When I tentatively dipped my toe into the water a couple of months ago, by featuring a single album in a post, the response was very pleasing. I called the post A Classic Album and if you missed it just follow that link to see which one it was. Having given you a look at one of the albums I grew up with I thought I’d go round again, this time with one which came out near the end of my teenage years. This is what I will be playing tracks from today:
Can’t Buy a Thrill is the debut studio album by Steely Dan, which was released in November 1972. It was written by band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and recorded in August 1972 at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles, produced by Gary Katz. I started at uni in October 1972 and this record was hugely popular amongst us, and was very much a part of the soundtrack to my three years there. It peaked at #17 in the US and eventually spent one week at #38 in the UK in September 1975: it is still for me one of the best debut albums of all time. Even if you aren’t familiar with it all I’m guessing that there will be some tracks that you might know, starting with the one which opened the album:
That was the full length album version, coming in at nearly six minutes, though a cut down four minute version was released as a single, getting to #6 in both the US and Canada. It wasn’t a hit in the UK at the time, but did make #39 here when it was re-released in 1975, coinciding with the week in the charts that the album enjoyed. I have always felt that it deserved better! You may have noticed that lead vocal on that TV performance was taken by David Palmer, even though Donald Fagan sang it on the record: the story is that Fagan wasn’t confident about singing live, so Palmer did the job for a time until Fagen could be persuaded to take it on.
The next track on the album is one which David Palmer did actually sing on record. I absolutely love this one, and have done for 52 years (almost):
That isn’t an official video, just a collection of images that someone has shared to go with the song, but they give a feel for how the band were at the time. I think the lyrics are self explanatory: the old story of a guy infatuated with a woman. The track was released as a single, but only in the Netherlands, and wasn’t a hit there. For me that’s a shame, as I still think it is great!
I’m not playing the whole album: there are ten tracks and I think that is too many for a post. But I’m providing links for those that aren’t here, like this one, which was track 3 on side 1:
And if you followed that link I really hope you got a different advert from the one I did: two ladies discussing how to keep their vaginas clean!
Side 1 track 4 is my favourite on the album, and one of my all time favourites by anyone. I couldn’t find a moving pictures video, but this one isn’t bad and the song stands on its own merits anyway:
Midnite Cruiser was the only track on the album for which drummer Jim Hodder took the lead vocal. Any one of them could have sung it: I’d still love it!
The closing track on Side 1 is another for which I’m just providing a link. I’m so tempted to play the whole album, but I think that might be overkill for a blog post! This is the track:
In case you might be wondering if I’m overstating the importance of this album, it might help to know that in 2003, it was ranked #238 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was #240 on the 2012 update of the list, and #168 on the 2020 version. It was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, which I have and am still working my way through!
Back to the music, and this is what opened Side 2:
Reelin’ In The Years was the other track taken from the album as a single, and also did well in N America, peaking at #11 in the US and #15 in Canada. It wasn’t a hit here, but we loved it anyway. I still have fond memories of being on the midnight bus back from the main campus to the residences I stayed in for my second year. This came on the radio, and we asked the driver to turn it up. He did, and was rewarded with a busload of passengers on their feet playing air guitar to this. Happy days! In this video the lead guitar part is shared between Walter Becker and Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, though in the studio it was played by a session musician, Elliott Randall. Jimmy Page is on record as saying this is his favourite guitar solo, and he should know!
Side 2 track 2 is another for which I’m providing a link:
Lead vocal on that one is by Donald Fagen, as is the great piano work.
Again, I couldn’t find a performance video of the next track, but someone has compiled this rather nice collection of photos into an accompaniment for it:
Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me) may not be the stand out track on the album but it still bears comparison with what others were doing at the time. Lead vocal is by David Palmer. And if you’re wondering what it is about, the ‘charmer’ is a guy who lived with his wife under Donald Fagen’s apartment in Brooklyn, who was given to sitting on the stoop and shouting abuse. The song is payback time!
Side 2 track 4 is another for which I couldn’t find an official video – don’t forget, this was well before the days when they were produced on a regular basis, and especially not for album tracks. But this video supports the lyrics and helps make the song’s point:
Donald Fagen and David Palmer shared lead vocals on Change Of The Guard, a song which still carries a lot of relevance today, as politicians continue to attempt changes or, in some cases, coups.
The album closed with Turn That Heartbeat Over Again. I know I said I wasn’t going to play all of the album, so please excuse my indulgence in a seventh song as I have to include this one too. Lead vocal by Donald Fagen, with backup by David Palmer and Walter Becker:
To me that is another Steely Dan song with more than one meaning, interlaced with a good degree of cynicism. The site genius.com has a contribution from someone attempting to explain it: “ a song that delves into themes of regret, mortality, and accountability. The lyrics describe a person who takes chances that result in negative consequences and a need to make amends. The titular phrase serves as symbolism for a yearning to make things right and begin anew, while mentions of romance and kinship underscore how individual decisions can ripple outward.” Maybe, or is that just pretentious bollocks – make up your own mind!
Before I leave you, there is one more thing about the album I should mention: that picture on the sleeve. It is a photomontage by Robert Lockhart, which includes an image of a line of prostitutes standing in a red-light area in Rouen, France, waiting for clients, which was chosen because of its relevance to the album title. So now you know. The image got the cover banned in Spain, as it upset dear old General Franco’s sensitivities, and was replaced by a photo of the band. What did they think of it? Well, in the liner notes of their fifth studio album, The Royal Scam, they said that that album had the “most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none, excepting perhaps Can’t Buy A Thrill.” Straight from the horse’s mouth!
But let nothing detract from the music. This is a truly classic album, without a single duff track, and deserves my ultimate accolade of having been bought by me at various times on vinyl, cassette and CD, and it now resides in my Apple Music library. I hope you enjoy it too.
