Walter Becker
and
Donald Fagen
were remarkable craftsmen from the start, as
Steely Dan
's debut,
Can't Buy a Thrill
, illustrates. Each song is tightly constructed, with interlocking chords and gracefully interwoven melodies, buoyed by clever, cryptic lyrics. All of these are hallmarks of
's signature sound, but what is most remarkable about the record is the way it differs from their later albums. Of course, one of the most notable differences is the presence of vocalist
David Palmer
, a professional
blue-eyed soul
vocalist who oversings the handful of tracks where he takes the lead.
Palmer
's very presence signals the one major flaw with the album -- in an attempt to appeal to a wide audience,
Becker
Fagen
tempered their wildest impulses with mainstream
pop
techniques. Consequently, there are very few of the
jazz
flourishes that came to distinguish their albums -- the breakthrough single,
"Do It Again,"
does work an impressively tight
Latin jazz
beat, and
"Reelin' in the Years"
has jazzy guitar solos and harmonies -- and the production is overly polished, conforming to all the conventions of early-'70s radio. Of course, that gives these decidedly twisted songs a subversive edge, but compositionally, these aren't as innovative as their later work. Even so, the best moments (
"Dirty Work,"
"Kings,"
"Midnight Cruiser,"
"Turn That Heartbeat Over Again"
) are wonderful
songs that subvert traditional conventions and more than foreshadow the paths
would later take. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine