Being back at college usually means one thing to a student; you
\ndon’t have time to do much of anything. For me, that includes the
\nopportunity to really listen to music, although somehow I find the
\ntime. Usually, I’m not in the mood of proper frame of mind to check
\nout something experimental (though I am giving jazz a shot this
\nyear — expect a Miles Davis review soon). So when perusing through
\nmy library, the first instinct is to pick something accessible.
\nEnter
\nCan’t Buy A Thrill<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Lord knows that Steely Dan has been at the top of my list for
\nbands I’ve tried to like. After giving
\nAja<\/i> and
\nTwo Against Nature<\/i> a few spins, things didn’t change. Both
\nof those albums were too sterile, too perfect. Luckily, I then
\nheard
\nThrill<\/i>, the debut album from Steely Dan.<\/p>\n
The sound of
\nThrill<\/i> is decidedly different from Dan’s later albums.
\nInstead of the smooth, jazz\/rock stylings of Fagen and Becker, the
\nlistener gets a pop\/rock effort. Don’t be fooled, though; there is
\nsome damn good pop to be found. “Do It Again” features one of the
\ngreat opening percussion beats of ’70s rock; it gets in your head
\nand refuses to leave. “Dirty Work” and “Midnight Cruiser” are the
\nunderrated gems of the album. Check out the gorgeous harmonies on
\nthe former and the powerful, driving refrain on the latter.<\/p>\n
Of course, the other massive hit would be “Reelin’ In The
\nYears.” This may be blasphemy, but whenever this track comes on, I
\nskip it. Maybe it’s the massive amount of overplaying it has
\nreceived throughout the years, but there is just something about
\nthe track that doesn’t appeal to me. On some level, it doesn’t rock
\nas hard as it should. It has the same problem as The Eagles “Life
\nIn The Fast Lane;” one keeps expecting it to just take off, and it
\ndoesn’t.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, save for “Change of the Guard”, the second half
\nof the album fails to capture the magic of the first. There are
\nmany retreads to be found among the scattered high points. “Guard”
\nwas a song I heard on the radio a long, long time ago. The chorus
\nand its ensuing guitar riff stayed with me for years, so I was
\noverjoyed to rediscover it here. “Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under
\nMe)” sets a easygoing, peaceful mood, and features some wonderfully
\ngentle vocals.<\/p>\n
In terms of substance, save the opening track, there isn’t much
\non
\nCan’t Buy A Thrill<\/i>. However, what it provides is the
\nopportunity to just sit back and listen without having to analyze
\nmuch. Just go along for the ride, you’ll enjoy it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6277],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38553","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-steely-dan","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38553"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38553"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}