Track Listing

1. Rikki Don't Lose That Number
2. Night By Night
3. Any Major Dude Will Tell You
4. Barrytown
5. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
6. Parker's Band
7. Through With Buzz
8. Pretzel Logic
9. With A Gun
10. Charlie Freak
11. Monkey In Your Soul

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9606 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 33 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Pretzel Logic marked a transition for Steely Dan from a studio-bound rock band producing hits such as "Reeling in the Years" and "Do It Again" to a looser constellation of studio musicians under the direction of songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. That later version of Steely Dan would paint its masterpiece with Aja. Pretzel Logic is much more playful than that, and also jazzier than the albums that came before. The jazz intentions are made perfectly clear on "Parker's Band", a swinging tribute to bebop titan Charlie Parker, and a crafty cover of Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-oo". The lyrics displayed their own twisted logic, presenting a tumble of images in search of a unifying principle that most often remained elusive. Steely Dan was that rare act that could work such purposeful obscurity to its advantage: "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" was a top-five hit even though nobody had a clue as to what it was about. Or, perhaps, everybody had a clue, but nobody could agree. --John Milward

CD Description
Steely Dan holds the title as one of the most quietly subversive pop bands of the 20th century. They managed--on their first two albums and, especially, on PRETZEL LOGIC--to combine breezy, ear-pleasing accessibility with an immensely sophisticated sensibility that upended most pop conventions. On PRETZEL LOGIC that combination is perfected, even as band masterminds Donald Fagen and Walter Becker moved deeper into jazz-influenced territory. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", the album's lead off track, is a case in point. A sinuous slice of jazz-pop that merges piano balladry with a samba-esque groove, the song became a Top Ten hit.
Though Fagen and Becker write the material and handle vocals/keyboards and bass, respectively, their recording process increasingly involved a rotating cast of session musicians, honing their studio-cobbled sound to a flawless perfection. The bar is raised in terms of musicianship here, as evidenced by the sassy cover of Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo and the bop atheleticism of "Parker's Band", a tribute to Charlie Parker. Yet Steely Dan blend their colours ever more effectively here, writing shorter, sharper compositions packed with harmonies, instrumental interplay, witty wordplay, and satisfyinghooks. PRETZEL LOGIC ranks alongside AJA as one of the band's finest achievements.

Customer Reviews

For all good music lovers
Pretzel Logic was the first Steely Dan album I ever heard and I didn't hear it till about three years after its release. By then I was twenty-two and had reached the conclusion that no pop music was ever going to interest me the way the Beatles and Stones had done when I was nine or ten.

At first hearing it sounded good. Unlike everything else it just kept on improving with every subsequent hearing. These guys were playing every kind of music with tremendous panache and style: bebop, a superlative Ellington cover, heavyish rock, funky things, even a touch of country music. Yet all the melodies were just so interesting and distinctive. The lyrics were weird but engaging. The singer's rasping, nasal, but tuneful voice was just right for the rather biting nature of the material. The arrangements were stunning and the solo work was just without any flab at all, straight to the point with consummate skill every time. After a few hearings I was hooked and I still am twenty-three years later.

If you like good music of any kind and have never heard Steely Dan, do yourself a big favour and listen to this one. It's a good introduction from their mid-career. It's not even their best but it is great! Once hooked you can go forwards and backwards through their ever-strong repertoire. This group have never produced anything sub-standard. Enjoy. I envy you the opportunity of a new discovery.

A timeless work - wonderful content, melody and production
In my top five albums of all time, this Steely Dan masterpiece is timeless in content, melody and production. No two tracks are even closely similar - just press the repeat button and listen to the album again and again.

The work moves from the easy going and listenable pieces of "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "With A Gun" to the potent comments on society of "Barrytown", "Charlie Freak" and "Any Major Dude".

The album of the millenium and beyond - if its your only purchase this year - do it now!!!

Annie Nightingale, where are you?
I can't hear East St Louis Toodle-oo without remembering the immortal Annie Nightingale Sunday afternoon show on Radio 1 in the mid-late 70s. Those of a certain age will recognise the track as Annie's closing theme tune, and a damn fine charismatic tune it is to this day. Not only that, but Annie got me into Steely Dan in a big way. She would often play Do It Again and Rikki Don't Lose That Number.

Consequently, I've had a cherished vinyl copy of Pretzel Logic since way back when, and still think to this day that each song is a minor gem, honed and crafted with the scrupulous attention to detail imparted by Messrs Fagen and Becker, but best appreciated as an ensemble - the whole is undoubtedly greater than the sum of the parts.

If I had to pick a weakest number, it would probably be the title track (Donald's Napoleon syndrome probably explains a lot!), but the finer characteristics of this album win out. Pretzl Logic, the album, leaves me with a smile on my face - nearly 30 years since its launch. Not a bad record (pun intended!)