{"id":39615,"date":"2006-01-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/a-decade-of-steely-dan-2\/"},"modified":"2006-01-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-20T00:00:00","slug":"a-decade-of-steely-dan-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/a-decade-of-steely-dan-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Decade Of Steely Dan"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

It’s kind of hard to imagine, especially for anyone
\nwho is under the age of 20, but way back in 1985, compact discs
\nwere the cutting edge of technology. After years of fighting
\nscratchy, fragile records and sonically inferior, non-durable
\ncassette tapes, digital audio invaded our lives. For the cost of an
\nadditional piece of stereo equipment (and the “luxury” price of
\nCDs, since they were not standard yet — cough, cough), you could
\nexperience music the way the artists wanted you to.<\/p>\n

Back then, according to All-Music Guide<\/a><\/i>,
\nA Decade Of Steely Dan<\/i> was one of the first compilation CD’s
\nout on the market. After all, what better way to demonstrate the
\npower of digital audio than the jazz-rock hybrid of Walter Becker
\nand Donald Fagen, music that almost begged to be digitally
\nsterilized?<\/p>\n

In truth, this disc does serve as a pretty good
\nprimer into the world of Steely Dan. But, like almost every best-of
\nor compilation disc ever released, there will be arguments as to
\nwhat songs should have been included and which ones shouldn’t have
\nbeen taken out of the context of their original albums. And while
\nother collections have made this disc pretty much unnecessary, it
\nstill has some merit.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, all of the hits are here, from the
\nrhythmic samba of “Do It Again” to the smooth jazz transitions of
\n“Hey Nineteen.” (I will, however, take issue with the absence of
\ntracks like “Any World (That I’m Welcome To)” and “Doctor Wu.” No
\nfun being a critic unless I can poke some holes in the status quo.)
\nWhile there’s still something to be said for hearing these songs in
\nthe context of the albums they were culled from, there still is
\nmore than a little magic hearing these songs for the umpteenth time
\non their own — and, for some reason, they never grow old. Fagen
\nand Becker could well have been the “Peter Pan” of rock music.<\/p>\n

Yet in their attempts to cover all of Steely Dan’s
\ndiscs, a few questionable tracks are included. Why, for example,
\nput on “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo,” a track that was the least
\nrepresentative of what Steely Dan was in their career? Likewise,
\n“My Old School” was never one of my favorites in their catalog, and
\nwhile I can almost understand its inclusion here, it just doesn’t
\nfeel right.<\/p>\n

So why is this disc almost unnecessary today? Simply
\nput, better compilations have since reached the marketplace, such
\nas Show Biz Kids<\/i>, which we’re working our way towards in
\nthis retrospective. While A Decade Of Steely Dan<\/i> was a
\ndecent release in 1985 at the advent of compact disc technology, it
\nfilled the need of a basic collection of Steely Dan’s tunes at the
\nthen-assigned market value; a double-CD set would have been too far
\nout of people’s price ranges.<\/p>\n

Still, I guess that’s nitpicking. For its time, A
\nDecade Of Steely Dan<\/i> not only showed off the infant compact
\ndisc technology, but it also helped keep in the public eye a band
\nthat was five years into its self-imposed hiatus. There’s plenty to
\nrecommend off this disc, and enough to justify your owning it. But,
\nwith no disrespect meant, this is a disc whose purpose has been
\nfulfilled, and which is long past its prime usefulness.<\/p>\n

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