Steely Dan Album: “The Definitive Collection”

This collection is far and away NOT definitive. The track list consists of only a handful of radio hits and leaves out many gems (No Steely Dan compilation should leave out Doctor Wu under any circumstances!!). That being said, the latest remastering on these is phenomenal!

Unlike the 1998-2000 remastered versions that had too much treble and not enough bass, these versions balance clarity with warmth very well! There is plenty of treble, but also enough low and medium range to keep the sound nice and warm. The instrument separation is likewise excellent. I already have all of these songs on their original albums, but I went ahead and got this collection anyway simply because the remastered versions are such high quality.

This is the first time that songs from the Katy Lied album actually sound "right." There are fewer high treble artifacts on Jeff Porcaro's cymbals on Black Friday and Bad Sneakers, for example, after this remaster. I hope all of the Steely Dan collection gets released in this high quality soon!

I wouldn't call myself a big Steely Dan fan. I did however grow up in a household where my dad had Aja and I remember listening to a few of their songs on the radio. This collection succeeds because it has all the best songs that the casual fan would know and introduces people like me to what Steely Dan has been up to lately with the two new tracks. Typically I am not a huge fan of collections that max out the CD because usually with some artists by the time I get to about 45 minutes I have had enough. With Steely Dan, since this is all top notch music, the 80 minutes seem to fly by... even the new tracks sound very good up against the old standards. I keep this in my regular rotation and may someday, since I love this collection so much, may check out some of their albums.

If you are a casual fan like myself and want a nice remastered hits collection this is where you can start. For the more hardcore fan this of course is not for you but it is a great way to lure in new fans to the fold as it did me.

Sound quality of this collection is superb. Definitely an improvement over Decade. Would recommend to anyone looking for a good single disc review of their work.

A cynic would say something like, 'Jeez, they keep doing this. It seems like every musician in the world has had a greatest hits CD come out in the last few years and almost all of them have already had one or more in the past.' Yes, this is true, and yes perhaps record companies want to keep gouging us for cash by releasing a cheap and easy product. But I have noticed that with many artists, the record companies have not gotten it right - in terms of compiling a true definitive collection -until the umpteenth try.

I count at least four other hits collections available on CD for Steely Dan, and over the years there were probably several more that are no longer available, or at least not usually found on record store shelves. But I always come across "Gold," "A Decade of...," "Greatest Hits" and "Showbiz Kidz," the 2001 career retrospective that is two discs and is more likely to get a thumbs up from true Dan enthusiasts than any of these single disc releases. Truth be told though, I have always championed "Decade" for its face-paced over view of all of their best stuff. Sure it's lacking some great songs, but aren't all greatest hit collections, especially in the eyes of an artist's die hard fans? Not to mention it is only one disc so for it to stand up so well is something of a feat.

Something like, say, Springsteen's single disc greatest hits is a slap in the face of anyone truly seeking out The Boss's best. Some artists just need more than one disc and more than the radio hits to truly capture their staggering talent and diverse career. But Steely Dan belongs to a group legends that hit hard and fast and then were all but gone (their great reunion at the beginning of the Millennium not withstanding). Like The Cars or Huey Lewis and the News, and countless others, they came on the scene, delivered hit after hit and seemingly just as quickly were gone. Steely Dan also made relatively short albums so compiling their best from their short hit-making career on one disc is not that hard.

All that said, that's why I think "Decade" got it pretty close to right. I griped that there was no "Josie," "Black Cow," or "Dirty Work;" and that, because it was originally released in 1985, couldn't have any of their more recent stuff. Well, this new collection, "The Definitive Collection," as it is called, almost rights all those wrongs. "Josie" and "Black Cow" are still MIA, but they both are on "Aja" (maybe the Dan's best album), so if one were to purchase this and "Aja" you may feel you'd never need anything else. Of course, there are deeper cuts you'd be missing out on, but for those who collections like this are intended (the casual fan or radio-hits-only fan); you can't really do better than this. Plus there are two tracks from their last two albums - probably the two best tracks, but not the only ones from those albums that deserve inclusion. But again, a true fan's gripes are besides the point of this release, not to mention you could never satisfy everyone since everyone has their own idea of what belongs here. But from the technical aspect of culling all the hits, this album gets the job done right.

Those who want to delve further into Steely Dan, but don't want to pony up for each individual album, should try the more expansive, but also more expensive "Showbiz Kidz." For anyone else, this is a must addition to any true rock 'n roll CD collection.

Iwas initially excited about this collecton but now I have mixed feelings after listen to it. I just picked up all of their records in used cd's, at really decent prices, and the sound is better than either of the discs mentioned, or any other cd I have heard from some of the artists. I don't have a great sound system or anything, its just that the source is so much better with the better quality cd's. I do agree that the earlier remasters were a bit lean sounding, lacking some natural richness, especially in the midrange. But this one is excessively warm with rolled-off treble. If you have a high qulaity wuffer than that really helps with a lot of these songs so this might do it for you, but I have a system with pretty good resolution and overall neutrality, and this disk is worse than the originals, but in the other direction!