Steely Dan - Gaucho (45 RPM 200 Gram Clarity Vinyl)

• Gaucho — Steely Dan's Grammy-winning seventh studio album now on UHQR!
• Definitive reissue Ultra High Quality Record, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl!
• 45 RPM LP release limited to 20,000 numbered copies
• Mastered by Bernie Grundman from an analog tape copy originally EQ'd by Bob Ludwig
  
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using 200-gram Clarity Vinyl®
• Purest possible pressing and most visually stunning presentation and packaging!
• Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing

"It's the fifth entry in AP's Steely Dan reissue series, and, in its own way, it's also a clear-cut litmus-test entry of the lot. ... Every side of the Gaucho UHQR exhibited no inner-groove distortion, and there were no pops and/or clicks either. Each of my two clarity vinyl Gaucho LPs, all sides of which were adorned with the proper, of-era MCA rainbow label design, color scheme, and lowercase side designations, were flat, well-centered, and quiet — oh so quiet! The compression and EQ native to the original have not been altered. Instead, how shall I put it — the flawed soul of Gaucho is now more clear, more pure, more there. ... What the UHQR processes and ensuing end product have done instead is they've brought the excellently engineered and mastered Gaucho LP to a cleaner, quieter state of playback. ... The UHQR edition of Steely Dan's Gaucho is the best this album has ever sounded on vinyl, full stop. Yes, the original 1980 MCA LP rightfully earned its engineering Grammy, but this new 2LP 45rpm edition lets the music truly reflect the clean soul that was always inherent in its grooves on totally quiet clarity vinyl. It's finally re-engaged me with an album I had long preferred listening to digitally over the balance of the past 20-odd years." —  Music = 8/11; Sound = 11/11 — Mike Mettler, AnalogPlanet.com To read the full review click here.

"...this thing's really in kind of a league of its own, it really is and I'm really trying to be careful with what I say when I say there's a big difference - but with this one there's definitely a big difference and that might be because I know this album so well ... the cymbals especially on 'Babylon Sisters' the pretty shuffle there's some symbol decay in there that I've never heard - the way the cymbal rings out after it's being hit, it's not just a crash and gone. That decay of that cymbal is being accentuated and in a more natural way. ... snare drums are super snappy, the kick drum's got a really good punch to it. ... the viny's dead quiet. ... There's no question that out of all four of these (other pressings) this is the best pressing." — Skylabs Audio, YouTube video

"...zero sibilance — very clear, very present ... it is glorious. It is just... a fantastic listen." — University of Vinyl YouTube video

"I think they knocked it out of the park. Chad and Bernie (Grundman) labored over this and made sure it was just right." — Scott Wilson, The Pressing Matters, YouTube video

"This is the first time, for me, that 'Gaucho' really sang, that it really opened up and this record is something I think I will go to more and more. ..." — Jason Gorber for the That Shelf YouTube channel. Video.

""I'm going to predict and I'm going to think even though there's still two remaining albums to be to to be released on Analogue Productions ... I'm going to predict that this is going to be the definitive best sounding not only version of this album but I think it's going to be the best sounding album of the series..." — Mike's Vinyl Experience, YouTube video

"The original didn't have powerful bass and neither does the UHQR. It would have been easy to screw this up by boosting the bass but that wasn't done here. Instead, bass attack has been clarified and 'tightened' but at the same time cutting at 45 seems to have added suppleness. On 'Goucho' listen to the 'stop and start' clarity of Becker's bass lines produced by the quiet vinyl and 45rpm cut. There are percussive elements and accents in the left channel I've never heard so clearly." — Conclusion? "This is the definitive version of this record. If your analog front end is up to delivering it, I think you'll agree." — Music = 10/11; Sound = 11/11 — Michael Fremer, TrackingAngle.com. To read Fremer's full review, click here.

