Now we talk about Steely Dan for real. In May 1976, the band released their Platinum-certified fifth album, The Royal Scam. But while the band had already had big songs on the Hot 100 like “Do It Again, “Reelin’ In The Years,” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “The Royal Scam” did not have any. The first single, “Kid Charlemagne,” peaked at #82 while the second, “The Fez,” peaked at #59. By contrast, a song called “Haitian Divorce” was released as a single in the U.K. and shockingly peaked at #17 over there. In fact, it was their biggest hit ever in the U.K.
Staying in the U.S., though, “Kid Charlemagne” was a minor hit on the AOR stations while “The Fez” was much bigger hit. Not a massive hit, but still quite big.
On a brief side note, after Walter Becker died in 2017, Donald Fagen continued the group until he officially retired from touring earlier this year. According to his stepdaughter, he is still making music. And to get back on topic, I found a web journal whose author said in a post about Fagen’s retirement that The Royal Scam is her favorite Steely Dan album.
Steely Dan is a favorite band of audiophiles and other hardcore music nerds, but I don’t have a whole room devoted to storing vinyls, so I’m only considered a casual fan of Steely Dan. They have already been mentioned a few times in this blog, of course, but I don’t know a whole lot about them outside of the odd trivia fact. For example, co-founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen used to play in a band with Chevy Chase on drums (yes, really). Also, Becker and Fagen got the name “Steely Dan” from the William S. Burroughs novel “Naked Lunch.” If you’re curious, in the book, a “Steely Dan” is a dildo. Have fun remembering that forever.
But anyway, The Royal Scam is a good record. There were a bunch of guest musicians brought in to play solos, and they all did great. For example, “The Fez” is a really groovy track co-written by famed session pianist Paul Griffin. He also played phenomenally on the track right before it, “Sign In Stranger.” Guitarists Larry Carlton and Elliott Randall show up a few times each across the album and they’re both terrific. Our old friend Michael McDonald sang backing vocals on the album, as did Timothy B. Schmit. Timothy would later join the Eagles, who are mentioned in the song “Everything You Did.” The two bands had a friendly rivalry due at least partly to them sharing a manager, who I’ll talk about more in the future.
For now, all I need to say is that The Royal Scam is a solid album. I have two minor complaints, though. Firstly, the six-and-a-half-minute title track that closes the album is a little too repetitive. And secondly, the album has been described as being primarily funk, which I don’t think is accurate. Despite those criticisms, the album is still worth checking out.
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