In 1980, after nearly two years in the studio, Steely Dan emerged triumphant with their brilliant seventh studio album, Gaucho. The GRAMMY®-winning title would not only mark their final release under MCA Records but also their last studio album for 20 years. Featuring the Top 10 hit "Hey Nineteen," plus such classic cuts as "Babylon Sisters" and "Time Out of Mind," Gaucho also boasts a who's who of legendary guest musicians, including Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald and Bernard Purdie.
Available on December 1 via Geffen/UMe, Gaucho continues the label's extensive reissue program of Steely Dan's classic ABCand MCA Records catalog, which returns the band's first seven records to vinyl – most of which haven't been available since their original release. Overseen by founding member Donald Fagen, the series launched in November 2022 with the group's legendary 1972 debut, Can't Buy A Thrill, followed by Countdown To Ecstasy (1973), Pretzel Logic (1974), and, most recently, the duo's 1977 multi-platinum jazz-rock masterwork, Aja.
Additional titles rolling out over the next few months include 1975's swing-pop perfection Katy Lied (featuring "Black Friday," "Bad Sneakers" and "Doctor Wu," as well as the addition of Michael McDonald on vocals) and 1976's guitar-driven The Royal Scam ("Kid Charlemagne," "The Fez").
All albums in the series are being mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes except for Aja and Gaucho(there's no evidence the original tapes containing the flat mixes of these two LPs were delivered to the record label and it's presumed the tapes no longer exist). Lacquers for UMe's standard 33 1/3 RPM 180-gram version will be cut by Alex Abrash at his renowned AA Mastering studio from high-resolution digital files of Grundman's new masters and pressed at Precision. They will be housed in reproductions of the original artwork.
