Steely Dan has always been a vehicle for the immense songwriting talents of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The duo first met at college in New York in 1967, played together in local bands and, after graduation, moved to Brooklyn; there they tried to hawk their compositions in Manhattan's legendary Brill Building. They achieved a modicum of success - some material was included on the soundtrack to a Richard Pryor movie and Barbra Streisand recorded their song, I Mean To Shine in 1971. Next, the duo came to the attention of Gary Katz, a producer for ABC Records in Los Angeles, who hired them initially as songwriters. He quickly realised however that the best option for Donald and Walter would be to perform their idiosyncratic songs themselves and he thus encouraged the pair to form their own group. To the record company s horror the collective moniker they chose for this enterprise just happened to be the name of a dildo featured in William S. Burroughs' novel 'The Naked Lunch', but they got away with it and the name stuck. They recruited guitarists Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter and Denny Dias and drummer Jim Hodder. David Palmer was added as a singer as Becker's own vocals were not, initially, considered strong enough. The band's first album, 1972's 'Can't Buy A Thrill' was a stunning accomplishment and spawned two hit singles: Do It Again and Reelin' In The Years (both included here) which reached numbers 6 and 11 respectively on the Billboard singles chart. By the time the follow-up, 'Countdown To Ecstasy' (1973) was recorded, David Palmer was relegated to backing vocals, before completely leaving the band, as a now more confident Becker assumed the lead vocal role permanently. Bodhisattva and The Boston Rag were particular highlights and both received substantial FM radio airplay. Due in part to Fagen's reluctance to sing onstage and he and Becker's ingrained perfectionism, Steely Dan played relatively few live concerts during the early 1970's - in fact by 1975 they had given up touring entirely. This superb live broadcast recording is, therefore, something of a rarity; not only does it showcase the very best of the songs from Steely Dan's first three albums, it also features This All Too Mobile Home, a number that was never recorded in the studio. Furthermore, the remarkable version of Your Gold Teeth II included here is substantially different to that later released on the album 'Katy Lied' (1975). The intro is similar but in this broadcast version the track continues as a lengthy instrumental extension of the opening riff, quite unlike the poppier, vocal version later released. This concert was part of a tour in support of Steely Dan's third album, Pretzel Logic , which had been released a month earlier, in February 1974. In addition to the title track, also performed are Rikki Don't Lose That Number - which peaked at number 4 on Billboard and is the band's most successful single to date - and the infectious Any Major Dude Will Tell You. Fleshing out the sound of the core studio group onstage is a trio of additional musicians: drummer Jeff Porcaro, vocalist-percussionist Royce Jones and vocalist-keyboardist Michael McDonald - soon to join and transform the fortunes of the Doobie Brothers. Following this tour, Fagen & Becker broke up the band, ceased touring and relied exclusively on hired musicians for their subsequent studio recordings. It would be another 20 years before Steely Dan hit the road again, thus this excellent radio broadcast preserves a rare instance of a great band performing at the very pinnacle of their career.
F**E
good performance, rubbish mix
I really can't understand those who've given this one star. It's not brilliant - and we'll come to that - but for anyone who's interested in the "band" era of early Steely Dan, this is fascinating, topped off with a very decent previously unissued song.Good things:The recording - a bit compressed as it inevitably would be for a radio broadcast but it sounds like Smokin' have had access to the master - it's certainly clean enough. And so it should be - it was recorded live in the Record Plant. Mastered very quietly though so you will need to turn it up.The performance - though no doubt it would be a bit livelier in front of a proper audience instead of what sounds like 20 or so people at the back of the studio.The aforementioned previously unissued song, This All Too Mobile Home. Did it simply not make the cut for Katy Lied? Who knows. It's a perfectly decent Steely Dan song. Unfortunately the MC talks over the latter part of it and it then fades before the end.The cooking instrumental jazz-rock workout on Your Gold Teeth II.Bad things:The mix. This is by far the biggest problem with this album - the percussion, especially tambourine, is way too high much of the time; there's very little bass almost throughout; keyboards and guitars come and go. Most crucially, as another reviewer has pointed out, the climactic guitar section on Rikki Don't Lose That Number lacks the guitar. On first hearing I thought it was just a different arrangement; second time around I realised the guitar was there in the background - probably picked up by a vocal mike, I guess either the mike on Jeff Baxter's amp had failed somehow or the slider on that channel had been inadvertently set to zero. Either way it gets fixed before the next song but it's pretty inexcusable.I'm not aware of another professionally recorded Steely Dan live performance from this era, certainly not as widely available as this, so if you're a fan you'll find this interesting. It's just a shame it wasn't professionally mixed as well - there's a pretty good live album here if someone could get their hands on the multitrack and remix it. For best results, turn the bass right up, turn the volume pretty high and turn the treble down a bit to restrain that tambourine.
L**V
Great little find
Great raw live performance. Full of energy and enthusiasm. I've bought all the back catalogue after years growing up listening to the (best of) realin in the years double cd. But this little find is something different. Awesome.
C**.
There is one track on this album which is new ...
There is one track on this album which is new but if you have the studio albums then it might disappoint
M**C
Five Stars
Classics live
J**W
a worthwhile addition
Goodness knows why people would be moaning about the sound quality, it really is fine for a 1974 radio broadcast, and it's rare to have such a document of Jeff Baxter-vintage Steely Dan before they retired from touring.Yes, there are numerous "lost in our vaults up till now" items appearing from the 60s, 70s and 80s that often disappoint, but this isn't one of them.True Dan fans, worry not...
J**L
Worth it --just about
If you are a super fan like myself (only the Beatles rank alongside them for me ) then you will see the worth of getting this cd.It is a chance to hear early Dan and how they sounded live.Obviously the sound quality isn't great but it was a 70s radio recording.As a consequemce the guitar solo can bearly be heard on Rikki dont lose that number.It is obviously a cash in by the label; in the limited liner notes they even credit Walter Becker with the lead vocals. !!!.Despite this there are some positives ; great live versions of the Boston rag and Reeling in the years,two of my alltime favourite songs.The previously unheard instrumental work out of Your gold teeth and never released song This all too mobile home are also interesting.There is a good version of Any major dude will tell you with a fine guest lead vocal by Royce Jones.If you are a mega fan like me then buy it. !
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