Pretzel Logic

Template:About {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |Template:Short description|noreplace}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Category handler Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Countdown to Ecstasy1973Katy Lied1975studioPretzel LogicPretzel_Logic_album.jpgSteely DanFebruary 20, 1974October 1973Template:SndJanuary 1974*Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California

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Pretzel Logic is the third studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released on February 20, 1974, by ABC Records. It was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California, with producer Gary Katz. The album was Steely Dan's last to be made and released while the group was still an active touring band, as well as the final album to feature the band's full quintet-lineup of Becker, Fagen, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (who subsequently left to join the Doobie Brothers), though it also features significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians.

A commercial and critical success, the album's hit single, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", helped restore Steely Dan's radio presence after the disappointing performance of their previous album. Pretzel Logic was reissued on CD in 1987, and remastered in 1999, to retrospective critical acclaim.

Recording and productionEdit

Like Steely Dan's previous albums, Pretzel Logic was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> produced by Gary Katz, and written primarily by Walter Becker and bandleader Donald Fagen, who also sang and played keyboard.<ref name="Scoppa"/> The album marked the beginning of Becker and Fagen's roles as the principal members of Steely Dan, and the pair enlisted prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians to record numerous overdubs.Template:Sfn Jim Hodder, Steely Dan's founding drummer, was reduced to a background singer on the album, which instead features drummer Jim Gordon on most tracks, with Jeff Porcaro playing on two tracks.<ref name="Remastered liner notes"/> In addition to playing guitar, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter can be heard playing pedal steel guitar and some hand drums.<ref name="Scoppa"/> After costs grew prohibitive at the Village Recorder, the project was moved to the new Cherokee Studios in the distant Chatsworth neighborhood of San Fernando Valley.<ref name="Remastered liner notes"/>

Music and lyricsEdit

Pretzel Logic contains shorter songs and fewer instrumental jams than Steely Dan's previous album, Countdown to Ecstasy (1973),<ref name="Erlewine"/> as the group had decided to attempt to produce complete musical statements within the three-minute pop-song format.<ref name="Scoppa">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Music critic Robert Christgau wrote that the album's solos are "functional rather than personal or expressive, locked into the workings of the music".<ref name="CG"/>

The music on the album is characterized by harmonies, counter-melodies, and bop phrasing,<ref name="Erlewine"/> and often relies on straightforward pop influences.<ref name="Bacon"/> The syncopated piano line that opens "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" develops into a pop melody, and the title track transitions from a blues song to a jazzy chorus.<ref name="Erlewine"/>

Steely Dan often incorporated jazz into their music during the 1970s.Template:Sfn For example, on this album, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" appropriates the bass pattern from Horace Silver's 1965 song "Song for My Father",Template:Sfn and "Parker's Band" features riffs influenced by Charlie Parker and a lyric that invites listeners to "take a piece of Mr. Parker's band."<ref name="CG"/> Baxter's guitar playing drew on jazz and rock and roll influences, and on the instrumental cover of Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo", he recreates a classic Tricky Sam Nanton trombone solo on pedal steel. On that same track, Walter Becker uses talk box guitar to recreate James "Bubber" Miley's famous plunger-muted trumpet melody. Certain songs on the album incorporate additional instrumentation, including exotic percussion, violin sections, bells, and horns.<ref name="Scoppa"/> Victor Feldman played a flapamba solo to introduce the song "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" on the album, but this intro was removed from the single release upon orders from Geffen Records.<ref name="Remastered liner notes"/>

"Charlie Freak" recounts the tale of a vagrant drug-addict who sells his only possession—a gold ring—to the narrator so he can buy a fix, which kills him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

PackagingEdit

The album's cover photo featuring a New York pretzel vendor was taken by Raeanne Rubenstein,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a photographer of musicians and Hollywood celebrities.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She took the photo on the west side of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street, just above the 79th Street Transverse (the road through Central Park), at the park entrance called "Miners' Gate".<ref>"Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan (1974)" at popspotsnyc.com</ref>

Marketing and salesEdit

Pretzel Logic was released by ABC Records on February 20, 1974,<ref name="RIAA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and it sold well.<ref name="Bacon">Template:Cite journal</ref> In the United States, it spent 36 weeks on the Billboard 200, topping out at number 8. It became Steely Dan's third album to be certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).Template:Sfn After the disappointing performance of the singles from Countdown to Ecstasy, the album restored the group's radio presence with the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number",Template:Sfn which became the biggest pop hit of their career, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.Template:Sfn On September 7, 1993, Pretzel Logic was certified Platinum by the RIAA, recognizing the shipment of one million copies in the U.S.<ref name="RIAA"/>

Critical receptionEdit

Template:Album ratings The album received critical praise at the time of its release.<ref name="Bacon"/> Bud Scoppa of Rolling Stone magazine called the album's "wonderfully fluid ensemble sound" unprecedented in popular music, and said the ambiguous lyrics "create an emotionally charged atmosphere, and the best are quite affecting."<ref name="Scoppa"/> Down Beat asserted that "there are no better rock recording groups in America, and damn few worldwide."Template:Sfn Robert Christgau found the album innovative, writing in Creem: "The music can be called jazzy without implying an insult, and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are the real world's answer to Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia."<ref name="Creem">Template:Cite journal</ref> In a mixed review, Noel Coppage of Stereo Review was impressed by the music on the album, but said that "the lyrics baffle me; maybe they know what they're talking about, but I can't get a clue."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

