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| | Countdown To Ecstasy | | | Music Artist : | | Steely Dan | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Mca | | Release Date : | | 1998-11-17 | | Store Price : | | $11.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $9.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Bodhisattva
2. Razor Boy
3. Boston Rag
4. Your Gold Teeth
5. Show Biz Kids
6. My Old School
7. Pearl of the Quarter
8. King of the World
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Steel-ing the show
Submitted on: 2009-04-29 |
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The line between jazz and rock was always particularly thin for Steely Dan. This album is the last of theirs which remained relatively solidly in the "rock" camp. The shift was subtle but by Pretzel Logic, the band's sound had morphed into a perfect synthesis between the genres. This one is a little rawer and more guitar-centric, which worked very well for the band and makes it one of their most solid efforts.
I discovered this one about a decade ago, towards the end of a jazz phase in my listening. I was in grad school and looking to branch out a bit. I had read a lot of reviews which described this as a classy, jazzy pop record with firm roots in rock n roll. I was hooked on my first listen and this was on the playlist almost daily for months. Whenever I hear "Bodhisattva," it brings back instant memories of that foggy, gloomy Berkeley, CA Springtime.
Ultimately, this is music that fits nostalgic reminiscing quite well. A number of these songs are cryptic tales about past experiences, "The Boston Rag," "My Old School," (particularly relevant) and "Pearl Of The Quarter" being good examples. The others range from a (possibly parodic) pledge of devotion to Eastern philosophy/spirituality to a sharp criticism of Hollywood (stereo)types. The conclusion is an apocalyptic tale about the aftermath of a nuclear war. The guitar playing on this album is impressive, expecially on "Bodhisattva." Overall the music is tasteful but never boring even when it moves at a slower, more loping pace. It's a diverse and entertaining package, one of The Dan's best.
I imagine that most people of my generation don't connect with the music of Steely Dan as easily as I do (I commented on this at length in my review of Pretzel Logic) and I firmly believe that this is their loss. This is a truly great collection of songs which is well worth the time of any intelligent music listener looking for a rewarding bit of challenge.
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What a great album!
Submitted on: 2009-01-07 |
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Yeah, this is my favorite Steely Dan album. Haven't heard them all, but I prefer it over Aja and Can't Buy a Thrill. "Your Gold Teeth", "Show Biz Kids" and "My Old School" all have this otherworldly fusion of jazz/rock/funk/blues. I can't believe a rap group has yet to cover "Show Biz Kids". It's clearly the closest thing to HipHop to ever come out of the 70's. Everyone should be required to listen to this for a week. We'd all be richer for it.
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 When Steely Dan was a Group, not a Project
Submitted on: 2008-03-04 |
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Although a commercial failure as the follow up to "Can't Buy a Thrill", "Countdown to Ecstacy" is, to me, the only album where Steely Dan was more than a project for Walter Becker and Donald Fagan. Later albums would produce bigger hits and sell better as Becker and Fagan brought in the best studio musicians of the day, but those albums lack a cohesive theme and feel disjointed when viewed as a whole.
"Countdown" is a great album because it represents 5 guys working together as a unit to produce great music. |
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I'm Not Worthy
Submitted on: 2008-02-22 |
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Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R37AUNV6E7GAQ5 When it comes to Steely Dan, I can't be objective. Can't Buy A Thrill blew me and everyone else I knew in the 20 to 30 crowd away right off the bat. Everthing from SD that followed had to endure my desire that each new album be an extension of the previous albums, so it took me awhile to realize I loved it all up to and including some of Aja and by now I appreciate each album and song for itself and can barely evaluate one against the other. In my biased opinion, after Aja everything sounds increasingly "tounge in cheek", but in a few years, maybe I'll get it - no joke.
Anyway the only thing I can actually add is a demonstration of how great Steely Dan is to jump rope to - consider it a tribute to two guys + a lot of other guys who brought me much pleasure over the years. |
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A great group at its absolute prime
Submitted on: 2008-02-03 |
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Following on from the 1972 debut Can't Buy A Thrill, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker took a further step into the world of cerebral pop with "Countdown To Ecstasy" a year later.
Although the music and lyrics on the debut were wonderful enough to make it a definitive classic, "Countdown To Ecstasy" is a definite step forward. Whilst in no way inaccessible, the music here is much more complex and less predictable than on any other Steely Dan album. Frequently, Fagen, Becker and their cast of supporting musicians actually engage in quite lengthy jams. The uptempo opener "Bodhisattva" has Fagen singing in a passionate, echo-like tone between the jams but the song still manages to hit you in a way its 1980 "sequel", "Time Out Of Mind", could not match. The guitar work, too, reaches an intensity the Dan bettered only on The Royal Scam's title track.
"Razor Boy" is much lighter but still has an eerie feel to it from the double bass and the remarkably beautiful piano line that could only come from a wonderfully skilled arranger. "The Boston Rag" is almost true poetry and even darker, and the despair and fear of Fagen's lyrics will stay with you as long as you live. the music, too, combines startling beauty with true depth, and Fagen's voice in the chorus sounds like a genuine choir. "Your Gold Teeth" is again lighter, but it shows how the Dan were really funnier than any group ever to perform pop music.
It is the second side, however, that ensure "Countdown To Ecstasy" stands as one of the greatest masterpieces of modern music. "Show Biz Kids", a vicious attack on show business and how celebrities interests take priority over the poor, is remarkably sparse and atmospheric given its cutting social commentary, but is totally seamless from the backing voice to the barbed-wire guitar to the ending harmonica solo. "My Old School", a recollection of the potential nastiness of school life (which equates with kids teasing me endlessly at school) is a really fiery rocker with some wonderful guitar and horn breaks and a superb vocal that really shows Fagen had underestimated his capacity as a singer when forming the group. "Pearl of the Quarter" a recollection of New Orleans, is a straight-ahead pop ballad, but the uptempo "King of the World", which describes global ecocide with lines ("any man left on the Rio Grande") that predate Cadillac Desert by over a decade. The music's upbeat tone contrasts in a perfect way with the apocalyptic message of the lyrics to create a remarkable experience.
With its sometimes-complex, sometimes-light music and wonderful mixture of humour and cutting social commentary, "Countdown To Ecstasy" was missed by the public when it came out and has always been the Dan's least commercially successful album with only "Show Biz Kids" (and then rarely) ever played on radio. Yet, the complex music and cerebral lyrics have stood the test of time remarkably to make one of the best albums you will find. |
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