Steely Dan Album: “Steely Dan Collection”

Over the years I'd picked up several singles discs that contained a sampling of the tracks contained here. They've always been intriguing but the sound has always been... well let's be honest... pretty poor: compressed and flat with a fair amount of tape hiss. For this price though I coughed up the $ to get them all together.

The Beatles had their 3 Anthology releases, Steely Dan has this collection (and several other packages, which keep presenting these same 28 tracks). The Anthology releases of the Beatles are the closest thing I can make a comparison to in that we get early (demo?) versions of some classic tracks (Charlie Freak, Caves Of Altimira, Any World That I'm Welcome To, Parker's Band, Barrytown, and Brooklyn) plus others that they never bothered to polish up under the Steely Dan moniker. A shame really as several tracks are full of promise: Brain Tap Shuffle, Mock Turtle Song, Yellow Peril, Come Back Baby, Don't Let Me In, Old Regime, Soul Ram.

I have just about everything these guys have done. This is really an early collection that lets you see where they came from and why they did certain things to some songs before they released them again. The one song that I absolutely love is one they have overlooked on any cd so far and that cut is, Come Back Baby with Becker's guitar solo that is so awesome I just put the song on repeat and listen to it over and over. The song that comes immediately after is ok and can be listened to as well. It is, Don't Let Me In. Other than those two cuts I can't even listen to anything else on this 2 cd set. It was very disappointing for me and generally a waste of money. But I love the one cut, and who among us has not been guilty of buying a cd for one cut and liked only that cut! Those are the breaks. I knew that Two Against Nature was going to win album of the year though, since I had bought the cd and listenend to it for 9 months straight! This was the cd set that was released following Two Against Nature, and it was an impossible act to follow! They are one of my favorite groups, but I can't really recommend this 2 cd set unless you are the type of fan that has to have everything Steeley Dan has done regardless of the quality.

Buaaahhhh!!!It's a bad way to present a great band like Steely Dan. The music it's OK. Every song of Walter 'n Donald are splendorous, but this 2 Cd's, sounds like a Long Play used; The name of the collection must be: "fried eggs sounds around the melodies".Please, don't buy this CD. Waste your money buying the remastered originals.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the two main creative outlets of Steely Dan, have often criticized the constant marketing by Dan-described "fly-by night companies" of their pre-fame demos, but despite the disapproval of their creators, these gems hold a wealth of quality and integrity in their own right. These demos have been repackaged and re-polished again and again under several different titles, but "The Legends Collection" is probably the most affordable. The sound quality is average to less-than-average, but this is expected considering the circumstances under which they were recorded. "The Legends Collection" is also a bit of a historical musical document; despite their sarcasm and perfectionist ways, Steely Dan started out as innocent and as honest as any band struggling to make it. Becker and Fagen peddled many of these songs to several shlock producers, hoping someone would take an interest, becoming discouraged but never giving up, and all of those soap-opera dramas are reflected throughout these grainy demos.

There are obvious flashes of Becker and Fagen's attempts at writing simple and unremarkable pop so that producers would take notice, such as 'You Go Where I Go' or 'Come Back Baby.' But then again, there are many pop-attempts that also prelude the grim, sardonic wit that became Steely Dan's trademark; refer to 'Undecided,' 'Don't Let Me In,' or 'A Little With Sugar.' But of course these demos are also sprinkled with strong emotion and heart-achingly desperate characters, like 'Oh Wow It's You,' 'Roaring Of the Lamb,' an early version of 'Any World That I'm Welcome To' (which would later appear on 1975's "Katy Lied"), and several others.

A word of caution should be sounded that "The Legends Collection" is strictly worth buying for the music; despite a lovely if misleading box packaging, there are no liner notes or credits whatsoever in the deal. And although its title seems to suggest that this is a best-of or greatest hits set, it is not; it is a worthwhile curio of interesting and intriguing demos that foreshadowed the greatness to come from Steely Dan.

Steely Dan is probably my favorite group, but this collection doesn't sound like them, but more like a garage band imitating Steely Dan (and being recorded on reel-to-reel).