The lazy decadence of the opening track Babylon Sisters is the perfect music to listen to when seated in a convertible, sun shining and cruising the highway. Listen to the fading chorus at the end: that alone took three days!

Hey Nineteen is a typical Steely Dan approach to telling a story abnout a guy who is feeling he gets older,... Classic stuff.

Glamour Profession deals with addiction to drugs in a funny yet exacting way.

Title track Gaucho is a mean little story about a rendevous with great saxophone playing and abeautiful melody.

Time out of Mind features Mark Knopfler in his first stint as a session musician, an occasion he will not forget very easy. He was asked to play many hours of solos, but eventually saw seven seconds of his efforts mixed into this song. Listen carefully; blink and you've missed it.

My Rival is a song about I still can't figure out what. It is a great song, but if anybody can enlighten me about the subject, I'd be most obliged!

Legend has it that Third World Man is constructed around a solo that was lying around from the Royal Scam sessions (1976). A haunting melody and indeed a GREAT solo by Larry Carlton.

That concludes my review for one of the best albums by one of the best outfits. Buy this one and you'll find it in your player more often then you would think.


The End of Steely Dan's First Era   January 29, 2004
Bud Sturguess (Seminole, Texas, USA)
32 out of 35 found this review helpful

Just like "The Royal Scam" was the darker predecessor of the already-grim "Katy Lied," likewise "Gaucho" is the darker sister of "Aja." The last album from the first lifespan of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (better known as the sardonic Steely Dan), "Gaucho" was released a long three years after the stunning success of "Aja" (which is still hailed by many to be their masterpiece). Several factors contributed to this long interval, but most notably was a contractual dispute between MCA (ABC) and Warner Brothers, with whom Steely Dan had signed a new contract. The battle wouldn't end even when MCA won the rights to the new album, as Becker and Fagen fought (to no avail) to stop a price increase for their new record.
Nonetheless, when it was finally released, "Gaucho" gave fans the dose of Dan that they'd been craving for three years. Not surprisingly, a lot of the album's content was substantially more sardonic than that of "Aja." The former album had been just slightly less pessimistic than their previous works; for instance there was the brightness of 'Peg,' and the care-free 'Josie' (the doomsday feeling was echoed best through 'Deacon Blues'). But with "Gaucho," Becker and Fagen had convinced themselves that they had already spent their musical zenith, which understandably made the creation of this album a daunting task. The familiar pessimism of old times was the result, but here it was finally matched with the perfectionist gloss of studio sterility that had made "Aja" such a hit; examples being the death knells of "illegal fun under the sun" in 'Glamour Profession,' the paranoia of the title track and 'My Rival,' and the irnoy of 'Third World Man.' Some moments do resemble "Aja" to a T; 'Babylon Sisters,' 'Time Out Of Mind,' and 'Hey Nineteen,' the view of a man who finds himself out of touch with what's new. Still, even these tracks are executed with a weariness that was even more evident within Steely Dan than before.
"Gaucho" would ultimately signal the end for this first era of Steely Dan; Fagen would find solo success with a Top 20 album, and Becker would pursue low-key projects. Of course, the duo re-united by the 90s and would eventually release two more widely acclaimed and popular albums. Knowing this makes "Gaucho" easier to listen to. If it had been the definite end of Steely Dan, it would be an unsatisfying breaking point, but fortunately for us, it wasn't.


Tribute towards an end of an era in American music:   October 18, 2007
LT Leonard
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

The sardonic brain trust that comprised Steely Dan in this outing, explore with delicious irony and wit various ills and taboo associated with American societal organisation; moreover, in the decade that followed the one undeniable theme that comes from this album and its predecessor (Aja) is that despite the inevitable innovation, production advances and marketing associated with the music industry, that those lyrics and music, which will stand the test of time comes from both individual musician and songwriters whose passion is to tell us a story or to evoke through music both pleasure and pain that has been either masked or embellished. Something the popular music failed to accomplish in the eighties, thanks goodness these musician and lyricist saw fit to utilise, jazz, pop rock and words to suggest to the next generation of musician and songwriters that it is indeed about the music.


Who is the gaucho amigo?   October 25, 2000
Jeffrey Harris (South San Francisco, CA United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Danfans rejoice!! The remastered version of Steely Dan's final album for MCA has finally been released, more than a year after the reissue of "Aja". In the liner notes Becker and Fagen make light of the lengthy delay of this re-release. From the accidental erasing of one of the songs slated for the album(The Second Arrangement) to Walter Becker being hit by a car, and the two plus years spent in the studio making this record, this obviously was a trying time for Messrs. Becker and Fagen, but the strain doesn't show. For years "Gaucho" has been unfairly compared to their previous album(which is a masterpiece, but we don't need to get into that now), this album is just as strong and stands very well on its own. Great songs like "Babylon Sisters", "Time Out Of Mind", and "Hey Nineteen" are classics that have held up well and will sound great years beyond now. An excellent first class reissue.