Editing Countdown to Ecstasy

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox album|
| name       = Countdown to Ecstasy
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Steely Dan]]
| cover      = Steely Dan-Countdown to Ecstacy.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = July 1973
| recorded   = 
| studio     = *[[The Village Recorder|Village Recorder]], Los Angeles, California
*[[Caribou Ranch]] [[Nederland, Colorado]]
| genre      = 
*[[Rock music|Rock]]<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-190816/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227000503/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 |url-status=dead |title=Countdown To Ecstasy|first1=David|last1=Logan|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=August 16, 1973|archive-date=December 27, 2012}}</ref> 
*[[jazz rock]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/07/10/steely-dan-sunday-pearl-of-the-quarter-1973/ |title=Steely Dan Sunday: "Pearl of the Quarter" (1973) |date=July 10, 2011 |access-date=2017-01-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719005236/http://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/07/10/steely-dan-sunday-pearl-of-the-quarter-1973/ |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 
*[[Pop music|pop]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INqNBMZ-g1sC&pg=PT96|title=Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years|first=Brian|last=Sweet|date=April 27, 2007|publisher=Omnibus|isbn=9781846098819 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
| length     = 41:10
| label      = [[ABC Records|ABC]]
| producer   = [[Gary Katz]]
| prev_title = [[Can't Buy a Thrill]]
| prev_year  = 1972
| next_title = [[Pretzel Logic]]
| next_year  = 1974
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        = Countdown to Ecstasy
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[Show Biz Kids]]
 | single1date = July 1973 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Steely+Dan&titel=Show+Biz+Kids&cat=s|title=Steely Dan – Show Biz Kids|first=Steffen|last=Hung|website=hitparade.ch}}</ref>
 | single2     = [[My Old School (song)|My Old School]]
 | single2date = October 1973 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Steely+Dan&titel=My+Old+School&cat=s|title=Steely Dan – My Old School|first=Steffen|last=Hung|website=hitparade.ch}}</ref>
}}
}}

'''''Countdown to Ecstasy''''' is the second studio album by American [[rock music|rock]] band [[Steely Dan]], released in July 1973, by [[ABC Records]]. It was recorded at [[The Village (studio)|the Village Recorder]] in [[West Los Angeles]], California, except for [[Rick Derringer]]'s  [[slide guitar]] part for "[[Show Biz Kids]]", which was recorded at [[Caribou Ranch]] in [[Nederland, Colorado|Nederland]], Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/countdown-to-ecstasy-mw0000191882/credits|title=Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan &#124; Credits &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref> After the departure of vocalist [[David Palmer (vocalist)|David Palmer]] from Steely Dan, the group recorded the album with [[Donald Fagen]] singing lead on every track.{{sfn|Uslan|Clark|Solomon|1981|p=392}}

Although the album was a critical success, it failed to generate a [[hit single]] in the United States, and consequently only charted at number 35 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tapes]] chart, though it was certified [[RIAA certification|Gold]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) in 1978. The album has received perfect scores from music critics in numerous retrospective reviews.

==Musical style==
Like Steely Dan's 1972 debut album ''[[Can't Buy a Thrill]]'', ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' has a [[rock music|rock]] sound that exhibits a strong influence from [[jazz]].{{sfn|Valdez|2006|p=380}} It comprises uptempo, four- to five-minute rock songs,<ref name="Logan"/> which, apart from the [[blues]]y [[vamp (music)|vamps]] of "Bodhisattva" and "[[Show Biz Kids]]", are subtly [[texture (music)|textured]] and feature jazz-inspired [[Break (music)|interlude]]s.<ref name="Erlewine"/> Commenting on the album's style and production, music critic [[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull]] said it is "clean, almost slick", with "no [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]], no clutter", reminiscent of 1940s [[Bop music|bop]] and "the [[overproduction (music)|overproduced]] early 60s [[pop rock]]".<ref name="Hull">{{cite magazine|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=April 1975|url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/arch/rekord4.php|title=The Rekord Report: L'Objet Rèpris|magazine=Overdose|access-date=July 12, 2020|via=tomhull.com}}</ref> ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' was the only Steely Dan album written and arranged for a live band.

