November 2000 Original Artwork/Title/Remasters
As "Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story 1972-1980"
(Reissued May 2005 with Same Artwork etc plus 2005 Copyright Date)
"…You Go Back Jack…And Do it Again..."
With all tracks hand-picked by founder members and principal songwriters Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and with the Remasters polished off nicely by their long-standing Sound Engineer Roger Nichols – all is right and proper here in the world of the Mighty Dan.
The 33-Track 2CD Anthology "Showbiz Kids: The Story Of Steely Dan 1972-1980" has actually had three release dates up to July 2023. Initially launched globally on 14 November 2000 at full-price and then reissued 17 May 2005 with the same artwork and title but at a mid-price – it was also issued in the UK 26 June 2009 as "The Very Best Of Steely Dan" (again on MCA Records) but this time with different artwork and booklet (same track run and remasters as the original 2000 issue).
As a counter to 'Showbiz Kids' - I have reviewed (and loved) a 3CD Steely Dan Anthology variant out of Europe simply called "Collected" (August 2009 on Universal 532 112-2 - Barcode 600753211229). Mastered by 'QS Sound Lab' – that Euro-only 3CD Series covers a huge range of artists from the Universal back catalogue (see my separate review), and with an expanded track list offers what’s on here and more. But it can cost about thirty quid or more and has been deleted a while with some sites asking extortionate money for it. So to door number one, unusually the cheaper option...
Often clocking in at under three or four quid on popular auction sites - "Showbiz Kids: The Story Of Steely Dan 1972-1980" is seriously fantastic value for money in whatever incarnation you find it. And outside of the ludicrously expensive SACD reissue series by Analogue Productions of their album catalogue throughout 2022 and 2023 (50th Anniversary Issues) – this is a surefire way of getting toppermost audio and great music combined that will barely trouble you above the price of a crappy hamburger at McDonalds.
Let us go forward then my el Supremos to the pretzels and the sonic logic and the Charlemagne Kid and the Sisters from Babylon who just want to shake it baby, yeah. Here are the details...
UK released 14 November 2000 - "Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story 1972-1980" by STEELY DAN on MCA Records 088 112 407-2 (Barcode 008811240721) is 33-Track 2CD Band Chosen Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows:
CD1 (76:17 minutes):
1. Do It Again (5:56 minutes)
2. Dirty Work (3:08 minutes)
3. Reelin' In The Years (4:37 minutes)
4. Only A Fool Would Say That (2:57 minutes)
5. Change Of The Guard (3:39 minutes)
6.
Bodhisattva (5:18 minutes)
7.
The Boston Rag (5:39 minutes)
8.
Show Biz Kids (5:26 minutes)
9.
My Old School (5:46 minutes)
10. Rikki Don't Lose That Number (4:32 minutes)
11.
Night By Night (3:40 minutes)
12.
Pretzel Logic (4:32 minutes)
13.
Any Major Dude Will Tell You (3:08 minutes)
14.
Black Friday (3:41 minutes)
15.
Bad Sneakers (3:19 minutes)
16.
Doctor Wu (3:57 minutes)
17.
Any World (That I'm Welcome To) (3:55 minutes)
18.
Chain Lightning (3:00 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 5 are from their debut album "Can't Buy A Thrill" (1972 USA, 1973 UK)
Tracks 6 to 9 are from their 2nd album "Countdown To Ecstasy" (1973)
Tracks 10 to 13 are from their 3rd album "Pretzel Logic" (1974) - "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is the full album version at 4:32 minutes; some other compilations lose the intro and edit it to 4:08 minutes – which was the single mix
Tracks 14 to 18 are from their 4th album "Katy Lied" (1975)
CD2 (76:21 minutes):
1. Kid Charlemagne (4:38 minutes)
2. Don't Take Me Alive (4:16 minutes)
3. Haitian Divorce (5:51 minutes)
4. The Fez (4:01 minutes)
5. Here At The Western World (4:00 minutes)
6. Black Cow (5:10 minutes)
7. Aja (8:00 minutes)
8. Deacon Blues (7:36 minutes)
9. Peg (4:00 minutes)
10. Josie (4:34 minutes)
11. FM (5:06 minutes)
12. Babylon Sisters (5:49 minutes)
13. Hey Nineteen (5:06 minutes)
14. Time Out Of Mind (4:13 minutes)
15. Third World Man (5:15 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 4 are from their 5th album "The Royal Scam" (1976)
Track 5 was an exclusive song on the 2LP set "Greatest Hits 1972-1978" (1978)
Tracks 6 to 10 are from their 6th album "Aja" (1977)
Track 11 was exclusive to the 2LP Soundtrack "FM" (1978) - it's what's known as the 'Saxophone' version - the double-album also has "A Guitar And Strings Version" and "Reprise" of the song
Tracks 12 and 15 are from their 7th studio album "Gaucho" (1980)
REISSUES:
17 May 2005 UK Second Reissue of "Showbiz Kids..." on MCA 9811741 (Barcode 602498117415) as mid-price 2CD set. Booklet and Rear Inlay has the year 2000 and 2005 both credited – same title, artwork and tracks, 2000 remasters also.
26 June 2009 UK Third Reissue in the UK-only as "The Very Best Of Steely Dan" on Universal Music TV 5320451 (Barcode 600753204511). Has same tracks as "Showbiz Kids" and in the same order, but has different artwork front and rear. Booklet does not mention Walter Becker and Donald Fagen sequencing or Roger Nichols Remasters either - has June 2009 liner notes from Neil McCormick – no mastering credits front rear or booklet – and 2009 copyright date only.
