Pretzel Logic

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Pretzel Logic
Studio album by Steely Dan
Released	March, 1974
Recorded	Cherokee Studios, October 1973-January 1974
Genre	Rock
Length	34:02
Label	ABC Records
Producer	Gary Katz
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A+) link Rolling Stone (favorable) link
Steely Dan chronology
Countdown to Ecstasy (1973) Pretzel Logic (1974) Katy Lied (1975)

Pretzel Logic is a Steely Dan album originally released in 1974. The album's opening song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", became the band's biggest hit, reaching #4 on the charts soon after the release of the album. The album itself went gold, and then platinum, reaching #8 on the charts. The album was also highly regarded critically, appearing near the top of several end-of-year polls including the number one slot on the NME critics' poll and the number two spot on both Robert Christgau and the Village Voice end-of-year lists.

Steely Dan was still considered a true “group” at the time this, their third album, was released (in addition to core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, guitarists Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Denny Dias as well as multi-instrumentalist Victor Feldman had appeared on both previous Steely Dan releases along with a host of session aces; all five appeared on the inside cover of the album). The tour supporting this album would be the last time any version of Steely Dan appeared live until decades later, as Becker and Fagen's disillusionment with live performance during the tour would lead both to an end to such performance and a disbanding of the Steely Dan lineup. Much of this disillusionment was due to audiences' lack of reception of more complex material. This would lead Becker and Fagen to move to being a studio duo with varied backing on following albums, still under the name Steely Dan.

Something of a compromise between the tight pop of the band's 1972 debut Can't Buy a Thrill and the extended instrumental explorations of 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic was unlike anything else on the radio in 1974.

One of the standout tracks, "Parker's Band," was a tribute to legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.

Initial versions of the Remastered CD issue contained an abridged version of Rikki Don't Lose That Number. This has been corrected on subsequent pressings. The album was orignially released in 2 channel Stereo and also in a special 4-channel Quadrophonic mix. There are some significant musical differences between the 2 mixes. This was the last of 3 Steely Dan albums to be issued in both 2 and 4 channel formats.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 385 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 Original album version 1.2 Cassette version 2 Personnel 3 Production 4 Charts 5 External links

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Becker and Fagen, except where noted

[edit] Original album version

Side 1

1. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" – 4:30
2. "Night By Night" – 3:36
3. "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" – 3:05
4. "Barrytown" – 3:17
5. "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (Duke Ellington, Bubber Miley) – 2:45

Side 2

1. "Parker's Band" – 2:36
2. "Through With Buzz" – 1:30
3. "Pretzel Logic" – 4:28
4. "With A Gun" – 2:15
5. "Charlie Freak" – 2:41
6. "Monkey In Your Soul" – 2:31

[edit] Cassette version

Side 1

1. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"
2. "Through With Buzz"
3. "Monkey In Your Soul"
4. "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"
5. "Parker's Band"
6. "Charlie Freak"

Side 2

1. "Barrytown"
2. "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo"
3. "With A Gun"
4. "Night By Night"
5. "Pretzel Logic"

[edit] Personnel

Steely Dan

• Donald Fagen - keyboards, vocals
• Michael Omartian - keyboards
• David Paich - keyboards
• Walter Becker - bass, guitar, vocals
• Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals
• Wilton Felder - bass
• Chuck Rainey - bass
• Denny Dias - guitar
• Jeff Baxter - guitar
• Ben Benay - guitar
• Dean Parks - guitar
• Plas Johnson - saxophone
• Jerome Richardson - saxophone
• Ernie Watts - saxophone
• Lew McCreary - horn
• Ollie Mitchell - trumpet
• Jim Hodder - drums
• Jim Gordon - drums
• Jeff Porcaro - drums

[edit] Production

• Producer: Gary Katz
• Engineer: Roger Nichols
• Consultant: Daniel Levitin
• Orchestration: Jimmie Haskell
• Design: David Larkham
• Art direction: Ed Caraeff
• Photography: Ed Caraeff
• Cover photo: Raenne Rubenstein

[edit] Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1974	Pop Albums	8

Pop Singles

Year	Single	Label & number	Position
1974	"Pretzel Logic" (3:59 edit) (B-side: "Through With Buzz")	ABC 12033	57
1974	"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" (B-side: "Any Major Dude Will Tell You")	ABC 11439	4

[edit] External links

• Complete lyrics
• Joel Vance's review of Pretzel Logic
• Pretzel Logic - A Steely Dan Revue

v • d • e Steely Dan Walter Becker • Donald Fagen Jeff "Skunk" Baxter • Denny Dias • Jim Hodder • Michael McDonald • David Palmer Studio albums Can't Buy a Thrill • Countdown to Ecstasy • Pretzel Logic • Katy Lied • The Royal Scam • Aja • Gaucho • Two Against Nature • Everything Must Go Also featured on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz Live albums Alive in America • Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party Compilations Greatest Hits • Steely Dan • Gold • Gold (Expanded) • A Decade of Steely Dan • Reelin' In the Years • Do It Again • Citizen Steely Dan • Then and Now • Showbiz Kids • Definitive Collection Singles "Do It Again" • "Reelin' In the Years" • "Pretzel Logic" • "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" • "Kid Charlemagne" • "Deacon Blues" • "Peg" • "Hey Nineteen" • "Cousin Dupree" Related articles Discography