KATY LIED

Katy Lied is the fourth full length studio album from US Pop/ Rock act Steely Dan. Katy Lied continues the sophisticated Pop/ Rock style of its predecessor Pretzel Logic but fails to deliver anything as exciting as the jazzy approach they had on their second album Countdown to Ecstasy.

The music is unmistakably Steely Dan from the moment the opening song Black Friday starts. Sophisticated and cleverly arranged, cool and laidback pop/ rock. All songs are of high compositional quality but they are not very challenging for the conventional proghead as they all follow the vers/ chorus formula. There is a special mood in Steely Dan´s music and that mood is of course present here too. Warm and pleasant music that you put on when you need to relax and not think too much. It´s still sophisticated enough to partially entertain me though.

The biggest assets on Katy Lied are the excellent musicianship and the high quality compositions.

The production from Gary Katz is warm and pleasant. Really professional and well sounding.

I can´t say I´m too impressed with Katy Lied when it comes to me liking the songs ( they are good but not excellent), but when it comes to an objective view on the qualities of this album I´ll have to rate it 3 stars ( a big 2 star rating rounded up). Simply because it´s very few artists who are able to write music like this. Steely Dan could do so much better though which they proved on Countdown to Ecstasy but have chosen a more commercial approach on the last two albums ( Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied) instead. I sure hope they will get back on track on subsequent albums because I´m starting to question their place here on PA.