Steely Dan Gaucho CD

Steely Dan: Donald Fagen (vocals, electric piano, synthesizer); Walter Becker (guitar, bass).
Additional personnel: Steve Khan, Hugh McCracken, Hiram Bullock, Larry Carlton (guitar); Tom Scott (alto & tenor clarinet, tenor saxophone, lyricon); George Marge, Walter Kane (bass clarinet); Michael Brecker, Dave Tofani (tenor saxophone); Ronny Cuber (baritone saxophone); Randy Brecker (trumpet, flugelhorn); Wayne Andre (trombone); Rob Mounsey (piano, synthesizer); Don Groinick (electric piano, clavinet); Patrick Rebillot, Joe Sample (electric piano); Chuck Rainey, Anthony Jackson (bass); Steve Gadd (drums, percussion); Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta, Jeff Porcaro (drums); Nicholas Marrero (timbales); Crusher Bennett, Victor Feldman, Ralph McDonald (percussion); Leslie Miller, Patti Austin, Toni Wine, Lani Groves, Diva Gray, Gordon Grody, Frank Floyd, Zack Sanders, Valerie Simpson (background vocals).
Recorded at Soundworks, A & R Studios, Sigma Sound Studios and Automated Sound Studios, New York, New York; Village Recorder, West Los Angeles, California; Producers Workshop, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.
Aja was cool, relaxed, and controlled; it sounded deceptively easy. Its follow-up, Gaucho, while sonically similar, is its polar opposite: a precise and studied record, where all of the seams show. Gaucho essentially replicates the smooth jazz-pop of Aja, but with none of that record's dark, seductive romance or elegant aura. Instead, it's meticulous and exacting; each performance has been rehearsed so many times that it no longer has any emotional resonance. Furthermore, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's songs are generally labored, only occasionally reaching their past heights, like on the suave "Babylon Sisters," "Time Out of Mind," and "Hey Nineteen." Still, those three songs are barely enough to make the remainder of the album's glossy, meandering fusion worthwhile. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Probably the most critically revered band of the 70s, Steely Dan's brand of slick pop with a dose of jazz/funk left a meagre but vital catalogue to cling on to. This was their last gasp at the onset of the 80s. Perhaps they were aware of the fact that they were too 70s for the 80s. This was their least accessible and most mature album (no criticism is intended), as the content washes over the listener like a warm shower. 'Hey Nineteen' is the hit single from this set, a radio-friendly nostalgic look at 1967, impeccable in production and with evocative lyrics. Lots of echoey Fender Rhodes and sensitive brass.