COUNTDOWN TO ECSTACY

Ten. I see her across the room

Nine. I walk over

Eight. I grab her with both hands

Seven. I hold her close

Six. I take her home

Five. I slip off her jacket

Four. I lie her on the table

Three. She starts to spin

Two. I plant the needle

One. Kapow! , Woosh! , Boom!!

Zero. " BODHISATTVA"

The importance of this classic album to Dandom can not be understated. it propelled them from classy pop ditties of AM station length to crafty FM material, clearly illustrating their vision and direction and that fact that they were as now, light years ahead of any other rock/pop artist(s).

With My Old School, we can envision the instability of college age first love, the fear of a dorm or apartment drug bust led by a politically ambitious district or US attorney (does the thought of G. Gordon Liddy come to mind?) and the desire to go far away (Guadalajuara would really have done just fine!)...plus great horns...just a fabulous, but at the time, underappreciated song!

In Pearl of the Quarter, the mood changes as does the tempo, but the images, even for those of us who have never been to New Orleans are vivid.

And every other song creates phenomenal images that linger to this day, along with catchy, stick in your mind, beats and memorable lyrics.

A gem!

George <reheller@hpbbptg.bbn.hp.com>
Review: Countdown To Ecstasy

Hello one and all. Here's my 10 cents worth of review. Read and enjoy. Or whatever.

Countdown to Ecstasy: Ready ... Steady ... Steely Dan !

"Countdown to Ecstasy" was my first Steely Dan album (bought it in 77 as one of the first 10 albums I had back then). Having my first contact to Steely Dan through "Rikki"and "The Fez" (see I wasn't early on this, being 13 when Can't Buy A Thrill came out) that I heard on one of my pal Michael's tapes.

Really don't remember why I bought this one as my first. What I do remember is that I played it over and over for weeks. Hit me right between the ears. It opened up a world. It was in all means so different from what I knew, to begin with the album cover design through the band photo from another world on to the music, lyrycs and instrumentation. This was my home sweet home.

Bodhisattva: Although we - as Edd Cote points out - do not know whether it is all about the dishes, clearly it is one of the way complex SD tunes that do sound so easy. This song is one big surprise, a melting pot, a true Steely piece. It's also been one of the favorite songs of my mom - NOT!

Razor Boy: This is "melancholy plus". The plus stands for the sting, the thrill of the lyrics. The triangle throughout the chorus adds to it. There you also have my first concious listening contact to the pedal steel guitar.

The Boston Rag: Lovely harmonies, great chorus, still greater guitar solo - ooh, that intro with the zoomed in notes ...

Your Gold Teeth (Numero Uno, as we learned): One of my favourites of the album, which was my favourite album for months. Even with my very partial understanding of the lyrics at that time, I got really hooked! And where could I possibly have heard a piano solo like that before, now you tell me!

Show Biz Kids: Outstanding slide guitar. I was not so much into this one, finding it too repetitive. Now that has changed since, which I'd blame on my better understanding of the lyrics again.

My Old School: What can I say about it? I fell for this tune when I heard it the first time. It's a real rocker. And the horns ... The breaks ... What more need I say? Ah, yes, thank you, boys, for playing this one for me as an encore on the tour in Germany!

Pearl of the Quarter: Made me fall in love with the pedal steel. Baxteresque. And that sweet "she loved the candy and the flowers that I bought her" ... A really sweet song. Well, bitter sweet, as you might have thought.

King of the World: A great guitar oriented song. Kept me busy for a long time finding out how they had done the rythm guitar. And that solo outro of the song where guitar and synth seem to melt into ane another. There's nothing better for your feelings than a good sad song.

To finally end this listener's sermon: Now this is one of my most worn-out and one of my dearest vinyls. Here was the open door, the new horizon, the music that touched my heart. Still does.

Countdown to the Ecstasy of my inspiration.

So long, George.

