Has to be one of the greatest numbers of all time! Incredible guitar work, brilliant lyrics and song structure. Anybody who dislikes this, simply has no soul. Music does not get better.
The Royal Scam in my opinion is one of their best albums. 9 banger songs with Jazz and Funky sax and amazing lyrics: Kid Charlemagne, The Caves Of Altamira, Don’t Take Me Alive, The Fez, Haitian Divorce And The title track. Each tell a different interesting story. Great album!
This song takes me back to that amazing record breaking summer of 1976 here in the UK, great weather, great music, oh, I left school at 16years old, what a year🎶🧓😁👍
Also on this album is the seldom played "Everything You Did" which is notable because the line "Turn up The Eagles, the neighbors are listening" prompted the Eagles to respond with the line "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast." on "Hotel California".
The guitar solo was played by Dean Parks without the talkbox effect. Walter Becker reamped the recorded guitar signal to the talkbox in the mixdown and did "the talking".
This song has risen up the ranks of my favorite Dan songs in recent years. The song is so well constructed and lyrically has such great lines. The dolly back and fade to black are both movie terms - a dolly back is where the camera moves backwards from the scene.
Now we dolly back, now we fade to black is a really neat couplet. I searched for dolly in the comments; the suggestion is that they toddled off back somewhere for sex is the implied meaning, for the hard of understanding.
Just a little geeky side note here for you, Justin. A Dolly is a movie making term used when a camera is set on a track. ( It looks a bit like a train track) One person is operating the camera and another is pulling or pushing the camera on the track. You can dolly forward into the action or in this case, dolly back out with a fade to finish the shot. Great track from a great band who can do no wrong in my eyes.
Haiti was once a common destination due to it's very liberal one-party no fault divorce laws. She went to get her divorce and played around, apparently had a change of heart and reconciled when she went home, but she also brought back an unexpected souvenir.
"Dolly back" -- cinematic lingo for when a camera on a dolly is slowly withdrawn from a scene, creating a zoom-out effect. Which might happen before a fade to black.
My favorite Dan album and I consider it their best (yes even better than Aja). Most songs are in a minor key, gives the album this dark feel, and it closes with the title track which is just an amazing song. Thanks JP.
AJA? It's overrated! 😅 No it's a fantastic album, but it's the earlier albums l love the most with Pretzel Logic being favourite and The Royal Scam second. I'd go as far as saying that PL is one of my favourite albums of all time, it's those short snappy songs like Through With Buzz, Barrytown and an all time favourite With a Gun.
“Dolly back” refers to a zoom out shot in film. Cameras were big and heavy so often mounted on a track with wheels (dolly). So “dolly back and we fade to black) means zoom out and fade to black, a technique used to suggest sexy time in older films.
Steely dan , for me, were the greatest band there ever was but the older I get I've started to listen to some music I turned my nose up at in the 70's, easy listening. Check out the Alessi brothers " oh Lori ' and Andrew Golds " never let her slip away."
So Funky...like all Steely Dan tracks, this groove is in the pocket! Fagen & Becker really knew how to write & arrange to perfection.... loved your analysis as always JP thanks.
The talk box guitar was done by Dean Parks and edited By Walter Becker - one of my all-time favorites by SD. BTW, there are more great guitarists on this album than any other - along with the aforementioned session master Dean Parks, there are Walter Becker, Elliot Randall (who also played on "Reelin' In The Years" and two other SD albums and a session list longer than Interstate 95), plus unrivalled jazz wizard Larry Carlton. An epic collection of iconic tracks.
This was also a "Reggae" song the radio host would play occasionally on the "Reggae Revolution" radio show on KNAC and KROQ in Los Angeles back in the late 1980's. I think the show came on the weekend in the evenings and I would tune in. When he played this song my heart would sing; being the Dandom fan that I am. This entire album, JP, is fire!
I like how we have such different tastes, experiences, and perceptions when it comes to music but invariably come together grooving to the Dan. I have said it before and will say it again, too clever for one’s good. What a cool tune though… must be the lotion.
It's hard to go wrong with Steely Dan. Even their 'mundane' cuts were pretty good. There 1st album Can't Buy A Thrill(1972) was on everybody's turntable, black, white, brown, young, old, male, female, they had it playing, they became famous and well off almost overnight it seemed, so .good
Not a Steely Dan fan per se but in 1976 there were two stand out songs played on the radio that caught my attention and both, coincidentally using talk boxes!. One was "Show Me The Way", Peter Frampton and this one. I love the smoothness of this song and that guitar is just sublime. Still love it to this day.
