Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill (1972)

I like what I know of Steely Dan, though other than "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" which is one of the band's biggest hits I don't remember anything about Pretzel Logic. One thing I do remember is it began with "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and I lamented the band for starting the album with one of their biggest hits. OK, it's not really the band's fault since they didn't know before making the song that it would be a huge hit. But still, it's a bit annoying that Pretzel Logic and now Can't Buy A Thrill with "Do It Again," have each started off with a Steely Dan megahit. What it really does is make it hard for me to get into the rest of the music I probably have never heard before because the opener completely knocks it out of the park.

The second track on Can't Buy A Thrill is the lesser hit "Dirty Work" which is something of an outlier among the Steely Dan hits. It definitely wasn't sung by Donald Fagen, and while it still has the jazzy keyboard work that the other Steely Dan hits have, I feel it's way more guitar-heavy. Same with "Kings," though that one does feature Fagen on vocals. "Midnight Cruiser" features yet a third singer on lead, and not a particularly good one at that. Is this the first Steely Dan album perhaps? And the band has yet to completely figure out who should do what?

Can't Buy A Thrill also features "Reelin' In The Years" which might be my favorite Steely Dan song. I love the guitar work and Fagen's fast-paced, off-kilter vocals. I also know I've heard "Change Of The Guard" and "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" before, probably at my younger brother's house, but eh... like the other songs I didn't mention they're OK but nothing amazing. And I checked, this is Steely Dan's first album. Apparently at this early stage Donald Fagen felt he didn't have the vocal strength to sing live, so David Palmer was hired for their shows and sang lead on "Dirty Work" and "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)". Drummer Jim Hodder sang "Midnight Cruiser" for some reason.

Can't Buy A Thrill is OK, and I guess 3 songs I really like plus a 35-minute runtime means I have to give it 3 stars. That's about right anyway.