SACD Steely Dan – The Royal Scam

A record of distinct guitar voices

Released in 1976 between Katy Lied and Aja, The Royal Scam gives several guitarists substantial roles in Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s music. Larry Carlton, Denny Dias, Dean Parks and Elliott Randall appear across the programme. Their contributions are not interchangeable: different players take on different musical tasks. Gary Katz produces, with Roger Nichols and Elliot Scheiner among the engineers involved in the recordings.

The credits offer another route into the album. Chuck Rainey plays bass, while Bernard Purdie and Rick Marotta share the drum duties. Behind the familiar identity of Steely Dan sits a changing ensemble. Fagen and Becker build the songs with musicians whose particular abilities become part of the arrangements themselves.

Larry Carlton beyond the famous solo

Carlton’s importance extends beyond his solo in “Kid Charlemagne”. He also helps with arrangements and serves as a link between the writers and the session players. His guitar appears in “Don’t Take Me Alive” and “Everything You Did” as well. Following those contributions makes it possible to hear his place in the album across several songs.

Try attending to the relationship between guitar and rhythm section: which accents does Carlton pick up, and where does he leave room? His solos sit within carefully organised accompaniments. Keep listening to bass and drums after a solo finishes, and the musical structure that supported it remains available to follow.

Talkbox, piano and another writer

“Haitian Divorce” offers a different guitar identity. Dean Parks’ part is associated with the talkbox sound, and Walter Becker subsequently worked on the recorded contribution. “Sign In Stranger” gives Paul Griffin’s piano a prominent role. Griffin also receives a writing credit alongside Becker and Fagen for “The Fez”. The album can therefore be approached through its collaborators as well as its principal authors.

“Green Earrings” divides the guitar work between Denny Dias and Elliott Randall in different solo passages. Nine songs make up the programme. The changing personnel do not prevent a coherent musical identity; they reveal the variety of decisions available within it. Listening for those handovers provides an alternative to treating the album simply as a sequence of well-known tracks.

The hybrid stereo SACD

Analogue Productions CAPP 138 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD. The publisher credits Bernie Grundman and a transfer from the original master tape. Its CD layer works in a conventional CD player; accessing the SACD layer requires an SACD-compatible player. Both programmes are stereo, with no multichannel programme specified for this edition. This release belongs to the Steely Dan reissue programme, rather than the Atlantic 75 Series.

Michael 45 stores the disc in Germany and ships it from Hilden, so there is no need to arrange a personal US import or wait for customs clearance.

Artist page: All titles by Steely Dan

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.