“Like going to war”: How Steely Dan’s lowest moment led to their defining 1973 record
According to founding guitarist Denny Dias, life on the road with Steely Dan was only so fun for so long, right until the long days ahead began to catch up.
As Dias described touring life with Steely Dan to Mojo in 1995, it was “kinda like going to war: hours of boredom, followed by seconds of terror”. The contrast was understandable: days spent in a van or bus, travelling from one venue to the next in anticipation of those couple of hours on-stage where all else is forgotten – only to circle back and do it all again – is an emotional whiplash waiting to happen.
For Steely Dan, this was coupled with the fact that touring, as a concept, was a daunting one for those in the band, particularly for their reluctant frontman, Donald Fagen. When they were recording their debut album, 1972’s Can’t Buy a Thrill, the band’s label, ABC, approached them with the idea for a tour in support of the album. Fagen, however, was so terrified at the thought of singing live and being the frontman of the band that they rapidly looked for a lead singer (eventually, they enlisted David Palmer for the first album and tour).
Even where Fagen may have hesitated at the idea of his vocals defining Steely Dan, his lead on two singles – ‘Do It Again’ and ‘Reelin’ In the Years’ – became the band’s signature as they peaked on rock radio. The band still had Palmer take over for most of the singing duty while on tour, in Fagen’s place, but by the end of those live dates, Palmer was asked to leave the band.
However frightening the prospect was, Fagen officially took over as lead vocalist and, in between their next tour dates, Steely Dan began the recording sessions for their sophomore album. Free moments amidst the chaos of being on-and-off stage as a touring band were lent to the creation of what became Countdown to Ecstasy, released in July of 1973.
“That was the only album where the songs were developed on the road, in rehearsal and onstage,” Fagen explained to Mojo. “We were playing them before the album was recorded, so it had a more live, blowing feel about it.”
Working on such a tight and fast-paced schedule meant that Fagen and Walter Becker had little-to-no time to write new material. The album’s opener, ‘Bodhisattva’, for instance, was written by Fagen the night before they headed into the studio to record. The eight songs that comprise Countdown to Ecstasy are, in turn, the only eight that were recorded during this time (there was an effort to record one more, the aptly titled ‘This All Too Mobile Home’, but the song was never completed).
Lyrically, Becker and Fagen got resourceful. They sourced material from virtually anywhere: the fictional story behind ‘Your Gold Teeth’, for example, came from a time when Palmer arrived from the dentist with a bridge; while ‘Pearl of the Quarter’ dates back to before their debut album, but was shelved until the right mood was set.
“Before we did the first album, we had written the songs and pretty much finished arrangements at the point where we presented them to the musicians,” Becker detailed. “In the case of the second album, the musicians got to hear the songs and participate in developing the arrangements at an earlier stage. Because we knew what the band sounded like, we had a more developed conception of it, and it became a more integrated framework.”
Countdown to Ecstasy may have resulted from a tumultuous time, as Steely Dan were still getting accustomed to life as a touring band, but from this period came one of their most critically lauded collections. Even then, Fagen’s stage fright did not quite disappear: the band hired vocalist-percussionist Royce Jones as a touring member, in support of Countdown to Ecstasy, and had him sing lead on a number of songs.
