Gaucho

Great album

An excellent album.

This, the last Steely Dan album for many a year, has always suffered as a supposed poor relation to its illustrious predecessor, Aja. While there is no doubt as to Aja's luminescence, I have always had a lot of time for Gaucho. There is some excellent material on it, for sure. The problem with Steely Dan albums is that they are all so good, that some get criticism they don't deserve, just for being maybe slightly inferior to another brilliant album.TRACK LISTING1. Babylon Sisters2. Hey Nineteen3. Glamour Profession4. Gaucho5. Time Out Of Mind6. My Rival7. Third World ManBabylon Sisters is a superbly evocative opener, with its lightly funky guitar underpinning it and an infectious backing vocal chorus part. It is a great piece of jazz rock perfection. Lovely saxophone and the usual perplexing lyrics enhance it even more.Hey Nineteen is an instantly recognisable classic Steely Dan piece of music. It is a quirkily appealing number, with a commercial, breezily soulful ambience and a great harmonica solo too.Glamour Profession has an easy, almost disco riff to it, together with that very late seventies/early eighties light orchestration to it. The lyrics appear to be about professional basketball and it is probably the only song ever to mention "Szechuan dumplings" in an aside lyric. There is also a sumptuous jazz guitar solo near the end. Quality stuff.Gaucho has a delicious bass line and a lovely jazzy feel to it. Apparently the drum sound took 46 different takes to get it as they wanted it. Time Out Of Mind is a smooth, chugging number with drug references in its lyrics - "tonight when I chase the dragon....". Mark Knopfler guests on guitar, although you can't really hear him. His contribution was reduced to 40 seconds, I have read. Once more there is a jazzy vibe to it. All very slick and polished.The same applies to the very pleasurable, gentle strains of My Rival. Third World Man is a laid-back, appetising piece of smooth, late-night jazz rock. It is the sort of thing you hear played as a demonstration track in hi-fi shops. Despite that, the percussion is still a bit "sharp" for me. The song has a captivating atmosphere though.Although Aja is more familiar to most people, this was a really good album and deserves to be listened to and enjoyed just as much. I really like it. Unfortunately, Walter Becker's increasing drug use drove a wedge between him and Donald Fagen for quite a while after this album's release. It would be twenty years before Steely Dan re-appeared.

A superb recording which risked verging on the slightly cold and clinical. Redeemed by the warmth and sensitivity of the female vocals in particular. A stunning remaster which will demand the most from many hi fi systems, but which is rewarding to those whose systems can match the massive range used in this recording.I have not set out to write reviews of the music content as “beauty is in the ears of the listener”. These reviews are about the quality (or not) of the recorded sound. To read about how the reviews are done please see my profile. • Clarity – superb, crystal clear • Channel separation - excellent • Channel balance – excellent, well defined • Sound Stage – very good, deep and detailed, broad and very well defined. Overall very spacious • Distortion – non audible • Compression – non audible • Atmosphere – difficult to define, it is atmospheric but not in an intimate club or studio way. It is cold and slightly clinical. The female vocals are warm and redeem what might have been a very “hard” recording. • Bass – low frequencies – tight, taut, crisp, well defined bass guitar and drums giving a punchy feel to the recording. • Treble – high frequencies – the guitars are sharp and crisp with a real presence. Not shrill but verging on the cold. • Vocals – excellent well balanced and defined.As a general rule of thumb recordings from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s are nearly always better on the original vinyl. Remasters often fail to please as it’s just not possible to make a silk purse from a sows ear, i.e. the original recording lacks the necessary detail to be processed digitally and show an audible improvement. Indeed such processing can make the sound worse.Modern recordings which have been processed digitally from start to finish can be as good as vinyl. CD’s are often unfairly criticised for being poor quality. This is not the case, it is the original recording or the process which is to blame. Modern “remasters” can both enhance and degrade a recording. The statement GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) is the limiting factor. Ignore this at your cost.

Some SACDs are disappointing just a format change over CD with no real improvement but this is not the case with the MCA 2003 version which is truly excellent!!! Dan are my favourite band and the sound here is fantastic really shows what SACDs can do with the right input. I would recommend but stay away from the Japanese versions these are poor in my view just CDs in a new format and not real SACD quality. What can I say about the album it’s just great not Aja but that would be hard to match

Had this as an album many years ago and musically superb. Production on CD is good but the album (vinyl) is miles better as always. Will do any system justice though. Look at Aja as well.

Steely Dan can usually be counted on for high quality but this pressing is a huge dissapointment, pops and clicks everywhere.Annoyingly the seller ( Fulfillment Express ) is refusing returns on it.