Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met in 1967 - 1968 while being students at Bard College and quickly discovered that they had common interests in music and literature. Soon, they started collaborating on song-writing and were signed as staff songwriters in 1971 by Jay Lasker, president of ABC/Dunhill Records in Los Angeles on the recommendation of staff producer Gary Katz. Meanwhile, they secretly rehearsed after-hours and fearlessly released their debut album, entitled "Can't Buy A Thrill" in 1972. Steely Dan as a band was thus born, with Denny Dias (Guitar), Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (guitar), Jim Hodder (drums) and David Palmer (vocals) as charter members. They went on to record 6 more albums, "Countdown To Ecstasy" (1973), "Pretzel Logic" (1974), Katy Lied (1975), "The Royal Scam" (1976), "Aja" (1977) and "Gaucho" (1980). They then had a long 20-year hiatus until they surprisingly released a comeback album called "Two Against Nature" in 2000 which won 4 Grammy Awards including Album Of The Year in February 2001. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following month and in May 2001 awarded honorary Doctor of Music degrees from The Berklee College of Music. Their final album, "Everything Must Go" was released in June 2003.
Their music is unique in being complex jazz-influenced rock structures and harmonies nourished by cerebral, wry, eccentric and cryptic lyrics suffused with black humor, sharp sarcasm, and dark themes such as drugs, love affairs and crime. In the recording studio, their efforts were marked by an obsessive perfectionism with the use of stellar session musicians, which helped them sell more than 30 million albums worldwide and maintain a cult following.
This album "The Royal Scam", released in 1976 is their masterpiece because it is their strongest work - musically, lyrically and conceptually. It is also their edgiest, most guitar-driven record with songs having the darkest themes at their most pessimistic with a discomforting commentary of modern life, that in 1976, marked a prescience of at least 20 years.
The fitting album cover (above) shows a paradoxical picture of an apparently well-dressed man, more likely an unemployed man, sleeping on a public bench with holes in the soles of his shoes. He is tormented in his nightmares by visions of warring skyscrapers with snarling reptilian and animal heads. This is representative of the uncompromising hostilities of the corporate world and the many dangers and unpleasantness of modern life.
Track 1 : "Kid Charlemagne" tells the story of an outlaw drug producer on the west coast, loosely based on the character of one Augustus Owsley Stanley, the notorious drug "chef" who created hallucinogenic compounds for, among others, Jim Morrison of The Doors, the Grateful Dead and the Beatles. This is a funky number with a great guitar solo to die for.
Track 2: "The Caves of Altamira" tells of a childhood fantasy about the quieter origins of mankind, away from the hectic pace of modern life. "Caves" is dominated by a strong saxophone presence that is both smooth and soothing.
Track 3: "Don't Take Me Alive" is perhaps the strongest track musically and lyrically and my favorite track. It's a tale about a criminal with the law hot on his heels.
Track 4: "Sign In Stranger" describes the safe havens and the tricks of the trade of false identities to hide your criminal past, all told with much finesse with strong piano accompaniment.
Track 5: "The Fez" is a disco infected near-instrumental song. Its sparse lyrics playfully appeal to the practice of safe sex because of a wish - "I wanna be your holy man". I feel it is meant as irony decrying the need of sex to be safe!
Track 6: "Green Earrings" is another great guitar dominated track, about a jewel thief.
Track 7: "Haitian Divorce" is a reggae tune about marital woes.
Track 8: "Everything You Did" is an almost comical tale about the husband who is a victim of marital infidelity being inexplicably more keen on knowing the juicy details of his wife's betrayal than in saving his marriage.
Track 9: "The Royal Scam" is a fitting closing song which on the surface appear to be a story of empathy with exploited immigrants, but is really about promises that are just illusions in a new world. Its monotonous yet effective rhythm is gloriously punctuated with rising climaxes of female vocals.
This is indeed a great album!
No comments:
Post a Comment