Track Listing

1. Bodhisattva
2. Razor Boy
3. Boston Rag
4. Your Gold Teeth
5. Show Biz Kids
6. My Old School
7. Pearl of the Quarter
8. King of the World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2142 in Music
• Brand: STEELY DAN
• Released on: 1998-11-17
• 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 essential recording
The only element of sophomore slump in Steely Dan's second album was the disappointing sales response upon its initial release in 1974. Musically, Countdown to Ecstasy is even stronger than the Dan's terrific debut, pushing the musical envelope with more complex jazz harmonies and intricate time signatures, and carrying their lyrics into even more shadowy realms peppered with sci-fi imagery and street-level slang. The songs are stunning, from the opening blast of "Boddhisattva," a Zen boogie fueled by Denny Dias's and Jeff Baxter's angular, bopping guitars, to the postnuclear apocalypse of "King of the World." In between, they deliver the one-two punch of "Show Biz Kids," with its perfect snapshot of affluent decadence, and "My Old School," in which college daze is remembered through a collision of staccato guitar and blazing horns. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Steely Dan: Show Biz Kids
How bizarre it is that Steely Dan's brilliant second album, 1973's "Countdown To Ecstasy," wasn't exactly a hit upon it's initial release. Maybe it was the weird watercolor painting on the cover. Or maybe it was the first single, "Show Biz Kids," which contained the f-word (though the naughty word was edited out for single release). Or how about bad marketing on MCA Records' part...who the heck knows? Thankfully, time has proven "Countdown" to be one of Steely Dan's very best albums. Dan masterminds Walter Becker & Donald Fagen, along with guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter & Denny Dias, as well as drummer Jim Hodder, totally cook on this magnificent set. Practically every single cut here is a Dan classic: the outstanding jazz/rock blowout that is "Bodhisattva," the cocktail pop of "Razor Boy," the awesome melodic rock of "The Boston Rag" (tell all your buddies that it ain't no drag!), and the salsa-esque "Your Gold Teeth." But it doesn't end there---there's also the slinky "Show Biz Kids," in which the band get into a single groove, stay there for the whole song, and jam into the heavens. This is followed by the masterful piano bopper "My Old School," the tasty, country-flavored "Pearl Of The Quarter," and the groovy finale, "King Of The World." The songs are amazing, Becker & Fagen & the gang are superb (both in their musical chemistry and studio skills), Fagen's vocals are very soulful, and the street-sensibile lyrics are intruiging. YOU will be in total ecstasy listening to Steely Dan's "Countdown To Ecstasy," one of the Dan's most supreme offerings.

If you want to hear Steely Dan rock...
Is it possible there is someone for whom Two Against Nature will be their first Steely Dan record? If so, this one should be their next. Before Aja, Steely Dan actually was more rock than jazz, and this album (along with Royal Scam) was the deepest into hard rock they would ever go.

I would submit "Bodhisatva" is the ultimate jazz-rock fusion number, fuzz tones and great "air guitar" lines over a truly swinging beat. They also hit their pop-rock peak with "My Old School" and their country-rock peak with "Pearl of the Quarter." "Your Gold Teeth" is a cool jazz-rock jam. "Show Biz Kids" is hard to classify, but it's got some great slide guitar.

Fast-forwarding 27 years to the smooth textures of 2 v. Nature, you can see that Steely Dan of today is not the same band it was in 1973. In fact, by the time of "Aja," just four years later, they'd abandoned this path, abolishing the fuzz tone forever. Perhaps this music has a more juvenile sound to it, rock being by definition more "childish" than jazz. But "Countdown to Ecstasy" is by no means a lesser achievement.

A top ten all-time rock offering
Fagan, Becker, Stokely Carmichael, et al, wrote, played, and produced this tribute to Buddism and early 70s sensabilities. It sure is one of the best rock offerings ever. MY OLD SCHOOL is THE mantra shouted at graduations all over the Western world. Boddistava is a prayer to the Buddist angel who watches over people currently alive. The jazzy rock sound is so easy on the ears. KING OF THE WORLD is about nuclear annihilation, and SHOW BIZ kids.....is about all of us. Energetic, feel good, and quite simply among the very best.