What is the best Steely Dan album? - Compilation albums don't count.

[holyhandgrenade]

whichever album reelin in the years was on
saw a homeless man playing it flawlessly in the nyc subway once good times
Edit: tom petty was the superior folksy rocky musician js

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

It's tough but I'll go with The Royal Scam.

 

[Epic Fail Man]

The Royal Scam is my favorite but they are all almost just as good.

 

[MAAAD]

 

[Hazel Motes]

Pretzel Logic is the greatest, Katy Lied is the personal favourite. But then again, Countdown to Ecstasy has My Old School... I like Gaucho but I always feel I am going to fall over whenever I listen to it, it is just too damn smooth. But fuck, Glamour Profession is so good that I want to boogie in a three piece every time it comes on.

FM is a parody of Steely Dan. I like it, but if you put every Steely Dan album in an AI generator, that is what it would come out with.

Haitian Divorce seems to be the Steely Dan song for non-Steely Dan fans. It is the only song by them friends and family will abide.

 

[Lone MacReady II]

Citizen, easily. Why have one hit album when you can have the majority? It counts.

 

[Peep Plops]

It's obviously Aja. They're all pretty great but also kinda shit depending on where I am in life. I'm Just glad to have them all on cd ready to go whenever I need a dose of the dan.

 

[Cancer Man]

Aja's excellent, but once you get over the hype then you'll realize that Gaucho is better

 

[WSPWSPWSPWSP]

Aja for me. Guacho is when they tried too hard to reach perfection that it started impacting the songs. Royal Scam is a close 2nd.

Donald Fagen's album 'The Nightfly' would easily be 3rd for me.

 

[Seafarer]

it's Can't Buy A Thrill

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned that “Can’t Buy a Thrill” essentially has a John Lennon diss track in the form of “Only a Fool Would Say That”, made as a direct response to “Imagine”. That alone makes it pretty based.

 

[Hazel Motes]

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned that “Can’t Buy a Thrill” essentially has a John Lennon diss track in the form of “Only a Fool Would Say That”, made as a direct response to “Imagine”. That alone makes it pretty based.

Zappa did the same thing on Weasels Ripped My Flesh with Oh No, responding to All You Need Is Love

 

[Clown College 2nd Year]

I'm torn between Pretzel Logic and Aja. Overall, I think Pretzel Logic edges Aja out by just a hair since it has Night by Night a song that is very near and dear to my heart.

 

[Preacher ✝]

Much like the Dan themselves this thread is coming back after a long hiatus so I can espouse about their music.

Recently I acquired a set of electrostatic earspeakers and a decent CD player that runs on 6 disc cartridges.

After doing some serious critical listening I have come to a few conclusions. First, I was too harsh on Countdown to Ecstacy. Originally I excluded it from the primary cartridge, which started with Can't Buy and ended with Gaucho. Countdown was relegated to the second cartridge with some of Fagens solo work and Two Against Nature. I have since decided to reorder things to be strictly chronological.

Next I've decided to give Everything Must Go a second chance. It will still be their worst album, but it will also help round out the second cartridge which is currently a couple discs short of thematic Unity. Ill also be acquiring a copy of Morph the Cat for that purpose. Sunken Condos will be neglected for now, but its easy to exclude since Fagen himself considers it separate from his "Nightfly Trilogy" anyway.

As a devout Catholic, the Dan's music often features subject matter I consider immoral, but for a long time I took particular exception with the song Godwhacker on Everything Must Go, and aside from it being their weakest album that was the main reason for its absence in my collection. I still take issue with that songs subject matter, but I am also tired of having an almost complete collection of Steely Dan's studio albums and I have grown to appreciate the importance of witnessing both the highs and lows of the group.

 

[Billy_Sama!]

I been neglecting on Steely Dan but like the Royal Scam and Aja albums. I am more of a fan of Larry Carlton. I do have a DVD mix of Gaucho I need to try out to see if it's better than a CD release.

 

[Helping Friendly Book]

As much as people glaze Aja, I've never really understood the hype. For me, it's a extremely close tie between Pretzel Logic and The Royal Scam. Catchier songs, extremely tight and controlled (although you could say that for most of Steely Dan's discography), and better paced, at least for me.

 

[Korpon]

I find Aja to be sonic perfection, even if it's the usual answer

 

[Preacher ✝]

As much as people glaze Aja, I've never really understood the hype. For me, it's a extremely close tie between Pretzel Logic and The Royal Scam. Catchier songs, extremely tight and controlled (although you could say that for most of Steely Dan's discography), and better paced, at least for me.

Aja gets due praise for a level of craftsmanship that increasingly few can truly appreciate, though I will say Katy Lied is thoroughly underrated.

Here's a video of a Gen Z Music Producer listening to Aja "for the first time" (if you believe that) and you can see the impact in his face.