Steely Dan 'The Definitive Collection' album

Defying pop and rock conventions, Steely Dan’s extraordinary three-decade-plus career has been filled with slinky grooves, inventive lyrics, and infectious hits. Now, as one of rock’s most admired and innovative groups embarks on a major national tour this summer, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen marks its first career-spanning multi-label compilation--Steely Dan: The Definitive Collection (Geffen/UMe), released August 1, 2006.

Replacing and updating the 20-year-old overview A Decade Of Steely Dan, The Definitive Collection boasts selections from each of Steely Dan’s nine original studio albums from 1972 to 2003 plus the title track contribution to the soundtrack for 1978’s FM. Newly digitally remastered from the original master tapes under the supervision of renowned Steely Dan engineer, Elliot Scheiner, the 16-selection album features all of the band’s Top 20 hits plus several fan favorite album tracks. An accompanying booklet includes vintage photos and complete credits.

From 1972’s Can’t Buy A Thrill, The Definitive Collection culls the Top 10 pop hit “Do It Again” and the classic “Reeling In The Years,” a Top 20 charter, plus “Dirty Work.” 1973’s Countdown To Ecstasy contributes “Bodhisattva” as well as “My Old School.” The Top 10 “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” hails from 1974’s Pretzel Logic while 1975’s Katy Lied adds “Black Friday” and “Bad Sneakers.”

One of the most recognizable guitar riffs in rock history, courtesy of Larry Carlton, is heard on “Kid Charlemagne,” from 1976’s The Royal Scam. 1977’s Aja, the group’s most popular album, yields the Top 20s “Peg” and “Deacon Blues.” The band finished its first decade with 1980’s Gaucho, represented by the Top 10 “Hey Nineteen” and also “Babylon Sisters.”

Steely Dan would not release another studio album for 20 years. But when 2000’s Two Against Nature debuted, with Steely Dan having moved from MCA to Warner Bros., it was as if the group had never left. Debuting Top 10, the album won Steely Dan its first Grammy Awards, including for Album Of The Year and for “Cousin Dupree,” also heard on The Definitive Collection. Steely Dan’s latest album, 2003’s Everything Must Go, also went Top 10, led by the track “Things I Miss The Most.”

For music fans who have missed Steely Dan, then or now, The Definitive Collection is required listening.

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Steely Dan - The Definitive Collection