The 16-page booklets for the 2000/2005 issues and the 12-page booklet for the UK 2009 relaunch as "The Very Best Of Steely Dan" - are different. "Showbiz Kids: The Story Of Steely Dan 1972-1980" offers words from MICHAEL PHALEN who interviewed Becker and Fagen during the making of the "Aja" album in 1977 and did the liner notes for that most revered of LPs. But that's where the good news stops. His liner notes come in the form of a letter to Roger Nichols done in a wildly off-the-cuff suppossedly funny way that truthfully feels superfluous, too clever-clever by far and enhances our knowledge of the band and its catalogue not one jot. Just when you think someone might at last afford this brilliant band some serious discography – you get more sardonic that frankly wears thin after one page. At least the track lists in the last few pages give us musicians, pictures of the albums including the double 'Greatest Hits' and the 'Soundtrack to FM'. The NEIL McCORMICK liner notes (penned for the 26 June 2009 issue) have a few blurred photos – the Dutch picture sleeve to "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" – the rear sleeve to "Countdown To Ecstasy" when they were still a functioning group and not just Becker and Fagen with session-men in tow. But the track-by-track musician credits are gone and his potted history of the band while entertaining is not exactly brimming with facts either.
At least the Remastered Audio is Fabulous. "Do It Again" is a song I've heard a thousand times over 50+ years - yet here its end section is detailed in rhythmic ways that I've not heard before. The line-up of the songs too – very well placed. For instance when you are over on CD2, the track run squeezes "Here At The Western World" in-between "The Fez" from "The Royal Scam" of 1976 and "Black Cow" from "Aja" of 1977. In terms of evolution of sound, it is the perfect slide-in. Then later, we get the "FM (No Static At All)" Soundtrack Exclusive song preceding the Gaucho material of "Babylon Sisters" – another sweet audio fit. In fact you would have to argue that the overall listen on both discs is pretty much genius from head to toe.
There are so many winners – the sophistication growing with each album released. The chug of "Change Of The Guard" and the acoustic whimsy of "Only A Fool Would Say That" from the seriously accomplished 1972 debut album, the four from the second just wowing on every front, guitars, brass, arrangements, those acidic lyrics ("Bodhisattva", "The Boston Rag", the Rick Derringer lead guitar on "Show Biz Kids" and so on). Pretzel was the first Dan LP I felt had genuine duffers on it, but this comp sticks to winners like "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" and the funky "Night By Night" while Napoleon looks lonely up on his hill in the title track "Pretzel Logic". CD1 tail ends the listen with the lead-guitar menace of "Black Friday", the clever keyboard Funk of "Chain Lightning" while "Any World (That I'm Welcome To)" from the 1975 album "Katy Lied" featured backing vocals from Michael McDonald pre his debut with The Doobie Brothers in 1976 on their groundbreaking album "Takin' It To The Streets" – the LP that would start their journey to melodic glory with the stunning "Minute By Minute" album in 1979.
Acidic and harsh reality ruled the entire 1976 album "The Royal Scam" that opens CD2 with a double-whammy - "Kid Charlemagne" and the bookkeeper son in "Don't Take Me Alive" getting to shoot everyone (case of dynamite too). Gorgeously musical "Greatest Hits" loner "Here At The Western World" has extra oomph that it's frankly always needed.
The magisterial "Aja" album features no less than five of its seven and you could argue the other two should be on here too. I still adore the sophistication of it – hundreds and hundreds of listens and it still whacks me for four. And those "Aja" guests - the guitarists alone featured another list of superlatives - Larry Carlton on all tracks except "Peg", Lee Ritenour on "Deacon Blues", Dean Parks on "Josie", Steve Khan on "Peg" with a thrilling solo on "Peg" from Jay Graydon. Keyboard players included Michael Omartian, Victor Feldman, Joe Sample of The Crusaders, Paul Griffin and Don Grolnick – while Backing Singers featured Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers ("Peg" and "I Got The News"), Timothy B. Schmit of The Eagles ("Aja" and "Home At Last"). By the time the three-year wait for "Gaucho" ended in 1980, that last album featured here was like 'Aja Part 2'. Top players like Mark Knopfler, Jay Graydon, Steve Khan, Larry Carlton, Tom Scott, Randy Brecker, Michael McDonald, Joe Sample, Steve Gadd, Jeff Porcaro and singers Valerie Simpson, Patti Austen and many more featured. "Third World Man" from "Gaucho" sounds stupendous (wow city goes to Larry Charlton's perfect guitar solo). Mark Knopfler and Michael McDonald both guest of "Time Out Of Mind" whilst the sheer audio perfection in "Hey Nineteen" (for 1980) that assaults your speakers is still a thing of wonder and construction.
You could argue that stuff like "Your Gold Teeth" or "Everyone's Gone To The Movies" or "The Caves Of Altamira" or "Home At Last" would have made for great deep-dive cuts, but like The Beatles, you think maybe the whole damn lot is the only way to truly represent their amazing catalogue from 1972 to 1980. Their rare debut 7"-single on Probe Records "Dallas" b/w "Sail The Waterway" remains un-remastered for CD anywhere in the world still too – so maybe someday down the line.
In the meantime "Showbiz Kids..." or "The Very Best Of..." are fantastic value for money - goody two shoes 2CD sets that genuinely offer up fans and newbees alike an embarrassment of musical greatness that i still rate as the best the Seventies got in Classic Rock...