Thank goodness for some more Steely Dan . What a relief 👏👏 Please consider ( I’m banging on again ) - Rod Argent { yes he of Argent fame } Album - ‘ Moving Home ‘ Track - No. 1 👍 ( that’s the track name , ok )! You know you want to ! Keyboard excellence with just a random drummer , by the name of Phil Collins . What would I know 😂
As a long-time, big film noir fan, those cryptic lyrics Becker and Fagen employed make a little more sense in my world. In this one I see Mitchum and Jane Greer, get a strong suppor...ah wait they did that. Solid overview after one listen; thanks for loving the music. Oh, I don't know how much you've done from 'Countdown', but it's their best album, just facts, as the kids say today, lol.
Gentlemen (keith jones and TZ61) I can honestly say that Steely Dan fans definitely have a favorite and personally rated "best" SD album. SD fans as a whole are very musically astute and a bit picky. I have observed from many comments across the myriad of SD song reactions on YT that ANY of their albums from 1972-1980 is one's favorite. A real tribute to a great American Band.
"Incompatbile de caractere" Back in the day when divorce was not so simple. One could fly or boat to Haiti, state above quote, you're divorced!(The French were so much more liberal then!) Fun fact same effect Dean Parks uses(with Walter Becker manipulating the talk-box), was used in Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"! Peace & Love.
Great tune, great album. I'm still a bit surprised that whilst this album and Aja gets so much praise, few people mention "Gaucho" . Don't get me wrong, I do have ALL their albums in my collection but with tunes like Babylon Sisters, Hey Nineteen, Time out of Mind and the title track Gaucho it remains my Steely Dan go to album.
My go to Steely Dan album is Pretzel Logic, yes all their albums are wonderful (except maybe Everything Must Go 😮) but PL has been my favourite for years.
Context: They knocked out an outstanding LP (at least) every year 1972 to 1977, then the Dandom had to wait nearly 3 years for Gaucho (Yes I know it's normal nowadays for it to take so long). + it wasn't Aja - it didn't sell as many; of course Gaucho is lovely - it bloody well should be, given the time and pains taken to make it. My understanding is that Gen Z *really* understandably like Gaucho (they didn't have to wait for it).. . I'd maintain The Royal Scam is when they really became great, allowing them to formulate (and cash in on..) Aja. I think they coasted Gaucho, albeit with great musicians/tunes/songs/engineering. Fagen's Nightfly is a step up, though.
GREAT song. So much fun, and full of ear worms, as usual. And great talk box guitar lines. This got regular radio play back in the day. How cool is that?
A great song from my all time fave 'Dan' album. The lilting reggae style, that noodling guitar cooly meandering its way through the track... what's not to love.
I noticed your shirt and it reminded me of this new Jimi Hendrix song I just discovered called Pali Gap. May be my new favorite of his id recommend reacting to it. It was released after his death
For Steely Dan, a good track. For 99% of other artists, a great track. There are better tracks on The Royal Scam(their best album, it says here). I used to dislike it, but, it has aged well, especially musically. I've always wondered if Walter and Donald heard Joe Walsh using the " talk box "on Walsh's " Rocky Mountain Way " and thought: " we can do that even better " RIP Walter Becker
Opinions are like… Let’s not go there, a well done track but for me one that moves up and down in status according to my mood. Today was, is a good day for it. Guess it’s the company. Enjoyable.
Not bad, not transcendent though. Personally I find that this reggae-pop is a little too tainted by this invasive talk box which could have been muted more often. I don't hate it, but I don't really like it either! I'm really mixed on this one.....
I don't get it... Never had the curiosity to pick a song by Steely Dan and this was my introduction. As I expected, nothing worth deserving my time. But I'm open to other tracks, if they are different than this. (seventies had was such a fall...)
Best writing, lyrics, instrumentation and production. Very little reverb so you can hear the instruments more clearly with more separation. You'll get Steely Dan one day when you're older.
@@pentagrammaton6793 I don't hate the talk box but it all depends on the songs and who is using it...and when it's used wisely of course!😉 Actually, A little talk box from time to time can't hurt, but it has to be used sparingly otherwise it ruins everything.
