Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy poll

king of the world

showbiz kids is possibly my least favorite 70s steely dan song

My Old School........

Guadalajara won't do now......

What's wrong with Show Biz Kids again?

Everything. Unless you like a repetitive song with "Las Vegas" being repeated all over again all the time. Probably the worst Steely Dan song ever.

haven't read the thread, but went for "The Boston Rag" after some serious hemming and hawing.

King of the World for me

The Boston Rag is Steely Dan's best song. Therefore, it is the best song on Countdown To Ecstasy.

Bring back the Boston Raggett.

That's sweet. Thanks, Geir!

"show business kids they're making movies of themselves" is such quintessential fagen hermeticism, all this contempt & insight and willful myopia packed into half a line.

yeah this album can be my favorite although aja is so goddamn special to me.

"Pearl of The Quarter", cause no one else will.

Voted for "My Old School," though "Bodhisattva" was close. "Show Biz Kids" is one of my least favorite Steely Dan songs, much less singles.

OK, I wrote that without reading the rest of the thread, and it appears I am one with Geir.

Unless you like a repetitive song with "Las Vegas" being repeated all over again all the time.

B-b-but it sounds like "LOST WAGES"!!!

I voted "Pearl of the Quarter" last night cos I was afraid no one else would. Also cos the pedal steel still kills me every single time.

YES

I'm curious: anyone think this album has any bad songs? I don't.

Yeah, "Show Biz Kids," as mentioned.

There are no bad songs on this album, just bad listeners.

show biz kids is the song i like the least on this album and it's still great

This is probably my favorite Steely Dan album. There aren't any bad songs - hard to pick a favorite though.

i don't think i have a favorite steely dan album. though i suppose whatever one i'm listening to at the moment is usually my favorite.

i only found out about this album because of an ILM thread. now it's one of my favorite albums ever! "Your Gold Teeth" is my pick.

How could it be anything other than "King of the World"?

Hold onto your hat, dude: people like different stuff.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I don't understand how anyone can call "Show Biz Kids" the worst song on an album that features a waste of audiotape on the scale of "Pearl Of The Quarter." I really don't get the complaints about the phrase "lost wages" being repetitive, in the absence of complaints about "voulez voulez voulez vous," which is the single most annoying thing in the entire SD repertoire.

Oh, and I voted for "My Old School."

thanks, unperson, i agree

pearl of the quarter = caledonia mission by the band

otm.

I really don't get the complaints about the phrase "lost wages" being repetitive, in the absence of complaints about "voulez voulez voulez vous," which is the single most annoying thing in the entire SD repertoire.

That phrase is just repeated at the end of a verse, that is afterwards going straight into a contrasting chorus. "Show Biz Kids" has no chorus at all, no development, no climax. It is actually an example of what has been wrong with a lot of R&B, funk and hip-hop (and contemporary "classical" music for that matter) in that it has no development and is way too repetitive, cyclic and monotone.

Dude no-one cares about yr stupid opinions! It'd be kinda ok if you were 15 or less, but I don't think you are. SHUT UP.

Those who are 15 or less (or sadly 25 or less) are the ones who like that kind of cyclic shit. Well, not that Steely Dan track (they've never heard of it), but a lot of other cyclic crap.

I saw Steely Dan on Saturday at the Beacon Theatre - they did a somewhat reconfigured "Show Biz Kids" - the rhythm was subtly different anyway - that was great. Sadly, they didn't play anything else from Countdown - they stuck mostly to stuff from Royal Scam on.

Some of the gr8est guitar playing in the whole Steely Dan catalogue is on this LP. But I guess you can say that about every one of their records. "My Old School" for me.

Duh... "My Old School." It's only one of THE greatest songs of all time.

Everything. Unless you like a repetitive song with "Las Vegas" being repeated all over again all the time. Probably the worst Steely Dan song ever.

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You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised at the love for "King of the World".

it's a shame singles always trump almost everything else in the SD polls, great singles band but the results end up kinda boring as a result.

That might change with the Gaucho poll.

POLL EXCITEMENT!!!!!

which were the singles on Gaucho?

"Time Out of Mind" and "Hey Nineteen." I mean, I expect the latter to get love, but a couple of others might nip at its heels.

Yeah I guess "Babylon Sisters" will win that one

all the talk about razor boy here and only 4 votes?!

"Hey Nineteen" is one of the only four SD songs that I ever actually heard as singles per se, as in AM radio; and appropriately enough, those four represent their highest-charting hits. So deliberately voting for "the single" is kinda academic.

there were still rock songs on AM radio in 1980?

I used to listen to Top 40 on AM radio even up to '85 or so.

I think "Razor Boy" deserved to place much much higher

what did alex in nyc vote for?

woke up this morning with "Pearl of the Quarter" stuck in my head, it deserved much more love in this poll

It really is a great track. This was the first album I bought from them that wasn't a compilation, and it was obvious right away that they weren't just a singles band. A great album top to bottom.

Surprised at the love for "King of the World".

― o. nate, Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:53 AM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm surprised by this post! "King of the World" is probably my favorite song of all time. I guess post-apocalyptic desert jazz-pop w/synths isn't everyone's jam, but to my ears they really pulled it off.

Also as a kid I used to think Fagen was singing "any man laughed on the Rio Grande" in the chorus. Sometimes I still choose to hear it that way lol

Yeah, that's a great track too - the best album closer they ever recorded.

I like Aja and to a lesser extent Gaucho too, but when I revisit what they accomplished here, those later albums can feel kind of bland in comparison.

Yeah I see what you mean. I wouldn't call Aja or Gaucho bland, but they lack the tight-knit working rock band energy of the early Dan

I am most partial to Pretzel Logic.

the work day is done, time to kick off the Countdown

it's this one or Aja for greatest album ever and I'll never be able to decide

generally i respect their decision to not tour when they were making records but i feel like there are 500 killer live versions of "my old school" in a parallel universe somewhere and i'm sad i won't hear them

xxxp I might agree with that - it's really between Pretzel Logic and Countdown. A tough call because the approaches are so different. Regardless, albums #2 through 4 are the ones I enjoy most, and Steely Dan's grown on me to the point where I enjoy everything up to and including Gaucho.