Bop-style jazz soloing is set in the context of a pop song on "Bodhisattva".{{sfn|Chapman|Clapton|2000|p=202}} "The Boston Rag" develops from a jazzy song to unrefined playing by the band, including a distorted guitar solo by [[Jeff Baxter|Jeff "Skunk" Baxter]]. "[[My Old School (song)|My Old School]]" features reverent saxophones and aggressive piano riffs and guitar solos.<ref name="Blashill"/> [[Jim Hodder (musician)|Jim Hodder]]'s drumming on the album eschews rock music for [[pop music|pop]] and jazz [[groove (music)|grooves]].<ref name="Billboard">{{cite magazine|date=July 14, 1973|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62|title=Billboard's Top Album Picks|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=62|access-date=April 12, 2013}}</ref>

==Lyrics and themes==
''Countdown to Ecstasy'' has similar lyrical themes to ''Can't Buy a Thrill''.<ref name="Logan"/> It explores topics such as drug abuse, [[class envy]], and [[West Coast (US)|West Coast]] excess.<ref name="Jones"/> "Your Gold Teeth" follows a jaded female [[wikt:grifter|grifter]] who uses her attractiveness and cunning to take advantage of others,{{sfn|Dimery|Lydon|2010|p=301}} "My Old School" was inspired by a drug bust involving [[Walter Becker]] and [[Donald Fagen]] while they were students at [[Bard College]],<ref name="Blashill"/> "King of the World" explores a post-[[nuclear holocaust]] United States, and "Show Biz Kids" satirizes contemporary Los Angeles lifestyles.<ref name="SR"/> Critic Tom Hull described the lyrics as "a running paste together joke [...] sufraintelligent, witty and slyly devious", citing as an example the following lyrics from "Show Biz Kids": "They got the booze they need / All that money can buy / They got the shapely bods / They got the Steely Dan T-shirt / And for the coup de grâce / They're outrageous."<ref name="Hull"/>

According to [[Rob Sheffield]], Becker and Fagen's lyrics on the album portray America as "one big [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], with gangsters and gurus hustling for souls to steal." He views it as the first in a trilogy of Steely Dan albums that, along with ''[[Pretzel Logic]]'' (1974) and ''[[Katy Lied]]'' (1975), showcase "a [[film noir]] tour of L.A.'s decadent losers, showbiz kids, and razor boys."{{sfn|Sheffield et al.|2004|p=789}} Erik Adams of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' called the album a "dossier of literate [[lowlife]]s, the type of character studies that say, 'Why yes, the name Steely Dan is an allusion to a dildo described in ''[[Naked Lunch]]''.' These characters hang around the corners of the entire Steely Dan discography, but they come into their own on ''Countdown to Ecstasy''".<ref>{{cite news|last=Adams|first=Erik|date=March 8, 2012|url=https://www.avclub.com/steely-dan-1798230349|title=Gateways to Geekery – Steely Dan|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|location=Chicago|access-date=April 7, 2013}}</ref>

Some songs on the album explore more spiritual concerns. The opening song, "Bodhisattva", is a parody of the idea that the [[Anti-consumerism|disposal of one's possessions]] is a prerequisite to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightenment]]. Its title refers to [[Bodhisattva]], or people who are of the belief that they have achieved spiritual perfection, but remain in the material world to help others. Fagen summarized the song's message as: "Lure of East. Hubris of hippies. Quick fix".{{sfn|Rubin|Melnick|2007|p=160}} "Razor Boy", meanwhile, is a bitter, ironic pop song with lyrics that subtly criticize complacency and materialism.<ref name="Kreilkamp"/> According to Ivan Kreilkamp of ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'', in the song "Steely Dan speaks to us from that 'cold and windy day' when the trappings of hipness and sexiness fall away to reveal a lonely figure waiting for a fix. 'Will you still have a song to sing when the razor boy comes and takes your fancy things away?' Fagen asks a generation stupefied by nostalgia and self-involvement".<ref name="Kreilkamp">{{cite journal|last=Kreilkamp|first=Ivan|date=February 1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLVeu01ciK8C&pg=PT71|title=Steely Dan|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|location=New York|page=70|volume=7|issue=11|access-date=April 12, 2013}}</ref>

==Title and packaging==
The album's title was selected as a joke about attempts to rationalize a state of spirituality.{{sfn|Rubin|Melnick|2007|p=160}} The original cover painting was done by Fagen's then girlfriend, Dorothy White. The president of [[ABC Records]], Jay Lasker, disliked it and insisted it be re-drawn. The art proofs were subsequently stolen by Becker and Fagen during an argument over the final layout.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|last1=Becker|first1=Walter|author-link1=Walter Becker|last2=Fagen|first2=Donald|author-link2=Donald Fagen|year=1998|title=Countdown to Ecstasy|publisher=[[MCA Records]]|id=MCAD-11887|type=CD reissue booklet}}</ref>

