STEELY DAN
Gaucho (SACD)
Analogue Productions US
Cat: CAPP 140SA. Rel: 26 Jul 24
 
Rock
Babylon Sisters
Hey Nineteen
Glamour Profession
Gaucho
Time Out Of Mind
My Rival
Third World Man
Review: If ever there was a band destined to get the Analogue Productions treatment, it's surely Steely Dan. The go-to group for audioophiles, yacht-sailing dreamers and frankly everyone in the whole damn world, the Dan's highly-prized studio obsession deserves the finest possible fidelity. Originally released in 1980, Gaucho was Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's swansong until reuniting in 2000. Musically, it was a departure for the group as they honed their compositions into more patient, atmospheric pieces which held down a mood instead of striving for dramatic sweeps and shifts, but that doesn't detract one jot from the might of tunes such as 'Babylon Sisters' and the eternally funky 'Glamour Profession'. Now those songs sound the best they possibly could thanks to this exacting reproduction.