Bassin59@aol.com <Nate Bassinga>
CDTE Book Report

I'm not sure if this "book report" qualifies as an entry for the "Countdown To Ecstasy" Album discussion/whatever contest but if you want to consider it as such then so be it. I thought I would summarize some things about CDTE that I found in Brian Sweet's 1994 bio of our favorite duo. The book is copyright 1994 Omnibus Press, Division of Book Sales Limited and has an ISBN of 0-7119-3551-3. It's a British book but I hope folks elsewhere can get it. It seems essential for an Dan fan but I'm not certain if Becker/Fagen would say it is 100% accurate.

The following is a song-by-song shopping list of what I thought was cool to find out via Sweet's book. At the same time I hope this isn't too definitive; it's nice to have some mystery and room for interpretation. Hopefully enough to pique your thoughts.

Bodhisattva: Although credited to both, this song was written only by Fagen according to Sweet. Fagen is quoted as saying that the song is "sort of a parody on how Western people look at Eastern religion -- sort of over-simplify it. We thought it was rather amusing -- most people don't get it."

Razor Boy: Didn't find anything about it but sure like the title.

Boston Rag: Fagen is quoted as saying that the chorus is by him with verses by Becker. The song takes place in the Bayside neighborhood of Brooklyn ("You were Lady Bayside") and not in Boston. (I had always thought of Bayside Expo Center in Boston -- shows you what I know.) "Lonnie" is Lonnie Youngue, Fagen's roommate at Bard College. Lonnie never had been to Boston. Jeff Baxter claimed that Fagen put in a certain chord progression based on Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" (it's in a lot of monster movies) after Baxter said how much he liked to play it on his guitar.

Your Gold Teeth: Cathy Berberian really does exist. She was an avante garde singer from New York who would make all kinds of exotic sounds, snarls, etc. that were rather difficult. According to the book Berberian was flattered by the reference and bought copies of the album for her friends. "There ain't nothing in Chicago for a monkey woman to do" was a nod to Joe Williams and Count Basie's "Going To Chicago Blues."

Show Biz Kids: The chorus is chanting "Go to Los Wages," a pun on "Las Vegas." Not sure the song needs more explaining but according to Sweet, Nichols had to work a lot of "wizardry" to get the tempos from the various tracks in sync...there were no drum machines to do it. Super slide guitar by Rick Derringer.

My Old School obviously takes place at Fagen and Becker's alma mater, Bard College at Annandale-on-the-Hudson, New York. The Wolverine was a train that rain from NYC to Boston via Annandale-on-the-Hudson. Sweet claims that the line "California tumbles into the sea" was inspired by a mural in the recording studio but I'm not certain how he can prove that.

Pearl of The Quarter: Sweet doesn't have anything on this.

King of The World was supposedly inspired by the 1962 Ray Milland film, "Panic In The Year Zero," according to a quote attributed to Becker. The movie is about a family from Los Angeles who goes on a fishing trip in the mountains when L.A. is obliterated by a nuclear holocaust. The subcaption "I think my face is on fire" was featured on USA and UK album lyrics sheet. This line is also heard in the background during the song's instrumental section. Other indistinguishable words are also heard--these are utterred by Becker who lied under a drum when they were recorded.

Hoops already talked about the album cover so I won't go into that. You know, the part about Donald's girlfreind Dorothy White and how ABC Records made her add to wmore figures to the cover so all the band members could be represented, even though White had no intention that the figures represent the band.

So the book is a good read and I hope all of you get it.

Todd Hawley <thawley@tdl.com>
Countdown to Ecstasy

Well, here's my entry to the Countdown to Ecstasy review/whatever. Gosh, I get to reminisce about being 18 again..er I mean I get to talk about one of my favorite albums from the early 70s..drum roll please..Countdown to Ecstasy!!

Bodhisattva - The boys get going with a real fast-mover..complete with a synthesizer solo in the middle that had to be one of the wildest things I'd ever heard! Not to mention the line about the sparkle of your china. It reminded me of a LA DJ of that era named China Smith! Those of you who lived in LA back then might remember him. In fact, whatever the hell happened to him? :)

Razor Boy - And then to kind of a mellower tune..the ones that Becker & Fagen had fun with..and more of those inscrutable lyrics..the type of song you heard on later Steely Dan albums..songs like Doctor Wu, Bad Sneakers, and Haitian Divorce.

