Steely Dan - Gaucho (1980) (2 Viewers)

  • Thread starter pete
  • Start date
  • Replies 168
  • Views 16K
  • Watchers 4
On my second listen. The title track is laugh out loud bad both musically and lyrically, although I do like how, as prefuse pointed out, it's a bit like a sitcom theme. That jazzy little resolve is hilarious.
 
Last edited:
Right so,on my second listen..this time on headphones.
Only a song in and its awesome.

First listen was through pc speakers while I ate bacon and eggs on soda farl. A great experience

I have no problem with the singing whatsoever..its Steely Dan..thats how it is.Awesome!

Im giving it 7/9
 
On my second listen. The title track is laugh out loud bad both musically and lyrically, although I do like how, as prefuse pointed out, it's a bit like a sitcom theme. That jazzy little resolve is hilarious.
The title track makes me laugh with joy too. The rambling shifting melody line, the tempo changes, surprise twists and turns, the amusing lyrics - so good. At the moment it's my favorite track of the two Steely Dan albums that I like so far.
 
I'd probably give it 7 out of 10. I really like Gaucho but it did become the template for the last 2 Steely Dan albums & all 4 of Donald Fagen's solo albums. Songs based on ultra slick, minimalist soul funk grooves with sparse instrumentation.
I do like this approach but I would have prefered if they went for a more expansive sound & cut back on trying to write strict verse/chorus based songs. More spice, more colours I suppose. The Gaucho template works great on SD's two against nature & on Fagen's solo stuff like the Nightfly & Morph the cat. Not so great on SD's last album, everything must go. Fagen's Karmakiriad is good & his last one, Sunken Condos is more of the same.
 
Great record but, while it is the Steely Dan album I know best because I listened to it endlessly at one time (older brother's copy), it's not my favourite of theirs. The clinical precision of it leaves me a bit cold sometimes. I prefer them when they were (or at least gave the impression of being) a band rather than a meticulously constructed and arranged studio project. Most fans would rate Aja as their highpoint but even that is a little far towards the LA session musician vibe for me too. I prefer Can't Buy A Thrill, Katy Lied etc.

I said on the other thread that I couldn't understand why anyone with any sense could dislike them but of course I do understand - they veer perilously close to many things that are loathsome. But they always have other stuff going on in there (the caustic lyrics, the stupendous musicianship, the ridiculously convoluted but still completely right-sounding chord progressions) that, for me anyway, they completely transcend all that stuff that they are naturally associated with. They might sound like Billy Joel or The Eagles at times but they are just so much better that it doesn't matter. If you are going to have one coked-out super-click West Coast FM radio band in your life (and c'mon you gotta make room for one) then it just has to be Steely Dan.

Oh, and I'm sure everyone knows that a "Steely Dan" is some sort of metal dildo that turns up in a William Burroughs novel, right? Somehow this seems important.
 
“One of us said something like ‘It’s too bad that we can’t get a machine to play the beat we want, with full-frequency drum sounds, and to be able to move the snare drum and kick drum around independently,'” recalled Fagen. “Roger replied ‘I can do that.’ This was back in 1978 or something, so we said ‘You can do that?’ To which he said ‘Yes, all I need is $150,000.’ So we gave him the money out of our recording budget, and six weeks later he came in with this machine.”
 
I'm on my second listen now. It needs more of that female backing singer. Her bits are great. Fagen is grand and all but he gets a bit tedious after a while when its just him.

Overall I'm liking it though.
 
I don't know if I can get through this album. I'm on the first listen, second track and it's somewhere between the "Amendment to Be" song from The Simpsons, Leonard Cohen's 80s synth jazz style (which I like but only learned to like because of how strong the songs are, not something I can hope for here), and a bunch of middle aged men at a swinger's party where no women have turned up so they're all watching porn and having a wank together. It's fucking horrible. You all have dropped significantly in my eyes and I have taken names so I know never to trust any of your recommendations again.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Activity
So far there's no one here

21 Day Calendar

Mohammad Syfkhan 'I Am Kurdish' Dublin Album Launch
Bello Bar
1 Portobello Harbour, Saint Kevin's, Dublin, Ireland
Mohammad Syfkhan 'I Am Kurdish' Dublin Album Launch
Bello Bar
1 Portobello Harbour, Saint Kevin's, Dublin, Ireland
Bloody Head, Hubert Selby Jr Infants, Creepy Future - Dublin
Anseo
18 Camden Street Lower, Saint Kevin's, Dublin, Ireland

Support thumped.com

Support thumped.com and upgrade your account

Upgrade your account now to disable all ads... If we had any... Which we don't right now.

Upgrade now

Latest threads

Latest Activity

Loading…
Back
Top