Today we have Steely Dan's fourth studio album Katy Lied. Released in 1974, the album was well-received like their previous albums, but Becker and Fagen were upset about the album's sound quality, which was slightly diminished because of an equipment malfunction. When sessions for the album started, Becker and Fagen were the only original founding members left in the band.
I miss the speedy, soaring guitar work of Jeff Baxter but Becker and the other studio guitarists are competent anyway throughout the album, most notably on "Black Friday" and "Daddy Don't Live in that New York City No More." Fagen nicely leads the jazzier numbers "Doctor Wu" and "Your Gold Teeth II," but also rolls out his most cynical, disillusioned lyrics yet. Mostly strong songwriting and you aren't like to notice the diminished sound quality that caused Becker and Fagen such distress, but many of the songs, "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" and "Chain Lighting," don't have the smooth melodies that have become Steely Dan signatures. A strong effort, but also their worst album yet. Ain't that incredible? B+ [Later: A-]
