Can't Buy A Thrill (Remaster) (CD)

Steely Dan--a name derived from a sex toy in William Burroughs's "Naked Lunch"--spent much of the '70s atop the charts with jazzy, smart-ass pop-rock. The brainchild of hipsters Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, Steely Dan was less a band than it was a laboratory for the duo's singular musical vision, deftly rendered by a cast of studio heavyweights to rule the airwaves, but (owing to either stagefright or sheer impossibility) rarely trotted out on stage. After almost disappearing for more than a decade, Becker and Fagen had re-emerged by the '90s, throwing fans a few bones before finally taking the plunge into a full-fledged reunion.

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  General Rock & Pop
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: November 17, 1998
• Label: MCA Records (USA)
• UPC: 008811188627
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106610137
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #1776 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #838 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #615 in General Rock & Pop (See Top 100 General Rock & Pop Bestsellers)

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Steely Dan: Donald Fagen (vocals, piano, electric piano, organ); Walter Becker (vocals, bass instrument); David Palmer (vocals); Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (guitar, pedal steel guitar); Denny Dias (guitar, sitar); Jim Hodder (drums, percussion, background vocals).

Additional personnel: Elliott Randall (guitar); Jerome Richardson (tenor saxophone); Snooky Young (flugelhorn); Victor Feldman (percussion); Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Shirley Matthews (background vocals).

Liner Note Authors: Donald Fagen; Walter Becker; Tristan Fabriani.

Recording information: The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California.

This is the album that introduced Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's unique, idiosyncratic, and highly polished craftsmanship. Although CAN'T BUY A THRILL lacks the overtly jazzy tendencies that would define albums like AJA, it distinguishes itself from nearly all of the mainstream pop and rock of the era with its smooth, lounge-y feel, catchy hooks, and immaculate studio polish. They were played alongside the Doobie Brothers and the Eagles on '70s FM radio, but Steely Dan's sound was more self-conscious and sophisticated than its peers: this was postmodern R&B, dressed up in a tuxedo, and holding an advanced degree.

The album's hit single "Do It Again" is textbook Dan, with its slinky, Latin-touched groove, expansive, minor key melody, and shimmering veneer. Fagen's quirky vocals grace the track, and the record's other hit, the chugging "Reeling In the Years," with its memorable looping guitar riff, but several cuts here feature the vocals of David Palmer, whose sincere, straightforward pop-soul approach seems at odds with the band's aesthetic. Even so, CAN'T BUY A THRILL sparkles, and is the first impressive notch for a band whose output would continue to improve.

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