SACD Steely Dan – Can’t Buy A Thrill

More than one voice at the microphone

Donald Fagen sings “Do It Again”, the opening track on Can't Buy a Thrill. David Palmer takes the lead on “Dirty Work” immediately afterwards, while drummer Jim Hodder sings “Midnite Cruiser”. Steely Dan’s 1972 debut begins from a different position than the familiar image of a group with one unmistakable lead voice. Walter Becker and Fagen wrote the material, but several singers bring it into the programme.

The album was recorded at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles in August 1972, with Gary Katz producing and Roger Nichols engineering. Guitarists Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Denny Dias join Becker, Fagen, Hodder and Palmer in the band. The later conception of Steely Dan as a two-writer studio project only partly describes this early line-up, with its individual players and changing lead vocals.

The route to Los Angeles

Becker and Fagen met at Bard College in 1967, then worked in New York around Kenny Vance and Jay and the Americans. Katz brought them to Los Angeles as songwriters. Their debut arrives at the end of that journey and the beginning of a band whose way of working would soon change again.

“Do It Again” and “Reelin’ in the Years” became early hits. Return them to the album sequence and their neighbours become part of the experience: “Dirty Work” follows the opener, while “Fire in the Hole” comes after “Reelin’ in the Years”. The less ubiquitous tracks share the same programme, with changes of singer and instrumentation helping distinguish their roles.

An electric sitar in the arrangement

Dias plays electric sitar as well as guitar on the album. Follow the solo passage in “Do It Again” and consider how its instrumental colour relates to the continuing accompaniment. The point is not simply to identify an unusual instrument. Its position in the arrangement gives you a specific musical relationship to explore, particularly within a song you may already know well.

Guests matter too, with Elliott Randall contributing lead guitar and Victor Feldman percussion. The group already makes room for additional players at this stage. Palmer’s lead-vocal role, however, belongs specifically to the debut: Fagen takes all the leads on the next album. Can't Buy a Thrill preserves an early possibility that soon ceased to define the band’s direction.

The debut on hybrid SACD

Analogue Productions’ Hybrid Stereo SACD CAPP 134 SA contains the ten-track album programme. Bernie Grundman is credited with mastering from the original master tape. The disc combines a CD layer for conventional players with a high-resolution SACD layer requiring compatible hardware. Both offer stereo playback. “Dallas” and “Sail the Waterway”, which were not part of the album, have not been added as bonus tracks.

Michael 45 keeps the disc in Germany and sends it from Hilden, removing the need for a personal import from the United States and the customs wait connected with it.

Also on 45 RPM vinyl: Can’t Buy A Thrill

More by Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy · Everything Must Go

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.