Polled At Last: STEELY DAN - ILM Artist poll #50

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/roger-nichols-recording-engineer-who-won-six-grammys-for-his-work-with-steely-dan-2309546.html

Nichols' contribution was acknowledged when his disembodied hand appeared from underneath the mixing desk on the back cover of Countdown To Ecstasy, along with his credit as "The Immortal".

oh, awesome. thank you!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51u%2Bh9jdLcL.jpg

3. Katy Lied
Released: March 1975
Acclaimed Music ranking: 25 for 1975 with 1018 All Time
1191 Points, 38 Votes, 3 Number Ones

only 11 more points than Countdown to Ecstasy but 3 more votes.

over CTE? Damn!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gNn1zx1lHmo/Uz2T7iUF24I/AAAAAAAAAEk/e6eZFTaxVN0/w474-h595-no/oaaa_steelydan.jpg

katie lyd

the pretzel logic crew has done well, and I have to admit that I've been digging the flapamba myself these days.

xp: fixed.

If PL wins this, I'll be truly vexed.

genuinely surprised by these results so far. i thought katy and gaucho would be ILM's 1 and 2. but maybe it's just that their supporters are louder than pretzel logic's old man support contingent (of which i am sometimes a member), and aja's -- actually i'm not sure what to call team aja. but i like all of these albums so it's all good.

No, I mean, I came to Steely Dan through Phish. The Phishheads who turned me on to SD were huge fans of Royal Scam. There is a very obvious influence.

this comment has been haunting me, and explains why The Royal Scam has never sat well with me

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/d1/08/6e521363ada0b065d21fe010.L.jpg

2. Pretzel Logic
Released: February 20, 1974
Acclaimed Music ranking: 5 for 1974 with 265 All Time
1198 Points, 39 Votes, 5 Number Ones

you read that right, only 7 more points.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cIcs97HZq1k/Uz2YWQAOOaI/AAAAAAAAAFY/7DQJvgBs5I0/w793-h595-no/2012_90th_st.jpg

I can live with this being #2, though I was hoping for a shock #1.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/d9/0c/6809729fd7a000576f3de010.L.jpg

1. Aja
Released: September 23, 1977
Acclaimed Music ranking: 16 for 1977 with 309 All Time
1312 Points, 39 Votes, 9 Number Ones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfT2DtpRUfI

40 ballots
Full results for 16 Albums
Total points, song, number ones, total votes

1312 Aja 9-39
1198 Pretzel Logic 5-39
1191 Katie Lied 3-38
1180 Countdown to Ecstasy 7-35
1135 Gaucho 8-36
1096 The Royal Scam 5-38
1063 Can’t Buy a Trill 1-37
517 The Nightfly 2-18
223 Two Against Nature 9
166 Everything Must Go 7

89 Sunken Condos 4
45 11 Tracks of Whack 2
25 Circus Money 1
20 Alive In America 1
18 Morph The Cat 1
17 Kamakiriad 1

crazy pretzel logic fans, i respect you and your enjoyment of underwritten steely dan

Pretzel Logic at 2? smdh

Yeah, that's a weird sign.

What was on the ballot that didn't place Aja or Pretzel Logic?

I ranked em like this but it'd look different today

1) Gaucho
2) Countdown to Ecstasy
3) Aja
4) Pretzel Logic
5) Katy Lied
6) The Royal Scam
7) Can't Buy a Thrill
8) The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
9) 11 Tracks of Whack - Walter Becker
10) Sunken Condos - Donald Fagen

one person did only vote for two albums and one was a solo album.

xpost

when i did my tracks all of aja was in the top 25, so it seemed like a reasonable #1

i didn't vote in the albums poll, but it would've been:

1) Aja
2) The Royal Scam
3) Gaucho
4) Countdown to Ecstasy
5) Katy Lied
6) The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
7) Can't Buy a Thrill
8) Pretzel Logic

My list:

1.Aja
2.Gaucho
3.Katy Lied
4.The Royal Scam
5.The Nightfly
6.Pretzel Logic

i was going with a Top 50 for poll #50 but asked pplains if he could add 10 more. so we are going to get a bonus and do a Top 60 rundown instead. after we do the bonus 10 i will give the reason. don't want to give away anything right now.

i actually have something to do, so this will kick it off. i should be back in about an hour.

again thanks pplains for these amazing images. i will let him explain his inspiration.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UN7yeQkPAAc/Uz2grtF6HsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/ICcMmOO2KlY/w640-h320-no/Monkey+In+Your+Soul.jpg

60. Monkey In Your Soul
From: Pretzel Logic
Released: February 20, 1974
72 Points, 3 Votes

Countdown being robbed is the only real shock to me

Favorite thing about "Monkey" is the way it opens always makes me think the 1 is on a different beat than it really is and I try to maintain my rhythmic disorientation as far into the song as I can

i'm team pretzel but was never a big fan of "monkey." #60 seems about right. but i am already liking these images very much. based on one image.

I love Monkey, a spirited throwaway saying goodbye to them doing throwaways.

all right i am so psyched for these images ALREADY oh man

also great way to start the countdown

to ecstacy

"Monkey in Your Soul," like "With a Gun" and "Through With Buzz" was so determinedly abstruse on first listen that its oddness was itself attractive. PL is unique in the Dan catalog in that regard.

Little late, but here was my album poll:

Countdown to Ecstasy
Aja
Katy Lied
Pretzel Logic
Can't Buy a Thrill
The Royal Scam
Gaucho

gaucho
aja
cant buy a thrill
the royal scam
countdown to ecstacy
katy lied
pretzel logic

(xp) "with a gun" may have got my vote if we did a "least favorite SD song" subpoll. not sure if it's abstruse or just weirdly generic folk-rock. i think the only thing that's odd about it is how different it sounds than anything else in the SC catalog.

"through with buzz" is definitely abstruse and odd, though. the one-line verse is a good concept.

yeah, "through with buzz" is very strange and awesome.

strings in "through with buzz" are all time

maybe he's a fairy!

what other tracks have strings? there's 'FM'...

yeah i like how they brought out the strings for a track that's 1.5 minutes long

And it hasn't even placed yet!

Bee OK? You out there?