Vinyl Vault

In 1974, Steely Dan co-founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker found that the sounds they heard in their head were often too expansive for the 5-piece band they had formed. So they hired a passel of session men for their third album and created Pretzel Logic, which produced a Top 10 single and raised the band to new levels of FM-radio popularity. 35 years after the fact, only a song-by-song review can properly dissect this classic. Here are the results.

Pretzel Logic (1974, MCA Records)

Side A

  A1. “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number”
The Dan’s biggest hit ever (#4 on the U.S. charts) starts off with percussionist Victor Feldman playing the flapamba, which is a kind of electric marimba. That sets the table for Michael Omartian’s melancholy piano and chorus harmonies helped along by future Eagle Timothy B. Schmit. But it’s the core members, Fagen on vocals and Jeff Baxter on the striking guitar solo, that have the most to say on this exquisite concoction.

  A2. “Night By Night”
“Everywhere around me/I see jealousy and mayhem,” sings Fagen on this State of the Nightlife address against wocka-wocka rhythms. Then come the soaring horns of the chorus, bolstering the resilience of the lyrics.

  A3. “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”
The band shows they can pull of a mostly acoustic number with a deft touch. The hipster jargon keeps the song from falling into sentimental overload, but Fagen reveals himself to be quite a softie with the uplifting chorus. And, no, I’ve never seen a squonk’s tears.

  A4. “Barrytown”
One of my favorite unheralded tracks by the band. Barrytown probably resides right alongside of Positively 4th Street in rock and roll real estate, where those doomed souls who have made the mistake of disappointing eloquent songwriters reside. The fact that the song comes wrapped in a bright, almost power-pop package, makes those lyrics even more cutting.

  A5. “East St. Louis Toodle-oo”
Only Steely Dan would drop a Duke Ellington cover in the middle of a rack album. The fact that they pull it off with charm is little surprise.

Side B

  B1. “Parker’s Band”
“Parker’s Band” is notable for the twin-drum assault of session aces Jim Gordon and Jeff Porcaro. Otherwise, this one, even with some out-there lyrical references to armadillos and such, doesn’t quite sizzle.

  B2. “Through With Buzz”
This is a bit of an oddity at under two minutes running time. The strings are laid on a bit heavy, and it feels like a time-killer.

  B3. “Pretzel Logic”
The band gets deep in the blues here. The multi-tracked harmonies keep things from falling into a rut though, and the instrumental performance is predictably strong.

  B4. “With a Gun”
Steely Dan has proved adept at a lot of different styles, but I’m not sure chugging country rock falls comfortably within their wheelhouse. Interesting, but a near-miss overall.

  B5. “Charlie Freak”
No one did the seedy underbelly of the ’70s streetlife as songwriters better than Fagen and Becker. The story plays out like some cruel parable, the rumbling piano escalating the tension at every turn.

  B6. “Monkey In Your Soul”
You have to love how the grimy, fuzz-bass rhythm is sweetened by the slinky saxophones. The term jazz-rock gets thrown around often with this band, but very few of their rock peers could get as funky.

The Bottom Line

This was the album when Steely Dan really hit their stride, beginning a run of impeccable albums that would span the rest of the decade. No band used the studio as a weapon quite like Steely Dan, and Pretzel Logic is a shining example of their versatility and craftsmanship.

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