STEELY DAN "COUNTDOWN TO ECSTACY" 1974 STILL SEALED LP

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THERE IS A SMALL “HOLE PUNCH” IN THE JACKET OF THIS LP WHICH WAS DONE BY THE RECORD LABEL PRIOR TO MAILING THE ALBUM OUT TO RADIO STATIONS.

THIS STILL SEALED L.P. COMES FROM MY OWN PERSONAL COLLECTION. POSSIBLY A THRIFT STORE FIND OR FROM A COLLECTION OF OVER 5,000 RECORDS GIVEN TO ME BY A RADIO EXECUTIVE, WHO WAS TIRED OF HAULING THEM AROUND…. OR FROM THE RADIO NETWORK WHERE I WAS THE MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS DIRECTOR FOR 15+ YEARS AND IN CHARGE OF THE MUSIC LIBRARY…

THIS IS AN ACTUAL PICTURE OF THE LP BEING SOLD, SORRY IF ANY OF THE PICTURES ARE SLIGHTLY OUT OF FOCUS.

PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO COMBINE SHIPPING ON ALL ALIKE ITEMS, IE: LPs, CDs. 45s  ETC.

THIS IS THE 1974 RELEASE ON MCA RECORDS BY STEELY DAN TITLED "COUNTDOWN TO ECSTACY". CAT.# MCA-1592. IT IS STILL SEALED IN IT'S ORIGINAL SHRINK WRAP, BUT THE BOTTOM SEAM OF THE SHRINK OVER TIME HAS COME UNDONE, BUT THE RECORD HAS NEVER BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE JACKET, THERE'S ALSO A SMALL OPENING IN THE SHRINK, ABOUT 1" ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE OPENING SEAM . JUST AN FYI.  HERE'S MORE ON THESE HALL OF FAMERS AND THIS RELEASE.

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Rolling Stone has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."

The band's music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies played by Becker and Fagen along with a revolving cast of rock and pop studio musicians. Steely Dan's "cerebral, wry and eccentric" lyrics, often filled with sharp sarcasm, touch upon such themes as drugs, love affairs, and crime. The pair are well-known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio, with one notable example being that Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980's Gaucho — an album that contains only seven songs.

Steely Dan toured from 1972 to 1974, but in 1975 became a purely studio-based act. The late 1970s saw the group release a series of moderately successful singles and albums. They disbanded in 1981, and throughout most of the next decade, Fagen and Becker remained largely inactive in the music world. During this time, the group steadily built and maintained "a cult following." In 1993, the group resumed playing live concerts; the early 21st century saw Steely Dan release two albums of new material, the first of which earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. They have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001.

The lineup of Can't Buy a Thrill and its follow up Countdown to Ecstasy were both band-oriented. Denny Dias handled the lead guitar as well as the electric sitar solo on "Do It Again", and Jeff Baxter handled rhythm guitar duties. Jim Hodder played drums as well as singing on one track, "Midnite Cruiser". As for Becker and Fagen themselves, Becker played bass and sang some sparse backup vocals while his partner Fagen played all keyboards (piano, electric piano, organ) and sang lead on every track but three.

Countdown to Ecstasy, released in 1973, failed to match the level of commercial success of the first album. Becker and Fagen blamed this on having to rush-record the album between tour dates and the fact that they were not happy with some of the performances on the record. The album's singles included "Show Biz Kids" (curiously chosen for release as a hopeful hit) and "My Old School", both failing to make any significant impact on the charts. However, "My Old School" (and, to a lesser extent, "Bodhisattva") did become a minor FM Rock staple as years passed. A live recording of "Bodhisattva" was also the only readily available live recording of Steely Dan for many years (as the B-side of the 1980 single "Hey Nineteen").

Countdown to Ecstasy is the second album by rock group Steely Dan, released in July 1973. The album was written and recorded in rushed sessions between live concerts and produced two Billboard Hot 100 hits, "Show Biz Kids" and "My Old School," which have continued to be popular both on radio and in concert.

The album was originally released in two-channel stereo and also in a special four-channel quadrophonic mix. There are some significant musical differences between the two mixes.

The song "My Old School" was reportedly inspired by an incident during some of the band members' college attendance. In its March 24, 2006 edition, Entertainment Weekly details a return trip to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York by Donald Fagen, in which he describes a raid by sheriff's deputies in May 1969. Fagen, Steely Dan bandmate Walter Becker, and some 50 other students were arrested. Charges were dropped, but the harassment was the origin of the grudge alluded to in "My Old School." Fagen was reportedly so upset with the school being complicit with the arrests that he refused to attend graduation. The same article speculates that a Bard professor's wife, Rikki Ducornet, was the inspiration for "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

A live version of the song "Bodhisattva" was used as the B-side for both "Hey Nineteen" and "Babylon Sisters", released as singles in the 1980s.

Both "Bodhisattva" and "My Old School" are playable tracks in the video game Rock Band 2, the latter as downloadable content.

The cover art to the album originally included only the three pink figures seated up front, but because there were five musicians who played on the album (they are pictured on the back) the two ghostly figures to the left were added by the record company to "balance" it out.

Track listing

All songs written by Becker and Fagen.

 Side one

1. "Bodhisattva" – 5:19
2. "Razor Boy" – 3:11
3. "The Boston Rag" – 5:40
4. "Your Gold Teeth" – 7:02
5.  Side two
5. "Show Biz Kids" – 5:25
6. "My Old School" – 5:47
7. "Pearl of the Quarter" – 3:50
8. "King of the World" – 5:04

SHIPPING FOR U.S. IS $4 WHICH INCLUDES THE COST OF THE RECORD MAILER EACH EXTRA LP IN THE U.S. IS $1, SHIPPED VIA MEDIA MAIL. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING IS $12 PER ALBUM AND $2 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL LP. IF MAILING TO CANADA OR MEXICO RATES ARE LESS SO LET ME INVOICE YOU. IF THE COSTS OF MAILING ARE LESS THAN WHAT THE RATES YOU PAID ARE I WILL REFUND THE DIFFERENCE MINUS THE $1.50 FOR THE COST OF THE MAILER. THANKS MUCH AND CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS.