Precision reached by a winding route
Released in 1976, The Royal Scam is Steely Dan’s fifth studio album. Its nine songs are not the work of an unchanging band lineup. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker draw on players whose particular abilities shape the material. Larry Carlton, Denny Dias, Elliott Randall and Dean Parks supply distinct guitar voices, with Gary Katz producing. The credits themselves offer an invitation to listen more closely.
Recording took the project from Los Angeles to New York and back again. Part of the work used two linked 16-track tape machines. Editing the material later proved problematic, and recordings were transferred to 24 tracks. Roger Nichols was part of the team that completed the album in Los Angeles. The apparent ease of the finished music conceals a complicated route through the studios.
A solo needs a story around it
“Kid Charlemagne” is the most familiar introduction to Carlton’s role. His guitar develops a thought already established by the song. Start listening before the solo arrives: bass, drums and vocals create the setting in which it will work. “Don’t Take Me Alive” offers another way of giving the guitar a central position.
Carlton also contributed arrangements and helped connect the writers’ ideas with the session musicians. “Haitian Divorce”, meanwhile, brings Dean Parks’ contribution into focus. Following these different voices makes the record more rewarding than treating it simply as a collection of celebrated solos.
Bernard Purdie connects the moving parts
Bernard Purdie plays drums on most of the album; Rick Marotta handles “Don’t Take Me Alive” and “Everything You Did”. Chuck Rainey’s bass links the rhythmic figures. That offers another route through the programme: follow the accompaniments beneath the changing guitar and vocal passages.
The keyboard roles vary as well. Paul Griffin receives a co-writing credit for “The Fez”. Behind Steely Dan’s consistent identity is a network of individual contributions. Each song calls for a different combination without losing the writers’ recognisable musical language.
The 45 RPM UHQR edition
Shop edition AUHQR 0013-45-1 contains two stereo LPs at 45 RPM, pressed on 200-gram Clarity Vinyl. The publisher credits Bernie Grundman with mastering directly from the original master tape and Quality Record Pressings with manufacture. Presentation includes a laminated Stoughton gatefold jacket and numbered box. This UHQR is a separate edition from both the regular LP and the hybrid SACD.
You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and dispatch from Hilden.
Also on SACD: The Royal Scam
More by Steely Dan: Aja
Artist page: All titles by Steely Dan
Customer question: Collecting UHQR records: limited editions of great albums
Series: UHQR – all 31 editions with pressing run and mastering
Musicians
Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.
| Name | Instrument / role |
|---|---|
| Walter Becker | Electric bass, Guitar |
| Paul Griffin | Keyboards |
| Don Grolnick | Keyboards |
| Larry Carlton | Guitar |
| Denny Dias | Guitar |
| Dean Parks | Guitar |
| Elliott Randall | Guitar |
| Chuck Rainey | Electric bass |
| Rick Marotta | Drums |
| Bernard Purdie | Drums |
| Victor Feldman | Percussion, Keyboards |
| Plas Johnson | Saxophone |
| John Klemmer | Saxophone |
| Michael McDonald | Backing vocals |
| Timothy B. Schmit | Backing vocals |
🎧 Review video: 5 Amazing new Reissues + 1 UHQR + 1 Grail of a Boxset
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Landwerk –
The sound is not very pleasant. There must be some mistakes with the high hats.