| 词条 | Countdown to Ecstasy | ||||||||||||||||||
| 释义 |
| name = Countdown to Ecstasy | type = studio | artist = Steely Dan | cover = Steely Dan-Countdown to Ecstacy.jpg | alt = | released = July 1973 | recorded = | venue = | studio = Caribou Ranch in Nederland and The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles | genre =
| length = 41:04 | label = ABC | producer = Gary Katz | prev_title = Can't Buy a Thrill | prev_year = 1972 | next_title = Pretzel Logic | next_year = 1974 | misc = {{Singles | name = Countdown to Ecstasy | type = studio | single1 = Show Biz Kids | single1date = 1973 | single2 = My Old School | single2date = 1973 }} }} Countdown to Ecstasy is the second studio album by the American rock band Steely Dan, released in July 1973 by ABC Records. It was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado and at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California.[4] After the departure of vocalist David Palmer, the group recorded the album with Donald Fagen singing lead on all the songs.{{sfn|Uslan|Clark|Solomon|1981|p=392}} Although it was a critical success, the album failed to generate a hit single, and consequently charted at only number 35 on the Billboard 200. It was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped 500,000 copies in the United States. Well-received upon its release, Countdown to Ecstasy received perfect scores from music critics in retrospective reviews. Music and lyricsLike their 1972 debut album Can't Buy a Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy has a rock sound that exhibits a strong influence from jazz.{{sfn|Valdez|2006|p=380}} It comprises uptempo, four-to-five-minute rock songs,[5] which, apart from the bluesy vamps of "Bodhisattva" and "Show Biz Kids", are subtly textured and feature jazz-inspired interludes.[6] Countdown to Ecstasy was the only album written by Steely Dan for a live band. "My Old School", a song about a drug bust involving Walter Becker and Donald Fagen at Bard College, features reverent horns and aggressive piano riffs and guitar solos. "The Boston Rag" develops from a jazzy song to unrefined playing by the band, including a distorted guitar solo by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.[7] Jim Hodder's drumming eschews rock music for pop and jazz grooves.[5] Bop-style jazz soloing is set in the context of a pop song on "Bodhisattva".{{sfn|Chapman|Clapton|2000|p=202}} Countdown to Ecstasy also has themes similar to Can't Buy a Thrill.[5] It explores topics such as drug abuse, class envy, and West Coast excess.[10] The band explore a theme of the United States following a Nuclear holocaust in "King of the World", while "Show Biz Kids" satirizes the Los Angeles lifestyle.[11] "Your Gold Teeth" follows a jaded female grifter who uses her attractiveness and cunning.{{sfn|Dimery|Lydon|2010|p=301}} Music journalist Rob Sheffield said that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's lyrics on the album portray America as "one big Las Vegas, with gangsters and gurus hustling for souls to steal." He viewed it as the first in Steely Dan's trilogy of albums that, along with Pretzel Logic (1974) and Katy Lied (1975), showcased "a film noir tour of L.A.'s decadent losers, showbiz kids, and razor boys."{{sfn|Sheffield et al.|2004|p=789}} Erik Adams of The A.V. Club wrote that the album has a "dossier of literate lowlifes, the type of character studies that say, 'Why yes, the name Steely Dan is an allusion to a dildo described in Naked Lunch.' These characters hang around the corners of the entire Steely Dan discography, but they come into their own on Countdown to Ecstasy".[6]The album was titled as a joke about attempts to rationalize a state of spirituality. The opening song "Bodhisattva" is a parody of the idea that the disposal of one's possessions is a prerequisite to spiritual enlightenment. Its title refers to the Bodhisattva, those of the belief that they have achieved spiritual perfection but remain in the material world to help others. Fagen summarized the song's message as "Lure of East. Hubris of hippies. Quick fix".{{sfn|Rubin|Melnick|2007|p=160}} "Razor Boy" is a bitter, ironic pop song with lyrics that subtly criticize complacency and materialism.[13] According to Ivan Kreilkamp of Spin, "Steely Dan speaks to us from that 'cold and windy day' when the trappings of hipness and sexiness fall away to reveal a lonely figure waiting for a fix. 'Will you still have a song to sing when the razor boy comes and takes your fancy things away?' Fagen asks a generation stupefied by nostalgia and self-involvement".[7] Cover artThe original cover painting was by Fagen's then-girlfriend Dorothy White. At the insistence of ABC Records president Jay Lasker, however, several figures had to be added when he found the discrepancy between five band members and three figures on the cover unacceptable. The proofs for the album cover were later stolen during a dispute over the final layout.