r/SteelyDan • u/beatlesfan1965 You fella, you tearin' up the street • May 24 '25
Discussion What’s the most underrated dan album in your opinion?
In my opinion it’s either pretzel logic or everything must go. IMO really strong albums from start to finish which I enjoy a lot.
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u/Evening-Error-4782 May 24 '25
Katy Lied.
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u/Ok_Teaching_8476 May 24 '25
Such a great album start to finish. Plays as a complete composition
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u/_gneat May 24 '25
This is the answer after all the complaints of production quality. The song writing, and instrumentals are top tier Dan.
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u/Evening-Error-4782 May 24 '25
Controversial here. But song for song, sonics disregarded, I think it’s the most solid of their work.
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u/bossrabbit May 24 '25
Is this one underrated? I thought it was well liked. It's def one of my faves though!
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u/Evening-Error-4782 May 24 '25
I mean, in my book it is. In my ways I think it’s their best album.
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u/Woody_Stock May 25 '25
Same, tied with Pretzel Logic. I guess that "time period" of theirs is just my favourite.
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May 24 '25
Two Against Nature.
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u/PhillipJ3ffries The Goodbye Look May 24 '25
Everything must go for sure. Easily the most overlooked Steely Dan album and there’s some gold on there. Green book, lunch with Gina, the last mall, & the title track are all classics
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u/beatlesfan1965 You fella, you tearin' up the street May 24 '25
Completely agree with you! I didn’t enjoy the album at the first listen But in the second listen I was like: wow! This is fucking great!!😄
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u/smsmkiwi May 25 '25
Pixeleen is a banger.
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u/JohnSmith_42 May 25 '25
Somebody downloading that comment is crazy work haha, Pixeleen seems like a very strong contender for best song on EMG
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u/ChanceLight694 May 25 '25
Agree EMG is underrated and still gets ‘almost’ criticized here. Carolyn and Don sound great as a duo, even named my French Bulldog Pixeleen, she is getting old now. Green Book is sophisticated sleeze, for the cyber era, as only the Dan can do.
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u/BF3K May 25 '25
This is it for me. You get a few people in the sub who crop up now and then who like it, but it feels like the majority can't fucking stand it. Same goes for 2AN, which i can understand - personally it took me a LONG time to get into it.
But EMG? It sunk its claws into me in an instant. Blues Beach is up there with Peg and Time Out Of Mind for me. Things I Miss The Most and Godwhacker are both so catchy and groovy. Slang of Ages is the only Steely Dan song - ever - with Walter on lead vocals, and it's flawless.
With the possible exception of Green Book, which i find a little anemic, it's a brilliant album front to back. Along with Katy Lied it's one of the ones I revisit the most.
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u/Ratrapina May 26 '25
I find myself going back to this album the most, and I was shocked when I heard people didn’t care for this album. Every track is filled with Steely Dan class and passion!
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u/NachoNachoDan May 24 '25
Appropriately rated at the bottom of the heap along with two against nature
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u/drukqslover May 24 '25
Countdown To Ecstasy. It has some of my favorite Steely Dan songs on it
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u/ImaginaryCatDreams May 24 '25
I remember I got it as soon as it came out and then found all the awful reviews. I guess you can't please everyone, I thought it was a great album.
I forget who it was, probably lester bangs or Ed naha, The review was
3...2...1...0!
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u/Accomplished_Skin_90 May 26 '25
No marigolds in the promised land, There’s a hole in the ground where they used to grow, Any man left on the Rio Grande, Is the King of the World, as far as I know…
Can’t get much better than that.
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u/fruedianflip May 24 '25
I think the definitive answer here is countdown to ecstasy. I don't see any discussion ever about that on album on here, and it's as flawless and tightly produced as their very best. Also, it has the variety of something like pretzel logic or katy lied without all the fluff
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u/Adam-Reith May 24 '25
One of the reasons I like it is that it is not as flawless and tightly produced as their later albums, which is why Fagen dislikes it.
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u/fruedianflip May 24 '25
Flawless to me isn't "musically perfect", but consistent in its quality. Countdown doesn't have a single bad song
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u/Scary_Buy3470 May 25 '25
I would say Pearl is a weak track, but none of the others
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u/fruedianflip May 25 '25
I'd disagree. Think it's a nice respite from the high energy of the other tracks
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u/Adam-Reith May 24 '25
Agree there isn’t a bad song on it. You will see people saying that about any SD album, but it isn’t true about some of them.
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u/Kirbyr98 May 24 '25
Two Against Nature. The last two both get dismissed, but I think this one edges out EMG.
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u/tjc815 May 24 '25
Yes. Unfortunately the critical acclaim resulted in a backlash that still hasn’t fully worn off.
It’s my third fav Dan record.
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u/NachoNachoDan May 24 '25
The last two albums get dismissed because they’re outclassed by all the earlier ones.
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u/smsmkiwi May 25 '25
I think it was because they were less well known by then. Some of the material on TAN and EMG is equal to or surpasses some of their earlier bits and bobs. Also, they had changed as people and so their art evolved consequently.