Has to be one of the greatest numbers of all time! Incredible guitar work, brilliant lyrics and song structure. Anybody who dislikes this, simply has no soul. Music does not get better.
The Royal Scam in my opinion is one of their best albums. 9 banger songs with Jazz and Funky sax and amazing lyrics: Kid Charlemagne, The Caves Of Altamira, Don’t Take Me Alive, The Fez, Haitian Divorce And The title track. Each tell a different interesting story. Great album!
Couldn’t agree with you more! This may be the pinnacle album from Steely Dan.
Classic album 🔥
And all the stories have a common theme - escape from some particular situation or consequence.
Def my favorite.
@@ljsites I think it's the LP that they truly hit their stride. There's a lot to love about the earlier ones, though...
This song takes me back to that amazing record breaking summer of 1976 here in the UK, great weather, great music, oh, I left school at 16years old, what a year🎶🧓😁👍
Also on this album is the seldom played "Everything You Did" which is notable because the line "Turn up The Eagles, the neighbors are listening" prompted the Eagles to respond with the line "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast." on "Hotel California".
The guitar solo was played by Dean Parks without the talkbox effect. Walter Becker reamped the recorded guitar signal to the talkbox in the mixdown and did "the talking".
I thought it was Skunk Baxter then Becker reamped etc. But I don't know I'm probably wrong, recalling it from an old interview.
@@stevemd6488 Skunk Baxter was long gone by the time The Royal Scam was recorded.
This song has risen up the ranks of my favorite Dan songs in recent years. The song is so well constructed and lyrically has such great lines. The dolly back and fade to black are both movie terms - a dolly back is where the camera moves backwards from the scene.
Now we dolly back, now we fade to black is a really neat couplet. I searched for dolly in the comments; the suggestion is that they toddled off back somewhere for sex is the implied meaning, for the hard of understanding.
Love Steely Dan
Just a little geeky side note here for you, Justin.
A Dolly is a movie making term used when a camera is set on a track. ( It looks a bit like a train track)
One person is operating the camera and another is pulling or pushing the camera on the track.
You can dolly forward into the action or in this case, dolly back out with a fade to finish the shot.
Great track from a great band who can do no wrong in my eyes.
Haiti was once a common destination due to it's very liberal one-party no fault divorce laws. She went to get her divorce and played around, apparently had a change of heart and reconciled when she went home, but she also brought back an unexpected souvenir.
"Fade to black" is a movie reference but so is "dolly back", which refers to rolling the camera back from a scene.
"Dolly back" -- cinematic lingo for when a camera on a dolly is slowly withdrawn from a scene, creating a zoom-out effect. Which might happen before a fade to black.
My favorite Dan album and I consider it their best (yes even better than Aja). Most songs are in a minor key, gives the album this dark feel, and it closes with the title track which is just an amazing song. Thanks JP.
AJA? It's overrated! 😅 No it's a fantastic album, but it's the earlier albums l love the most with Pretzel Logic being favourite and The Royal Scam second. I'd go as far as saying that PL is one of my favourite albums of all time, it's those short snappy songs like Through With Buzz, Barrytown and an all time favourite With a Gun.
Yup. Any major dude will tell you 😊😊@@keithjones7390
I bought the Greatest Hits album from WalMart back in the 80’s and this song and Bad Sneakers cemented me as a Steely Dan fan for life.
Bad Sneakers is a fav of mine too
“Dolly back” refers to a zoom out shot in film. Cameras were big and heavy so often mounted on a track with wheels (dolly). So “dolly back and we fade to black) means zoom out and fade to black, a technique used to suggest sexy time in older films.
Ahhhh makes sense, ty James
Love the Dan! Great album! They love to inject humor in their music. Appropriate to have a reggae feel to "Haitian Divorce"!
One of my absolute favoritest pre-Aja SD tracks. The guitar is just killer.
Steely dan , for me, were the greatest band there ever was but the older I get I've started to listen to some music I turned my nose up at in the 70's, easy listening. Check out the Alessi brothers " oh Lori ' and Andrew Golds " never let her slip away."
Love this track. ❤️🎶
The best Steely Dan album, imo.
My favorite SD album. Loaded with gems.
Thank you Justin reacting to this, it was on one of their "Greatest Hits" compilations, but tends to get overlooked.
You should definitely listen to the whole album
The raspy talk box contrasted by the polished crystal vibraphone. This is a whole movie plot - somehow in 7 minutes.