[8] Release and reception{{Album ratings| rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}[6] |rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide |rev2Score = A[9] | rev3 = Creem | rev3Score = A–[18] | rev4 = Rolling Stone | rev4Score = {{Rating|5|5}}[7] | rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide | rev5Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Sheffield et al.|2004|p=778–89}} }}Countdown to Ecstasy was released in July 1973 by ABC Records in the United States and Probe Records in the United Kingdom. It was less commercially successful than Can't Buy a Thrill.{{sfn|Heatley|Lester|Roberts|1998|p=50}} The album failed to generate a hit single,[20] and only charted at number 35 on the Billboard 200.{{sfn|Uslan|Clark|Solomon|1981|p=392}} Nonetheless, it spent 34 weeks on the chart,{{sfn|Heatley|Lester|Roberts|1998|=50}} and was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped 500,000 copies in the United States.[10]Countdown to Ecstasy was well received by contemporary critics.[11] David Logan from Rolling Stone felt that the album's musical formula, while not redundant, said that despite ordinary musicianship and occasionally absurd lyrics, Steely Dan's "control" of their basic rock format is "refreshing" and "bodes well for the group's longterm success."[12] Billboard complimented the "studio effect" of the dual guitar playing and found the "grandiloquent vocal blend" catchy.[5] Stereo Review called it a "really excellent album" with "witty and tasteful" arrangements, "winning" performances, "high quality" songs, and a "potent and persuasive" mix of rock, jazz, and pop styles.[13] In Creem, Robert Christgau observed "studio-perfect licks that crackle and buzz when you listen hard" and "invariably malicious" vocals that back the group's obscure lyrics.[14] He named Countdown to Ecstasy the ninth best album of 1973 in his year-end list for Newsday.[15] In Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Christgau said Steely Dan had achieved a "deceptively agreeable studio slickness" with Fagen's replacement of Palmer, whom Christgau felt did not fit the group.[9] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rob Sheffield called Countdown to Ecstasy "a thoroughly amazing, hugely influential album" with "cold-blooded L.A. studio rock tricked out with jazz piano and tough guitar."{{sfn|Sheffield et al.|2004|p=778–89}} Pat Blashill later wrote in Rolling Stone that the "joy in these excellent songs" and in the band's playing revealed Steely Dan to be "human, not just brainy," "like good stretches of the Stones' Exile on Main St."[16] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found Countdown to Ecstasy musically "riskier" than the band's debut album, and wrote that the songs are "rich with either musical or lyrical detail that their album rock or art rock contemporaries couldn't hope to match."[17] Chris Jones of BBC Music found Steely Dan's ideas to be "post-modern" and "erudite," and asserted that they were "setting a benchmark that few have ever matched."[18] Music journalist Paul Lester viewed it as a progression from their debut album and wrote that "Becker and Fagen offered cruel critiques of the self-obsessed 'Me' decade", while their "blend of cool jazz and bebop, Brill Building song craft and rock was unparallelled at the time (only Britain's 10cc were creating such intelligent pop in the early Seventies)."{{sfn|Heatley|Lester|Roberts|1998|p=50}} In his 1999 autobiography A Cure for Gravity, British musician Joe Jackson described Countdown to Ecstasy as a musical revelation for him, that bridged the gap between "pure pop" and his jazz-rock and progressive influences, while furthering his attempts at songwriting.[19] Track listing{{Tracklist| headline = Side one | all_writing = Walter Becker and Donald Fagen | title1 = Bodhisattva | length1 = 5:18 | title2 = Razor Boy | length2 = 3:11 | title3 = The Boston Rag | length3 = 5:40 | title4 = Your Gold Teeth | length4 = 7:02 }}{{Tracklist | headline = Side two | title5 = Show Biz Kids | length5 = 5:26 | title6 = My Old School | length6 = 5:48 | title7 = Pearl of the Quarter | length7 = 3:50 | title8 = King of the World | length8 = 5:04 | total_length = 41:04 }} Personnel{{col-start}}{{col-2}}
Charts
