Steely Dan – Gaucho (Hybrid Stereo SACD) * * *

Hybrid Stereo SACD Mastered by Bernie Grundman from a 1980 Analog Tape Copy Originally EQ’d by Bob Ludwig

Led by the songwriting and virtuoso musical duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan released an extraordinary run of seven albums on ABC Records and MCA Records from 1972 through 1980. Filled with topline musicianship, clever and subversive wordplay, ironic humor, genius arrangements, and pop hits that outshone the Top 40 of its day, their records, which were as sophisticated and cerebral as they were inscrutable, were stylistically diverse, melding their love of jazz with rock, blues, and impeccable pop songcraft.

Now at long last, Steely Dan’s classic ABC and MCA Records catalog will return to vinyl with an extensive yearlong reissue program of the band’s first seven records, which is being personally overseen by founding member Donald Fagen. The LPs, most of which haven’t been widely available since their original release, will be available on 33 1/3 RPM 180-gram black vinyl via Geffen/UMe, and as a premium 45 RPM version on Ultra High-Quality Vinyl (UHQR) from Analogue Productions. AP will also release this series of titles on Super Audio CD. All albums are being meticulously remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes except for Aja, which will be mastered from an analog, non-EQ’d, tape copy, and Gaucho, which will be sourced from a 1980 analog tape copy originally EQ’d by Bob Ludwig. There’s no evidence the original tapes containing the flat mixes of Aja and Gaucho were delivered to the record label and it’s presumed the tapes no longer exist. 

Steely Dan’s final album for MCA, and last for 20 years, 1980’s brilliant Gaucho, took home the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording. The record has all the Steely Dan trademarks: impeccable production, cynical and venomous lyrics and undeniably catchy songs. “Babylon Sisters” opens the album with silky aplomb and it’s wonderfully anchored by the classics “Hey Nineteen” and “Time Out Of Mind,” featuring Mark Knopfler on guitar. Rolling Stone proclaimed, “Steely Dan have perfected the aesthetic of the tease. Their sound is as slippery as their (lyrical) irony.”