Steely Dan - Gaucho (1980) (1 Viewer)

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pete

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3.56 star(s) Rating: 3.56/5 9 Votes
Title: Gaucho
Artist: Steely Dan
Released: 1980

Tracks:
1 - Babylon Sisters - 5:55
2 - Hey Nineteen - 5:10
3 - Glamour Profession - 7:29
4 - Gaucho - 5:32
5 - Time Out of Mind - 4:14
6 - My Rival - 4:34
7 - Third World Man - 5:16

Overview:
Gaucho is the seventh studio album by the American Jazz rock band Steely Dan, released in 1980. The sessions for Gaucho represented the peak of Steely Dan's recording studio perfectionism and obsessive recording technique. To record the album, the band used at least 42 different musicians, spent over a year in the studio, and far exceeded the original monetary advance given to the band by their record label.

During the two-year span in which the album was recorded, the band was plagued by a number of creative, personal and professional problems. MCA, Warner Bros. and Steely Dan had a three-way legal battle over the rights to release the album. After it was released, jazz musician Keith Jarrett successfully sued the band for writing credit on the title song "Gaucho".

Gaucho marked a significant stylistic change for Steely Dan, introducing a more minimal, groove- and atmosphere-based format. The harmonically complex chord changes that were a distinctive mark of earlier Steely Dan songs are less prominent on Gaucho, with the record's songs tending to revolve around a single rhythm or mood. Gaucho proved to be Steely Dan's final studio album before a 12-year hiatus.
 
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Gaucho marked a significant stylistic change for Steely Dan, introducing a more minimal, groove- and atmosphere-based format. The harmonically complex chord changes that were a distinctive mark of earlier Steely Dan songs are less prominent on Gaucho, with the record's songs tending to revolve around a single rhythm or mood. Gaucho proved to be Steely Dan's final studio album before a 12-year hiatus.

Does this mean it doesn't sound like Steely Dan?

Maybe i'll like this one so.


@pete, clearly you're just trolling us now. Did anyone actually vote for this?
 
Right so.

1980 is a great year for albums that are favourites of mine so this will be interesting.
 
First impressions:
- Really like the production. Dry but punchy.
- Hate the singing.

As for the music, it sounds like it would be playing in the background of a scene in Bonfire of the Vanities...
Trying to get beyond the instinctive repulsion to all of the signifiers of this sophisticated cocktail jazz funk but am assuming that will come in listens 2 and 3.
 
First impressions:
- Really like the production. Dry but punchy.
- Hate the singing.

As for the music, it sounds like it would be playing in the background of a scene in Bonfire of the Vanities...
Trying to get beyond the instinctive repulsion to all of the signifiers of this sophisticated cocktail jazz funk but am assuming that will come in listens 2 and 3.

This ain't getting a third spin. The songs aren't terrible but they just aren't good enough to get over the unbearable singing style. Sorry but I'm out...
 
God this is awful. It's like Billy Joel without all the things that make him bearable.


edit: oh, Time Out of Mind is pretty good.
 
Last edited:
I've been slacking on the album club lately. Haven't been in the form, but I know this one well.

1 - Babylon Sisters - 5:55
Good track, but not one of my fav SD songs. Nice drums from Bernard Purdie, doing his patented "Purdie Shuffle" bit of a faux reggae feel. All the big white bands had a go, none really succeeded.

2 - Hey Nineteen - 5:10
Love this, what a fuckin groove. It about the generation gap between aging musos and their younger ladies. "Urethra Franklin??....never heard of her"

3 - Glamour Profession - 7:29
Great track about a cocaine dealer living the high life. Almost latin disco. Love the bass line and the ambient rhodes chords floating over the top. I really like the bridge " Hollywood, I know your middle name. Who inspires your fabled fools. That's my claim to fame" A bit of a dig at hypocritical hollywood, making films about the bad guys while spending a fortune on drugs. The outro groove could go on forever.

4 - Gaucho - 5:32
Muso Heaven. Love this. Musically it's subtle but sophisticated, although the sax is a bit 80's sitcom. Great drum groove by Jeff Porcaro. All the buzzes & ghost notes on the snare & subtle time changes. It's just great. Apparently it was edited together from loads of takes. The obsession for perfection in full effect. Nice swirling synth parts during the chorus. Love the outro part with the guitar taking the melody.

5 - Time Out of Mind - 4:14
Solid four to the floor groove with nice piano stabs. I love the little turn around at the end of the second chorus. I read that they had Mark Knopfler solo over this for hours and only used a few seconds of it on the record. Does he say "it's the light in my arse" near the end???

6 - My Rival - 4:34
I think this is the weakest track on the record. Great head bopping groove though. The bass locked in with the kick. I hear a bit of Fashion by David Bowie in there. Nice subtle chord changes going on.

7 - Third World Man - 5:16
Another great song. What it's about?, who knows. Silky vocal harmonies on the chorus. Great guitar solo by Larry Carlton. Fits perfectly. Cool phrasing on the outro part.
 
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