Details
Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Do It Again
2. Dirty Work
3. Reelin' in the Years
4. Only a Fool Would Say That
5. Change of the Guard
6. Bodhisattva
7. Boston Rag, The
8. Show Biz Kids
9. My Old School
10. Rikki Don't Lose That Number
11. Night by Night
12. Pretzel Logic
13. Any Major Dude Will Tell You
14. Black Friday
15. Bad Sneakers
16. Doctor Wu
17. Any World (That I'm Welcome to)
18. Chain Lightning
DISC 2:
1. Kid Charlemagne
2. Don't Take Me Alive
3. Haitian Divorce
4. Fez, The
5. Here at the Western World
6. Black Cow
7. AJA
8. Deacon Blues
9. Peg
10. Josie
11. F. M.
12. Babylon Sisters
13. Hey Nineteen
14. Time Out of Mind
15. Third World Man
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Walter Becker (vocals, guitar, harmonica, bass); Donald Fagen (vocals, whistle, piano, electric piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer); Jimmie Haskell (arranger); David Palmer (vocals); Ben Benay (acoustic guitar); Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (guitar, pedal steel guitar, Spanish guitar); Denny Dias (guitar, sitar); Dean Parks, Elliot Randall, Hugh McCracken, Larry Carlton, Jeff Mironov, Lee Ritenour, Steve Khan, Jay Graydon, Mark Knopfler (guitar); Tom Scott (clarinet, tenor saxophone, lyricon); David Sanborn, Phil Woods (alto saxophone); Pete Christlieb, Wayne Shorter, Jerome Richardson (tenor saxophone); Ronny Cuber (baritone saxophone); Lanny Morgan, Bill Perkins, Ernie Watts, John Rotella (saxophone).
Compilation producers: Donald Fagen, Walter Becker.
Engineers include: Roger "The Immortal" Nichols, Bill Schnee, Al Schmitt.
Includes liner notes by Michael Phalen.
Digitally remastered by Roger Nichols (Digital Atomics).
One of the most lyrically and musically sophisticated bands of the 1970s, Steely Dan went farther than any other mainstream group in stretching the definition of what a "rock" band could be. Challenging the traditional notion of fixed personnel, the ensemble had a constantly shifting cast that revolved around core members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, their obscurantist lyrics owed more to Donald Barthelme than Mick Jagger, and their unusual, jazz-schooled musical settings were miles beyond anything else one might hear on "classic rock" radio.
As the definitive, two-disc anthology SHOWBIZ KIDS makes abundantly plain, Steely Dan's real accomplishment was that they were able to break so much ground while remaining completely accessible and maintaining their considerable popularity through a string of complex, adventurous albums. SHOWBIZ KIDS hits all the high points, from the R&B-flavored early hit "Dirty Work" (featuring guest vocalist Barry Palmer) to the ubiquitous "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" (complete with Horace Silver-derived bass line), and the slick, latter-day pop-funk of "Hey Nineteen." It quickly becomes clear that Steely Dan had so few imitators because most acts never had the guts to try.
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