So Funky...like all Steely Dan tracks, this groove is in the pocket! Fagen & Becker really knew how to write & arrange to perfection.... loved your analysis as always JP thanks.
The talk box guitar was done by Dean Parks and edited By Walter Becker - one of my all-time favorites by SD. BTW, there are more great guitarists on this album than any other - along with the aforementioned session master Dean Parks, there are Walter Becker, Elliot Randall (who also played on "Reelin' In The Years" and two other SD albums and a session list longer than Interstate 95), plus unrivalled jazz wizard Larry Carlton. An epic collection of iconic tracks.
The key changes are what make this stand out for me.
Beautiful music
Nice to hear Walter's guitar effect -- you can also hear it on "The East St. Louis Toodle-oo" from the Pretzel Logic album.
I believe it was to guitarists dubbed over, can't remember who the other was though
A very cool unique song. I love Steely Dan.
This was also a "Reggae" song the radio host would play occasionally on the "Reggae Revolution" radio show on KNAC and KROQ in Los Angeles back in the late 1980's. I think the show came on the weekend in the evenings and I would tune in. When he played this song my heart would sing; being the Dandom fan that I am. This entire album, JP, is fire!
Love this single
I like how we have such different tastes, experiences, and perceptions when it comes to music but invariably come together grooving to the Dan. I have said it before and will say it again, too clever for one’s good. What a cool tune though… must be the lotion.
It's hard to go wrong with Steely Dan. Even their 'mundane' cuts were pretty good. There 1st album Can't Buy A Thrill(1972) was on everybody's turntable, black, white, brown, young, old, male, female, they had it playing, they became famous and well off almost overnight it seemed, so .good
Not a Steely Dan fan per se but in 1976 there were two stand out songs played on the radio that caught my attention and both, coincidentally using talk boxes!. One was "Show Me The Way", Peter Frampton and this one. I love the smoothness of this song and that guitar is just sublime. Still love it to this day.
Joe Walsh on Rocky Mountain Way.
Love the Dan so much good 70s material wonderful stuff love you
One of my favorite songs. I discovered FM at age 10 and the album Royal Scam had just been released. It's still one of my favorite albums too
Another brilliant tune and thank you for the shout out.
Dolly back is a film direction term. The camera pulls back from the action; Fade to black is also a film direction
That guitar sound you like so much can also be heard on Pink Floyd's Animals.
You are an official Dan Fan !!!
Definitely! Would've seen em live a couple years back but the show was cancelled :(
The dance move you mentioned is known as The Dip.
You gotta love the Dan👍
The Dan?
Great reaction, thanks!
Walter Becker re-recorded the original guitar track using a talkbox. I've never heard of such a thing being used after-the-fact. Best. Mike.
Thank goodness for some more Steely Dan .
What a relief 👏👏
Please consider ( I’m banging on again ) -
Rod Argent { yes he of Argent fame }
Album - ‘ Moving Home ‘
Track - No. 1 👍 ( that’s the track name , ok )!
You know you want to !
Keyboard excellence with just a random drummer , by the name of Phil Collins .
What would I know 😂
The Dan always feature excellent guitar work on their albums, but The Royal Scam has it in spades.
As a long-time, big film noir fan, those cryptic lyrics Becker and Fagen employed make a little more sense in my world. In this one I see Mitchum and Jane Greer, get a strong suppor...ah wait they did that. Solid overview after one listen; thanks for loving the music. Oh, I don't know how much you've done from 'Countdown', but it's their best album, just facts, as the kids say today, lol.
How can 'Countdown' be their best album when obviously Pretzel Logic is the best! 😊
Gentlemen (keith jones and TZ61) I can honestly say that Steely Dan fans definitely have a favorite and personally rated "best" SD album. SD fans as a whole are very musically astute and a bit picky. I have observed from many comments across the myriad of SD song reactions on YT that ANY of their albums from 1972-1980 is one's favorite. A real tribute to a great American Band.
@@keithjones7390 Touche
I could NEVER just play one track off this album...it's as great as Asa or Pretzel Logic.
It is a fantastic album, my second favourite after Pretzel Logic.
Great track from a great album.
That was a goody! 💚
"Incompatbile de caractere" Back in the day when divorce was not so simple. One could fly or boat to Haiti, state above quote, you're divorced!(The French were so much more liberal then!) Fun fact same effect Dean Parks uses(with Walter Becker manipulating the talk-box), was used in Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"! Peace & Love.
