Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy

When Steely Dan was a Group, not a Project

Although a commercial failure as the follow up to "Can't Buy a Thrill", "Countdown to Ecstacy" is, to me, the only album where Steely Dan was more than a project for Walter Becker and Donald Fagan. Later albums would produce bigger hits and sell better as Becker and Fagan brought in the best studio musicians of the day, but those albums lack a cohesive theme and feel disjointed when viewed as a whole.

"Countdown" is a great album because it represents 5 guys working together as a unit to produce great music. March 4, 2008

I'm Not Worthy

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R37AUNV6E7GAQ5 When it comes to Steely Dan, I can't be objective. Can't Buy A Thrill blew me and everyone else I knew in the 20 to 30 crowd away right off the bat. Everthing from SD that followed had to endure my desire that each new album be an extension of the previous albums, so it took me awhile to realize I loved it all up to and including some of Aja and by now I appreciate each album and song for itself and can barely evaluate one against the other. In my biased opinion, after Aja everything sounds increasingly "tounge in cheek", but in a few years, maybe I'll get it - no joke.

Anyway the only thing I can actually add is a demonstration of how great Steely Dan is to jump rope to - consider it a tribute to two guys + a lot of other guys who brought me much pleasure over the years. February 22, 2008

A great group at its absolute prime

Following on from the 1972 debut Can't Buy A Thrill, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker took a further step into the world of cerebral pop with "Countdown To Ecstasy" a year later.

Although the music and lyrics on the debut were wonderful enough to make it a definitive classic, "Countdown To Ecstasy" is a definite step forward. Whilst in no way inaccessible, the music here is much more complex and less predictable than on any other Steely Dan album. Frequently, Fagen, Becker and their cast of supporting musicians actually engage in quite lengthy jams. The uptempo opener "Bodhisattva" has Fagen singing in a passionate, echo-like tone between the jams but the song still manages to hit you in a way its 1980 "sequel", "Time Out Of Mind", could not match. The guitar work, too, reaches an intensity the Dan bettered only on The Royal Scam's title track.

"Razor Boy" is much lighter but still has an eerie feel to it from the double bass and the remarkably beautiful piano line that could only come from a wonderfully skilled arranger. "The Boston Rag" is almost true poetry and even darker, and the despair and fear of Fagen's lyrics will stay with you as long as you live. the music, too, combines startling beauty with true depth, and Fagen's voice in the chorus sounds like a genuine choir. "Your Gold Teeth" is again lighter, but it shows how the Dan were really funnier than any group ever to perform pop music.

It is the second side, however, that ensure "Countdown To Ecstasy" stands as one of the greatest masterpieces of modern music. "Show Biz Kids", a vicious attack on show business and how celebrities interests take priority over the poor, is remarkably sparse and atmospheric given its cutting social commentary, but is totally seamless from the backing voice to the barbed-wire guitar to the ending harmonica solo. "My Old School", a recollection of the potential nastiness of school life (which equates with kids teasing me endlessly at school) is a really fiery rocker with some wonderful guitar and horn breaks and a superb vocal that really shows Fagen had underestimated his capacity as a singer when forming the group. "Pearl of the Quarter" a recollection of New Orleans, is a straight-ahead pop ballad, but the uptempo "King of the World", which describes global ecocide with lines ("any man left on the Rio Grande") that predate Cadillac Desert by over a decade. The music's upbeat tone contrasts in a perfect way with the apocalyptic message of the lyrics to create a remarkable experience.

With its sometimes-complex, sometimes-light music and wonderful mixture of humour and cutting social commentary, "Countdown To Ecstasy" was missed by the public when it came out and has always been the Dan's least commercially successful album with only "Show Biz Kids" (and then rarely) ever played on radio. Yet, the complex music and cerebral lyrics have stood the test of time remarkably to make one of the best albums you will find. February 3, 2008

A stunning second album from Steely Dan

After the initial feet finding of their debut (1972's uneven but still excellent Can't Buy A Thrill), Steely Dan delivered their first great album with Countdown to Ecstasy. Released in 1973, this album is an absolute knockout punch, a collection of brilliantly constructed songs, performed by one of the finest musical units in the business.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagan (the group's chief songwriters and only permanent members) tightened up the band's sound for this album, eschewing the pop concessions and meandering songs that had occasionally worked their way onto the debut. For Countdown To Ecstasy, they wrote a set of tight, heavy songs that mixed jazz with straight-ahead rock `n' roll. Each track on this album is built around tightly wound melodies and grounded in rock solid rhythms, marked by intricate harmonies and with plenty of room for bebop-influenced instrumental showcases. As a result, Countdown to Ecstasy is an incredibly focused record, with a consistent sound and feel. Each song builds on the power of the one before it, adding to the energy and drive of the proceedings- the excitement simply never lets up. The result is a collection of tracks that seamlessly fuse the cerebral, emotionally resonant innovation of jazz with the surging, relentless drive of rock `n' roll.

