- Audio CD (20 Mar 1999)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Format: Double CD
- Label: Universal / Island
- ASIN: B00000743Z
- Other Editions: Audio Cassette
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 25,198 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Product details |
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 |
|---|
| 1. Do It Again |
| 2. Reelin' In The Years |
| 3. My Old School |
| 4. Bodhisattva |
| 5. Show Biz Kids |
| 6. Rikki Don't Lose That Number |
| 7. Pretzel Logic |
| 8. Black Friday |
| 9. Bad Sneakers |
| Disc: 2 |
| 1. Doctor Wu |
| 2. Haitian Divorce |
| 3. Kid Charlemagne |
| 4. The Fez |
| 5. Peg - Steely Dan, Tom Scott |
| 6. Josie |
| 7. Deacon Blues - Steely Dan, Tom Scott |
| 8. Hey Nineteen |
| 9. Babylon Sisters |
Product Description
ORIGINAL 1985 ISSUE 18 TRACK DOUBLE CD ALBUM. MCLDD 19147
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a great compilation of Steely Dan, from 'Can't Buy a Thrill' to 'Gaucho'. The problem, apart from the terrible cover, absence of sleevenotes and lyrics is the quality of mastering. For that alone the 'Showbiz Kids' set would make a better purchase- though you may as well just buy all the remastered albums! You'll want to in the end!!
For those that don't want to part with the extra £££'s, 'Reelin' In The Years' is a reasonably priced double-cd offering 18 tracks from Steely Dan prior to their 1993 reformation. It opens with the laidback 'Do It Again'- still one of their strongest songs, before the breakthrough hit single 'Reelin...' pops up. After that are three tracks from 'Countdown to Ecstasy', the superb 'My Old School' (yes I feel that way too- someone tell Friends Reunited!), 'Bodhisattva' and the ironic 'Showbiz Kids' (which provided the sampled chorus for Super Furry animals 'The Man Don't Give a F***': "Showbusiness kids making movies of themselves/You Know they Don't give a f*** about anyone else". They wear the Steely Dan t-shirts, you know...The subsequent three tracks are from 'Pretzel Logic', the title track, the sleazy 'Black Friday' and 'Rikki don't Lose That Number'. The next two tracks are from the so-so 'Katy Lied' album- 'Bad Sneakers' is fine, 'Doctor Wu' is very bland and a bit Kenny G to these ears!!...Things improve for the selections from 'The Royal Scam'- the brilliant 'Haitian Divorce', one of their finest songs with superb lyrics and great harmonies- not to forget that guitar-work! 'Kid Charlemagne' is very 70's sounding- the kind of music that reminds you of the montage sequence halfway through Brian de Palma's 'Scarface'. 'The Fez' is probably tainted by its opening being sampled for All Saints comedy song 'I Know Where It's At'- it's up there with other music of the period: Earth, Wind & Fire, Tavares, The Bee Gees...'Peg' was famously sampled for De La Soul's 'Eye Know' (from '3 Feet High & Rising') and is as superb as that song- it's as great as Hall & Oates early work or Bowie's plastic soul period. The other offerings from 'Aja' are 'Josie' which has a great tight-laidback bassline and the epic 'Deacon Blues'- predating 'The Nightfly' solo period in terms of subject. There's a great yearning for the past; pity that awful Scottish band of the Eighties took their name from it!...Finally the compilation is rounded off with two tracks from the under-rated, studio-perfected 'Gaucho': 'Hey Nineteen' (which is a little bland) and the excellent 'Babylon Sisters'.
This is a great complilation that makes me think of California and venality typified by Hal Ashby's 'Shampoo'. It provides a great over-view of Steely Dan, though obviously overlooks the reunion live album and the latest studio offering 'Two Against Nature'. And the cover!!!!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Reelin' In Some of The Years....
29 Feb 2000
Format:Audio CD
Steely Dan is hard to anthologize. However, the US CD Decade of Steely Dan makes a tough assignment an utter failure! One has to look at imports for Steely Dan compilations. Which brings me to this one...
The import Best of Steely Dan (Then & Now) was readily available locally when it first came out. Soon, retailers quit carrying it (Kudos to Amazon.com for still making it available).
Instead this two CD affair became the common import. While it is more affordable, it under utilizes its two discs.
Missing: Dirty Work, FM, Time Out Of Mind (the one great Gaucho track that always get overlooked). There is plenty of room on these two discs for one comprehensive anthology. What about Here At The Western World as a bonus?
Suggestion: the above Best of Then & Now remastered import. It has FM, Dirty Work, and Josie (curiously absent from the US Decade of Steely Dan CD) and clocks in at over 79 minutes!
Oh, and it does have the intro to Rikki Don't Lose That Number that MCA records keeps dropping on all of their reisues (the box set, and Pretzel Logic).
Brought back memories
25 Jan 2012
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This album certainly brought back memories of my youthful days on the beaches of Nantucket. I even had a pair of those sunglasses; I'm just not sure how I acquired them.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Classic Steely Dan
28 Jan 2001
Format:Audio CD
you can't go wrong with this set.so many great songs here that showcase the Depth of this Great Group.WOrds&Music go hand&hand with this Band.you get so much feeling&Meaning.check it out.they have Inspired&Influenced so many Artists&Groups.
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