Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy poll

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?

Killing Joke's cover of "Razor Boy" didn't make the cut.

Let's hear it for Show Biz Kids! Whoo-hoo! [Dodging rotten tomatoes]

there were still rock songs on AM radio in 1980?

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

In Northern Ontario there were! But "Hey Nineteen" barely qualifies as rock, to my ears.

Just sayin'

california tumbles into the sea

But "Hey Nineteen" barely qualifies as rock, to my ears

soft-rock disco

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.

my baby's a peaaaaaaaaarl of the kwar-ter

Even Cathy Berberian knows
there's one
roulade
she can't
siiiinnggg

After closing time
at the Guernsey Fair
I detect the El Supremo
from the room at the top of the stairs

Lonnie swept the playroom
And he swallowed up all he found
It was forty-eight hours til
Lonnie came around

Lyrics-wise, it's gotta be Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho neck and neck. These songs just keep on givin'.

jesus christ, what a killer run from track 3 right through to the close.

I just had this conversation with a friend of a friend in a pub:

Him - "Do you like Steely Dan?"

Me - "Er, I guess. I don't really think about them very often"

Him - "Oh my god. I think about them all the time"

this record has the power to carry me willingly or unwillingly to a small room where I lived for three years long ago mainly listening to music on a tape deck and recording music on the same deck

tobacco they grow in Peking

in the year of the locust you'll see
a sad thing

Although perfectly good, I think this is my least favorite Dan record. None of the tracks on it would rank in my favorites.

If I stay inside
I might live 'til Saturday

Impression I got from reviews of the reissues in 98/99 was that this was THE SD album (or on par with Aja at least)

imo it is, it kinda has everything and is situated early enough in their career to still have some residual can't buy a thrill flavor

Its a great intro album to a major act...especially as all 7 original albums are of almost equal stature imo

I quite like Steely Dan but I never listen to them. I've been listening to this album recently though. "The Boston Rag" wins this hands down.

Show Biz Kids making movies of themselves

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.