Steely Dan – Can’t Buy A Thrill (50th Anniversary Edition)

180-gram vinyl

50th Anniversary Edition

“There is no doubt a brighter high-end here than on my old copy, but also the vinyl itself — 180g, dark and black, and pressed at Precision — is generally much quieter than any of the original copies I’ve had over the years. … This new 2022 reissue of Thrill shines fine light on the little details of the recording. Listen closely for the cymbal crashes and related decay on ‘Do It Again,’ ‘Reelin’ In The Years,’ and ‘Dirty Work’ for some quick examples. Said crashes, courtesy drummer Jim Hodder, are much more natural, realistic, and present on the new version than on my original copy. Additionally, Denny Dias’ acoustic guitar strums on ‘Dirty Work’ sound more full-bodied and woody. Walter Becker’s bass on ‘Midnight Cruiser’ is punchier than on my original LP, and the instruments and vocals on ‘Only A Fool Would Say That’ feel richer and rounder comparatively, especially the acoustic guitars. Donald Fagen’s acoustic piano on ‘Fire In The Hole’ sounds very natural, rich, and open, complemented by those beautiful pedal-steel guitar lines by Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter. Then listen for that badass amplifier tone on the guitar solo during ‘Change Of The Guard,’ which never came through this strongly on the original edition I have.” — Mark Smotroff, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the entire review here.

UMe is releasing seven titles — from the classic Steely Dan MCA Records catalog — on 33 1/3 RPM, 180-gram vinyl. Led by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, these albums — Can’t Buy A Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied, The Royal Scam, Aja and Gaucho — were released from 1972-1980. The vinyl series will kick off with Can’t Buy A Thrill, now in its 50th anniversary year, with breakthrough hits “Do It Again,” “Reelin’ in the Years” and the recently viral “Dirty Work.”

Lacquers for UMe’s standard 180-gram versions were cut by Alex Abrash at his renowned AA Mastering studio from high-resolution digital files of Bernie Grundman’s new masters and pressed at Precision.

Steely Dan’s platinum-selling debut studio album Can’t Buy A Thrill, released in November 1972, was a commercial success, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard chart. It later appeared on many professional listings of the greatest albums, including Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000) and Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (2003).

Format: Vinyl Record

1 Lp