Pretzel Logic (1974)

"Pretzel Logic" 316.512.606 Becker and Fagen travel further into the wilds of jazz -- "Parker's Band" name-checks the bop master and "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" covers Duke Ellington -- but at the same time these baby boomers just can't help themselves, they live and breathe in the pop medium. No Steely Dan album before or since would have as many songs so short. "Through With Buzz" alone clocks in at 1:34, and it's worthy. Beneath the cynical affectations of "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" pumps a tender heart. And "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," another softy, was their biggest hit. From here on out the pair moved ever closer to unadulterated hipster pretensions, sans the note of self-mockery, and increasingly abandoned the sweet songwriting, although pop songwriters this good can never entirely abandon that. This is the one to get if you're going to get only one. All their strengths are on display in a potent package: the jazz/beat faux exhaustion inflected by pop sentiment (or is that the other way around?), allusive lyrics that get the story told, dead-on humor, and first-rate musicianship.