Published on Jan 11, 2006
By 1973, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen — the minds
behind Steely Dan — had apparently honed their musical edge to the
jazz-rock that the group would become known for. Their second disc,
Countdown To Ecstasy, is the first real effort in that vein
— Can’t Buy A Thrill was more of a rock-oriented
“feeling-out” period for the group as they got their sea legs under
them.
Yet, despite the presence of some very powerful
tracks, this disc pales in comparison to its predecessor. Maybe —
just maybe — it’s because the change into a jazz-rock band is so
sudden and complete that it catches the listener off-guard. Maybe,
because they didn’t quite follow the same pattern musically that
they did on Can’t Buy A Thrill — and I’m not saying they
should have — people didn’t react with the same enthusiasm to this
disc.
Make no mistake, Steely Dan has lost none of its
musical edge or brilliance. The leadoff track “Bodhisattva” hammers
that point home clearly in an amalgam of shuffle blues, rock and
jazz, and could well be one of Steely Dan’s best tracks that few
people know about. Simply put, this track is a lot of fun to listen
to, and demonstrates the musical excellence that Becker and Fagen
demanded from their revolving-door slew of bandmates.
The other two tracks off this disc that occasionally
see airplay, “Show Biz Kids” and “My Old School,” don’t pack the
same kind of wallop that “Reelin’ In The Years,” “Do It Again,” or
even “Bodhisattva” do. “Show Biz Kids” is the weaker of the two,
with its constantly repeated (and grating) rhythm line and chorus
chanting “lost wages,” apparently a slap at Las Vegas. [Editor’s
Note: According to the band, it is a line taken from Lenny Bruce,
who used to refer to Las Vegas as “lost wages.”] “My Old
School” is a shade better, but isn’t the juggernaut that one was
probably expecting from Steely Dan.
Interestingly enough, some of the better tracks on
Countdown To Ecstasy are ones that you never hear played
unless you’re sitting there with the CD jammed into your player.
“Razor Boy” hints at what would be coming from Steely Dan in their
Aja period, but dares to suggest that the band had already
achieved that level of perfection so early in their career. And,
while I admit I wasn’t particularly interested in these tracks on
the first pass, both “The Boston Rag” and “Your Gold Teeth” do grow
on the listener, and prove to be worth the effort.
By no means is Countdown To Ecstasy a bad
album; in fact, hiding in the shadows of a disc like Can’t Buy A
Thrill, this one might be a prime candidate for re-discovery by
fans of smooth rock. But it does signify the major shift of Steely
Dan’s focus from the world of rock to a more jazz-oriented
existence — and I, for one, kind of wish that Steely Dan had
explored the rock side just a little bit more.