Published on Jan 16, 2006
If Katy Lied, Steely Dan’s fourth effort,
represented a step in the right direction for Walter Becker, Donald
Fagen and their “hired guns,” then The Royal Scam, their
fifth release, signified a leap backward.
Despite the presence of one or two solid tracks on
the album, The Royal Scam is easily the weakest and most
boring effort to date in Steely Dan’s catalog. The fact that no
songs leap out from the track listing as being oversaturated on
commercial radio made me wonder what was up with this disc.
In a way, it sometimes feels like Becker and Fagen
set out to record a disc that was not meant to be for the “singles”
market, but rather put out music on their terms. In that regard,
mission accomplished — but at what cost?
True, songs like “Kid Charlemagne” and “Sign In
Stranger” have some of the excitement that other classic Steely Dan
songs have exhibited throughout the band’s history. (“Sign In
Stranger” counts in my book as a track just awaiting re-discovery.)
Even so, there is something different about the feel of these
songs, but not enough of a change to make them unable to be
enjoyed.
Regrettably, these two tracks make up the strongest
pillars on The Royal Scam. The remainder of the disc’s nine
tracks range from passable filler (“The Royal Scam”) to moments
where the listener has to wonder what on God’s earth the boys were
thinking of (“The Fez” — a track that smacks of
repetitiveness).
In retrospect, it does seem that Steely Dan tried to
make an album that was intentionally non-commercial, but in doing
so, the boys lost their focus on what they do well. Tracks like
“Haitian Divorce,” “Everything You Did” and “The Caves Of Altamira”
could have been substantial marks in the band’s catalog had there
been a little more re-working of these tracks. Instead, they have
the sound and feel of filler that does little to challenge the
listener — or the band, for that matter.
It would be wrong to suggest that The Royal
Scam is an album whose title is appropriate to the content;
indeed, there are a handful of tracks that are well worth the
listener’s attention. But maybe a better title would have been “The
Big Yawn.”