Can't Buy a Thrill (1972)

Can't Buy a Thrill is the debut studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released in November 1972, by ABC Records. It was written by band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and recorded in August 1972 at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles with producer Gary Katz. The album is one of Steely Dan's most stylistically eclectic, encompassing the sounds of soft rock, pop rock and jazz rock, alongside philosophical, elliptical lyrics.

A commercial success, Can't Buy a Thrill peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, bolstered by the popular singles "Do It Again" and "Reelin' In the Years", and was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also met with positive reviews and has appeared on many retrospective "greatest albums" lists, including Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2003).

Background and recording

After Steely Dan's debut single "Dallas" was withdrawn due to being unrepresentative of their style, ABC Records executives decided to proceed with recording sessions for their first album. The sessions were scheduled for the summer of 1972, but Steely Dan postponed them until engineer Roger Nichols could return from his summer vacation, as they considered him a key part of the project. This annoyed ABC Dunhill's president, Jay Lasker, but A&R man Steve Barri convinced Lasker that Steely Dan were worth the time and expense.

Steely Dan recorded the album in August 1972 at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles. All of the songs were written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan's bassist and keyboardist respectively; the liner notes identify "Do It Again" as a traditional song, but this is a fabrication. When the sessions began, Steely Dan was a five-person band, with Fagen handling most of the lead vocals. Though drummer Jim Hodder had never seen himself as a lead singer, he was excited by the song "Midnite Cruiser" (sometimes spelled "Midnight Cruiser") and offered to sing lead on it, an idea to which Becker and Fagen were immediately receptive.

For material, Becker and Fagen used a combination of new songs written specifically for Steely Dan and older songs they had written before moving to Los Angeles; the older songs include "Midnite Cruiser", "Fire in the Hole", and "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)". Comparison with a demo recording of "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)" reveals that the album rendition omits verse two and uses guitar for an intro that was originally played on organ.

Four songs recorded during the sessions were left off Can't Buy a Thrill: "Running Child", "Sacajawea", "Megashine City (Talkin' About My Home)", and "Gullywater". Though it was common practice to include leftover songs from album sessions on the B-side of the album's singles, none of these recordings were included on any release, and the single B-sides simply reused tracks which appeared on the album. However, "Running Child" was covered by Christopher Kearney on his 1975 album Sweet Water.

During the recording sessions, ABC executives started discussing touring to support the album, which shocked Becker and Fagen, who had assumed Steely Dan could be a studio-only band. Fagen in particular expressed terror over the prospect of singing lead live, and though the rest of the band felt that Fagen had the right personality for the songs, they also recognized the potential of recruiting a singer with a wider vocal range than Fagen. For these reasons, against the objections of producer Gary Katz, David Palmer was recruited to Steely Dan as their lead vocalist. Palmer arrived at the studio a week after he received the offer, and though most of the album had already been recorded at this point, he was able to sing lead on two songs, "Dirty Work" and "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)", and dub secondary vocals onto several others.

Music and lyrics

According to writers Marjorie Galen and Gordon Matthews, Can't Buy a Thrill features an upbeat soft rock style. Music journalist Paul Lester said it incorporates mambo, swing, jazz, and Latin musical elements. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that "there are very few of the jazz flourishes that came to distinguish their [later] albums", but added that the first single from the album, "Do It Again", incorporates a tight Latin jazz beat, while the second single, "Reelin' In the Years", features jazzy guitar solos and harmonies. Steely Dan biographer Anthony Robustelli echoed Erlewine's analysis, saying Can't Buy a Thrill "is arguably their most rock 'n' roll album, and while the songs hint at their jazz leanings, it is the work of a band still trying to find itself. The songs are eclectic, with Latin-flavored rhythms, all-out rockers, ballads, and bluesy workouts ..."