This is my second Steely Dan album and, once again, I find I have the same problem with the band: these guys don’t like the same things I like, beyond stellar musicianship.

The songs are probably better than they sound to me. They are relatively unconventional compared to a lot of other bands making music in the 1970s that is aesthetically similar, if from a completely different fount of inspiration. I feel like the lyrics have been toned down a touch, too (which a few critics noted as a strength).

It’s really the overall aesthetic that is the problem for me, not the songs themselves, I feel like I might like these songs if there wasn’t such a damn smooth jazz/R&B vibe to the whole thing. I almost want to seek out a Steely Dan tribute album to see if I like their songs in the hand of artists who are less inclined to be so unbelievably slick.

I just cannot get over the slickness. This music is so polished to the point where the jazz and R&B that inspired it feels inaccessible to me. Both jazz and R&B come from places of real genuine passion and that passion is neutered by this band of snarky songwriters and ace musicians for hire.

But that musicianship is why I cannot outright condemn the record because, for all its awful slickness, these guys are great musicians and everything is immaculate and precise at a level which is worthy of respect, even if I don’t like it.

6/10

All songs written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

1. “Black Cow” 5:10
2. “Aja” 7:57
3. “Deacon Blues” 7:33
4. “Peg” 3:58
5. “Home at Last” 5:34
6. “I Got the News” 5:06
7. “Josie” 4:33

Steely Dan

• Donald Fagen – lead vocals (all tracks), synthesizer (all tracks but 4), police whistle (2), backing vocals (2, 5, 7)
• Walter Becker – bass (3), guitar (2), guitar solos (5, 6, 7)

Additional musicians

• Victor Feldman – electric piano (1, 3, 7), vibraphone (5, 6), piano (5, 6), percussion (2, 4)
• Joe Sample – electric piano (2), Hohner Clavinet (1)
• Paul Griffin – electric piano (4), backing vocals (4)
• Michael Omartian – piano (2)
• Don Grolnick – Hohner Clavinet (4)
• Larry Carlton – guitar (1, 2, 3, 5, 7), guitar solo (6)
• Lee Ritenour – guitar (3)
• Denny Dias (2), Dean Parks (3, 6, 7), Steve Khan (4) – guitar
• Jay Graydon – solo guitar (4)
• Chuck Rainey – bass (all but 3)
• Paul Humphrey (1), Steve Gadd (2), Bernard Purdie (3, 5), Rick Marotta (4), Ed Greene (6) – drums
• Jim Keltner – drums (7), percussion (7)
• Gary Coleman – percussion (4)
• Tom Scott – tenor saxophone (1), Lyricon (4), horn arrangements
• Wayne Shorter (2), Pete Christlieb (3) – tenor saxophone
• Jim Horn, Bill Perkins, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso – saxes/flutes
• Chuck Findley, Lou McCreary, Slyde Hyde – brass
• Michael McDonald (4, 6), Timothy B. Schmit (2, 5, 7), Clydie King (1, 3, 6), Sherlie Matthews (1, 3, 6), Venetta Fields (1, 3, 6), Rebecca Louis (1, 6) – backing vocals