In our previous post, Dan wrote on the Steely Dan (not to be confused with British folk rock group Steeleye Span) Silver-inspired classic ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’. Last weekend marked the 40th year anniversary of their 1980 album Gaucho and so it seemed a natural way to continue our journey of musical connections.
Gaucho was the group’s seventh studio album and followed Aja (1977), considered by many Dan aficionados to be the duo’s defining masterpiece. Featuring an impressive 42 musicians, Gaucho marked a sonic change for the group with Becker and Fagen moving away from the complex jazzy arrangements of their earlier 70s work towards a simpler and poppier approach to songwriting. However, the music on Gaucho retains the classic hallmarks of a Steely Dan album: cryptic, sarcastic and cynical lyrics over the top of slickly arranged and pristinely produced instrumentals.
Previous albums had used some of the best session musicians on the West Coast but Gaucho saw the duo move East to record the album in New York with a new cast of session players. On listening to Gaucho for the first time, one would assume this was music that was composed organically in a relaxed environment, but behind the smooth yacht rock and jazz inflected grooves lies a different story.
The recording process was a long and drawn out affair with the musicians spending over a year in the studio and far exceeding the original album budget. Despite having access to the best session talent on the East Coast, Becker and Fagen obsessively re-recorded material in the quest for the perfect take, frequently scrapping material, much to the frustration of their fellow musicians. It took the duo and their engineers more than 55 attempts to nail the 50-second fade-out on the album’s opening track ‘Babylon Sisters’. As Fagen and Becker retrospectively observed in 2000, ‘it can truly be said that never before or since in the sorry annals of pop music has so much been expended by so few for so long in the service of so little.’
At the time, the personal relationship between Becker and Fagen had begun to fray with Becker’s increasingly heavy drug use. Becker was hit by a car and hospitalised midway through the recording process and his girlfriend died from a drug overdose. Her family consequently tried to sue Becker claiming that he had introduced her to the hard drugs which led to her death. Further legal battles followed with a three-way dispute between the duo and the record labels MCA and Warner Bros.
When it was finally released, the album was met with mixed reviews. Many critics hailed it as a masterpiece and a new creative chapter for the group, but others were less impressed, criticising it for a lack of musical spontaneity that characterised their earlier material and the clinical and overly academic recording practices. Steely Dan are musical marmite: people seem to either love them or hate them, both with equal fervour.
Whilst I personally prefer their earlier albums, Gaucho is still a fantastic chapter of the group’s catalogue. From the swinging groove of the album’s opener ‘Babylon Sisters’ to the off-kilter disco kitsch of ‘Glamour Profession’ and the bluesy funk of ‘Time Out Of Mind’, Gaucho seamlessly blends rock, jazz and pop influences resulting in a sophisticated AOR album.
‘Gaucho’ is the album’s standout track which tells the story of a jealous spat between two gay lovers. Told from the perspective of the jealous partner, the lyrics illustrate his anger over his lover bringing another man, referred to as ‘the gaucho amigo’ to their luxury apartment in the fictional skyscraper of the ‘Custerdome’. Whilst the lyrics describe a breakdown in a relationship, they also have a humorous quality to them – the ‘amigo’ is dressed in a ‘spangled leather poncho’ and ‘elevator shoes’. Throughout the track, the horn arrangements echo those of a mariachi band which adds to this comical image of the ‘bodacious cowboy’.
Another interesting feature of the album’s title track are the drums. In the spirit of Steely Dan’s trademark neurotic perfectionism, the drum track was made up of 46 different takes. Dissatisfied with the efforts of numerous drummers, Becker and Fagen opted to spend a further $150,000 on a specially made drum machine named ‘Wendel’ that would allow them to manipulate independent elements of the drum track to get the perfect groove. Wendel proved to be the star of the show and was consequently awarded a platinum record in honour of his rhythmic contributions. As Becker and Fagen later acknowledged: “And so was born the era of sampled drums and sequenced music – ‘The Birth of the Cruel’, as we now think of it. History – read it and weep.”
Gaucho was Steely Dan’s final studio album before taking a 20-year break from recording. Despite the difficult and tumultuous recording process, the album won a Grammy in 1982 for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording and received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
A couple of years ago we were excited to hear that Steely Dan were making a rare appearance in the UK so we bought tickets as we knew it may be a one-time opportunity to see this dynamic duo in action. Sadly, a couple of months before the gig, Walter Becker died, and although this was tragic news, the fact that it had happened so close to the gig gave everything a sort of absurdist edge which felt suitably ‘Dan’. The show went ahead as planned and Fagen and his crack team of musicians put on a fantastic show.
So in honour of Walter Becker and the 40th anniversary of this amazing album, throw on your spangled leather poncho, pour yourself a Cuban Breeze and listen to Gaucho! (Fez optional)
For more laid-back rock grooves from Steely Dan and many others, jump aboard and set sail with our ‘Yacht Rockin’ And City Poppin” playlist!
If you enjoyed this post and want to stay updated, make sure to subscribe to our Spotify playlist and follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