References1. ^[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 Rolling Stone review by David Logan, August 16, 1973] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407000000/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 |date=April 7, 2013 }} 2. ^{{cite web |url=http://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/07/10/steely-dan-sunday-pearl-of-the-quarter-1973/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2017-01-28 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719005236/http://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/07/10/steely-dan-sunday-pearl-of-the-quarter-1973/ |archivedate=July 19, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} 3. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=INqNBMZ-g1sC&pg=PT96&dq Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years by Brian Sweet] 4. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1104176&style=music&fulldesc=T|title=Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy CD Album|publisher=CD Universe. Muze|accessdate=April 7, 2013|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fh3Rz6Ez?url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1104176&style=music&fulldesc=T|archivedate=April 7, 2013|deadurl=no|df=mdy-all}} 5. ^1 {{cite journal|date=July 14, 1973|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Billboard's Top Album Picks|journal=Billboard|page=62|accessdate=April 12, 2013}} 6. ^{{cite news|last=Adams|first=Erik|date=March 8, 2012|url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/steely-dan,70509/|title=Gateways to Geekery – Steely Dan|newspaper=The A.V. Club|location=Chicago|accessdate=April 7, 2013}} 7. ^1 {{cite journal|last=Kreilkamp|first=Ivan|date=February 1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLVeu01ciK8C&pg=PT71#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Steely Dan|journal=Spin|location=New York|page=70|volume=7|issue=11|accessdate=April 12, 2013}} 8. ^{{cite AV media notes|last1=Becker|first1=Walter|authorlink1=Walter Becker|last2=Fagen|first2=Donald|authorlink2=Donald Fagen|year=1998|title=Countdown to Ecstasy|publisher=MCA Records|id=MCAD-11887|type=CD reissue booklet}} 9. ^1 {{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: S|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=S&bk=70|accessdate=March 9, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}} 10. ^{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=April 8, 2013|title=Flipping Through the Catalog|page=71|date=January 15, 2000|journal=Billboard|last=Hay|first=Carla|volume=112|issue=3}} 11. ^1 {{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steely-dan-mn0000011707|title=Steely Dan|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=April 7, 2013}} 12. ^1 2 {{cite journal|last=Logan |first=David |date=August 16, 1973 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 |title=Countdown To Ecstasy |journal=Rolling Stone |page=54 |location=New York |accessdate=April 6, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fh1beFW3?url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 |archivedate=April 7, 2013 |deadurl=no |df=mdy }} 13. ^1 {{cite journal|title=Special Merit|page=94|journal=Stereo Review|date=November 1973|volume=31|issue=5}} 14. ^1 {{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|date=December 1973|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/crm7312.php|title=The Christgau Consumer Guide|magazine=Creem|accessdate=April 6, 2013}} 15. ^{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=January 13, 1974|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/news/nd740113.php|title=Returning With a Painful Top 30 List|newspaper=Newsday|accessdate=April 6, 2013}} 16. ^1 2 {{cite journal|last=Blashill |first=Pat |date=October 30, 2003 |issue=934 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/steelydan/albums/album/90998/review/5940553/countdown_to_ecstasy |title=Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy |journal=Rolling Stone |location=New York |accessdate=April 7, 2013 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112074036/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/steelydan/albums/album/90998/review/5940553/countdown_to_ecstasy |archivedate=November 12, 2007 }} 17. ^1 2 {{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|authorlink=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/countdown-to-ecstasy-mw0000191882|title=Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=April 7, 2013}} 18. ^1 {{cite web|last=Jones|first=Chris|date=January 4, 2008|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/3pjw|title=Review of Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstasy|publisher=BBC Music|accessdate=April 7, 2013}} 19. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=fQe_eCmmqaUC&pg=PA138&dq A Cure For Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage by Joe Jackson page 138] 20. ^info from:http://www.broberg.pp.se/sd_ecstasy.htm 21. ^{{Allmusic |class=album |tab=charts-awards |id=r18941 |label=Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Album |publisher=Billboard |accessdate=October 27, 2004 |ref=BillboardAlbum}} 22. ^{{Allmusic |class=album |tab=charts-awards/billboard-single |id=r18941 |label=Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles |publisher=Billboard |accessdate=October 27, 2004 |ref=BillboardSingles}} Bibliography
External links
4 : Steely Dan albums|1973 albums|ABC Records albums|Albums produced by Gary Katz |
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