Gaucho

Steely Dan

MCA, 1980

http://www.steelydan.com

REVIEW BY: Benjamin Ray

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/18/2006

Steely Dan had released an album every year between 1972 and 1977, but took three years to release the follow-up to Aja, the band's masterpiece.

The first reason for the delay is that Walter Becker and Donald Fagen felt creatively and emotionally exhausted after recording Aja, feeling it was their peak. Second, a contractual dispute erupted with MCA Records, which had just purchased ABC and wanted to raise prices on their albums, to which Steely Dan objected. Third, Becker was in a car crash around this time. Fourth, a technician fell asleep on the job and erased a legendary song called "The Second Arrangement," believed by some to be one of the group's best songs in progress.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

Of course, at this time, the band was enjoying a high degree of commercial success from the brilliant Aja, but taking three years to record a follow-up was darn near commercial suicide in the 1970s. It may have been worth it if Gaucho was as good as its predecessor - a high bar to top indeed - but, alas, the album shows signs of obvious strain. After this, the duo would not record new music together under the Dan name for 20 years.

Gaucho tries for the same formula as Aja; seven songs of jazz/rock/pop fusion, but the spirit is gone this time, indicative perhaps of the drama behind the scenes. The performances are mostly fine, even if the lyrics tend to reference drugs one too many times. It's a laid-back tired album, good when you're in the mood, a real downer the rest of the time.

"Babylon Sisters" is one of those sketchy compositions that take a few listens to really get under your skin, but there will be a moment where you get it, and it makes the six-minute track worthwhile. "Hey Nineteen" was the radio hit and is a good, catchy piece about a May-December romance ("Hey nineteen, that's Aretha Franklin / She don't remember the Queen of Soul"), ending with happiness through drugs ("The Cuervo Gold / the fine Colombian / make tonight a wonderful thing)."

"Glamour Profession" is even more explicit about drugs, or basketball, a song that manages to be jaunty and cynical all at once. And Michael McDonald stops by to sing backup on "Time Out of Mind," which is an upbeat tune about, well, drugs. Skip "Gaucho," which sounds like the theme to a sitcom and is the most annoying track of Steely Dan's entire career.

The moody closing ballad "Third World Man" has surprising depth and wonderful layered vocals; as a coda to the Dan's original seven albums, it does the trick nicely.

This won a Grammy for Best Engineered Record, and it sounds great, but it's a bit too ironic, too detached, too perfect. But it's still fascinating enough in spots to warrant a few spins, and if you're in the right mood - with a little Cuervo gold, perhaps - you'll fall under the spell.

Rating: B

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