Steely Dan - Katie Lied

7.0 - USA - 1975

This is it. This is the one where they went too far. Too polished. Too soft. Too lite. (Even the Dan themselves, in the liner notes to The Royal Scam, admit as much). Simply put, the songs are just not good enough to overcome the overbearing production sheen; "Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More" and "Chain Lightning" are probably the worst offenders here as, in stark contradistinction to the expected Steely Dan compositional cleverness, they exhibit, gasp!, lazy songwriting. Still, it's a Steely Dan record, so there are assuredly some top shelf aural delights. Notable highlight is the near title-track "Doctor Wu", which is so ingrained in the mind of this reviewer that viewings of Jurassic Park (and Jurassic World) are nearly ruined for any audiences sharing the same viewing.

Best quote from the reissue's liners: "O, the things we've seen and heard! - an Arp synthesizer burning in the courtyard of a West Hollywood sound stage - the thunder of a DeTomaso Pantera parked beneath the echo chambers of Studio C - the mighty room-service bill from the Beverly Wilshire hotel, reflecting the cost of the joyful reunion of Mr. Phil Woods and 200 of his closest L.A. studio/jazz-musician pals..."