VIA PRESS RELEASE | Steely Dan’s sophisticated jazz pop fourth album, 1975’s Katy Lied, with such standouts as “Black Friday,” “Bad Sneakers,” and “Doctor Wu,” will return to vinyl for the first time in more than forty years on January 31, 2025, via Geffen/UMe, continuing the extensive reissue program of the band’s classic ABC and MCA Records catalog.
The series, which began in November 2022 with the Dan’s legendary debut LP, Can’t Buy A Thrill, is being personally overseen by founding member Donald Fagen, and returns the group’s first seven records to vinyl, most of which haven’t been available since their original release. The series will close out with 1976’s guitar-driven The Royal Scam (“Kid Charlemagne,” “The Fez”) in mid-2025.
Katy Lied has been meticulously remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes for release as a limited edition premium 45 RPM version on Ultra High-Quality Vinyl (UHQR) from Analogue Productions, the audiophile in-house reissue label of Acoustic Sounds. Analogue Productions is also releasing this series of titles on Super Audio CD (SACD). UMe’s standard 33 1/3 RPM 180-gram version has been remastered by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling Sound from high-resolution digital files and pressed at Precision. They will be housed in reproductions of the original artwork.
The 45 RPM UHQR versions will be pressed at Analogue Productions’ Quality Record Pressings on 200-gram Clarity Vinyl, packaged in a deluxe box, and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a certificate of inspection. Each UHQR is pressed, using hand-selected vinyl, with attention paid to every single detail of every single record. All of the innovations introduced by QRP that have been generating such incredible critical acclaim are applied to each UHQR. The 200-gram records feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable.
Led by the songwriting and virtuoso musical duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan released an extraordinary run of seven albums on ABC Records and MCA Records from 1972 through 1980. Filled with topline musicianship, clever and subversive wordplay, ironic humor, genius arrangements, and pop hits that outshone the Top 40 of its day, their records, which were as sophisticated and cerebral as they were inscrutable, were stylistically diverse, melding their love of jazz with rock, blues, and impeccable pop songcraft.
Steely Dan’s fourth studio album, Katy Lied, released on ABC Records in March 1975, stands as a significant milestone in the band’s discography, exemplifying their unique synthesis of rock, jazz, and pop. The album was the first one recorded by Becker and Fagen after guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and drummer Jim Hodder left the group following the duo’s decision to stop touring and focus solely on studio recordings.
Key tracks such as “Black Friday,” “Bad Sneakers,” and “Doctor Wu” showcase Steely Dan’s evolving sound, characterized by complex chord changes, polished studio techniques, and a rotating cast of top-tier studio musicians. This included contributions from guitarist Larry Carlton, 20-year-old drummer Jeff Porcaro, and bassist Chuck Rainey, among others.
One of the most notable contributors during this era was Michael McDonald, whose distinctive backing vocals added a rich layer of harmony to several tracks, including “Bad Sneakers” and “Any World (That I’m Welcome To).” McDonald’s soulful voice became a defining element of Steely Dan’s sound during this era and added an emotional depth to the album’s sophisticated arrangements.
Katy Lied was well-received by critics and fans alike, praised for its musical complexity and lyrical wit. The album peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, bolstered by the hit single “Black Friday,” which climbed to No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. The record’s lasting influence is evident in its enduring popularity and its continued acclaim as a high point in Steely Dan’s illustrious career.
In their retrospective reviews, All Music hailed Katy Lied as “another excellent record in one of the most distinguished rock & roll catalogs of the ’70s,” while Pitchfork awarded it a 9.1 (out of 10) , declaring, “it captures Steely Dan in the thick of it all, still hungry and energized by their early burst of creativity but not taking anything for granted. Before Katy Lied, Steely Dan were a rock band, but this is the record where they became something else.”