At the end of 1974, Pretzel Logic was named NME magazine's album of the year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was also voted the second-best album of 1974 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent critics published by The Village Voice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Christgau, who created the Pazz & Jop, ranked Pretzel Logic number one on his own year-end list,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and later wrote that the album encapsulated Steely Dan's "chewy perversity as aptly as its title", with vocals by Fagen that "seem like the golden mean of pop ensemble singing, stripped of histrionics and displays of technique, almost [...] sincere, modest."<ref name="CG"/>

In The All-Music Guide to Rock (1995), Rick Clark gave the album five stars out of five and wrote that, "On Pretzel Logic Steely Dan most successfully synthesized their love for jazz into their dense pop/rock sound."<ref name="Clark">Template:Cite book</ref> Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album Steely Dan's "richest", and wrote that Becker and Fagen's songwriting was "seamless while remaining idiosyncratic and thrillingly accessible."<ref name="Erlewine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Patrick McKay of Stylus Magazine called the album "superb", and noted that it found Becker and Fagen "relying instead on crack studio musicians that could realize their increasingly complex compositions".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rob Sheffield, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), said that, when making Pretzel Logic, "Steely Dan's songwriting and Fagen's singing were at their peak of fluid power: The whole album is flawless".Template:Sfn

Pretzel Logic has appeared on retrospective "greatest albums" lists. In 1994, it was voted number 67 in Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums, with Larkin calling the album's mix of jazz, R&B, and pop styles "highly inventive" and "greater than the sum of its parts";<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> it fell to number 292 in the update of the ranking from the year 2000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2003, the album was ranked number 385 on Rolling StoneTemplate:'s list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time";<ref name="RS500">Template:Cite book</ref> it dropped one position, to number 386, on the 2012 update of the list.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Track listingEdit

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PersonnelEdit

Steely Dan

Donald Fagen – keyboards, alto saxophone, lead and backing vocals<ref name="Remastered liner notes">Template:Cite AV media</ref>
Walter Becker – electric bass guitar, guitars, backing vocals
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter – lead guitar, pedal steel guitar,<ref name="Remastered liner notes"/> hand drums<ref name="Scoppa"/>
Denny Dias – guitar
Jim Hodder – backing vocals on "Parker's Band"

Additional musicians

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Timothy B. Schmit – backing vocals on tracks 1, 4 and 8<ref name="Remastered liner notes"/>
Michael Omartian – piano, keyboards
David Paich – piano, keyboards
Ben Benay – guitar
Dean Parks – guitar, banjo
Wilton Felder – bass
Chuck Rainey – bass
Plas Johnson, Jerome Richardson, Ernie Watts – saxophone
Ollie Mitchell – trumpet
Lew McCreary – trombone
Jim Gordon – drums on all tracks except "Night by Night"
Jeff Porcaro – drums on "Night by Night", additional drums on "Parker's Band"
Victor Feldman – percussion, flapamba intro to "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"<ref name="Remastered liner notes"/>
Roger Nichols – gong on "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo"

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Production

Gary Katz – producer
Roger Nichols – engineer
Jimmie Haskell – orchestration
Ed Caraeff – art direction and inside photo
Raeanne Rubenstein – cover photo
David Larkham – design
Kudo III – personal management
Karen Stanley – security

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Reissue

Vartan – art direction
Michael Diehl – design
Daniel Levitin – consultant

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ChartsEdit

AlbumEdit

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Weekly chartsEdit

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Chart (1974)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref name="Kent">Template:Cite Kent</ref>	18
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape<ref name="BillboardAlbum">{{#ifeq: \| yes	https://www.allmusic.com/album/r18949{{ #if: charts-awards	/charts-awards }}	{{#if: r18949	{{#if:	[[{{{author-link}}}\|{{#if: \|, {{{first}}} }}]]\|{{#if: \|, {{{first}}} }}}}. }}[https://www.allmusic.com/album/r18949{{ #if: charts-awards	/charts-awards }} {{ #if: Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums	Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums	Template:PAGENAMEBASE }}] at AllMusic{{ #if: 27 October 2004	. Retrieved 27 October 2004. }}	{{#if: {{#property:P1728}}	Template:First word {{#if: Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusic Template:EditAtWikidata	{{#if: {{#property:P1729}}	Template:First word {{#if: Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusic Template:EditAtWikidata	{{#if: {{#property:P1730}}	Template:First word {{#if: Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusic Template:EditAtWikidata	{{#if: {{#property:P1994}}	Template:First word {{#if: Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums \| Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusic Template:EditAtWikidata	{{AllMusic}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.Template:Main other }} }} }} }} }} }}</ref>	8

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Year-end chartsEdit

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Chart (1974)	Position
US Billboard 200<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	41