The Steely Dan album Joni Mitchell believes is underrated
In 1967, a young Donald Fagen stumbled upon Walter Becker playing the electric guitar in a New York cafe. Over the course of the next decade, they nurtured a musical partnership as Steely Dan, which culminated with the release of Aja in 1977. For its production and experimentation, the record remains the duo’s most commercially and critically successful offering.
Just over a year later, Steely Dan began work on a follow-up record, looking to ride the wave of their success. Much to the disappointment of the band and their fans, the making of Gaucho was plagued by difficulty. Between the accidental erasure of ‘The Second Arrangement’ by an assistant engineer and ongoing legal issues, the album seemed destined to fail.
The resulting record was more sparse than their previous sound, forgoing complexity in favour of rhythmic minimalism. Though it received a fairly positive reception upon its release in 1980, it has been ranked below much of their existing catalogue by fans. Perhaps overshadowed by the huge success of its predecessor or simply too stark a contrast to their expected sound, Gaucho marked the beginning of the end, and Steely Dan disbanded just one year later.
Refuting the lukewarm legacy of Gaucho, Canadian folk legend Joni Mitchell once implied that the release was underrated and eclipsed by Aja. Mitchell included the closing track from the record, ‘Third World Man’ on Artist’s Choice – Music That Matters to Her. Speaking on her reasoning for including the track, as quoted on the Joni Mitchell website, Mitchell declared: “I never understood why Gaucho didn’t receive the critical acclaim of Aja.”
Mitchell suggested that if the release dates of the two records had been switched, then “the same thing would have happened in reverse”. Praising the consistency between the two releases, she stated, “To maintain this high standard of musicality and storytelling through two projects is most praiseworthy”.
Mitchell suggests that perhaps rock journalists had a limit to their kindness or that Aja had raised expectations excessively. She explains: “There is something ignorant and arbitrary in rock journalism – editorial policy maybe – like ‘We were kind last time, let’s kill ‘em this time!’ Or maybe it was like second-date syndrome, where unrealistic expectations eclipse a plenty good reality.”
After a chaotic production process and an underwhelming reception, particularly in comparison with Gaucho, Steely Dan didn’t release another record for almost two decades. Still, despite the disappointment surrounding their seventh studio record, there are few accolades more coveted than a compliment from Joni Mitchell.
