Steely Dan
Pretzel Logic

THE REVIEW

For this record, it's worth relaxing and listening... This is a band that emerges, like a black-and-white dream, from the 1970s. A band that loved to "endlessly refine" their songs in the studio, chiseling and polishing them like precious gems. It is said that the guitarist Mark Knopfler did a good twenty sessions as a session musician before delivering a satisfactory version for the Dan.
The refined and ever-evolving music of Fagen (vocals and keyboards) and Becker (bass) takes inspiration from jazz, blues, rock, and R&B to create a unique blend of originality and, even more so, enjoyment. Their sound is crystal clear, clean, polished to a shine. We never hear a note out of place, an extra instrument, or excessive singing. Their CDs just need to be placed in the player, and then we just settle into a chair to sip a cool drink under a veranda on a scorching summer afternoon. Or alternatively, huddled in the leather seat of a Mustang along Fifth Avenue in New York, with a blonde by your side, as the cold rain ticks on the windshield. In case it's not yet clear, the music of Steely Dan is of the highest class, it's like a dry sparkling wine where you can count all the bubbles of the perlage as they rise to the surface.

It's not fair to mention one song from this album over another. The quality of the compositions is extremely high and is undoubtedly considered the band's masterpiece. I remember the sinuous and haughty "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" with fusion sounds and an engaging piano riff. Then the funky "Night By Night" with an extraordinary guitar background by Jeff Baxter. And again "East St. Louis Toodle-oo", a sweet reinterpretation of a Duke Ellington classic, old jazz with sepia-toned imagery. The title track "Pretzel Logic", an elegant, refined nocturnal blues. In this track, one feels the immense art of the group.

Their modernity and versatility are still powerful. Even today, listening to them, their compositions do not resemble those old women who beautify themselves to seem more beautiful and young. They are, simply, of ethereal grace.
Great. "You go back - Jack - do it again"