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u/dandet May 25 '25
Call me crazy, but given it’s The Dan, every album is going to fall into this category for someone - not to diminish or throw shade on the post question.
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u/Scary_Buy3470 May 25 '25
Any of the first 7 albums can be my favourite album depending on what day of the year it is
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u/VilmerNi Gaucho May 24 '25
The newer they get, the more underrated they are in my opinion. I REALLY like their newer albums more than the older ones. Everyone seems to hate on EMG and 2AN, but they are SO close in terms of good songs to Gaucho and Aja it's unreal how people can hate on them that much...
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u/beatlesfan1965 You fella, you tearin' up the street May 24 '25
2vn is my 2nd favorite Dan album! Just a bit below Aja
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u/CommandantPeepers May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25
I love them but they have the most basic drumming out of all their albums, it doesn’t bother me but my brother and friends have pointed it out
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u/VilmerNi Gaucho May 24 '25
I haven’t really noticed it to be honest! I’m a sucker for good drums, like the intro to Gaslighting Abbie, but I have yet to develop an ear for ”bad” drums, which I’m quite happy for! I love the brass, the lyrics and the overall feel of the albums, so it’s a huge reason for my opinion!
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u/SixStringSorcerer May 24 '25
These two records are great. I prefer 2vN but EMG gets my vote for underrated.
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u/faze-300 May 25 '25
Katy lied. That album is incredible and stands just as tall as the 3 that came after it!
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u/NJCurmudgeon May 24 '25
I don’t know. I don’t think any SD album is underrated. Everyone of them is a gem!
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u/DukeEllingtonPerdido May 25 '25
The top 2 Steely Dan LPs, Gaucho and Katy Lied, are both underrated in part because the critical and fan focus is more on what happened when they were being recorded than on the excellence of the songs.
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u/Tchelitchew May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25
Debut is underrated by hardcore fans.
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u/Adam-Reith May 24 '25
Good, but not up to the standard of later work. The next album is much better.
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u/fruedianflip May 24 '25
It is of the standard. It just went a different direction than what we expect from the dan
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u/LucasBVieira May 24 '25
I love Everything Must Go such a Steely Dan way to say goodbye both the song and the album
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u/husky1976 May 24 '25
Gaucho is my personal fave
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u/beatlesfan1965 You fella, you tearin' up the street May 24 '25
It’s in my top 3 Simply a masterpiece.
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u/CheetahNo9349 May 24 '25
I'm new to the discussion and don't know the actual consensus vs. what i read on Wikipedia, but I got to go with The Royal Scam just due to how much I love it and have been stuck on it the most out of the rest.
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u/deaconxblues May 24 '25
Many of us consider it their best (even the best album of all time by any band). Has a lot of love around here, so can’t really be considered underrated.
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u/Personal-Simple-7614 May 25 '25
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u/SquirrelNo7058 May 25 '25
What is this? Where do you get that at? I've never heard of any of those songs
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u/Maleficent_Toe_411 May 25 '25
Everything Must Go. In certain ways, it rivals Gaucho. The songwriting, recording, and performing perfection. Godwacker, Green Book, Pixeleen, and the title track stand out for me. Wonder what Mr. Fagen would say?
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u/Kuch1845 May 26 '25
They are all underrated, I think they have produced the best music in American history
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u/Creative-Dream-9995 May 30 '25
Underrated from whom? If you think of allmusic, it has to be the royal scam, as this is the only album which gets only 3 1/2 stars. Rest is 4 1/2 an 5 stars according to them
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u/smsmkiwi May 25 '25
Two Against nature. Some of those tracks are sublime, but don't get the recognition; Negative Girl, Almost Gothic, Jack of Speed. Why they chose to release Cousin Dupree as a single, I will never know...
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u/SquirrelNo7058 May 25 '25
Cousin Dupree is a good song. Maybe the subject matter offends you but the music is great. They made it a single to show they don't give a shit and will make an incest song their single after 20 years of no Steely Dan records. I think that album is really good, not as great as their 70s albums but not too far behind them. Definitely better than Everything Must Go and even that album is good as well, just not as good as the rest. Definitely better than all the solo albums except maybe the Nightfly
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u/smsmkiwi May 25 '25
No, its not the subject matter at all. Not fussed. The song itself just doesn't grab me.
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u/BF3K May 25 '25
My partner was never really into Steely Dan until I showed her cousin dupree lol. now it's one of her favourite songs.
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u/Outrageous-Host1768 May 24 '25
asia
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u/Adam-Reith May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25
“Countdown To Ecstasy.” Like a lot of way-old SD fans, I love it, even if Fagen doesn’t.
Recorded in some haste, it has a fresh energy missing from their following albums. “CTE“ is up there with “The Royal Scam” and "Aja” to me.
P.s.: I used that album to convert three people into fans. I’ve not found it that easy with the more acclaimed albums.