{"id":39613,"date":"2006-01-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/gold\/"},"modified":"2006-01-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-19T00:00:00","slug":"gold","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Upon first listening to Gold<\/i>, the first
\n“posthumous” release from Steely Dan (that is, until their reunion
\nin the ’90s), I found myself asking, “What was the purpose of this
\ndisc?”<\/p>\n

Originally released with only eight songs (which is
\nthe version I’m working off of) and later expanded to 12 (including
\ntwo solo tracks from Donald Fagen), this disc eventually seems to
\nbe an add-on to the 1979 release Steely Dan’s Greatest Hits<\/i>,
\ntacking on additional selections from Gaucho<\/i> (which hadn’t
\nbeen released at that time), Aja<\/i> and a few other of the
\nearlier albums.<\/p>\n

Now, had these tracks been worked into Steely
\nDan’s Greatest Hits<\/i>, the whole thing would have probably melted
\ntogether into a very enjoyable album. But, on its own, Gold<\/i>,
\ndespite having some great tracks, feels like a totally unnecessary
\nrelease.<\/p>\n

Come on, anyone who was thinking about picking this
\ndisc up undoubtedly had Aja<\/i> and Gaucho<\/i> in their
\ncollections; buying a disc whose eight tracks included five from
\nthose two albums (or, in the case of “FM”, from that period) smacks
\nof overkill. Admittedly, I never get tired of hearing “Hey
\nNineteen,” “Black Cow” or “Deacon Blues,” so I guess getting
\nanother chance to hear these tracks is worth it minimally. (If I
\nreally want to get snippy, though, I could whine about why “Black
\nCow” and “Deacon Blues” weren’t on the Greatest Hits<\/i>
\nset.)<\/p>\n

The fact that lesser tracks from The Royal
\nScam<\/i> (“Green Earrings”), Katy Lied<\/i> (“Chain Lightning”)
\nand Countdown To Ecstasy<\/i> (“King Of The World”) are included
\non this makes Gold<\/i> feel even more like a filler piece, or
\nmerely an add-on to Greatest Hits<\/i>. If anything, maybe this
\nwas the label’s way of dealing with the then-recent decision by
\nSteely Dan (or, more correctly, Fagen and Walter Becker, the
\nbrain-powers behind the band) to call it a day. Whatever the
\nreason, this disc smacks of greedy marketing.<\/p>\n

If the label did anything wrong, it rushed
\nGold<\/i> out too early; in three years’ time, A Decade Of
\nSteely Dan<\/i>, one of the first compilation CDs (according to
\nAll-Music
\nGuide<\/i><\/a>) to hit the market, would be the de-facto best-of
\ncollection, making Gold<\/i> that much more unnecessary. The only
\nreason I choose to mark it as high as I do is for the presence of
\nthree of Steely Dan’s best songs in their catalog. Other than that,
\nGold<\/i> is less of a greatest hits package than it is a
\nmarketing release of fool’s gold.<\/p>\n

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