Record Collection Revisited: Steely Dan "The Royal Scam"

When I saw Steely Dan at the Minnesota State Fair back in August, they played maybe one song from "The Royal Scam".  Nonetheless, this 1976 recording is one of their best and is probably their most guitar driven record, with six string contributions from Larry Carlton, Elliott Randall, Dean Parks and Denny Dias in addition to Walter Becker.  The record has a darkness and ambiguity to the songs and their lyrics.  But, it also really brings guitar playing to the forefront which is why I have a fondness for it.  Some of the parts are very well played and not recommended to be touched by amateur pickers like myself unless they are REALLY confident in what their doing!  The most scintillating guitar work on the record has to be in the intro to "Don't Take Me Alive".  Larry Carlton starts by strumming out a chord on his distorted Gibson ES335 and letting it feed back with the amplifier absolutely cranked before absolutely flying across the fretboard and doing some insane bends, probably right on the top three strings.  It is something that has to be heard to be believed.

He returns to that form throughout the tune.  There are some other great guitar parts in several of the cuts on the record, but that's the most noteworthy in terms of sonic enjoyment.  Here is a list of the tracks and the list of solos on them.

1. Kid Charlemagne (guitar solo: Larry Carlton)
2. The Caves of Altimira (alto saxophone solo: John Klemmer)
3. Don't Take Me Alive (guitar solo: Larry Carlton)
4. Sign In Stranger" (guitar solo: Elliot Randall, piano solo: Paul Griffin)
5. The Fez (guitar solo: Walter Becker)
6. Green Earring (guitar solos: #1 Denny Dias, #2 Elliot Randall)
7. Haitian Divorce (guitar solo w/talkbox: Dean Parks, altered by Walter Becker)
8. Everything You Did (guitar solo: Larry Carlton)
9. The Royal Scam (guitar solo: Larry Carlton)


I won't give anything away about the song lyrics.  But, if you have a chance to listen to this record, also listen to the latter tracks on the record.  The writing is dark, but the songs are very well crafted instrumentally and lyrically.  Donald Fagan and Walter Becker are great writers and they were able to record with many well honed studio players and today, have a live band that can replicate the studio records to a T.  More of Steely Dan's work will likely be highlighted here in the future.  Stay tuned.