GAUCHO

Gaucho is the seventh studio album from Steely Dan and their last album before they disbanded. It had been a three year period between their last album Aja ( 1977) and Gaucho which was a bit unusual because Steely Dan had released albums every year between 1972 and 1977.

The music is business as usual which means that it´s jazzy and laid back pop/ rock. It´s very commercial music but still sophisticated enough to slightly interest me. Gaucho is not as inspired as either The Royal Scam ( 1976) or Aja ( 1977) and for me it falls under the same catagory as the debut, Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied. This means that Gaucho is highly professional and polished jazzy pop/ rock but also a bit forgettable really.

The musicianship is excellent. As always we´re treated with great performances from all involved.

The production is excellent as usual.

Gaucho is one of the weaker Steely Dan albums, and if I should chose the albums from their first period that I find most interesting that would be Countdown to Ecstacy, The Royal Scam and Aja. Gaucho still deserves a small 3 star rating though. I can´t give music this professional less even though I don´t listen to this album regularly and probably won´t in the future.