Steely Dan - Album By Album - Greatest Hits

(from the Here At The Western World department)

We're not supposed to tackle compilations yet - but I did anyway.

--------------------------------------

Well - before I tackle Gaucho - let's talk about Greatest Hits. 

Yes - I know the rules - but this one in particular seems like it should be discussed here - as opposed to a compilation section later. A few reasons in my head for this:

1. It was released while the band was an ongoing concern, instead of posthumously. 

2. Don'n'Walt picked the tracks. 

3. They added a unreleased cut. 

One thing that I keep in mind with compilations like these are how they affect subsequent release(s). An example of this might be the The Beatles - Hey Jude compilation album. There's a theory that the inclusion of "Don't Let Me Down" on that record may have been the reason Phil Spector left it off of his assemblage of Let It Be.

So - according to the Steely Dan FAQ:

With the phenomenal success of "Aja," Donald and Walter are under considerably less pressure to release new material quickly. ABC releases a Greatest Hits package in November 1978 which includes one unreleased track "Here At The Western World." This collection also goes platinum and reaches #30 on the charts. Tiring of the L.A. scene, Becker and Fagen move back to New York to start recording their new album.​

The track selection on Greatest Hits is top notch - especially considering the restrictions of the double album vinyl format, and the large amount of material they had to cover. 

Basically, if we break it down:

1. "Do It Again" 
2. "Reelin' In the Years"

Two cuts from Can't Buy A Thrill - both A sides of the US released singles

3. "My Old School" 
4. "Bodhisattva" 
1. "Show Biz Kids" 

Three cuts from Countdown To Ecstasy - both A sides of the US released singles and a deep album cut as a bonus.

2. "East St. Louis Toodle-oo""
3. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" 
4. "Pretzel Logic" 
5. "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"

Four cuts from Pretzel Logic - both A sides of the US released singles, a B side and a promo single! Somebody knows how to sequence compilations!

Yes - Toodle-Oo was a promo single - not just a deep album cut. The promo sleeve is fascinating - it's just text: "A Special Programming Serivce. Steely Dan recorded their first instrumental a few months ago. It was a labor of love and it was a Duke Ellington song - as a matter of fact his one-time theme song "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo". We thought you might like it." That sounds like Don'n'Walt text to me.

1. "Here at the Western World" 

Genius track - criminally overlooked when it was recorded. Added to the double album lineup as both a carrot to entice hard-core DanFans to pick up the album, and also as a natural side 3 kickoff. It stands strongly with the official "Hits" on this album, and sounds "of a piece" with the songs following before and after it. 

Also - I don't think there's anything tricky about the meaning of the verses:

Down at the Lido they welcome you
With sausage and beer,
Klaus and the Rooster have been there too,
But lately he spends his time here.

Hanging with the mayor and all his friends
And nobody cares,
Where the sailor shuts out the sunrise
Blacked out on the stairs​

Basically - the narrator is already at The Western World - and he's talking about a nicer place he used to go to - The Lido. I parse this as Klaus still goes to the Lido, but the Rooster now hangs out at The Western World with the Mayor, the Narrator, and all of his friends. A drunken sailor passed out on the stairs - skinny girls - it kind of sounds like a 3rd world bordello to me - possibly Argentina with the strange German names. This verse really cinches it for me:

Ruthie will give you the silver key
To open the red door:
Lay down your Jackson and you will see
The sweetness you've been crying for ​

Yup - it's a bordello. Moving on...

2. "Black Friday" 
3. "Bad Sneakers" 
4. "Doctor Wu" 

Three from Katy Lied - both A sides of the US released singles, and a deep album cut.

5. "Haitian Divorce" 
1. "Kid Charlemagne" 
2. "The Fez" 

Three from The Royal Scam - both A sides of the US released singles, and an A side from a UK single (Haitian Divorce).

3. "Peg" 
4. "Josie" 

Two from Aja - two of the A sides from the US released singles. (There was at least one more US single released.) 

And there it is - kind of a perfect summation of where Steely Dan was in 1978. 

The other nice thing to note about the vinyl is the side loading. A quick, off the cuff calculation shows

Side 1: 21:28
Side 2: 19:56
Side 3: 20:36
Side 4: 16:56

Those aren't bad running times for double vinyl. CD should have a running time of 78:56 - which is long-ish for a single CD - but do-able.

Cheers,
Paul