Pretzel Logic
	Produced by Gary Katz
	Released on March 1974
	US CHART POSITION #8 . . . UK CHART POSITION #37
	Find it at GEMM
ABCD-808 cover

Although it’s too salty for my tastes, many detect in Pretzel Logic a jazz sensibility come to the fore, and a culmination of their joint allegiance to jazz and pop. It is a different record than Countdown, complex and hurried and eclectic. The opening “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” could be the most perfect song they’ve ever recorded, while “Any Major Dude” gets under my skin like no other Dan track does. So what’s the problem? Pretzel Logic is a blur, the band changing costumes (jazz, rock, funk, country) quickly and often, which underscores how talented they are but doesn’t necessarily translate into a powerful performance. The band’s best songs take a few minutes to weave their spell; how else to explain that the two singles from Pretzel Logic are also the two longest tracks on here (and by a minute at that)? In between are some very good ideas -- “Through With Buzz,” “Monkey In Your Soul” -- that stir the senses like a demitasse of espresso. Still, “Parker’s Band” and “With A Gun” seem rushed, and a certain clarity of sound is missing that marked the difference between a “Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More” (which I’ve always liked) and a “Night By Night” (which I’m ambivalent towards). Sure, the guitar solos are present and accounted for, and the piano work is especially tantalizing this time, but their masterpiece? I sure hope not. It does remain a unique entry in their catalog, as essential as any of their albums, yet making a meal out of Pretzel Logic has always proved more problematic for me than Aja, Katy Lied or Countdown To Ecstasy.

ABCD-808 gatefold

TRACK LISTING

1. RIKKI DON'T LOSE THAT NUMBER    4:30
2. NIGHT BY NIGHT    3:36
3. ANY MAJOR DUDE    3:05
4. BARRYTOWN    3:17
5. EAST ST. LOUIS TOODLE-OO    (Duke Ellington/B. Miley)    2:45
6. PARKER'S BAND    2:36
7. THROUGH WITH BUZZ    1:30
8. PRETZEL LOGIC    4:28
9. WITH A GUN    2:15
10. CHARLIE FREAK    2:41
11. MONKEY IN YOUR SOUL    2:31
    
    All songs written by Walter Becker/Donald Fagen unless noted

CREDITS

JEFF BAXTER --
WALTER BECKER --
DENNY DIAS --
DONALD FAGEN --
JIM HODDER --
Ben Benay --
Bruce --
Dee --
Wilton Felder --
Victor Feldman --
Jim Gordon --
Jimmie Haskell -- orchestration
Plas Johnson --
Lew McCreary --
Ollie Mitchell --
Michael Omartian --
David Paich --
Dean Parks --
Jeff Porcaro --
Chuck Rainey --
Jerome Richardson --
Tim Schmit --
Tubby --
Ernie Watts --
Roger (The Immortal) Nichols -- engineer
Raenne Rubinstein -- cover photo
Ed Caraeff -- art direction and inside photo
David Larkham -- design

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