The Boston Rag - Was Lonnie REALLY the kingpin back in 1965? What about 1995?? I'd really like to know the answer to this one. But sitting down listening to this great old anthem reminded me again of crusing the San Fernando Valley in the summer of 1973..oh those hot summer nights were the best ones around..oh wait, that was 1976! I'm getting my years mixed up!! :))

Your Gold Teeth - A song the Dan apparently liked so much they did a sequel to it a couple records later. :))

Show Biz Kids - ah yes, the Boyz takin a trip to Los Wages..or was it Lost Wages..or Las Wages?? I never did figure that one out. I just remember hearing that tune in the summer & fall of 1973..and trippin out to it. I remember good old Broadcasting 1 at LA Valley College, in the fall months of 1973; 30 of us aspiring disk jockeys attended that class twice a week. Not sure how many of us went on to fulfilling careers as disk jockeys, though I did enjoy a fleeting radio career in 1980 & 1981 & I think one or two others became professional DJ's too. I do remember a woman in the class named Debbie Bigieca (sp?) who said her "old man" was in Steely Dan! It may very well have been that her boyfriend was Denny Dias, but I'll never know totally for sure. I made a cpl remarks about the yelling going on in that song..she would just roll her eyes..hehehe

My Old School - Ah yes..a song that had special significance to me, because I had just graduated high school in 1973. So the Dan talking their old school and never goin back to Annendale was something I could really relate to. In my case, it was Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California. And hey, if anyone reading this went there back then, hiyas!! <G> In my case, I did go back mainly cause my girlfriend of the time still went there, but it didn't last and at this point, California may very well tumble into the sea before I go back! :))

Pearl of the Quarter - And then to a softer song, complete with the twang of the Skunk's steel guitar. Actually, I never paid a lot of attention to this song, not that it was bad by any means, just that I always liked King of the World a lot better!! :))

King of the World - Shades of the great old 50s movie..On the Beach..a tune about a post nuclear holocaust world, where only the strong survived..and even then, no one knew for how long. The boyz with still another cheerful tune. I just remember every time this song came on the radio, complete with the kinda funky guitar licks in the beginning, it immediately elevated my mood a couple notches..still does 23 years later!! No marigolds in the promised land? It isn't a hole in the ground..no it's just another shopping mall rising up to replace them!! <g>

It's funny..last summer I got to hear a recording of that infamous Memphis show from 1974..the one that has the Dan playing a lot of the CTE songs. The live versions of some of these toones are great, but nothing can quite beat the original recordings. :))

"I heard the fireworks..I beleived that I was dreaming..til the neighbors came out screaming..he's a third world man"

-th

Andrew Goodwin
<andrew.goodwin@perinatal-epidemiology.oxford.ac.uk>
Just a few musings about CTE

CTE (or CDTE if you prefer) was my first Dan album, which I came to via The Nightfly (an album which I got in exchange for a spare copy of The Crusaders' Royal Jam, because I liked the cover, believe it or not - I was 15 and had no idea who Donald Fagen was, nor whether the sticker proclaiming "Founder member of Steely Dan" meant much of anything). As a result the first Dan track I ever heard was Bodhisattva, which was a bit of a shock after Walk Between Raindrops. I thought I had found some sort of upmarket Lynyrd Skynyrd! It blew me away, and is still one of my favourite Dan tracks, not least because (as mentioned in another write-up) it sounds so simple and is in fact so devious. The solos were a revelation to me, and presaged my love of jazz which was as yet dormant.

