Didn’t we all do it? Listen to Radio Luxembourg in bed when we should have been sleeping? So there are some songs which didn’t make it into the BBC Top 40, but made an impression because they were relentlessly plugged from the Grand Duchy, and Reelin’ In The Years was one of those.
But I didn’t hear much of the Dan until a few years later when someone lent me The Royal Scam, and I was hooked.
On finding this album soon after (university friend who loved all things Dan), I realised I also knew the wonderful opening song, Do It Again. Dirty Work’s country steel guitar works nicely, but Kings and Midnite Cruiser are rather bland fare. However, things brighten up with Only A Fool Would Say That and the aforementioned Reelin’ In The Years. Most of the remaining songs are quite ordinary, although there’s a bright ending on Turn That Heartbeat Over Again. While there’s some great songs here, the country and western guitar licks really don’t work for me on some of the songs, and I’m thinking this might be my least favourite Steely Dan album? We’ll see.
3* - Harsh? It’s a really good debut, but the great songs are in a minority.
Comments