Published on Jan 23, 2006
Every time I think the scumbags in the music industry
can’t sink any lower, they find another way to bilk people out of
their hard-earned money.
Now, you may think that it’s awkward for me to say
this in an article about Steely Dan — and, if you’ve followed the
reviews in this retrospective, you know that I’ve generally given
good marks to Steely Dan’s albums. But what else can you say about
a box set that features all of the group’s studio albums, track for
track, and throws in as bonus features a whopping four non-album
tracks, only one of which wasn’t available anywhere else, other
than “snow job”?
You mean to tell me that, well over a decade after
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen called it a day, the only “bonus
tracks” that could be included were “Here At The Western World”
(previously found on Steely Dan’s Greatest Hits), “FM”
(included on Gold and A Decade Of Steely Dan), a live
version of “Bodhisattva” (found on the re-issue of Gold) and
a demo version of “Everyone’s Gone To The Movies?” Four words: give
me a break.
Granted, the “albums” on Citizen Steely Dan
were all re-mastered for this set, but these are now commercially
available individually. And, granted, you can’t deny that hearing
Steely Dan’s popular songs is still thrilling, no matter what
format they’re in. But isn’t that what the numerous best-of
collections are for?
If you’ve read my takes on the individual albums, you
already know what to expect from the same material on Citizen
Steely Dan. And I’ve already made my feelings known about the track
“FM”. So, let’s focus on the remaining three songs. The live take
on “Bodhisattva” features a rambling, incoherent two-minute
introduction that could have easily been left on the cutting room
floor without hurting the song. Musically, it’s not a bad
performance, making one almost wish that Becker and Fagen had
occasionally pulled the group out of the studio to do a few live
dates. Likewise, the demo version of “Everyone’s Gone To The
Movies” doesn’t necessarily break any new ground, but it is
somewhat interesting to listen to.
That leaves “Here At The Western World” — a track
that, frankly, could have made The Royal Scam (from whose
sessions it came) a much better album. Chances are good that
listeners already will know this one from their well-worn copies of
Steely Dan’s Greatest Hits, but each time I’ve listened to
this one, it’s like a drink of cold water on a hot day.
So why am I so harsh on this set? Is my rating based
on the music? Not totally; while I really wish there had been more
rarities included in this four CD set, the music still stands on
its own. No, I’m so harsh on this one because, if you already own
all of Steely Dan’s albums, there really is no good reason to spend
upwards of 50 bucks on this set. (This, of course, comes from
someone who wanted the first Led Zeppelin box set for all of one
rare track, so I admit some hypocrisy here.) If you don’t own the
Steely Dan catalog, then maybe it is worth picking this one up just
to get everything – at least up until the group’s mid-’90s reunion
— in one fell swoop. Otherwise, avoid this marketing debacle.