After that, much of the album failed to ignite, and strangely still does, although part of that I'm sure is down to the indelible "feel" you get for something when you first encounter it at an early age, which it is then impossible to shake off no matter how much experience and subsequent wisdom you attempt to apply. To this day, Boston Rag, Your Gold Teeth (with the exception of the fade out), Show Biz Kids and King Of The World don't do a lot for me musically - they don't have the devastating eclecticism of Pretzel Logic or the sophistication of later albums. That said, there is magic to be found elsewhere. The double bass on Razor Boy, with that seductive slowing up in the midst of the chorus...the bittersweet slide guitar on Pearl Of The Quarter, and its charming, wistful lyric...and best of all, My Old School. I'm probably a bit dense to be a Dan fan, but I love a lyric that isn't so abstruse that it passes me by but is just oblique enough to engage. And when they played it at Wembley last year (and I never would have believed I'd be writing that 10 years ago) and the brass section replicated note for note that glorious cascade after the "California tumbles" line...

Anyway, that's my lot. Just to add that, curiously, I got CTE as part of a series of re-issue albums called Fame which comprised established artists' little-known FIRST albums. So that was a well researched set of releases!

All the best, Andrew

PS Here's a stupid one for UK fans. "At 5 o'clock on Channel 4, Ecstasy. First..."

eschuttler@mail.spec-mm.com (Eric Schuttler)
CTE Entry

I finally have an entry - it's a bit on the largish size, but I'm happy with it at that size:

http://www.spec-mm.com/eric/gallery/contest.html

Thanks, it was fun! ews (rudy)

"Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement." - Jackson Pollock

"Tim Kearns" <frontier@uscom.com>
Bodhisattva, won't you take me by the hand...

Greetings Citizens.

I didn't expect to toss in my contribution so early but there a few things about Countdown To Ecstasy which make it the right time.

Besides the fact that the recording is 41 minutes of aural delights, CTE has my favorite three-song stretch of all Dan recordings, has an enjoyable natural feel thanks to acoustic guitar on a few tracks, is packed with mystifying lyrics, and is packaged in a great album cover.

Your Gold Teeth - Show Biz Kids - My Old School Yes, my favorite stretch of consecutive Steely Dan songs is YGT-Kids-MOS for two reasons. First, they are excellent in lyrics, arrangement and execution. Second, I think they typify the range of styles which Donald and Walter were capable of crafting. Whether they played all the instruments or not, I like the results. And I'm sure you'll agree that YGT doesn't tip it's hand (wink) to indicate what's to come with Show Biz Kids and later with My Old School. It's a musical journey, a ride with a spectacular view I enjoy every time.

Look at the song titles as they originally appeared from CBAT thru Gaucho and try to find a three-song stretch which matches up to the diversity of YGT-SBK-MOS and share what you come up with. How seamless to end YGT with the most burning keyboard solo into the slide.

Acoustic Ben Benay is credited as the "specialist" here and I hear the acoustic on The Boston Rag & Pearl of the Quarter. I don't recall hearing acoustic on many tracks later except for Any Major Dude and With A Gun, but there's probably more. (Western World??) If only Walter could play a little acoustic on tour. Oh, how sweet!

Dotty of Hollywood I bought Greatest Hits after hearing it in it's entirety on AM radio one evening when it was released. I immediately picked up Aja. From there, I recall getting Countdown mainly because of the great cover art and one day, I hope to own the original art (Pass on Picasso, give me Dotty!!) As a painter of watercolors, I'm fond of this one.

Go, Mary, go, in the promised land... Until recently, that's what I thought Donald was singing. Thanks to Lucky Henry for setting me straight on that lyrical mystery and MANY others through his skillful twisting and turning at the grand piano at Chapman Lodge. Countdown is full of lyrical question marks: tobacco they grow in Peking. Huh? When her day is done she's got a place to go? How's an altar boy / boy scout supposed to know about such things?

I was disappointed that Countdown has been largely ignored on tour. I'd be knocked out if they played Razor, YGT, Show Biz or King. Show Biz would be a great opener which they could then , in turn, rip into the up-tempo Jack of Speed as number two.

Don't think I overlooked the obvious about Countdown. I just wanted to share the point of view.

