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41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Who is that gaucho amigo?", January 20, 2006
"...and why is he standing in your spangled leather poncho and your elevator shoes?"
The absurdity of the lyrics--their audacious swagger--married to such righteous music can only be the work of one great band. Steely Dan doesn't rock. They don't necessarily do jazz. Their music is so unique it can only be described as "Steely Dan" music-- a trademark of quality since 1972.
While Aja is generally hailed as their triumph, I'm personally partial to this one. In fact I would rank it as one of the great albums of all time. It was also their most complex. This is amazing in light of the turmoil the Dan were undergoing during this time. Much of the work on Gaucho fell on Donald Fagen's shoulders since Walter Becker was dealing with drug problems. During the mixing sessions, Becker was largely absent after severely mangling his leg in a taxi mishap.
Gaucho is filled with songs surrounding the seamy underside of society's high rollers. It reveals a world seen through the haze of drugs and despair. It's a cathartic aural experience. If you haven't heard this album, you haven't experienced the full potential of music and the human imagination.
The title track, depicting a gay love triangle, is exquisite beyond description with its precise construction, stately horns, and a tricky melodic vocal line that tests Fagen. But what the heck is a "Custerdome?" Fagen visualized it as a fictional skyscraper with a revolving restaurant at the top. "Third World Man," an off-the-wall sketch of a child as terrorist in his sandbox bunker, features a sneering vocal and Larry Carlton's acidic guitar solo. The song began as "Were You Blind That Day?" which they left of the Aja album.
"Babylon Sisters" is hipper than hip with its funky keyboard run-up, slick horns, and girl singers biting off quick syllables. This is followed by the equally jivey "Hey Nineteen" in which the singer gushes over "The Cuervo Gold" and "the fine Columbian." It's a real hoot, as the singer, an older dude, tries to enlighten his teenage companion about Sixties soul music.
"Glamour Profession" concerns the activities of a coke sniffing basketball player named Hoops McCann. It burbles with synths and sleazy saxes. It's luxuriant tone is intoxicating. The bridge is co-opted from Kurt Weill's "Speak Low," with a dash of disco added.
This would prove to be the last great Steely Dan album. More trouble followed it's release. Keith Jarrett successfully sued the band for plagiarizing his "Long As You Know You're Living Yours" on the title track. Shortly after the album was issued, Fagen applied for a spot in Dylan's touring band. He never heard back from Zimmy. One can only imagine what that collaboration would have wrought!
Unable to top this masterpiece, it would be 20 years before Steely Dan put out another album of new material.
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57 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The soundtrack of decadence, October 10, 2000
Gaucho is probably the most perfect album ever made. It is in fact so perfect, that you don't notice how much work went into it. It was as if the album was doomed from the start and I bow deep to Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Gary Katz and Roger Nichols that they eventually got it finished. At the time of mixing, Walter Becker was almost whacked out of life by a car so he couldn't help mixing the record. A technician fell asleep on the job and erased one of the best songs (The Second Arrangement). It took three years and a million dollars to finally get it done. But it was worth it. The musicians on this album are in top notch shape, as is production, engineering and songwriting. An absolute classic.The lazy decadence of the opening track Babylon Sisters is the perfect music to listen to when seated in a convertible, sun shining and cruising the highway. Listen to the fading chorus at the end: that alone took three days! Hey Nineteen is a typical Steely Dan approach to telling a story abnout a guy who is feeling he gets older,... Classic stuff. Glamour Profession deals with addiction to drugs in a funny yet exacting way. Title track Gaucho is a mean little story about a rendevous with great saxophone playing and abeautiful melody. Time out of Mind features Mark Knopfler in his first stint as a session musician, an occasion he will not forget very easy. He was asked to play many hours of solos, but eventually saw seven seconds of his efforts mixed into this song. Listen carefully; blink and you've missed it. My Rival is a song about I still can't figure out what. It is a great song, but if anybody can enlighten me about the subject, I'd be most obliged! Legend has it that Third World Man is constructed around a solo that was lying around from the Royal Scam sessions (1976). A haunting melody and indeed a GREAT solo by Larry Carlton. That concludes my review for one of the best albums by one of the best outfits. Buy this one and you'll find it in your player more often then you would think.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The End of Steely Dan's First Era, January 29, 2004
Just like "The Royal Scam" was the darker predecessor of the already-grim "Katy Lied," likewise "Gaucho" is the darker sister of "Aja." The last album from the first lifespan of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (better known as the sardonic Steely Dan), "Gaucho" was released a long three years after the stunning success of "Aja" (which is still hailed by many to be their masterpiece). Several factors contributed to this long interval, but most notably was a contractual dispute between MCA (ABC) and Warner Brothers, with whom Steely Dan had signed a new contract. The battle wouldn't end even when MCA won the rights to the new album, as Becker and Fagen fought (to no avail) to stop a price increase for their new record.
Nonetheless, when it was finally released, "Gaucho" gave fans the dose of Dan that they'd been craving for three years. Not surprisingly, a lot of the album's content was substantially more sardonic than that of "Aja." The former album had been just slightly less pessimistic than their previous works; for instance there was the brightness of 'Peg,' and the care-free 'Josie' (the doomsday feeling was echoed best through 'Deacon Blues'). But with "Gaucho," Becker and Fagen had convinced themselves that they had already spent their musical zenith, which understandably made the creation of this album a daunting task. The familiar pessimism of old times was the result, but here it was finally matched with the perfectionist gloss of studio sterility that had made "Aja" such a hit; examples being the death knells of "illegal fun under the sun" in 'Glamour Profession,' the paranoia of the title track and 'My Rival,' and the irnoy of 'Third World Man.' Some moments do resemble "Aja" to a T; 'Babylon Sisters,' 'Time Out Of Mind,' and 'Hey Nineteen,' the view of a man who finds himself out of touch with what's new. Still, even these tracks are executed with a weariness that was even more evident within Steely Dan than before.
"Gaucho" would ultimately signal the end for this first era of Steely Dan; Fagen would find solo success with a Top 20 album, and Becker would pursue low-key projects. Of course, the duo re-united by the 90s and would eventually release two more widely acclaimed and popular albums. Knowing this makes "Gaucho" easier to listen to. If it had been the definite end of Steely Dan, it would be an unsatisfying breaking point, but fortunately for us, it wasn't.
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