==Marketing and sales==
''Countdown to Ecstasy'' was released in July 1973 by ABC Records in the United States and [[Probe Records]] in the United Kingdom. It failed to generate a [[hit single]]<ref name="allmusicbio">{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steely-dan-mn0000011707|title=Steely Dan|website=Allmusic|access-date=April 7, 2013}}</ref> and was less commercially successful than ''Can't Buy a Thrill'',{{sfn|Heatley|Lester|Roberts|1998|p=50}} only charting at number 35 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape]] chart.{{sfn|Uslan|Clark|Solomon|1981|p=392}} Nonetheless, it spent 34 weeks on the chart{{sfn|Heatley|Lester|Roberts|1998|p=50}} and was certified [[RIAA certification|Gold]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA)  in 1978, recognizing the shipment of 500,000 copies in the U.S.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA71|access-date=April 8, 2013|title=Flipping Through the Catalog|page=71|date=January 15, 2000|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|last=Hay|first=Carla|volume=112|issue=3}}</ref>

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
| title = Retrospective professional reviews
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Erlewine"/>
| rev2 = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|date=August 16, 1992|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-08-16-9203140079-story.html|title=Thrills, Scams and Nightflys|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=September 30, 2019}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
| rev3Score = A<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: S|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=S&bk=70|access-date=March 9, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev4Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Great Rock Discography]]''
| rev5Score = 8/10<ref>{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Martin Charles|author-link=Martin C. Strong|title=The Great Rock Discography|publisher=[[National Academies Press|The National Academies]]|year=2002|isbn=1-84195-312-1|chapter=Steely Dan}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev6score = 3/5<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Graff|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=Durchholz|editor2-first=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|chapter=Steely Dan|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612}}</ref>
| rev7 = [[Music Story]]
| rev7Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.music-story.com/steely-dan/countdown-to-ecstasy|title=Countdown to Ecstasy|website=[[Music Story]]|language=fr|date=n.d.|access-date=November 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121012314/http://www.music-story.com/steely-dan/countdown-to-ecstasy|archive-date=November 21, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev8Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Blashill"/>
| rev9 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev9Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Sheffield et al.|2004|p=778–89}}
| rev10 = ''[[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull – on the Web]]''
| rev10Score = A−<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=Steely+Dan|title=Grade List: Steely Dan|website=Tom Hull – on the Web|access-date=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
}}

Reviewing the album in August 1973 for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', David Logan said that, while it might follow a "formula", the songs do not become "redundant or superfluous", and that, though the band's "playing is hardly unique and their singing is occasionally hampered by patently ridiculous lyrics, they exhibit a control of the basic rock format that is refreshing and that bodes well for the group's long-term success."<ref name="Logan">{{cite magazine|last=Logan |first=David |date=August 16, 1973 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 |title=Countdown To Ecstasy |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |page=54 |location=New York |access-date=April 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227000503/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/countdown-to-ecstasy-19730816 |archive-date=December 27, 2012 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}</ref> ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' complimented the "studio effect" of the dual guitar playing and found the "grandiloquent vocal blend" catchy.<ref name="Billboard"/> ''[[Stereo Review]]'' called it a "really excellent album" with "witty and tasteful" arrangements, "winning" performances, "high quality" songs, and a "potent and persuasive" mix of rock, jazz, and pop styles.<ref name="SR">{{cite journal|title=Special Merit|page=94|journal=[[Stereo Review]]|date=November 1973|volume=31|issue=5}}</ref> In ''[[Creem]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] made reference to "studio-perfect licks that crackle and buzz when you listen hard" and "invariably malicious" vocals that back the group's obscure lyrics,<ref name="Creem">{{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=December 1973|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/crm7312.php|title=The Christgau Consumer Guide|magazine=[[Creem]]|access-date=April 6, 2013}}</ref> and he named ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' the ninth best album of 1973 in his year-end list for ''[[Newsday]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=January 13, 1974|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/news/nd740113.php|title=Returning With a Painful Top 30 List|newspaper=[[Newsday]]|access-date=April 6, 2013}}</ref> Tom Hull, in a review published in ''Overdose'' in April 1975, said the album is "perhaps the most representative, certainly the best realized," of Steely Dan's albums, as far as their "clean, almost slick" style is concerned, and called the overall effect "strange, strangely comfortable, queasy almost", and the band "a dangerous group, one that should be watched."<ref name="Hull"/>

In ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]'' (1981), Christgau said that, thanks to Fagen's replacement of Palmer, who Christgau felt did not fit the group, Steely Dan was able to achieve a "deceptively agreeable studio slickness" on the album.<ref name="CG"/> [[Paul Lester]] described the album in an entry in ''The Encyclopedia of Albums'' (1998) as a progression from ''Can't Buy a Thrill'', and wrote that "Becker and Fagen offered cruel critiques of the self-obsessed [[Me decade|'Me' decade]]", while their "blend of [[cool jazz]] and bebop, [[Brill Building]] song craft and rock was unparallelled at the time (only Britain's [[10cc]] were creating such intelligent pop in the early Seventies)."{{sfn|Heatley|Lester|Roberts|1998|p=50}} In his 1999 autobiography ''A Cure for Gravity'', British musician [[Joe Jackson (musician)|Joe Jackson]] described ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' as a musical revelation for him that bridged the gap between "pure [[pop music|pop]]" and his jazz-rock and progressive influences and influenced his subsequent attempts at songwriting.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQe_eCmmqaUC&pg=PA138|title=A Cure For Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage|first=Joe|last=Jackson|date=October 9, 2007|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=9780306817083 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  Pat Blashill wrote in a review in ''Rolling Stone'' in 2003 that the "joy in these excellent songs" and in the band's playing revealed Steely Dan to be "human, not just brainy," "like good stretches of [[the Rolling Stones|the Stones]]' ''[[Exile on Main St.]]''"<ref name="Blashill">{{cite magazine|last=Blashill |first=Pat |date=October 30, 2003 |issue=934 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/steelydan/albums/album/90998/review/5940553/countdown_to_ecstasy |title=Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |access-date=April 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112074036/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/steelydan/albums/album/90998/review/5940553/countdown_to_ecstasy |archive-date=November 12, 2007 }}</ref> In ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' (2004), [[Rob Sheffield]] called the album "a thoroughly amazing, hugely influential album" with "cold-blooded L.A. studio rock tricked out with jazz piano and tough guitar."{{sfn|Sheffield et al.|2004|p=778–89}} [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of [[AllMusic]] found ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' to be "riskier" musically than the band's debut album, and called the songs "rich with either musical or lyrical detail that [Steely Dan's] [[Album-oriented rock|album rock]] or [[art rock]] contemporaries couldn't hope to match."<ref name="Erlewine">{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/countdown-to-ecstasy-mw0000191882|title=Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=April 7, 2013}}</ref> Chris Jones of [[BBC Music]] said the ideas on the album are "[[post-modern]]" and "erudite", and asserted that the band was "setting a benchmark that few have ever matched."<ref name="Jones">{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Chris|date=January 4, 2008|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/3pjw|title=Review of Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstasy|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|access-date=April 7, 2013}}</ref>

In 2000, ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' was voted number 307 in [[Colin Larkin]]'s book ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|author=Colin Larkin|author-link=Colin Larkin|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=127}}</ref> The album was also included in the book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]''.{{sfn|Dimery|Lydon|2010|p=301}}

==Track listing==
{{Tracklist
| headline = Side one
| all_writing = [[Walter Becker]] and [[Donald Fagen]]
| title1 = Bodhisattva
| length1 = 5:18
| title2 = Razor Boy
| length2 = 3:12
| title3 = The Boston Rag
| length3 = 5:40
| title4 = Your Gold Teeth
| length4 = 6:59
}}
{{Tracklist
| headline = Side two
| title5 = [[Show Biz Kids]]
| length5 = 5:26
| title6 = [[My_Old_School_(song)|My Old School]]
| length6 = 5:46
| title7 = Pearl of the Quarter
| length7 = 3:51
| title8 = King of the World
| length8 = 5:00
| total_length = 41:10
}}

==Personnel==
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}
;Steely Dan
* [[Denny Dias]] – guitar
* [[Jeff Baxter|Jeff "Skunk" Baxter]] – guitar, [[pedal steel guitar]]
* [[Walter Becker]] – [[electric bass guitar]], [[harmonica]], backing vocals
* [[Jim Hodder (musician)|Jim Hodder]] – drums, percussion, backing vocals
* [[Donald Fagen]] – [[piano]], [[electric piano]], [[synthesizer]], lead vocals, backing vocals

