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Music : The Royal Scam
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The Royal Scam by: Steely Dan List Price: £5.99 CD-Charts Price: £3.97 You Save: £2.02 (34%)Prices subject to change. |
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 5011781170825 Label: Universal / Island Manufacturer: Universal / Island Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Universal / Island Release Date: April 24, 2000 Running Time: 41 minutes Studio: Universal / Island Sales Rank: 804 Disc 1:
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Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: Ever the primary conceit of mainstays Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, 1976's The Royal Scam marks the first time the Steely Dan duo actually owned up to the fact. Musically, it's their edgiest, most guitar-driven record (thanks to Becker and a murderer's row of session greats that includes Larry Carlton, Elliot Randall, Dean Parks, and Denny Dias). Lyrically, the songs cut an ever-sardonic, presciently discomforting slice of modern life that was a couple decades ahead of the game (who else was extolling the virtues of condom-couture, à la "The Fez", mid-Me Decade?). Though it didn't garner the radio attention of Aja, its more jazz-suffused, multi-platinum follow-up, Scam boasts a diverse, occasionally muscular musical rhetoric and some of the Dan's most telling portraits (the deranged, yet all-too-familiar killer of "Don't Take Me Alive", "Kid Charlemagne"'s drug-culture celebrity, the tropical convenience of a "Haitian Divorce"). Small wonder many Dan fans consider it their best. --Jerry McCulley Description: It was the year of America's bicentennial celebration, but on 1976's THE ROYAL SCAM, Steely Dan masterminds Fagen and Becker did not share in the exultant spirit of the times. Thetitle track--a vision of fallen America from the point of view of immigrants--has a mock-celebratory chorus: "See the glory of the Royal Scam", which typifies SCAM's heartfelt cynicism. In their next two releases (their last), Steely Dan'ssound would smoothen and incorporate less rock. This is perhaps their darkest record, and for a band known for its archmixture of L.A. cool and ennui, that's saying something. Guitar heroes were roundly worshipped in the '70s, and two of the record's standout tracks, "Kid Charlemagne" and "Don't Take Me Alive", feature incendiary axe work by Larry Carlton. Interestingly, both glorify outsiders: The former tells the story of legendary drug chemist Owsley Stanley, and the latter is a first-person account of a murderer on the lam. Other highlights: the crisp "Green Earrings" the lounge-chairfunk of "Haitian Divorce" and the inscrutable "Fez", whose principal lyric is "I'm never gonna do it without the fez on/don't make me do it without the fez on". Customer Reviews
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 Rating: - Yet Another ClassicFor some reason when I first heard this album (and I've been a Dan fan for a long long time) it didn't really grip me, but as these things tend to do once I bought a new copy on CD and played it again and again I found myself... playing it again and again. I'd got an impression of some sort of darkness and pretentiousness around the album first time round, but actually it's inventive, light, and probably their most playful album - very tongue in cheek in places. I'd now say this is one of the "must buy" Dan cluster, along with Countdown to Ecstacy, Kay Lied, and Aja (and the first two tracks on Gaucho). Oh yeah - seen the boys twice, Birmingham and Aintree, and at the latter gig they let Becker sing Hiaitian Divorce! Stick to the ... Read More: Rating: - Never gonna do it without the fez onThat line from The Fez has always struck me as wonderfully cool. As a piece of music its pretty infectious too. 'The Royal Scam' is the fifth chapter in a line of impeccable albums from Steely Dan. I don't care how cynical Becker and Fagen were, how big their egos, or how much their 'bandmates' were pushed to the margins. They packed so much into forty minutes, from rock to funk to reggae influences, with jazz inflections and brass sections. The lyrics too are intriguing, often bizarre. I sometimes wonder if one day I'll get the joke. Aside of 'The Fez,' the major highlights for me are 'Kid Charlemagne,' pretty obviously about someone who had it all, couched in the aura of a baseball star ('hit it long'), the disturbing, rock-oriented ... Read More: Rating:  - Worth it for "Kid Charlemagne" and "Haitian Divorce"....Best tracks: "Haitian Divorce", "Kid Charlemagne", "Don't Take Me Alive", "Everything You Did". Steely Dan's fifth album kicks off with the delightful "Kid Charlemagne", which is one of the band's very best songs, a great, smoothly funky beat, terrific playing from all...it's a treat all the way. Even better is the wonderful "Haitian Divorce", which is by far and away the best thing here; a sun-kissed rhythm, a wonderfully drifting feel, an arresting guitar hook and a blissful coda make it one of the band's very finest. However, these are the only two songs that really stand out; to be honest, there's nothing at all bad on this album, but you do get the feeling that Steely Dan are coasting a bit on this one; the playing is as immaculate ... Read More: Rating: - Re-discoveryMany years ago I owned this album on vinyl. I was a Dan fan, but The Royal Scam wasn't my favourite. Last Christmas a friend gave me it as a present. He had rediscovered it and wanted to share the experience. Re-hearing it, I'm tempted to think that it's appeal has grown because it represents the unthreatening certainties of the past, a familiar sound enhanced by nostalgia. But I don't really believe that, and I certainly don't want to. I think I simply failed to give it a chance. It didn't have the stand out tracks that my anticipation demanded. It asked for a little more than I gave. The more instant tracks - Kid Charlemagne and Haitian Divorce are good but not the Dan's best and that coloured my experience back in 1976. It obscured the quality ... Read More: Rating: - Top Notch DanThis was the first Steely Dan album I ever heard/bought (many decades ago), and although Aja is now my favourite (just) this remains the one I return to the most. There are many great moments but the high point for me is the wonderful guitar solo, played by Larry Carlton, at the end of Kid Charlemagne. Kid Charlemagne is typical of the whole album, which is full of fantastic grooves typified by The Fez and Green Earrings. However these grooves are actually played by musicians rather than machines (as is the tendency these days). I'm not great on lyrics, but even I can spot some of the humour in these songs. So to sum up, quality song-writing, top quality musicians and great production means an essential purchase for either the Steely Dan ... Read More: |
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