Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| BBC Music | (positive) |
| Robert Christgau | A |
| Rolling Stone | |
Countdown to Ecstasy was well regarded as a sophomore effort coming in higher by many reviewers than its predecessor. A reviewer in Rolling Stone stated "he Steelies strike gold and really boogie". Allmusic praised the album for being riskier and more sophisticated than their debut, commenting, "Countdown to Ecstasy is the only time Steely Dan played it relatively straight, and its eight songs are rich with either musical or lyrical detail that their album rock or art rock contemporaries couldn't hope to match."
In his autobiography "A Cure for Gravity" Joe Jackson talks about the importance of the album on his eventual music career. "It's probably significant that my favorite songwriters now were Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. Their album Countdown to Ecstasy was a revelation and certainly one of the most influential albums of my life. It was a bridge between my early jazz rock or progressive tastes and pure pop. Suddenly it seemed possible to be hip and smart and sophisticated with a high level of musicianship while working in the accessible pop format. Some of the early songs I was writing were heavily influenced by Steely Dan but of course without quite managing Becker and Fagen's worldy sophistication. "
Read more about this topic: Countdown To Ecstasy
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