Becker and Fagan's lyrics are also fantastic; they combine the cryptic, evocative poetry with a darkly humorous penchant for sarcasm and cynicism. Becker and Fagan excel at writing lyrics that may seem joyful, romantic, or optimistic at first, but on closer inspection prove to be full of bitter, angry irony. This style lends a sly, satirical edge to the group's music. It also makes it incredibly fun to attempt to "decode" the songs and find out what they're really about.

Aside from having some of the Dan's best lyrics, Countdown to Ecstasy is also the first album to feature Donald Fagan singing lead on every track, which is a very good thing- his wry, sarcastic rasp of a voice fits these lyrics like a glove. Fagan is also the group's chief keyboard player, and he's just the right man for the job, lending a lean, jazzy intuition to the proceedings. Just as integral to the group's sound are guitarists Danny Dias and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. The two men are some of the finest musicians to lay hands on a stringed instrument- they attack these songs with intelligence and attitude, playing off of Fagan's keys (and each other) with endless skill. Their amplified, fuzz-toned instruments help lend the album its rockin' edge. Rounding out the group's sound is the rock-solid rhythm section of Jim Hodder on drums and Becker's electric bass. And since this is a Steely Dan record (Becker and Fagan were infamous for relying on a rotating cast of studio musicians rather than maintaining a permanent lineup), there are also plenty of excellent hired guns on board, contributing everything from backing vocals to slide guitars to marimbas.

This combination of expertly constructed music, backhandedly brilliant lyrics, and superb musicianship results in some of the finest songs ever recorded. The opener, "Bodhisattva," is a masterpiece unto itself; musically, it may be the only song ever written that can be described as "jazz-rockabilly fusion," thanks to its combination of blood-boiling guitar runs and tight piano swirls. It has an instrumental break that absolutely sparkles, with Dias and Baxter trading off fiery leads over Fagan's relentless groove. Lyrically, the song pokes fun at the half-hearted pretensions of California's wealthy. Next up is "The Razor Boy," which disguises an ominous warning to some faithless lover (or backstabbing friend) under a layer of intoxicating, decadent pop. After that is the gorgeously enigmatic "Boston Rag." I may never figure out what this song is actually about, but there's no denying the dreamy beauty of the main melody (there seems to be some sense of nostalgic reverie in the lyrics), or the wonderful meld of acoustic and electric guitars. It also has lines as deliciously beguiling as "I was out of my mind/ And you were on the phone." "Your Gold Teeth" is pure, be bopping jazz-rock genius. The song positively struts, drenched from top to bottom with irresistible cool. It's a swinging, addictive classic, a swirl of electric piano and shimmying guitar. After that comes my personal favorite, the masterpiece that is "Show Biz Kids." Everything about the song, from its moaning slide guitars and thumping backbeat to Fagan's ultra-hip, ultra-sarcastic sneer, is absolutely irresistible. Musically, it's a slab of funky blues-rock, with a few merciless guitar outbursts (courtesy of session man Rick Derringer). The song locks into an unstoppable groove and jams its way towards some kind of rock `n' roll nirvana, forcing even the most stiff-hipped of listeners (i.e., me) to boogie. Lyrically, it's a brilliant stab at high-class decadence, painting a hilariously satirical portrait of the idle rich. Perhaps the album's best moment comes when Fagan mocks the song's targets for having "Steely Dan tee-shirts." It takes a lot of gall for a band to insult their own audience, and an almost superhuman skill to make that audience love them for it. After that comes "My Old School," an excellent kiss-off to Becker and Fagan's alma-matter, full of smirking bitterness. "Pearl Of The Quarter" throws a bit of country into the mix, with Baxter's pedal steel guitar complimenting the hypnotic music. Lyrically, it's classic Dan- at first it seems to be a simple love story set in New Orleans. Give it another listen, however, and you'll find the tragicomic tale of a man who falls hopelessly head-over-heels for a French Quarter prostitute (that's my interpretation, anyway). Rounding out the album is the hypnotic, rhythmic propulsion of "King of the World," with its funky guitars, spacey synthesizers, and post-apocalyptic lyrics.

All in all, this is really great stuff. It's one of the Dan's best albums, not to mention one of the finest records of the seventies. And if you like this, don't forget to pick up their third album, Pretzel Logic. August 19, 2007

Your Introduction to Steely Dan...

...should be with this album. My dad gave me this album as one of my first tapes when I was younger. The music is so brilliant, one can throw the tape in and just let it continuously play. This is exactly what an album should be like. I only got the cd because the tape eventually burnt out. June 11, 2007

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