Going into this, I really was expecting some kind of masterpiece because yes, this is the one everybody seems to rave about. Perhaps my expectations were too high, because my overall opinion is this is OK, but not great. Now in all fairness, this is after one listen, there are plenty of albums I have held that opinion on after one listen that I now love. But yeah, agree with Homok, as of now, I like THE ROYAL SCAM a lot better and agree there is a lack of variety on this album.
On the plus side, again, this sounds great in headphones, there’s no denying the audiophile praise this album normally gets. My favorite track is the title track, which borders on something I wish Steely Dan would have explored a little more - progressive rock. That extended instrumental section really does take this song on an aural journey and at times, the guitar reminds me of Steve Howe of Yes. I really like this song a lot.
The other six songs all were good, but nothing that stood out. I think the mellow mood is the key, making this album seem more like a mood piece than an album of big songs. Strange for me to say since three of these seven songs were top 40 hits! Perhaps if I heard these songs in isolation versus all together the pieces of the puzzle would start coming together for me. I did play “Peg” is high school jazz band and let me tell you, the bass parts Chuck Rainey is playing must have been given to the horn players as I wasn’t playing that. I remember the arrangement they gave me had me lots of multi string octave plus chords like I was vamping.