...any man left on the Rio Grande is the King of the World as far as I know...

Tim Kearns

Mike & Kate <mikekate@sbt.infi.net>
An attempt at "Countdown" Review

The difference between a band with staying power and just a one-hit wonder is typically in the strength of their second album. This is clearly true with Steely dan and their second album, "Countdown to Ecstacy." "Countdown" builds on the Steely Dan sound set down in their first album, yet it is clear that the band had begun to grow. The sound if fuller, more layered, and tighter that the first album. Yet, at first hearing, one may notice that Countdown sounds very similar "Can't Buy an Thrill." That's because most of the songs on Countdown were written around the same time as the songs from the first album.

Owing to the popularity of "Thrill" and the ensuing concert tour, the band was pressed to produce a second release as soon as possible. So they took material that was already written and worked on it while they were touring. Since David Palmer had left the band, Donald Fagen was convinced to do all of the lead vocals himself, which he did admirably. Gary Katz once said in an interview that the reason Steely Dan lyrics often seemingly made no sense was because they chose words to fit in melodically with the tune. If it sounded good in the tune, it was kept, even if no one knew what they were talking about. This led to such interesting lines as "leaving like a gypsy queen in a fairy tale." It was this way of writing lyrics that make Steely Dan so memorable and so musically enjoyable at the same time.

The album starts with a bang, bounding into "Bodhistatva" with gusto. "Bodhistava" combines the late Jim Hodder's hard driving drumming with Jeff Baxter's deft guitar work to produce a solid rock-and-roll classic. The album proceeds to takes us through a mixture of musical styles, with the mellow ballad sound of "Razor Boy" followed by the meloncholy yet gut-wrenching licks of "Boston Rag" and the jazzy feel of "Your Gold Teeth."

"Show Biz Kids" was the album's first single, taking a cynical look at shallow materialism. "My Old School" adds a sax section, bringing it in softly in the second verse and continuing to increase it's intensity until it dominates the song. "Pearl of the Quarter" wistfully looks at spending time in New Orleans. The albums then ends as it started, with a bang, in a spirited and rousing look at their vision of the world after a nuclear holocaust in "King of the World." One thing that strikes me after listening to Countdown is the guitar work. Guitars and guitar solos are featured prominently in every song, yet each song's guitar sounds are distinctive.

"Bodhistava" features fuzz guitar chords and a fast-paced solo. "Boston Rag's" guitars, with its signature slide up the range at the beginning of each verse, sounds sad and angry at the same time. The solos in "Razor Boy" and "Gold Teeth" are quick and jazzy. "Show Biz Kids" features wonderful work on the slide guitar by Rick Derringer, who later did the solos in "Chain Lightning." "Pearl of the Quarter" gives us some excellent work on pedal-steel guitar by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, giving that tune a relaxed, laid-back feel. Each song uses the guitar to set a mood, making each song unique from the others on the album.

Despite being produced while on tour with left-over tunes, the maturation process of Steely Dan is clearly heard in "Countdown." The album is slicker, tighter, and better produced than their first. Yet, curiously, the album was not met with as much critical praise as their first album. This could have been because of the variety of styles and sounds employed, because the critics didn't understand the sophistication of a band whose members were still pretty young, or because the music didn't sound like the post-Beattles formula rock that was popular at the time. Fagen and Becker consider Countdown, as well as Can't Buy a Thrill, somewhat forgettable, preferring to concentrate on their more highly produced albums of the later seventies.

Except for "My Old School," songs from Countdown have not been played on their concert tours of the nineties. This is unfortunate, because I believe that Countdown does stand up to the test of time. Despite the fact that songs from Countdown are rarely heard on the radio because it doesn't fit into one of today's narrow formats, the album continues to be distributed by the record company and has been discovered by a new generation of listeners. Unlike music from some other 70's bands, the music doesn't sound trite, embarrassing, or dated to me 20 years later. In their next five albums, Becker and Fagen would go on to new heights of creativity. Yet, when I want a dose of their raw talent with good rock beats, I find myself yet again seeking out the songs of Countdown to Ecstasy.

