Their enigmatic lyrical imagery was a part of the attract of Steely Dan, and so they lived as much as these expectations with the title of their third album Pretzel Logic, launched on March 2, 1974.
Not all of their admirers would have identified that the phrase meant “fallible or circular reasoning,” and never all of them would have cared. The necessary factor was that the band have been again, and after the success of their first two information, Can’t Purchase A Thrill and Countdown To Ecstasy, they have been about to have their first US High 10 album, and the largest hit single of their profession.
“Pretzel Logic” entered the Billboard 200 on the finish of March that 12 months and went on to succeed in No.8. It could later land at No. 385 in Rolling Stone’s all-time critics’ High 500 chart of 2003. Produced as typical by Gary Katz, the album featured one other choice of clever rock compositions by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, together with such favorites as “Night By Night” and “Barrytown.”
Steely Dan, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker
The document additionally wore the duo’s jazz influences on its sleeve with a model of Duke Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” and the Charlie Parker tribute “Parker’s Band.” The band’s line-up of the time featured Becker and Fagen together with Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Denny Dias, and Jim Hodder. There have been additionally contributions by such stellar gamers as Wilton Felder of the Crusaders, British percussionist Victor Feldman, and future Toto members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro.
The album opened with what become one in all Steely Dan’s signature items, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” which outdid their earlier finest No.6 peak with “Do It Again,” reaching No.4. Within the UK, the music inexplicably did not chart, regardless of being a turntable hit. It made a modest displaying, at No.58, as a reissue in 1979.
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Nonetheless, “Pretzel Logic” did develop into the group‘s first UK chart album, albeit solely at No.37 in a two-week run, and received essential approval. Wrote the British music weekly Melody Maker: “They have soul and fire, but leave nothing to chance, with superb productions and songs.”
Purchase or stream Pretzel Logic.
