The Royal Scam
Studio album by Steely Dan
Released	May, 1976
Recorded	November 1975-March 1976
Genre	Rock
Length	41:11
Label	ABC Records
Producer	Gary Katz
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (B) link Rolling Stone link
Steely Dan chronology
Katy Lied (1975) The Royal Scam (1976) Aja (1977)

The Royal Scam is an album by jazz rock group Steely Dan, originally released in 1976. The album went gold and peaked at #15 on the charts. The Royal Scam is the most guitar-friendly of Steely Dan's albums, featuring guitar work by Walter Becker and Denny Dias and studio musicians including Larry Carlton, Elliott Randall and Dean Parks. Cover of Steely Dans The Royal Scam. ... A studio album is a collection of previously unreleased, studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Rock music (disambiguation). ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... ABC Records started in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records, the recording arm of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Gary Katz is an American record producer, most famous for his work in that capacity on every Steely Dan album recorded during the first run of their career, from Cant Buy A Thrill in 1972 to Gaucho in 1980. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music, owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 3. ... Robert Christgau (2007) Robert Christgau (sometimes abbreviated in print to Xgau), born April 18, 1942, is an American essayist, music journalist, and the self-declared Dean of American Rock Critics[1] His first reviews were published by Esquire in 1967. ... This article is about the magazine. ... Image File history File links 5_stars. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Originally released in March 1975, Katy Lied was the fourth album to be released by rock group Steely Dan. ... Aja (pronounced the same as Asia) is an album by the rock band Steely Dan. ... Jazz fusion (sometimes referred to simply as fusion) is a musical genre that loosely encompasses the merging of jazz with other styles, particularly rock, funk, R&B, and world music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with RIAA certification. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... Walter Carl Becker (born February 20, 1950 in New York, New York) is the guitarist (and sometimes electric bassist) half of the duo at the core of the jazz-rock group Steely Dan. ... Denny Dias is an American guitarist, most known for being a founding member of Steely Dan. ... For the past three decades, Larry Carlton has been one of the nations most sought-after jazz guitarists, dividing his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with more popular bands. ... Elliott Randall (born 1947) is an American guitarist, most known for being a session musician with popular artists. ... Dean Parks is a musician and guitarist from Los Angeles, California. ...

With irony-leaden verses about drug dealers, safe sex, and hardships faced by immigrants, The Royal Scam is arguably Steely Dan at their most cynical. The mood of the album stands in contrast with the band's mellower and hugely successful follow-up, Aja. Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ... Retail selling Street selling is the bottom of the chain and can be accomplished through purchasing from prostitutes, through cloaked retail stores or refuse houses for users in the act located in red-light districts which often also deal in paraphernalia, dealers marketing merriment at night clubs and other events... Safe sex (also called safer sex or protected sex) is a set of practices that are designed to reduce the risk of infection during sexual intercourse to avoid developing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ... This article is about the current understanding of the word cynicism. ... Aja (pronounced the same as Asia) is an album by the rock band Steely Dan. ...

The album cover, which shows a well-dressed, possibly homeless man sleeping underneath (or perhaps dreaming of) mutating skyscrapers, is a satirical take on the American Dream. The cover was designed by Zox, and at least a portion was originally created for a Van Morrison album from 1974-75 that was never released [1]. In the liner notes for the 1999 remaster of the album, Fagen and Becker claim it to be "the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none (excepting perhaps Can't Buy A Thrill)." A homeless man pushes a cart down the street. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... For other uses, see American Dream (disambiguation). ... George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. ... Remaster (and its derivations, frequently found in the phrases digitally remastered or digital remastering) is a word and concept ushered into the mass consciousness via the digital age, although it had existed before then. ... Cant Buy A Thrill is the first album by Steely Dan. ...

