Track Listing

1. Kid Charlemagne
2. Caves of Altamira
3. Don't Take Me Alive
4. Sign in Stranger
5. Fez
6. Green Earrings
7. Haitian Divorce
8. Everything You Did
9. Royal Scam

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4436 in Music
• Brand: MCA
• Released on: 1999-11-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Album Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) paper sleeve pressing. Universal. 2008.

Amazon.com
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, multiplatinum 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

Customer Reviews

Impressive
From the first note I could tell the remastering done on this classic album was top-notch. The incredible drums are so crisp and clear that it sounds like you are standing in the booth with them. This is the one that sort of flew under the radar because it lacked that "monster" hit song that was so important to the record promotion guys but it is one of their best ever. The songs are quirky, as usual, but the guitar, keyboard and horn performances are awe-inspiring. I've had this album since it came out on vinyl but listening to this new, upgraded version makes it seem like a whole new collection of songs. Wow.

A great album sounds that now sounds MUCH better than ever!
Odds are that you know this music, and nothing I can say would influence your purchase of it. But, I'll say this - the new remaster is ABSOLUTELY worth the money, especially since the record company did the right thing and didn't jack the price for the remaster. I can't believe how much clarity the new remaster gives the instruments, particularly on Bernard Purdie's drums and the keyboard sounds throughout. If you enjoy this album, you really need this new edition, even if you, like me, hate re-buying music you already own.

Steely Dan for Guitar Lovers
Die hard rock fans who cringe at the sound of horn sections and piano solos often dismiss Steely Dan with comments such as, "but they're JAZZ," as though uttering a dirty word. I think The Royal Scam would be a good place to begin for those who may be willing to give Fagen and Becker another chance. Try the following: program Kid Charlemagne, Don't Take Me Alive, The Fez, and Green Earrings on your CD player, put on your headphones, pump up the volume, and by the end of the last track you'll be in air guitar heaven! Then start playing the entire CD from beginning to end several times in a row (it is designed as a concept album), listen to the lyrics carefully (it can be like poetry, obscure but worth the effort of interpretation), and I'll bet (like so many of my at-first resistant friends), you'll become a convert, ready to try more of their recordings (perhaps Countdown to Ecstacy would be a good next choice). Steely Dan's music is NOT jazz (although they have fused its elements into their sound seamlessly), but like the best jazz (not the "smooth" psuedo-fusion variety), it may at first seem too complex or disjointed to an ear accustomed to and expecting the easy pleasures of formulaic top 40 hits. But once the Dan's music has insinuated itself deep into your system (mind, heart, and soul), the intoxicating pleasures that it ultimately does give up will never grow tired, dated or stale. Steely Dan is timeless. Trust me!