"...there are things I heard on the original that were always there but I didn't fully pick up on them until I heard the UHQR ... like some very subtle cymbal taps between the 2 minute 9 second and 2 minute 15 second mark in 'Babylon Sisters' - you see it's just these type of details that come out at you in this UHQR that seem a bit more recessed in the original. ... Sonics in the base and the mid and the trebles were all 10s and the imaging and openness and airiness is a 10-plus ... at the end of the day we end up with this 9.9 rating for the new UHQR out of 10 so what else can you say, it doesn't get much better than that." — David Bianco, Safe & Sound Texas Audio Excursion, YouTube video.

In their review of Gaucho, Rolling Stone proclaims, "Steely Dan have perfected the aesthetic of the tease. Their sound is as slippery as their (lyrical) irony."

Gaucho — the iconic seventh studio album by Steely Dan, released in November 1980 — and Grammy-winner for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, was also Grammy-nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The album represents the band's musical evolution towards a more polished and sleek sound, featuring a collection of meticulously crafted songs that blend jazz, rock, and pop music, while exploring themes of decadence, longing, and disillusionment.

Gaucho's title track is a jazzy instrumental piece. The standout tracks on the album include "Hey Nineteen," a catchy and upbeat tune that features a memorable saxophone riff and lyrics about an older man's attraction to a young woman, and "Babylon Sisters," a funky and groovy track that showcases the band's impeccable sense of rhythm and melody.

The sessions for Gaucho represented the band's typical penchant for studio perfectionism and obsessive recording technique. To record the album, the band used at least 42 different musicians, spent more than a year in the studio, and far exceeded the original monetary advance given by the record label. Still, the album features multiple layers of instrumentation, carefully crafted arrangements, and the use of top-notch session musicians to create a lush and sophisticated sound that is uniquely Steely Dan.

Despite its critical and commercial success, Gaucho was a challenging album to make. During the two-year span in which the album was recorded, the band was plagued by a number of creative, personal and professional problems. MCA, Warner Bros. and Steely Dan had a three-way legal battle over the rights to release the album. After it was released, jazz musician Keith Jarrett was given a co-writing credit on the title track after threatening legal action over plagiarism of Jarrett's song "'Long As You Know You're Living Yours."

Gaucho marked a significant stylistic change for the band, introducing a more minimal, groove- and atmosphere-based format. The harmonically complex chord changes that were a distinctive mark of earlier Steely Dan songs are less prominent on Gaucho, with the record's songs tending to revolve around a single rhythm or mood, although complex chord progressions were still present particularly in "Babylon Sisters" and "Glamour Profession." Gaucho proved to be Steely Dan's final studio album that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker would make together until the year 2000. 

Gaucho reached No. 9 on the U.S. album chart and was certified platinum-selling. "Hey Nineteen" reached No. 10 on the U.S. Singles Chart and went to No. 1 in Canada. Pitchfork, in its review, describes the almost "pathologically overdetermined production" as elegant, arid and a little forbidding. "Every last tinkling chime sounds like it took 12 days to mix, because chances are, it did." The New York Times deemed Gaucho the best album of 1980, beating out Talking Heads' Remain in Light and Joy Division's Closer.

Founded by core members Walter Becker (bass) and Donald Fagen (vocals, keyboards), Steely Dan's popularity rose throughout the late 1970s on, and their seven albums throughout that period of time blended elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Steely Dan created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures, and a devotion to the recording studio. Becker and Fagen, with producer Gary Katz, gradually changed Steely Dan from a performing band to a studio project, hiring session musicians to record their compositions. The duo didn't perform live between 1974 and 1993. But their popularity nevertheless grew throughout the '70s as their albums became critical favorites and their singles became staples of Adult Oriented Radio and pop radio stations.

After a brief battle with esophageal cancer, Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 67. Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

This stereo UHQR reissue will be limited to 20,000 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets, housed in a premium slipcase with a wooden dowel spine.

Gaucho remains a testament to Steely Dan's enduring musical legacy and their ability to create timeless music that transcends genre and style.

Music

Sound

Ratings from Michael Fremer @ trackingangle.com

Music

Sound

Ratings from Mike Mettler  @ analogplanet.com