Respectfully submitted by Mike Wall

"Any man left at the Rio Grande is the King of the World as far as I know!"

Geoff MacDonald <ggmacdon@watarts.uwaterloo.ca>
Great Big CTE review

[ Tied with Bruce Cameron for "Favorite Review"
by the Multitudes of Dandom
Grand Prize: "Columbia This Is Jazz: Count Basie" featuring "Goin' To Chicago Blues" known for the "monkey woman" reference.]

Here's my foray into the revue, pardon me, review game. Beware of self-indulgence.

To me, CTE marks Steely Dan's first real attack on American Culture. While CBAT was hardly mainstream, its impact was cushioned with accesible songs like Dirty Work and Change of the Guard.

CTE begins with Bodhisattva, a stark reminder that the 60's are over. Like Kid Charlemagne years later, Bodhisattva documents the life of an individual swept up and consumed by the sixties. We're told of their obsession with the mysterious guru, left only to imagine what this sort of blind devotion could lead to. One need only remember the dissilusionment of so many middle-class groupies, like those of Bagwan Shree Rashneesh, to know where Steely Dan saw their narrator ending up.

Razor Boy highlights the classic SD mix of pleasure and pain. The vibes, a classicly mellow jazz instrument, are used to create a sweet and almost airy sound. This is the foundation on which is based a story of a woman "at the end of her proverbial tether" as she justifies herself, even when "the coming is so close at hand".

Frankly, I don't get The Boston Rag. Cool guitar solo, though.

Your Gold Teeth again sounds to me like a subtle dig at the decade past, musically at least. You can hear in Donald's Fender Rhodes stabs, and Jim Hodder's drum work a slight dig at the psychadelic music which was no longer en vogue. One of the best things about this song is Donald's electric piano work, especially the outro. While later albums featured the finest of session players, there's something satisfying about hearing the solo directly from the mind that created the song's structure. I always enjoy Donald's soloing, and wish there was more of it. The lyrics likely mean nothing, but who can resist singing along with phrases like, "You don't need to dance for me, I've seen your dance before"?

Show Biz Kids separates SD from every other rock band I've heard. A second album is an attempt to solidify one's place in the market. What other band, then, would risk offending the establishment and one's peers by writing such a scathing critique of the rock and roll lifestyle? Further, who else would risk offending their fans by insinuating that anyone with a Steely Dan t-shirt is a shallow conformist? This song makes it clear that SD writes only for themselves. Besides, I couldn't agree more with Donald and Walter's profanity laden assessment of Show Biz Kids.

My Old School is just good old-fashioned fun. It also makes for the best encore I've ever seen in my life.

Pearl of the Quarter is cool too, but not my favourite. This is one of those songs that doesn't stand out against the rest for me, but if you play it after almost any other group's songs, you realize how good it is. It just goes to show that SD at half-speed is far better than most at full bore (pun intended).

King of the World is the one song that got me hooked on SD in the first place. The first time I heard Denny's rythym guitar enter the mix I literally jumped out of my chair. I must have listened to that song 10 times that night. Then, when you learn of the desolate apocolyptic scene that is laid over that incredible music, you really start to appreciate the level SD is operating at. Even the littlest detail is perfect. I am still fascinated by Walter's distorted whispering, and could swear at one point he says, "...tell her not to believe me, tell her that". It makes me picture a desperate man, quickly going mad at the horror of his own fate, trying to get a warning to his wife that he can't be trusted. That the terror of that landscape tears the humanity from the narrator so fully that he would turn on his family merely to survive. This is also why SD should be kept out the hands of the slightly obsessive, like myself.

Regardless, this is a fantastic album which certainly didn't attain the sort of commercial success it deserved. I still wonder, though, if this album would be nearly as fascinating if it had been given the sort of social acceptance a #1 record signifies. Likely not.

Geoff MacDonald