OctaneHugo

"Only A Fool Would Say That" (2:57)
I really like this song. It's very Latin in influence, and the vocal rhythm is fantastic. This is basically one big hook turned into a song, which is why it's under 3 minutes in length; essentially, perfect. Because of this, there's not much to talk about! It's a cool little ditty but there's not a lot to dissect; it's straightforward, but it works and I love it. This is one of those songs that once you hear you'll never get it out of your head. It's an ear worm. Usually they're blasted things, but this is a legitimately good song and you'll never mind.

There's a cool Skunk solo in this one; the guitar work is neat all the way through and the solo's no exception. Almost a redemption for "Midnight Cruiser"'s mediocrity.

Side Two
"Reelin' in the Years" (4:37)
Despite not charting as high as "Do It Again" it's probably their most well-known song, except maybe "Rikki" (more on that later). Elliot Randall plays guitar, and the solos are all famous and such and they're neat things but it's not very Dan-like and, well, not really loved by even the band itself: Fa‎gen called the song "Dumb, but effective," which is basically a perfect summary; it's a song you can listen to when you feel like it and the guitar drives everyone wild but it's a pretty dull song. Becker said "It's no fun," which is also understandable considering the only cool thing about it is the guitar, which only makes it as good as the thousands of other songs that have nothing but 6.5-out-of-10 guitar solos.

The vocals are rhythmically interesting but you can't break anything down. Listen for the guitar solos.

"Fire in the Hole" (3:28)
This is another great one, featuring a steel guitar by Skunk. An urgent piano opens, then combines with the drums and palys even more dangerously. Then the stumbling bass line kicks in and Fa‎gen starts sneering those vocals out, oh boy. People calling him lazy? He realizes they're all crazy. SERVE, DON'T SPEAK. I'm just another freak. Brilliant stuff going on.

Then there's fire in the hole, but nothing left to burn. I suppose one could easily equate this with a mental breakdown, especially with the way Fa‎gen sings and the way the instruments play: it's all very urgent and strange. They don't blend together perfectly like most of the other songs but they still fit. It's all very odd, and this is what makes them geniuses: they can write songs like this and make them like this and it's wonderful. His life is boiling over, it's happened once before, why won't anyone open up the door? Fire in the hole, baby. Fire in the hole.

The guitar is great here. It's part of the above, the way it doesn't always blend? The drums and bass sort of do their own things while still fitting together, the piano plays it's own stuff and the guitar chips in occasionally until a tremendous section where it's still being layered under the piano and the other instruments, until Fa‎gen finishes another sentence and then plays a kickin' solo into the outro. This is easily one of the best songs on the record. It's really, really good. There's even a second piano!

"Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)" (4:21)
Oh, bloody hell, another Palmer song. Nice little guitar-led opening by Baxter here. But you hear the piano and keyboard and you know what's coming.

He sounds different now, not much but a bit, but it's not enough to make the song not suffer the same fate as "Dirty Work": it gets old. It's abrasively smooth. Interesting guitar but the bass, drums and piano is all pretty dull. The backing female vocals - so prevalent on later Dan work - just makes the song more annoying, as does the eventual country-esque tone of the guitar which somehow goes from interesting to muck without you realizing. It's more dread-inducing than "Dirty Work", but it's still worth maybe a few listens. It drags on too long. The repeated chants of "Brooklyn owes the charmer under me" is pretty nice but it sounds like a love song and IT'S NOT. It's about wheelin' and dealin' and cards and golf and movie stars. It's a nice song and it's got a solid beginning and end but a terrifying middle.


"Change of the Guard" (3:39)
Some sweet combination going on here. Guitar and bass solidify into a bangin' section while the drums carry on aided by some background chords and a neat little vocal by Fa‎gen. All about worlds changing guards and such. Cowboys and neighbors. All that. As usual with the rest of Side Two Skunk Baxter plays the lead here. It's an interesting song but it's pretty simple. There's a cool organ-vocal section that ties in with a very understated guitar solo and it fits really, really well. Then the guitar does it's own thing and Baxter demonstrates why he's really good at twanging strings and there's even a power chord in there somewhere. Hodder does probably his best drum work on the record here. A very solid tune - at times, completely separate from what Dan does both on the record and in the future, but at others it's a sign of things to come.

It's a neat tune and probably the rockiest on the album, but it's also probably the simplest (except possibly "Only a Fool Would Say That"). It sounds a lot like a tune donated to charity for something, almost like "We Are the World". Not sure why. Maybe it's Fa‎gen's call-out about how if you live here, you're feeling that guard change.

"Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" (4:58)
It's got a solitary opening, and there's a very strange sequence here. There's a piano, Fa‎gen's vocals on the right, more piano and then Fa‎gen's vocals on the left, except you don't realize what's happening until you hear it from both sides. It's almost like they channeled their inner Yes here or something. So narrator buys a gun, complains about the food, talks about loving family until they run for cover then talks about Michael and Jesus and how he's not to blame, he has a reputation! So it's got some themes of maybe a good man gone bad or a decent guy who's done something wrong. It's all very odd, especially those instruments. There's more weird prog-like vocal effects with a piano that happens.

The summary of this song is elusive. It's obscure. It dodges the mind and it doges the fingers. It's a good tune but to clarify it would require a multi-million dollar research grant and a team of highly trained professionals. There's a cool solo here that I think is courtesy of Skunk (how did he get that name..?)

The song opens solemnly and it ends solemnly. It's very long. "Do It Again" moves quickly, this paces along, as if out for a nice summer walk when there's a nice breeze and there's nothing unpleasant going on.

So, a very good opening record from the folks in Steely Dan. There's some weak tunes and weak sections of decent tunes and some very, VERY good tunes as well! I suggest a listen, but if you don't like it, don't write Dan off: like many bands, their debut is not an accurate representation of what they are and what they can be.

Then again, with this band, maybe nothing is an accurate representation of what they're like.

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