Product Description

This is the album that introduced Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's unique, idiosyncratic, and highly polished craftsmanship. Although CAN'T BUY A THRILL lacks the overtly jazzy tendencies that would define albums like AJA, it distinguishesitself from nearly all of the mainstream pop and rock of the era with its smooth, lounge-y feel, catchy hooks, and immaculate studio polish. They were played alongside the Doobie Brothers and the Eagles on '70s FM radio, but Steely Dan's sound was more self-conscious and sophisticated than its peers: this was postmodern R&B, dressed up in a tuxedo, and holding an advanced degree.
The album's hit single "Do It Again" is textbook Dan, with its slinky, Latin-touched groove, expansive, minor key melody, and shimmering veneer. Fagen's quirky vocals grace the track, and the record's other hit, the chugging "Reeling In the Years", with its memorable looping guitar riff, but several cuts here feature the vocals of David Palmer, whose sincere, straightforward pop-soul approach seems at odds with the band's aesthetic. Even so, CAN'T BUY A THRILL sparkles, and is the first impressive notch for a band whose output would continue to improve.

Track Listing

1. Do It Again
2. Dirty Work
3. Kings
4. Midnite Cruiser
5. Only A Fool Would Say That
6. Reelin' In The Years
7. Fire In The Hole
8. Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)
9. Change Of The Guard
10. Turn That Heartbeat Over Again

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #993 in Music
• Released on: 1999-07-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 41 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen launched Steely Dan with a seductive, poker-faced 1972 debut as smoothly accessible in its music as it was elusive in its thematic concerns. The opening "Do It Again" snagged swift commercial success as one of the most mysterious pop hits in history, a sultry rock cha-cha that chronicled a series of harrowing catastrophes far removed from the reheated love songs and pro forma counter-cultural rebellion of the day. Though the core band boasted two formidable guitarists, Jeff Baxter and Denny Dias, it was the bloom of Fagen's keyboards and his reedy, smart-ass vocals that carried Thrill light years beyond modal, blues-based rock. That said, an enduring highlight remains the furious six-string fantasia of "Reelin' in the Years", spiked by Elliot Randall's downright historic solos, at once dour and giddy in its indictment of a poser, while "Dirty Work" (featuring short-lived, nominal lead singer David Palmer) offers a decidedly adult vignette of adultery. There isn't a weak track here, astonishing, considering how much growth future Dan albums would display. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

You can buy a thrill here on Amazon
I agree with those who put forward this work as the best of all Becker and Fagen's output in that marvellous run of albums that started here. There is a charm and innocence about this that would be lost in subsequent recordings where the sardonic lip curl and density of production would dominate proceedings. There is a real High School feel to 'Can't Buy a Thrill' that really draws you in to a world of growing up, of first experience and innocence just lost; of an America 'before the fall' and the smart-ass cynicism of later Dan albums that effectively chronicle and reflect the corporatisation of the 1970's music business. I never tire of listening to this and it's been with me for most of my adult life, always sounding fresh and surrendering new discoveries every time I dig it out. Its simplicity gives it the edge over the other albums where they sometimes attempted to turn too many tricks. I particularly like the vocals of David Palmer that balance and leaven Fagen's hipster drawl, and I miss his contribution on other Dan recordings. The highlight for me, among a whole album of highlights, is the enigmatic 'Brooklyn' sung by Palmer with it's distant echoes of the Gatsby generation ghosting around it. The cover gives the clue that this is their most imaginative, colourful and cinematic work that gives the listener free rein to spin dreams out of the rich world conjured here for the first time by those masters of sophisticated rock, Becker and Fagen and their inspired cast of musicians.

"Can't (or won't!) buy a better Steely Dan album !"
I can fully support the majority of positive comments in the more illustrious and learned reviews here. What I will add to this is that in my humble opinion, this was the first and best of the Steely Dan canon of work. There is not a bad or weak song on the album. I even think "Only A Fool Would Say That" is a great track.

Steely Dan (that is Becker & Fagen) were renowned later for their meticulous approach to the body of work constructed, but for all the brilliance of tracks like "Peg", "Deacon Blue" et al, "Can't Buy A Thrill" was the definitive Steely Dan album.

Discuss ?

First thrill
Steely Dan's first album, like many first albums, suggests that they haven't settled on their approach. Yet this is to its advantage. While they seem to make only great albums, this is more the work of a rock band, rather than the usual Becker/Fagen dominated jazz-inflected musings. Sure, they wrote all the material here, but the other band members are allowed a more prominent role. The lead vocals of David Palmer, for instance, highlight that Donald Fagen's voice, while distinct, is probably Steely Dan's weakest link. Nevertheless, this is a minor gripe. From first track to last, this is solid-groove rock music, sophisticated, lyrically and musically imaginative, with the odd daring arrangement. All of the players get to express themselves and the harmonies are superb.

The lyrics, without being belligerent, pull no punches. 'Do It Again' dives straight into murder. That there are two big hits is a bonus, but 'Can't Buy A Thrill' doesn't depend on these tracks. This is the best Steely Dan album to start with and is arguably their best.