STEELY DAN — Countdown to Ecstasy (review)

STEELY DAN — Countdown to Ecstasy album cover Album · 1973 · RnB Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
innervisions
This is an album quite unlike any other in the Steely Dan catalogue. The band note wittily in the liner notes to the remaster that their label probably thought some German art music album had been thrust on them when they heard it.

Indeed, it sounds a lot more like the art rock of the time than any of their other albums. Listen to the keyboards just after the guitar solo on Boddhisatva or on King of the World....it's a far cry from their generally careful adherence to what was acceptable sonically as per the mainstream norm.

Through their career, Steely Dan have mastered the art of experimenting audaciously within the narrow confines of mainstream rock and pop music (a song like Night by night is a prime example of this). But on this album, they actually do sound 'different' or 'weird' even to an inattentive pair of ears. If you think stuff like Quadrophenia is pushing off and would really get off with Fragile or Brain Salad Surgery, you will probably feel annoyed and irritated by parts of this album. But if you love that kind of stuff, chances are this turns out to be one of your favourite Steely Dan albums.

I largely agree with Sean Trane's assessment in the matter. The best Steely Dan lead guitar is concentrated on Royal Scam and Aja and Gaucho is chock full of lovely chord progressions so in that respect, Countdown to Ecstasy loses out in comparison because it rarely approaches THAT quality. However, it is a very solid effort with some of their best songs like My Old School or Boston Rag.
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