Why do people rag on Steely Dan's "Gaucho" so much?

But that's what's so hellish about it. It's Los Fucking Angeles.

A thought I had on another thread:

T/S: The best album about LA

Guns n' Roses Appetite for Destruction or Steely Dan Gaucho? Two sides of the same coin, I think.

Story:
http://www.bigomagazine.com/archive/ARrarities/ARsdgaucho.html

'Second arrangement' is probably my most listened to Steely Dan song. 'The Bear' is also good. If they had been finished and included, I think Gaucho would be an easy consensus for best Steely Dan album

READ THE FUCKING THREAD

however i had "deacon blues" stuck in my head this afternoon. i usually hate songs with long choruses (and repeating long choruses, at that), but "deacon blues" is just perfect. something about how assuredly bewildered fagen's delivery seems supersedes any possible klutziness.

And am I just imagining that Streisand covered "Barrytown"? I know she did the early-Becker/Fagen "I Mean to Shine," but I love the idea of her sticking it to the Archie Bunker type of "Barrytown."

It's funny reading this sentiment toward these two albums. Having grown up in a very Dan-friendly house, I've always loved their music, and The Royal Scam and Gaucho are my favorite albums. Scam is certainly not their greatest album, but, more so with Steely Dan than with most bands, certain songs tend to make indelible marks on your memory and hold such strong connections. Whenever I hear "Kid Charlemagne" or "Caves of Altamira" I'm instantly reminded of a rather fond period of my life. Whether it is because of how often I listened to that record then or some meaning within those songs I do not know.

Also, on the talk of Scam upthread as neo-hippie favorite I can attest, as me and my friends were deep into our Phish phase and spun the album hundreds of times (I was 16....). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the album seems to be the only one where they focused mroe on texture and groove and funk (in some places) than on their usual character sketches and dark contemporary commentary. It's easy to listen to "The Fez" when you've taken 8 bong hits.

Gaucho on the other hand is no guilty pleasure. It is a work of pure yet restrained genius, with loads of sleaze, contempt, antipathy... over the most sophisticated, glossy, presicse sounds...it's a gripping album.

Alright, last time I read it (admittedly a while ago) nobody had, and a text search for 'bootleg' came up empty. Sorry for ruining your day.

That being said:

the lost gaucho album >>>>>> gaucho

is very true.

is it safe to like "since u been gone" yet?

You can find the source for the title track in 'Long as You Know You're Living Yours' from the Keith Jarrett and co album Belonging. Jarrett noticed this as well, sued and now receives a co-writing credit on the track.

AMG:

Themes:
Night Driving
At the Office!!!!
Late Night

I just ordered a cheap used copy of this.

In an advance copy of Marooned[ that a friend managed to snag, Phil Freeman devotes a third of his Motorhead essay to Gaucho; it's mostly an excellent encapsulation of this discussion.

This is great (from the Stylus piece):

Consummate critics in their own right, Walter Becker himself nails Gaucho above. It wasn’t the peak of their sound, it was more like its implosion: a spotless album not only portraying and mocking, but literally embodying the shellacked vapidity of their Los Angeles lifestyles and the escape—a fantasy of breezy opulence—that their music offered to their fans.

It says exactly what I've always felt about them - that while satirizing a scene, they also create a perfect picture of it, so that I can feel like I'm in on the jokes even though they're about a lifestyle and time I never knew.

yeah that's a good piece.

phish's golden age (imo) is 97 when they were deep in funk

stop it.

"Brut and charisma poured from the shadow where he stood"

really, these guys were The Best.

"Szechuan dumplings, now that the deal has been done. I'm the one."

My favorite Dan album.

In an advance copy of Marooned that a friend managed to snag, Phil Freeman devotes a third of his Motorhead essay to Gaucho; it's mostly an excellent encapsulation of this discussion.

Well, as I said in the piece, I had originally thought long and hard about making Gaucho my album pick for the book. It's still absolutely my favorite SD album; for me it works like a short story collection, something like Bret Easton Ellis's The Informers (a very underrated book, btw).

for me it works like a short story collection

absolutely OTM. The fullest flowering of their weird lyrical specificity.

Apologies for using the word "specificity".

I finally picked up a copy and I think it's great.

I had never caught one of the best lines in "Hey Nineteen" before:

The Cuervo Gold
The fine Colombian
Make tonight a wonderful thing

The way he phrases it is so spot-on -- he really sounds drunk and depressed, as though the tequila and coke are the only things propping him up.

I think "Columbian" at the time meant weed - not that there isn't plenty of coke on the album, but "Columbian" was a common designator for weed at the time

Ah, ok. Actually drunk/stoned fits that line better than drunk/coked-up.

And the whole mood of the song too - resigned rather than grandiose.

I made myself coffee and read the OTHER Steely Dan thread again; it really is the most amazing thing on ILM.

Please take me along when you slide on down

So what the hell is the "Custerdome?"