Greatest Hits

Performer: Steely Dan
Distributor: MSI Music Distribution

Notes: This is a Canadian release. The seeds of this much-respected rock group were sewn at New York's Bard College where founder members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were students. They subsequently forged a songwriting team and with guitarist Denny Dias, formed Steely Dan. The trio was expanded by the arrival of David Palmer (vocals), Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (guitar) and Jim Hodder (drums). The accomplished Can't Buy A Thrill drew considerable critical praise for its deft melodies and immaculate musicianship Countdown To Ecstacy was another classic of the 70s, and featured such bittersweet celebrations as 'The Boston Rag' and 'My Old School'. By this point Palmer had left the line-up. On Pretzel Logic, Fagen and Becker drew more fully on their love of jazz on songs like 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number'. Newcomers Michael McDonald (keyboards/vocals) and Jeff Porcaro (drums) were recruited for Katy Lied which also featured cameos by guitarist Rick Derringer and saxophonist Phil Woods. The Royal Scam redressed the commercial balance. Becker and Fagen were, by now, the sole arbiters of Steely Dan, McDonald having followed Baxter into the Doobie Brothers and Dias and Porcaro opting for studio employment. Aja continued in a similar vein where an array of quality musicians brought meticulousness to the set. Gaucho was marred by conflict between the group and record label over escalating recording costs, but the album achieved platinum sales and a hit single, 'Hey Nineteen'.

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.

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