The Boston Rag is Steely Dan's best song. Therefore, it is the best song on Countdown To Ecstasy.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 20 June 2008 13:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Bring back the Boston Raggett.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 20 June 2008 14:09 (fifteen years ago) link
That's sweet. Thanks, Geir!
― iago g., Friday, 20 June 2008 14:28 (fifteen years ago) link
"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.
― J0hn D., Friday, 20 June 2008 15:34 (fifteen years ago) link
"Pearl of The Quarter", cause no one else will.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:34 (fifteen years ago) link
Voted for "My Old School," though "Bodhisattva" was close. "Show Biz Kids" is one of my least favorite Steely Dan songs, much less singles.
― jaymc, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:36 (fifteen years ago) link
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"!!!
― jaymc, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:37 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:38 (fifteen years ago) link
YES
― C. Grisso/McCain, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:39 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm curious: anyone think this album has any bad songs? I don't.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, "Show Biz Kids," as mentioned.
― jaymc, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:59 (fifteen years ago) link
There are no bad songs on this album, just bad listeners.
― Noodle Vague, Friday, 20 June 2008 15:59 (fifteen years ago) link
show biz kids is the song i like the least on this album and it's still great
― omar little, Friday, 20 June 2008 17:14 (fifteen years ago) link
This is probably my favorite Steely Dan album. There aren't any bad songs - hard to pick a favorite though.
― o. nate, Friday, 20 June 2008 17:17 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― omar little, Friday, 20 June 2008 17:20 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 21 June 2008 02:22 (fifteen years ago) link
How could it be anything other than "King of the World"?
― ablaeser, Saturday, 21 June 2008 02:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Hold onto your hat, dude: people like different stuff.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 21 June 2008 09:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Sunday, 22 June 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
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."
― unperson, Monday, 23 June 2008 00:08 (fifteen years ago) link
thanks, unperson, i agree
― iago g., Monday, 23 June 2008 00:25 (fifteen years ago) link
pearl of the quarter = caledonia mission by the band
― uptown churl, Monday, 23 June 2008 00:33 (fifteen years ago) link
otm.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 23 June 2008 03:30 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 June 2008 07:49 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Niles Caulder, Monday, 23 June 2008 08:30 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 June 2008 09:00 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― o. nate, Monday, 23 June 2008 15:17 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 23 June 2008 16:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Duh... "My Old School." It's only one of THE greatest songs of all time.
― teflon monkey, Monday, 23 June 2008 20:00 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
---
You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else.
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Monday, 23 June 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Surprised at the love for "King of the World".
― o. nate, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 15:53 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― some dude, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 15:56 (fifteen years ago) link
That might change with the Gaucho poll.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 16:15 (fifteen years ago) link
POLL EXCITEMENT!!!!!
― PappaWheelie V, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 16:16 (fifteen years ago) link
which were the singles on Gaucho?
― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 16:17 (fifteen years ago) link
"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.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 16:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah I guess "Babylon Sisters" will win that one
― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 24 June 2008 16:24 (fifteen years ago) link
all the talk about razor boy here and only 4 votes?!
― Zeno, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 12:55 (fifteen years ago) link
"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.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 14:04 (fifteen years ago) link
there were still rock songs on AM radio in 1980?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 14:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I used to listen to Top 40 on AM radio even up to '85 or so.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 25 June 2008 14:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I think "Razor Boy" deserved to place much much higher
― Joe, Thursday, 26 June 2008 00:24 (fifteen years ago) link
what did alex in nyc vote for?
― mookieproof, Thursday, 26 June 2008 00:27 (fifteen years ago) link
Killing Joke's cover of "Razor Boy" didn't make the cut.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 26 June 2008 00:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Let's hear it for Show Biz Kids! Whoo-hoo! [Dodging rotten tomatoes]
― iago g., Thursday, 26 June 2008 01:35 (fifteen years ago) link
-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn
In Northern Ontario there were! But "Hey Nineteen" barely qualifies as rock, to my ears.
Just sayin'
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 26 June 2008 06:18 (fifteen years ago) link
california tumbles into the sea
― memwer, Thursday, 26 June 2008 20:53 (fifteen years ago) link
But "Hey Nineteen" barely qualifies as rock, to my ears
soft-rock disco
― o. nate, Thursday, 26 June 2008 20:58 (fifteen years ago) link
awwww i suppose the voulez voulez bits of Pearl of the Quarter are annoying...
Maybe super furry animals can do a song using the "and if you hear from my Louise.." bit coz it rules.
― wilter, Wednesday, 27 August 2008 07:47 (fifteen years ago) link
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
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 25 May 2022 20:23 (one year ago) link
I am most partial to Pretzel Logic.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 May 2022 20:27 (one year ago) link
the work day is done, time to kick off the Countdown
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Wednesday, 25 May 2022 22:28 (one year ago) link
it's this one or Aja for greatest album ever and I'll never be able to decide
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 26 May 2022 02:10 (one year ago) link
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
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 26 May 2022 02:17 (one year ago) link
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.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 26 May 2022 02:19 (one year ago) link