Steely an

The popular vinyl series of Steely Dan reissues continues with the 1980 masterpiece "Gaucho", their last album before a lengthy 20-year album hiatus. The album also marked the end of a number of truly unrivalled years in music with classic album after classic album from one of the most exquisite sounding bands in music history. Like all vinyl reissues in the series, the album has been remastered by Bernie Grundman from an analogue tape copy.

Building from the jazz fusion foundation of Pretzel Logic, Steely Dan created an alluringly sophisticated album of jazzy pop with Katy Lied. With this record, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen began relying solely on studio musicians, which is evident from the immaculate sound of the album. Usually, such a studied recording method would drain the life out of each song, but that's not the case with Katy Lied, which actually benefits from the duo's perfectionist tendencies. Each song is given a glossy sheen, one that accentuates not only the stronger pop hooks, but also the precise technical skill of the professional musicians drafted to play the solos.

This 1978 ABC set was issued to bide time between Aja and Gaucho. Despite the generous 18 tracks covering the 1972-1977 work, this didn't take on mythical proportions due to the fact that the band's separate albums all remained strong and the group's better moments weren't always the biggest hits. Despite the cavils, some great work is here. "Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years" both broadened what listeners expected from singles as Donald Fagen's ironic vocals were instantly singular and made all of the lyrics stick.

The older I get, the better this album gets. Aja never fails. Perfect background music that opens up like a 100-year lotus to reveal, upon serious listening, many layers of harmonic and melodic and rhythmic sophistication.