Steely Dan - Album By Album - Gaucho

(from the Holding the Mystical Sphere department)


This one's pretty complete.  No real explanation required.

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Okay - without further ado - the Gaucho review.

Now - in 1980 - I had started High School. (We had 3 year Junior High and 3 year High School - yup - that's the way it was back then!) I remember hearing Hey Nineteen on the radio - and going "Ugh - what the hell happened to the Rikki and the Peg guys? This song is plodding as hell and a complete downer." Also - I wondered "Why is he whining about a 19 year old? Dude - you be kind of creepy." In retrospect, it's hard when you're a teenager yourself to sympathize with the protagonist in that song.

Then - John Lennon was assassinated a month later - and I became a rabid Beatles fan with no more time for Steely Dan. 😞

Flash forward to post-2000 me. I had purchased all of the albums and the Showbiz Kids compilation. I was discovering all the joys of Katy Lied and The Royal Scam - which I had never heard in their entirety before. But - Gaucho - ergh.

I did at least listen to the Gaucho cuts on Showbiz Kids. I remember thinking "Hey - this Babylon Sisters is pretty good. Hey Nineteen is now tolerable - at least I kind of get where he's coming from now. Hey Time Out Of Mind is really catchy. What the hell is this plodding Third World Man?"

So - finally I took the plunge and listened to the whole thing.

My review? Overall? Plodding and lifeless.

Babylon Sisters is amazing - one of the highlights. Hey Nineteen - I recognize it as a classic. Yes - it's a highlight of the live shows. No - it's still not a runaway fave - but over time - yeah - I dig it. Glamour Profession and Gaucho work better as stories than songs to me. Yes - the groove is good, if a bit mechanical - but man - the melodies are locked into step, if you will. Time Out Of Mind is my second highlight - still love the melody and groove in this track.

My Rival suffers from the same prioritization of groove over melody, but the lyrics are fun. Let me print them for a second:

The wind was driving in my face
The smell of prickly pear
[My rival - show me my rival]
The milk truck eased into my space
​

So - I take this as a guy locked in a suburban hell. Just an average Dad, living a boring life - fighting milk trucks for parking spaces. He tries to spice up his life by imagining himself as a Sam Spade-like detective:

Somebody screamed somewhere
I struck a match against the door
Of Anthony's Bar and Grill
I was the whining stranger
A fool in love
With time to kill
​

Keeping on with the Sam Spade, bad-a** detective motifs:

I've got detectives on his case
They filmed the whole charade
[My rival - show me my rival]
He's got a scar across his face​

Oops - we're back to reality - his imaginary rival is probably a retiree walking by.

He wears a hearing aid

Sure he's a jolly roger
Until he answers for his crime
Yes I'll match him whim for whim now
​

Now we get to his real rival - for his and his wife's affections - his own toddler son:

I still recall when I first held
Your tiny hand in mine
[My rival - show me my rival]
I loved you more than I can tell
But now it's stomping time

Sure he's a jolly roger
Until he answers for his crime
Yes I'll match him whim for whim now
​

Basically - there's two rivals in this song - the imaginary rival he creates to keep himself engaged. And his real rival - his toddler. 😃

Wish the melody was a bit more compelling for this one - I love the lyrics and the various interpretations you can create. 😃

Finally - Third World Man. Melody is okay - lyrics kind of obvious somehow. The first draft lyrics to this tune - then called "Were You Blind That Day" - weren't better or worse - just different. The Third World Man lyrics are more imaginative, to be sure - the imagery is kind of cool - but they don't seem to really go with the melody behind them. Ends the album on kind of a wrong note.

So - yes - Gaucho is not one of my fave Steely Dan albums - ranks even below The Royal Scam for me. That being said - even the worst Steely Dan is better than a ton of other bands. And - yes - the surround mixes are fun. Sad way to see the run of the original Steely Dan 7® albums end - but then - we get the gift of The Nightfly.

Cheers,
Paul