After releasing undoubtedly their best album in 1977
with Aja, the question was how Steely Dan would top that
effort. Aside from a fight with MCA Records, who acquired the
band’s label at the time, ABC, and precluded them from releasing
any new material (except for the title track to the FM
soundtrack), I mean.
The answer, as heard on 1980’s Gaucho, may not
be the answer that some people wanted to hear — namely, they
couldn’t top it. Instead of continuing to challenge themselves
musically, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen — and their cavalcade of
hired guns — instead play it safe and try to re-create the
jazz-rock amalgam that made Aja successful. One little
problem, though – this disc is downright boring.
Oh, make no mistake, I haven’t forgotten the fact
that this disc contains one of Steely Dan’s best singles of all
time, “Hey Nineteen,” a track that does seem to feature Fagen at
his loosest behind the microphone in an almost Dylan-esque
performance. Likewise, “Time Out Of Mind,” while not quite in the
same ballpark as “Hey Nineteen,” is the forgotten gem on this disc,
and is well worth re-discovery.
So, that leaves five songs on this disc to talk about
– and I’m probably committing a mortal sin when I say that, of
Steely Dan’s “hits” played on classic-rock radio, I’ve never really
liked “Babylon Sisters.” Unlike other songs in the band’s catalog,
this one comes off as bland and lifeless, almost as if Steely Dan
was phoning in their performance.
I’d like to say that, as a listener, there was
something left on Gaucho that re-awakened some level of excitement
in this disc; sadly, this is not the case. Tracks like “Glamour
Profession,” “Third World Man” and the title track never really
seem like they get off the ground musically — surprising,
especially seeing that three years passed between Aja and
Gaucho. Maybe, despite a comment I made in an earlier review
about Steely Dan being on an assembly line of doing an album a
year, leaving things cook too long actually hurt this disc.
So why is Gaucho so revered? Maybe it is
because of “Hey Nineteen” and “Time Out Of Mind” — and you can get
those songs on any number of the best-of collections out there.
Maybe it was just the joy of seeing another Steely Dan album on the
market back then — or the fact that Steely Dan went on hiatus for
well over a decade.
The truth of the matter is that Gaucho, had it
remained the final disc that Steely Dan ever put out, was a weak
effort, and not the best way to cement their legacy as musical
pioneers. Still, the one or two great songs on this one make it
worth at least checking out.
