Maps of Music

Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

Where the lyrics of Countdown to Ecstasy take you, and where it was really made.

The opening track was written the night before it was recorded, and the synthesizer used on it was later thrown down the stairs and set on fire.

Key places

Where most of the album was recorded (1973)

Recording site Village Recorders — Most of Countdown to Ecstasy was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California. The sessions took place between the band's tour dates. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Slide guitar on Show Biz Kids (1973)

Recording site Caribou Ranch — Rick Derringer's slide guitar part on Show Biz Kids was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado. The rest of the album was made in Los Angeles. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Countdown to Ecstasy: second studio album by American rock band Steely Dan
• Released July 1973 by ABC Records in the United States, and by Probe Records in the United Kingdom
• Donald Fagen sings lead on every track after David Palmer leaves the band
• Eight songs, with "Bodhisattva" as the opening track
• Most songs run longer than five minutes
• Produces no hit single in the United States

Background

• During touring for Can't Buy a Thrill, Palmer is judged unsuitable as lead vocalist and asked to leave
• Attempts to replace Palmer fail, so Fagen takes the lead vocal role
• Recording sessions take place between tour dates, leaving Fagen and Walter Becker little time to write new material
• Songs are often assembled at the last minute
• The eight songs recorded in these sessions are the only ones made; a ninth, "This All Too Mobile Home", is attempted but not completed

Recording

• Most of the album is recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California
• The exception is Rick Derringer's slide guitar part on "Show Biz Kids", recorded at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado
• Fagen plays all four saxophone-like parts in the instrumental section of "Bodhisattva" on an ARP Pro Soloist synthesizer
• The monophonic synthesizer plays one note at a time, so each part is overdubbed separately
• The synthesizer often goes out of tune, which forces repeated stops for retuning

Cover

• The original cover painting is done by Dorothy White, then Fagen's girlfriend
• ABC Records president Jay Lasker asks for two more figures because the cover shows three figures for five band members

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1971 by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.
• Becker and Fagen met in 1967 at Bard College and began writing songs together.
• They moved to Los Angeles after producer Gary Katz hired them as staff songwriters for ABC Records.
• The band takes its name from a dildo mentioned in William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch.

Members

• Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals) were the core duo.
• Early band members included Denny Dias, Jeff Baxter, and Jim Hodder.
• Fagen reluctantly took on lead vocals after the search for a suitable singer failed.

Career

• Debut album Can't Buy a Thrill (1972) produced the hits "Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years".
• After 1974 the band stopped touring and continued as a studio project using session musicians.
• Aja (1977) became the band's top-selling album and won a Grammy for engineering.
• The band disbanded in 1981 and reunited in 1993.
• Two Against Nature (2000) won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
• Becker died in 2017; Fagen continued the band until 2024 and retired in 2026.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; has sold over 40 million records.

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone (David Logan, August 1973): the album may follow a formula, but its songs do not become redundant
• Rolling Stone: the band shows a refreshing control of the basic rock format, which bodes well for its long-term success
• Billboard: praises the studio effect of the dual guitar playing and finds the vocal blend catchy
• Stereo Review: calls it a really excellent album with witty and tasteful arrangements
• Creem (Robert Christgau): notes studio-perfect guitar licks and malicious vocals behind obscure lyrics
• Overdose (Tom Hull, April 1975): calls it perhaps the most representative and best realized Steely Dan album

Reappraisal

• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): finds the album musically riskier than the debut, with songs rich in musical or lyrical detail
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004, Rob Sheffield): calls it a thoroughly amazing, hugely influential album built on cold-blooded L.A. studio rock with jazz piano
• BBC Music (Chris Jones): describes the ideas as post-modern and erudite, and the band as setting a benchmark few have matched
• Christgau's Record Guide (1981): credits Fagen's replacement of Palmer for a deceptively agreeable studio slickness
• The Encyclopedia of Albums (1998, Paul Lester): sees it as a progression from Can't Buy a Thrill and a cruel critique of the 1970s self-obsessed Me decade

Records

• Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart: number 35, spent 34 weeks on the chart
• No hit single in the United States
• RIAA gold certification in 1978, recognizing 500,000 copies shipped in the U.S.
• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000): number 307
• Included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• "Bodhisattva" was written by Fagen the night before it was recorded.
• Fagen overdubbed the synthesizer section one part at a time, then unplugged the instrument, threw it down the stairs, and jumped on it.
• The studio shared a building with ABC Dunhill headquarters, and executives later framed the wreckage with an inscription.
• Joe Jackson called the album a musical revelation in his 1999 autobiography A Cure for Gravity.
• At the 2 September 1973 Santa Monica show, the band played an impromptu cover of "My Boyfriend's Back" for the encore.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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