As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Friday, February 21, 2020

LP #27 Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstasy (1973)

I have to admit that, when it comes to Steely Dan, I basically punted when it came time to put together my original list of favorite albums. There were two or three that could have found their way onto my list, but I was never able to choose among them. (I consoled myself with the fact that Donald Fagen’s first solo effort, Nightfly, did finish in the runner-up spot.)
 
I own each of the 7 albums that the duo released before going their separate ways on vinyl. Instead of repurchasing them individually on CD, I sprang for the Citizen Steely Dan boxed set, which spreads those albums, along with a handful of odds and ends, over 4 discs. As it happened, everything from Countdown To Ecstasy except for the final two tracks was on Disc 1, while one of my all-time favorite Steely Dan songs was pushed onto the second CD. Had I not forgotten that “King Of The World” was on this album, it may well have made it into my initial set of faves.
 
Favorite tracks:
 
My Old School  
King Of The World
Show Biz Kids
Bodhisattva
Razor Boy
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3 comments:

  1. Mike RhoadsFebruary 27, 2020 at 9:44 AM

    Runners-up were Aja and Can't Buy A Thrill. (The latter got 6 of its 10 tracks onto my all-time Steely Dan top 10; Countdown To Ecstasy had a slightly higher percentage, at 5 of 8.)

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  2. JFMarch 8, 2020 at 4:50 PM

    I bought the boxed set about twenty years ago, and still listen to much of it while jogging.

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    Replies
    1. Mike RhoadsMarch 10, 2020 at 10:28 AM

      From the New York Times's Morning Briefing email today:

      At a news conference on the coronavirus last week, President Trump said he had natural scientific ability, noting that his uncle had been a professor at M.I.T. Seth Meyers said, “People don’t just automatically know what their uncles know, otherwise we would all know the lyrics to every Steely Dan song.”

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