Great tune, great album. I'm still a bit surprised that whilst this album and Aja gets so much praise, few people mention "Gaucho" . Don't get me wrong, I do have ALL their albums in my collection but with tunes like Babylon Sisters, Hey Nineteen, Time out of Mind and the title track Gaucho it remains my Steely Dan go to album.
My go to Steely Dan album is Pretzel Logic, yes all their albums are wonderful (except maybe Everything Must Go 😮) but PL has been my favourite for years.
Context: They knocked out an outstanding LP (at least) every year 1972 to 1977, then the Dandom had to wait nearly 3 years for Gaucho (Yes I know it's normal nowadays for it to take so long). + it wasn't Aja - it didn't sell as many; of course Gaucho is lovely - it bloody well should be, given the time and pains taken to make it. My understanding is that Gen Z *really* understandably like Gaucho (they didn't have to wait for it).. . I'd maintain The Royal Scam is when they really became great, allowing them to formulate (and cash in on..) Aja. I think they coasted Gaucho, albeit with great musicians/tunes/songs/engineering. Fagen's Nightfly is a step up, though.
Can anyone name a group other than Steely Dan that could make a song like this?
A reggae-styled departure from most of the Dan's work, not one of my favorites but still pretty cool and showcases the band's amazing versatility.
GREAT song. So much fun, and full of ear worms, as usual. And great talk box guitar lines. This got regular radio play back in the day. How cool is that?
A great song from my all time fave 'Dan' album. The lilting reggae style, that noodling guitar cooly meandering its way through the track... what's not to love.
I noticed your shirt and it reminded me of this new Jimi Hendrix song I just discovered called Pali Gap. May be my new favorite of his id recommend reacting to it. It was released after his death
A Rainbow Bridge gem, yes it’s a great tune.
So, another Steely Dan album to review. Good .
Neehah ahh ahh…
For Steely Dan, a good track. For 99% of other artists, a great track. There are better tracks on The Royal Scam(their best album, it says here). I used to dislike it, but, it has aged well, especially musically.
I've always wondered if Walter and Donald heard Joe Walsh using the " talk box "on Walsh's " Rocky Mountain Way " and thought: " we can do that even better "
RIP Walter Becker
Joe Walsh is an icon as well. I woke up this morning singing "Help Me Make It Through The Night". A staple on the Eagles tours.
Why does it feel like there is hardly any Steely Dan on this channel?
You're joking, right? There are 25 Steely Dan songs reviewed on this channel.
You mean 25 over 3 years? Thank you for proving my point.
Your face when you realized it was Bernard Purdie 👌🏻
😅He's just so good
@@JustJPand he’s literally the most lovely person on the planet
Just funky!Mr Dean Parks
With talkbox guitar
Opinions are like…
Let’s not go there, a well done track but for me one that moves up and down in status according to my mood. Today was, is a good day for it. Guess it’s the company. Enjoyable.
6 minutes of ecstasy
Not bad, not transcendent though. Personally I find that this reggae-pop is a little too tainted by this invasive talk box which could have been muted more often. I don't hate it, but I don't really like it either! I'm really mixed on this one.....
I don't get it... Never had the curiosity to pick a song by Steely Dan and this was my introduction. As I expected, nothing worth deserving my time. But I'm open to other tracks, if they are different than this.
(seventies had was such a fall...)
Best writing, lyrics, instrumentation and production. Very little reverb so you can hear the instruments more clearly with more separation. You'll get Steely Dan one day when you're older.
Great song, but it has to be said, not the best on the album. Pick any other track and you will find something better.
For me that guitar sound wears out its welcome quickly, one of my least favorite Steely Dan songs. Not as bad as 'Show Biz Kids' though.
Yeah, it is irritating. Sounds like a fuzz pedal through a wah and phaser, but maybe an envelope filter was used.
@@pentagrammaton6793 Yes, the talk box is the main downside of this piece, which I don't find that great in the end.
@@a.k.1740 ah yes, a talk box of course. Never was keen on those gimmicks.
@@pentagrammaton6793 I don't hate the talk box but it all depends on the songs and who is using it...and when it's used wisely of course!😉 Actually, A little talk box from time to time can't hurt, but it has to be used sparingly otherwise it ruins everything.
Agreed on Showbiz Kids - the only dud on Countdown To Ecstasy to my ears