth", "The Caves of Altamira" (might be my all-time fave, there)...it's a lonnnng list. Don't discount the Fagen/Becker solo output..."Kamakiriad" is, to me, the "lost" Steely Dan album..."Morph the Cat" ain't no slouch, either. Walt's 1st solo "11 Tracks of Whack" may not be for all tastes, but it's cheap used and ya gotta have 'em all. BTW...I've seen "Kamakiriad" for as little as 75 cents used on Amazon. I'm currently spinning the heck out of Walt's new one "Circus Money"...it's a goodie. The "Gotta Walk it, etc." disc is actually the soundtrack to a low-budget movie they were talked into doing just prior to recording "Can't Buy A Thrill"...the other boot discs are basically compiled from demos Don & Walt did during their days as aspiring pop songwriters.
Steely Dan is essential to any music collection...endless enjoyment and a nice supply of system calibration material to boot.

 

[jazzwolf]

I don't understand the "trying to decide" part...

If I like a band, like Steely Dan, I look for any and all of their albums, and buy them when I can. I don't just pick and choose based on what is best.... A person never can have too many albums, especially when they like the band they are from.

I gotta agree with you 100%. If I REALLY like a performer then I'm on a hunt for all their records until I hit a sour note.

 

[Dr. Music]

Simple...buy 'em all! Have both CD and vinyl at the ready depending upon your whim. Then...make up a mix disc laden with the stuff that isn't on the compilations: "Boston Rag", ""Dr. Wu", both "Gold Teeth", "The Caves of Altamira" (might be my all-time fave, there)...it's a lonnnng list. Don't discount the Fagen/Becker solo output..."Kamakiriad" is, to me, the "lost" Steely Dan album..."Morph the Cat" ain't no slouch, either. Walt's 1st solo "11 Tracks of Whack" may not be for all tastes, but it's cheap used and ya gotta have 'em all. BTW...I've seen "Kamakiriad" for as little as 75 cents used on Amazon. I'm currently spinning the heck out of Walt's new one "Circus Money"...it's a goodie. The "Gotta Walk it, etc." disc is actually the soundtrack to a low-budget movie they were talked into doing just prior to recording "Can't Buy A Thrill"...the other boot discs are basically compiled from demos Don & Walt did during their days as aspiring pop songwriters.
Steely Dan is essential to any music collection...endless enjoyment and a nice supply of system calibration material to boot.

Picked Kamakiriad up for the first time in years and years thanks to your post John...... saw it at the local GW and thought, yeah, its worth giving another try to . I had bought it when it was released on vinyl but it didn't affect me much back then, probably because I was more inclined towards a SD reunion than I was their solo efforts leading to it. I gotta say, I LOVE the song "Tomorrow's Girls"..... to me its a tune that would have resided just fine on most any SD release.

Having said that, if I were starting out wanting to get to know SD music it would be a VERY close battle between The Royal Scam and Aja. I think Aja is the one that would win me over with its lush, diverse beautiful jazz and some incredible songwriting, but I also love the dark, sinsiter pessimistic nature of Royal Scam. Most bands never put out a song that could even dare hope to compete with Kid Charlemagne.......

 

[scubaguy10]

Get ALL of these!!!

can't buy a thrill
countdown to ecstacy
pretzel logic
katy lied
royal scam

In chronological order, the way a fan from the very first record would have done it! Like ME for instance!
I know a lot of people love the stuff that followed the above 5. But I could never get into any SD post 'The Royal Scam', and I have no idea why.:scratch2:

These are all great albums. I would certainly add Aja as essential as well. The nice thing is that all these records are so well recorded and the sound is just great. That and the music rocks.

 

[onepixel]

Get them all, I did. They're all good.