Steely Dan - The Royal Scam poll

I would have thought the first song was an invitation for you to come over but the second song confuses the message

No confusion, the songs do indeed spell out the whole message. They're just crazy.

Really feeling this lately. The playing on this album is so sick. The horns on caves of altamira are some of the best, the interplay as the saxophone weaves in and out. The guitar solo on green earrings. The talkbox guitar solo on haitian divorce. The Fez coming on like love unlimited orchestra as interpreted by some kind of disco android. All the apocalyptic sci fi imagery in the lyrics. So great.

For whatever reason -- and it could be as simple as "Kid Charlemagne" being an all-time banger -- this is the album I return to most often. There are other Dan LPs where the tracklist looks better on paper, but something about this one just works. Even the title track, which is not an enjoyable piece of music in any other context, is a fitting album closer, along the lines (no pun intended) of "Mass Production."

One of my top 1 or 2 by them, depending on the day.

pic.twitter.com/t7Dtr8kvvX

— I.G.Y. azalea (@HaitianDvorce) May 11, 2023

people who do it without the fez on vs. person who never does it without the fez on

My 12 yr old, who loves steely Dan now, will just randomly go around singing the fez

Saw a Steely Dan tribute band for free at a local park recently. Couldn’t believe they played “The Fez,” which I love.

“Green Earrings” isn’t my favorite track, but I really dig it.

"Don't Take Me Alive" came in surprisingly low. I'd rate it just below "Kid Charlemagne," and on some days even above it.

Steely Dan really does not have duffer tunes, so their LPs especially in the first run are all good. That first three tunes out of the gate on this one is pretty hot.

When I first started listening to the Dan way back as a teen, I had the Greatest Hits and Aja for a long time. At some point in early 90s I got this one and Countdown to Ecstasy on Lp same day for a couple bucks each. I liked Countdown but listened to the Royal Scam A Lot in many different states of buzz.

‘Caves of Altamira’ really was fascinating to me on its origins.

For whatever reason, Countdown was both my late night drinking and my early morning hangover and shower album in college. Royal Scam was never widely listened to in my group. Now, I think it's one of their strongest from start to finish.

Honestly I don't think there's an incorrect answer to the question, "which of Steely Dan's first seven albums is your favorite?"

"Avalon."

"Minute by Minute"

“Althea”

i was sitting in the passenger seat of my friend's car one time and Steely Dan came on the classic rock station. He remarked that his dad used to play him Steely Dan records when he was a little kid and he always imagined them as a bunch of investment bankers. It struck him as the kind of music investment bankers make. i think he thought they were kinda lame.

had another friend in high school who took jazz guitar lessons, he was into this album at the time. i always think of him scatting along to the amazing Larry Carlton solo in Kid Charlemagne when i hear this, or mouthing the words "and there wasn't even any Hollywood" with a big grin on his face. i could've posted that in the time and place thread but here we are.

the Kid Charlemagne/Caves if Altamira one-two punch takes it tho.

but you and me, we understood