;Additional musicians
* [[Sherlie Matthews]] (5,6), Myrna Matthews (5,6), Patricia Hall (5,6), [[David Palmer (vocalist)|David Palmer]], [[Royce Jones]], James Rolleston, [[Michael Fennelly (musician)|Michael Fennelly]] – backing vocals
* [[Lanny Morgan]], [[Bill Perkins (saxophonist)|Bill Perkins]], [[Ernie Watts]], [[Johnny Rotella]] – saxophone (6)
* [[Victor Feldman]] – [[vibraphone]], [[marimba]], percussion
* [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]] – string bass (2)
* [[Rick Derringer]] – [[slide guitar]] (5)
* Ben Benay – [[steel-string acoustic guitar|acoustic guitar]]
* [[Jimmie Haskell]] – horn arrangement (6)

{{col-2}}
;Production
* [[Gary Katz]] – producer
* [[Roger Nichols (recording engineer)|Roger Nichols]] – engineer
* Miss Natalie – assistant engineer
* Dotty of Hollywood – album design
* [[Ed Caraeff]] – photography

;Reissue
* Walter Becker, Donald Fagen – producers
* Roger Nichols – remastering engineer
* Red Herring Design/NYC – design
* [[Daniel Levitin]] – consultant<ref>Info from [http://www.broberg.pp.se/sd_ecstasy.htm Countdown To Ecstasy] at ''broberg.pp.se''.</ref>
{{col-end}}

==Charts==
===Album===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1973)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|align="left"{{album chart|Canada|49|chartid=4914|access-date=December 21, 2024}}
|-
|align="left"|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape]]<ref name="BillboardAlbum">{{AllMusic |class=album |tab=charts-awards |id=r18941 |label=''Countdown to Ecstasy'' – Steely Dan > Charts &amp; Awards > Billboard Album |publisher=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |accessdate=October 27, 2004 |ref=BillboardAlbum}}</ref>
|35
|-
|}

===Singles===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! Year
! Single
! Catalogue number
! Peak<br />position
! Chart
|-
|1973
|style="text-align: left;" | "[[Show Biz Kids]]" (B-side: "Razor Boy")
|ABC 11382
|61
|rowspan="2" | US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref name="BillboardSingles">{{AllMusic |class=album |tab=charts-awards/billboard-single |id=r18941 |label=''Countdown to Ecstasy'' – Steely Dan > Charts &amp; Awards > Billboard Singles |publisher=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |accessdate=October 27, 2004 |ref=BillboardSingles}}</ref>
|-
|1973
|style="text-align: left;" | "[[My Old School (song)|My Old School]]" (B-side: "Pearl of the Quarter")
|ABC 11396
|63
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last1=Chapman|first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Chapman (musician)|last2=Clapton|first2=Eric|author-link2=Eric Clapton|year=2000|title=Guitar: Music, History, Players|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|isbn=0789459639}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dimery|first1=Robert|last2=Lydon|first2=Michael|date=March 23, 2010|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|publisher=Universe|isbn=978-0789320742}}
* {{cite book|last1=Heatley|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Heatley|last2=Lester|first2=Paul|author-link2=Paul Lester|last3=Roberts|first3=Chris|title=The Encyclopedia of Albums|publisher=Dempsey Parr|date=August 27, 1998|isbn=1840840315}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rubin|first1=Rachel Lee|last2=Melnick|first2=Jeffrey Paul|year=2007|title=Immigration And American Popular Culture: An Introduction|publisher=[[NYU Press]]|isbn=978-0814775530}}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Sheffield et al.|2004}}|author=[[Rob Sheffield|Sheffield, Rob]]|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-last=Hoard|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]|edition=4th|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|date=November 2, 2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|display-authors=etal}}
* {{cite book|last1=Uslan|first1=Michael|last2=Clark|first2=Dick|last3=Solomon|first3=Bruce|year=1981|title=Dick Clark's The First 25 Years of Rock & Roll|publisher=[[Dell Publishing]]|isbn=044051763X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dickclarksfirst200usla}}
* {{cite book|last=Valdez|first=Stephen K.|date=August 31, 2006|title=A History of Rock Music|publisher=Kendall Hunt Publishing Company|isbn=0757533795|edition=4th}}

==External links==
* {{Discogs master|type=album|16898}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=guR30Wq5Wd0C&pg=PT91&dq=%22Neither+was+Kenny+Vance%22&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4 "Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years"] (Chapter on ''Countdown to Ecstasy'') at [[Google Books]]
* [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-obscure-steely-dan-lyrics.htm "Top Ten Obscure Steely Dan Lyrics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012153644/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-obscure-steely-dan-lyrics.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }} by [[Stylus Magazine]]

{{Steely Dan}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Steely Dan albums]]
[[Category:1973 albums]]
[[Category:ABC Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Gary Katz]]
[[Category:Albums recorded at the Village (studio)]]