SOD: Steely Dan "Night By Night"

Pretzel Logic was Steely Dan's third studio album, and the last album to receive a live tour for decades. The end of this tour marked the beginning of Steely Dan becoming a true studio band. It was the last album that retained a core group of musicians that had been there from the start, before Steely Dan essentially became Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

Pretzel Logic was the final album with guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, before he joined the Doobie Brothers, and ultimately landed a defense consultant job with the U.S. Missle Defense Agency. It was also the last time guitarist Denny Dias toured with the band, though he lent his hand in studio work on some of the following Steely Dan albums. Dias ultimately became a computer programer. Finally, it was the last album that original drummer Jim Hodder worked on with the group. He ultimately drowned in his swimming pool at age 42. I honestly don't know what to make of these three stories, but I thought it was worth mentioning so you could draw your own conclusions. Lets move on.

Pretzel Logic is a strong album, but it doesn't make my Top Three. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," became the bands most successful hit, reaching #4 on the charts. To be completely honest though, its not one of my favorites. Personally songs like "Night by Night," the short but rippin' "With a Gun," and the short but groovy "Monkey In Your Soul," were my favorites off the album. "Parker's Band" was a tribute to Charlie Parker, and deserves a mention as well, as does "Any Major Dude Will Tell You."

The album received really strong reviews, better than Can't Buy A Thrill, Countdown To Ecstasy, and Royal Scam, but I personally enjoy those three albums more. That's not to say that Pretzel Logic isn't a very strong album, but it pretty much comes down to the fact that I find the other albums much more playable cover to cover (Countdown To Ecstasy to a lesser extent). I've met a few people at live shows who have cited Pretzel Logic as their unquestionably favorite Steely Dan album,  but that could've been because it was the last album they saw live, with the original line-up. That might have effected my opinion as well, if I was alive to have seen it. Overall though, Night by Night is up there on my list of favorite 'Dan tunes. It's a track that not a lot of my peers know, but when I've shown it to them, they've immediately become drawn to it. It has all the quintessential Steely Dan elements, but it never gets any play these days. On the radio or at house parties. So here's to bringing it back, night by night, one night at a time.