Countdown To Ecstasy

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Product Details

Artist : Steely Dan
Format : Original recording remastered
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0008811188726
Label : Universal , Island
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 1999-07-13
Running Time : 41minutes
UPC : 008811188726

ASIN : B00000DI0J

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Bodhisattva
2. Razor Boy
3. The Boston Rag
4. Your Gold Teeth
5. Show Biz Kids
6. My Old School
7. Pearl Of The Quarter
8. King Of The World

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The only element of sophomore slump in Steely Dan's second album was the disappointing sales response upon its initial release in 1974. Musically, Countdown to Ecstasy is even stronger than the Dan's terrific debut, pushing the musical envelope with more complex jazz harmonies and intricate time signatures, and carrying their lyrics into even more shadowy realms peppered with sci-fi imagery and street-level slang. The songs are stunning, from the opening blast of "Boddhisattva", a Zen boogie fuelled by Denny Dias's and Jeff Baxter's angular, bopping guitars, to the post-nuclear apocalypse of "King of the World". In between, they deliver the one-two punch of "Show Biz Kids", with its perfect snapshot of affluent decadence, and "My Old School", in which college daze is remembered through a collision of staccato guitar and blazing horns. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Utterly essential (2008-08-01)

This, the second Steely Dan album, is utterly essential - about as good as rock music gets. More than 35 years old, and still box fresh. Melodic but with a complexity and edge that see off any accusation that this is middle of the road soft rock. For this recording Becker and Fagen took complete control, through the writing and with Fagen taking over as the group's lead vocalist. Finally all the elements of the classic Dan sound are in place. The songs are carefully crafted with sophisticated jazz influenced arrangements, but at this stage in their career, Steely Dan are still first and foremost a rock'n'roll band. Fagen and Becker's obsessive perfectionism had not yet ironed out the soul, and right from the get go, on Boddhisatva, with its twin lead guitar breaks, the band rocks out. Although critically lauded, the album was only modestly successful on release, peaking at no. 35 in the US, with Rolling Stone citing Steely Dan as the US answer to Slade! Go figure. If you don't know this album, there's a treat in store, and currently priced at £2.98, what have you got to lose?

Three two one ecstasy (2008-03-19)

'Countdown To Ecstasy' may rank as the second and last of Steely Dan's best albums, but it seems to me to be the link between the rock of 'Can't Buy A Thrill' and the more diverse approach of later albums. The songs and the music suggest a greater level of ambition. There are no hits of the stature of 'Reelin' In The Years' and I slightly prefer the first album, but there are moments of peerless magnificence here: the aching suspense of 'Boston Rag,' and the fluidity of the ode to Eastern philosophy, 'Bodhisattva,' for instance. The move toward jazz, funk and Latin influences is marked by 'Your Gold Teeth.' Yet it is 'Show Biz Kids' and 'My Old School' that characterise their gifts, the former a biting, starkly original recording, featuring an unnervingly insistent chant, the latter an infectious, melodic, Latin brass-backed extravaganza. 'Pearl Of The Quarter' suffers a little for following these tracks, but in truth there are no makeweights on 'Countdown To Ecstasy,' and of course the musicianship is superb.

A pop masterpiece (2008-01-26)

As far as I'm concerned, this is Steely Dan at their best. Many favour the "Aja-era", but in my opinion around that time there were less and less ideas (even though the songs were getting lenghtier), and it seemed that production & players were becoming at least as important as the songs itself. Of course this album has a fairly polished sound but not in a clinical or lifeless sort of way, and the songs have a lot of melody and substance in them.Many brit pop fans probably don't give a damn about Steely Dan, but the truth is that a single song on this album has more melody & ideas than The Stone Roses or Happy Mondays had in their whole career. From the sweetness of Razor Boy to the amazing closing jam of King of the World (where Denny Dias' guitar soloing is manna from heaven!), this is ambitious pop music at its very best.

Close to it (2004-12-26)

The second "proper" Steely Dan album and it is quite different from their debut. Firstly, there are no obvious tracks that are commercial enough for a single. The album is very much a whole. There is a very noticeable jazz tinge to some of the tracks and we see the use of horns , a sound that was soon to become a trademark of The Dan. There are superb guest performances particularly Rick Derringer on Slide Guitar on Showbiz Kids and Jazz man Victor Feldman playing vibes on The Razor Boy. Some of the synthesizer sounds have dated this a little bit but overall the album has aged well and remains a cool enterprise after all these years. Sharp lyrics, superb musicians. Rather wonderful really.Reccomended.

Impressive follow-up to "Can't buy a thrill" (2003-12-03)

This re-issue from 1998 of the 1973 album by "Steely Dan" is more like it,gone are the vocal experiments of their disappointing debut release.Now as it should always be "Donald Fagen" is doing the lead vocals, for me his is the only true voice of a "Steely Dan" song.

As before the opening song of this "Steely Dan" album is superb,"Bodhasattva" is a great start, with it's slighty rocky feeling drums, and jazzy sounding bass, and with the multi-track recorded vocals of "Mr Fagen" it is a clssic beginning to an album.

The next standout track for me is the cut "Your gold Teeth" with the closing lines "use your knack darlin',take one step back darlin', There ain't nothing in Chicago, for a monkey woman to do, Do you throw out your gold teeth, Do you see how they roll", I don't know what they are talking about, but boy does it sound good.

The following track "Show Biz KIds is another classic "Dan" song with the superb chorus, "While the poor people sleepin', with the shade on the light, while the poor sleepin', All the stars come out at night" and the wonderful sounding slide guitar by "Rick Derringer" in the middle 8 section of the song a real joy to listen too.

All the tracks on this album sound so much better than the original pressing of this album on C.D., this is because of the hard work of "Rodger Nichols" under the supervision of "Becker and Fagen" to renovate the overall sound.This is the real debut album...

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