Andrew Tyler, Disc,
20 January 1973
This one’s already speeding up the Billboard and Cashbox charts – currently around the 30 mark and likely to jump about twenty places by next week. Quite understandable and justified, let it be said.
Still only a few months together, the band produce a remarkable range of sounds in the medium-to-heavy bracket – lots of excellent piano from Mr Jeff Baxter [sic – Ed.] and many powerfully melodic and lyrical songs from the founding duo of Donald Fagen (also on keyboards) and Walter Becker on bass. The pair met at college and later played for a couple of years with Jay & the Americans. They were soon hustled off to the West Coast by producer Gary Kannon for a staff writing job with ABC-Dunhill. Putting together a band was the next logical step, so in addition to Baxter, Kannon brought in Dave Palmer on vocals, James Hodder on drums and Denny Dias on guitar.
‘Reelin’ In The Years’ is the most instantly likeable of the package and would have made a strong single. They settle, instead, for a compacted version of ‘Do It Again’, which has a crispy-crunchy Latin feel and some nice changes.
Comparisons are always difficult and usually invalid but, if you were to imagine a combination of CSNY and Chicago, you’d still be miles off but headed in the right direction.
It’s fair to say that Steely will have a place on the nation’s turn table for as long as they produce music of this magnitude. And word is that they might well visit our shores in February or March, depending on how the single and album make out.