Over the past weekend I was listening to Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy A Thrill album, and it staggers the imagination to think that this was their debut album. I mean, first albums are generally a band’s attempt to get things together, and one expects that things can only improve. That wasn’t the case here: Fagen and Becker got it absolutely right, the very first time.
Which would lead one to think, “Oh well, they’ll probably bring out another album or two, and things will just get worse.” Except that Steely Dan never did: every single subsequent album just got better — or maybe they didn’t, they just restated the obvious. As one commenter said: “These guys were from a superior musical universe and still are.” And Can’t By A Thrill, when compared to other albums of 1972 (!!!FFS!!!), just establishes the truth of that statement.
Which brings to mind something that annoys me about the Dan: every time I listen to one of their albums, it becomes my favorite Steely Dan album — until I listen to the next one.