Track
- Bodhisattva
- Razor Boy
- The Boston Rag
- Your Gold Teeth
- Show Biz Kids
- My Old School
- Pearl of the Quarter
- King of the World
Countdown to Ecstasy is a maddening album. The music is rock with hints of jazz. Both keyboards and guitar share the lead role. The jazzier songs feature more keyboards and the heavier songs naturally have the guitar in the lead role.
The songs are quite catchy. Some songs feature some pretty good hooks. The problem is the lyrics. Steely Dan is too smart for its own good.
Listening to Steely Dan frustrates me. First, Steely Dan are the most uncool hipsters who are in on all the cool things. It sure sucks to know that the geeks are cooler than me. Second, Steely Dan are so fucking smug. Listening to the lyrics makes me feel like they only think I'm good enough to be let in on half the story or joke.
Finally, Steely Dan's lyrics are too urbane and cerebral. Of course, they're talking about seedy and raunchy stuff, but they've got to move from highbrow to lowbrow language. And mixing the highbrow with the lowbrow seems to explain clearly why the 1970s are corny and forgettable.
I do like the music, but the lyrics annoy me. However, it takes time to appreciate the music; the good qualities are certainly subtle and downplayed. I think the album is worth listening to, but I'm not sure if this needs to be on the 1001 Albums list since I don't think this album is much of a departure from their first.
All the songs are good, if you bear the lyrics. The stand outs are Bodhisattva, Razor Boy, The Boston Rag, Your Gold Teeth, Show Biz Kids and King of the World.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
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