OctaneHugo

"Your Gold Teeth" (7:02)
What a song. Man, what a song. Everything here is top notch. The bass shines through for the first time on the album (though in a light way), the vocals are fuc‎cking brilliant (sound and lyrics alike), the keyboards are rocking, the guitar is tremendous and the percussion is A+ work.

So, the drums. Definitely foreshadowed in "Razor Boy". There's the same kind of cymbal-tom combination going on, along with what sounds like some bongos going down. It's a tremendous beat and really catches the ear on sheer impressiveness: it's a fairly subtle line, much like everything in the song. It's good enough that you notice it anyway. Not only is it tremendous in sound and style, but it fits the song just perfectly. There can be no better percussion part for "Your Gold Teeth" than what is already here.

The keyboards play in to the drums quite a bit. They play the intro together and there's a highly understated rhythm that's played during the verses and segments without vocals. Individually there's some organ going down, particularly during the chorus (the organs are a great part the whole song, lots of quiet stuff going on that you really need to listen for to experience), and a solo that's really, really good. Some little runs and chords during this part, and the drums do some nice stuff, here too..and then it segues into a guitar solo.

The solo is great. It keeps with the rest of the song which is very soft and aimless while still sounding like a real guitar. Other than that there's some beautiful little chords that match up with the keyboard that introduce each verse and that is definitely top-notch work. It's so simple but so great. It combines with everything else and forms a complex, layered song that is actually not very difficult to break down, but all put together has a bunch of gears churning together.

Returning to the keyboards for a brief second, they play a great outro where the drums factor in prominently yet again. Lots of heavy tom rolls here along with those maybe-bongos going nuts.

The bass, as mentioned earlier, finally comes into play. It plays it's own line, sort of a combination of the keyboard-guitar combo I mentioned earlier and some little runs mixed in. It's got almost a stutter-step quality at times, sort of shuffling along while everything else is pretty straight. It's remarkable only at times, but it's definitely the start of something great and it's a welcome relief to finally here a real bass line on the album. During the solos it plays some nice runs that sort of go along with what's taking place center stage, but stand out enough for the listener to realize it.

The vocals are great: Fa‎gen sounds awesome here. He's really smooth and out there and his voice just fits the instruments perfectly. The keyboards and vocals blend VERY well, obviously something that was kept in mind when the song was written.

But what's the song about? There's killing floors, Cathy Berberian and roving eyes. What's it all mean? This song is definitely a fun one to analyze and one of the most obscurely composed songs of the entire Steely Dan catalogue, and certainly one of the most complex (not only lyrically but musically as well). It's an amazing piece of work.

The common theme in the lyrics seems to be one of suavely avoiding some sort of event, possibly financial in nature but most definitely life changing and one of high importance and risk, a grave matter: taking a risk and gambling everything on a certain plan to work out, a specific event to happen. Foolish, really; even Cathy Berberian knows there's one roulade she can't sing. In the end, though, everything works out, so long as the sarcastic, bitter narrator is the man being cheered on.

Side Two
"Show Biz Kids" (5:25)
The lead single from the album and one that failed to make much noise on the charts (it peaked at 61). It's an extraordinary song, but when you tell rich Hollywood kids to go fu‎ck themselves your song is probably going to get stonewalled.

This the most bitter, sarcastic song on the album, though. I love the background vocals (which begin after a brilliant bluesy slide guitar intro and support it as it continues playing): see, they're singing "You're going to lost wages", which is the way old Lenny Bruce used to do it. And it's brilliant. It's such excellent singing; the smooth, underlying guy grooving along as the female leads do their part.

Then Fa‎gen cuts in with what would be the beginning of his legendary sneer: "While the poor people sleepin' with the shaaade on the light". Then there's mention of El Supremo and the Washington Zoo.

The guitar here is just astounding. Rick Derringer's playing slide guitar and he's extroadinary. Every second of it is tremendous and I love it all. The miniature solos he does during the period before the verses, the major solos, the intro - all of it's great. And the plucking during the verses (which is followed by some downright sicknasty xylophone) fits great.

So the solo. It's amazing. It takes a small break for the infamous "Show business kids makin' movies of themselves and they don't give a fu‎ck about anybody else," line and then continues on during a chaotic outro consisting of a woman screaming "Donald" and a bunch of indiscernible noises. It's all kinds of bluesy sliding and plucking and brilliant sound.

The bass here goes back to your standard Becker fare, very boring and underdeveloped. Develop some confidence already you stubborn bastard.

The drums are really driving. It's a basic beat, but it lets the guitar show off and that's what works. There's a brilliant section where some instrument comes in and starts playing along with the drums. It all adds up to an excellent song.

"My Old School" (5:47)
Probably the most famous song off of the album, though that's not saying much (it charted at 63).

This is one of the few songs where the lyrical meaning is not only obvious but openly discussed by Dan themselves (well, Fa‎gen, at least. I think Becker was busy farming pineapples or something). It has to deal with a 1968 sheriff's raid on the college Fa‎gen and Becker went to, Bard. The singing is pretty great: it's more smooth stuff from Fa‎gen and there's some great backing stuff going on.

Those combine with a great horn section that ups the ante quite a bit for the sound here. The line is recognizable and pretty much takes lead of the song's rhythym section, letting the guitars do their thing unless it's the solo in the middle (which is brilliant). There's saxophones, trumpets, tubas, clarinets...it's amazing. The song could've been layered on this part alone.

The keyboards play a pretty large role with the horns as well. There's some great piano work during the verses, and then during the chorus they blend together to form a delightful mix that plays into the guitar.

Tremendous guitar work, by the way. There's some eye-popping solos combined with a catchy line during the verses, and some more show-offy intermittent stuff. It's still bluesy-jazz and it absolutely fits with the overall tone of the song.

This is another song where you can actually hear the bass doing some cool stuff. It's all alone out there doing it's own stuff and it fits right in with everything else, and helps out the drums quite a bit.

The percussion is downright amazing here. There's lots of rolls and jazz stuff going on and there's even a cowbell. Just like a certain earlier tune, it's a very layered song, except now it's not just simple stuff stacked up to present an almost falsely complicated song - it's some great instrumentation from about 40 different instruments and a fantastic vocals section all wrapped up into one marvelous tune.

"Pearl of the Quarter" (3:50)
Ah, a sad memorandum of a lost love. Well, physical love. That "pearl" of the "Quarter" is a French prostitute in New Orleans. It's a bit transparent in meaning but on first listen it definitely doesn't sound like it, especially because this was before Steely Dan started delving into those darker, more sarcastic themes. Doesn't mean they can't make great music, though.

Everything here almost combines into one. It's like trying to separate peanut butter from jelly in a sandwich. The percussion is pretty nice. It's simple and quiet but it fits the overall tone and is pretty meticulous in style. It seems almost careful, too careful, much like the rest of the song.

The guitar almost has a country tone to it. Sometimes. It's odd. It's a bit nerve racking, the guitar part, which is odd considering every other song on the album has some really cool guitar work going on. This is the weakest song here. It plays a neat little solo where it does some cool stuff with the piano.

The piano in this song is pretty good. It's the best part, probably, unless you're one for terribly simple bass lines. So the keyboards here, they fit, very carefully played. Much like the percussion.

I mentioned the bass. It doesn't stand out much, just like everything else. It follows along to the piano which is following the drums which is following the vocals, which are pretty good but nothing to brag about.

So it's a bit dull and sickening, but it's not a bad song. Just average, and on a collection where everything else is top of it's class it's forgettable.

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