Paul Fitzpatrick: London

In 1980 the late Ian MacDonald one of the UK’s most respected music journalists included the following in his review of Steely Dan’s Gaucho album,

“Crassness is contagious. Fortunately, so is intelligence – which is why listening to Steely Dan is good for you”

Smart guy MacDonald… he got it.

The band who named themselves after a steam-powered dildo from a William Burroughs novel got off to a flyer when they unleashed their 1972 debut album on the world – Can’t Buy a Thrill.

The album would feature several songs that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker had previously composed as staff-writers at the famed Brill building. An incubator for modern pop music, where you could find yourself sharing an elevator with Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Neil Diamond or Leiber & Stoller in the 60s & 70s

Unsurprisingly, Fagen & Becker’s offbeat songs were deemed a touch too abstruse and complex for the mainstream artists they were hired to write for, although they did manage to get one song recorded by Barbra Streisand.

Recognising that they would need to record their own songs (as no one else was likely to), the duo, prompted by producer Gary Kartz, relocated from Brooklyn to California to join him at ABC records. Initially as staff-writers but with the aim of forming a band.

This they did in 1972, and penned songs like “Bad Sneakers” about how much they missed the east coast and “Showbiz Kids” about how crass they found the west coast.

By all accounts, Fagen & Becker were never short of material with a sack full of songs at the ready.
For their debut album they plucked ten compositions from this bag of goodies, and never looked back.

Upon its release the album was championed by the FM radio stations of the day, and spawned two top 10 singles –

“Do it Again” a Latin flavoured rocker about a desperado who’s unable to change his ways –

“You go back Jack, do it again”

The song features a sublime electric sitar solo by guitarist Denny Dias and introduces Fagen’s distinctive nasally tone to the world.

“Reelin’ in the Years”, the follow-up hit, is a barnstormer about a man whose partner is leaving him for someone else. Heartbroken, he lashes out whilst putting himself on a pedestal-

“you wouldn’t know a diamond. If you held it in your hand”.

Apart from the classic chorus the song is notable for a blistering solo by session player and friend of the band Elliott Randall, so good in fact that in an interview with Rolling Stone, Jimmy Page name-checked it as his favourite guitar solo.

By any measure, Can’t Buy a Thrill is a remarkable debut but like most Steely Dan albums it’s difficult to pigeonhole with elements of Jazz, Blues, Country and R&B, although this is probably their most Rock based release.

The phrase ‘all killer no filler’ is often overused but there’s hardly a bad note never mind a bad track on this album.

Apart from the two singles there are several other songs of note that deserve mention.

“Dirty Work” is a song that The Pointer Sisters would go on to cover. The original version has also featured on The Sopranos, The Simpsons, the movie American Hustle and most recently the DC blockbuster The Suicide Squad – not bad for an obscure album track.

“Brooklyn (owes the charmer under me)” is another deep-cut that’s a favourite with hardcore Dan fans.
It’s about a neighbour of Fagen & Becker’s who lives in the apartment below and sits on his stoop shooting the breeze.
One of life’s characters he’s never set foot outside of Brooklyn.

The song is about some of the good things life could have afforded this ‘charmer’ if only he’d taken the bold step to sample a world outside his beloved borough.

The track also features some fine pedal-steel-guitar work from Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter who would go on to join the Doobie Brothers when Fagen & Becker decided to stop touring in 1974.

Another favourite is “Only A Fool Would Say That”, a song that’s got a bit of traction lately due to the fact that people have woken up to the premise that the ‘fool’ in question could be John Lennon during his Imagine period.

“Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man”

Fagen and Becker are renowned for their caustic lyrics and cryptic storytelling and “Only A Fool Would Say That” was an early example.

The song lampoons an out of touch aristo, living the good life whilst preaching to common folk (the one’s keeping him in his millionaire lifestyle) to abandon the few worldly possessions they have in order to pursue a life of immaterialism.

I heard it was you
Talkin ‘bout a world where all is free
It just couldn’t be
And only a fool would say that”

Steely Dan released a further six stand-out albums between 1973 and 1980 as the music evolved towards their jazz roots and the lyrics became even more sardonic.

As a band they would transform from the five-piece outfit that recorded 1972’s Can’t Buy a Thrill to just Fagen & Becker (and 40 top session musicians!) by the time they recorded their 1977 Grammy winning masterpiece, Aja.

Sadly, we lost Walter Becker in 2017 but Donald Fagen has kept a version of Steely Dan on the road where they still play to sell-out crowds, including a few classics from my favourite debut album –  Can’t Buy a Thrill .