Counting Down to Ecstasy Can Get Congested

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Steely Dan Available Now

One of the biggest problems with the average copy of this album is congestion in the loudest passages.

On King Of The World, for example, many copies never quite open up at the chorus.

The Hot Stamper copies are much more spacious, giving the voices and instruments plenty of room to breathe.

The soundfield needs to be big and wide for this album to work, and on the best copies we played the sound is huge.

Another problem with the typical copy is a lack of bass. This is Steely Dan, man: last I heard they had a pretty good bass player by the name of Walter Becker. (On later albums he plays guitar, but with Denny Dias and Jeff Skunk Baxter still in the band at this point, the guitar duties were already in the hands of the truly gifted.)

We have to imagine that the band wanted you to hear bass — and plenty of it. Any copy of this album that doesn’t have lots of deep, punchy, well-defined bass just isn’t gonna cut it.

Three Demo Discs

Of all the great albums Steely Dan made, and that means all seven of their original albums and none of the ones that came along later — the less said about those the better — there are only three in our opinion that actually support their reputation as studio wizards and recording geniuses.

Chronologically they are Pretzel Logic, Aja, and Gaucho. Every sound captured on these albums is so carefully crafted and considered that it practically brings one to tears to contemplate what the defective DBX noise reduction system did to the work of genius that is Katy Lied, their best music and their worst recording.

(The cymbal crashes on Katy Lied can really mess with your mind if you let them. To get a better sense of what the DBX system did to the sound, try banging two trash can lids together are hard as you can and as close to your head as possible.)

Countdown to Ecstasy is the only Steely Dan album recorded by a working live band.

One of the most important qualities we look for in a Hot Stamper pressing is the ability to convey the fun and energy of these seriously hard-rockin’ sessions. Look for the essence of the sound of a real band in whatever pressing you play and you’ll surely be on the right track to counting down to the ecstasy that awaits you.

The Big Seven

Albums with an asterisk are credited with helping us dramatically improve our playback.

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