Steely Dan
Can't Buy A Thrill

"… It's right from here that the wheel of the machine started to turn, my friend, that the journey began…"

The first thing to do is trace and make that juicy dividing line shine, which I believe marks, between the first two works of our beloved ones, and that epochal album that was "Pretzel Logic." Until 1973, in fact, the beloved ones in question did not consist of that brilliant duo that a few years later would bring forth a bunch of near-perfect works, namely the mild Dr. Becker and the chic Mr. Fagen. During their early days, until their second album, Steely Dan was indeed a group of five or six elements altogether, as history would have it, and their historical producer Gary Katz. When he caught Donald and Walter loafing around the streets of New York at the dawn of the '70s, he cleaned them up nicely and took them to the city of angels, intending to extract the great musical talents he sensed.

That's exactly why he pushed them to form a real band, composed particularly of guitarists Danny Dias and Jeff Baxter, Jim Hodder's tasty drums, and David Palmer on vocals. It's important to mention all this because despite the presence of some of these musicians in albums even after the first two, the change in the music of Steely Dan that occurred with "Pretzel Logic" is evident. The difference wasn't in the haircut of the bony and edgy Fagen (as impeccably defined by Socrates), but the transition from an excellent pop-rock with soul and blues shades to “new” music that managed to squeeze and meld a multitude of musical elements nearly perfectly, aiming for high-class melodic structures. It's from this difference that lovers of Steely Dan-second manner must start to approach the first period. The songs were already written solely by Fagen and Becker, but the two hadn't yet found their final path; the "fierce" and impeccable dictatorship over cultured pop and the best musicians of the time would arrive precisely with "Pretzel Logic," with "Katy Lied," and with those other 2-3 magnificent subsequent albums.

The Steely Dan of "Can't Buy a Thrill" (1972) might not be "magnificentia" to the nth degree, but Fagen's voice - alas! - is already there on full display, and some tracks are indisputably pearls. Uff! Finally, we've arrived, here we are: "Do It Again," a historic track of the band and the opening track of the album, is a practically perfect song, captivating from the first listen. A sort of almost hypnotic folk-pop that smells of "Easy Rider" and Arizona stoned with soft voodoo, the structure isn't as intricate as a "Through with Buzz" or a "Bad Sneakers," but it flawlessly combines the background percussion and the leading melody, the piano riffs and Mr. Donald's voice, the wheel of the machine turning on the dusty asphalt and the intriguing and magical aroma of the United States at the start of the '70s. As simple as it is grand. Fagen and Becker make it clear right off the bat: high-level pop-rock music (featuring two solos, one on guitar and one on keyboards, each more beautiful than the other) and a catchy chorus as doesn't always get heard. These are, and will indisputably be, Steely Dan: music more or less accessible to everyone, but of high class. Yes sir…

Another characteristic of the album is the presence of a certain American folk-rock style Crosby-Stills-Nash-Young, just listen to tracks like "Dirty Work" and "Brooklyn…" which unmistakably smell of "Déjà vu" (in every sense!); also, the nod to the "sugary" chorus in the still enjoyable "Midnight Cruisers" and "Reelin' in the Years" (single released along with Do It Again) isn't missing. All this well explains the concept just expressed: excellent music, at times personal and innovative, but at times hesitant to take off on its own; even the alternating between Fagen and Palmer for the lead vocals of various tracks probably gives a certain sense of disorientation. In all this, perhaps lies the not full maturity of Fagen and Becker, in this album as in the next "Countdown to Ecstasy." But I also mentioned "pearls"; well, there are some: all sung by the good old "Lester the Nightfly," we mention the simply perfect "Only A Fool Would Say That"; the soft-soul of "Fire in the Hole"; the splendid "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again," which closes the album with its perfect vocal blends, and that with its pop inventions and unexpected time changes already smells of the future compositional genius of the duo.

"… You go back Jack do it again / Wheel turnin' 'round and 'round / You go back Jack do it again…"

Get this album because it's right from here that the long and fascinating story of Steely Dan began: a band with the ability to illuminate fragments of life. With night flights and not…