In common with other Steely Dan albums, The Royal Scam is littered with cryptic allusions to people and events both real and fictional. In a BBC interview in 2000 [2], Becker revealed that Kid Charlemagne is loosely based on Augustus Owsley Stanley, the notorious drug "chef" who created hallucinogenic compounds for, among others, Jim Morrison of The Doors[3], and the Grateful Dead, and The Beatles. Owsley Stanley (b. ... For other persons named James or Jim Morrison, see James Morrison. ... This page is about the rock band. ... Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco, California. ...

Track listing

All songs by Becker and Fagen, except where noted

1. "Kid Charlemagne" – 4:38
2. "The Caves of Altamira" – 3:33
3. "Don't Take Me Alive" – 4:16
4. "Sign in Stranger" – 4:23
5. "The Fez" (Becker, Fagen, Paul Griffin) – 4:01
6. "Green Earrings" – 4:05
7. "Haitian Divorce" – 5:51
8. "Everything You Did" – 3:55
9. "The Royal Scam" – 6:30

The cover of the Kid Charlemagne single features Fagen (top) and Becker (bottom) Kid Charlemagne is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam. ... The Caves of Altamira is a song from Steely Dans The Royal Scam. ... Everything You Did is a song from Steely Dans The Royal Scam. ...

Personnel

• Donald Fagen - keyboards, vocals, background vocals
• Walter Becker - bass, guitar, vocals
• Chuck Rainey - bass
• Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals, background vocals
• Paul Griffin[4] - keyboards, vocals
• Don Grolnick - keyboards
• Denny Dias - guitar
• Larry Carlton - guitar
• Hugh McCracken - guitar
• Dean Parks - guitar
• Elliott Randall - guitar
• Bob Findley - horn
• Chuck Findley - horn
• Dick Hyde - horn
• Slyde Hyde - horn
• Jim Horn - saxophone
• Richard Hyde - trombone
• Plas Johnson - saxophone
• John Klemmer - saxophone
• Rick Marotta - drums
• Bernard "Pretty" Purdie - drums
• Gary Coleman - percussion
• Victor Feldman - percussion, keyboards
• Venetta Fields - vocals, background vocals
• Clydie King - vocals, background vocals
• Shirley Matthews - vocals, background vocals
• Michael McDonald - vocals, background vocals

Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as co-writer, co-founder, singer, and pianist with the jazz-rock band Steely Dan. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... Walter Carl Becker (born February 20, 1950 in New York, New York) is the guitarist (and sometimes electric bassist) half of the duo at the core of the jazz-rock group Steely Dan. ... The electric bass guitar (or electric bass) is a bass string instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping, or using a pick. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947, in Oakland, California), is a bass guitarist and singer best known as a member of Poco and the Eagles. ... Denny Dias is an American guitarist, most known for being a founding member of Steely Dan. ... For the past three decades, Larry Carlton has been one of the nations most sought-after jazz guitarists, dividing his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with more popular bands. ... Dean Parks is a musician and guitarist from Los Angeles, California. ... Elliott Randall (born 1947) is an American guitarist, most known for being a session musician with popular artists. ... Jim Horn was born in Los Angeles at an unknown date, and together with Bobby Keys and Jim Price one of the most in demand horn session players of the 1970s and 1980s. ... The saxophone (colloquially referred to as sax) is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family. ... The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. ... John Johnson Jr. ... John Klemmer is an American jazz and jazz fusion saxophonist and composer who was born on July 3, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Bernard Pretty Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is a session drummer from Maryland, United States, who claims to be the most recorded drummer in history, working on over 3000 albums. ... A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ... Victor Stanley Feldman (April 7, 1934 in Edgware, Middlesex – May 12, 1987, in Los Angeles, California, USA) was a British jazz musician. ... Vanetta Field was originally a back up singer for R&B legend Ike Turner. ... Clydie King is an American singer best known for her session work as a backing vocalist. ... A different person also named Michael McDonald is a co-founder of ATO Records. ...

Production

• Producer: Gary Katz
• Engineer: Roger Nichols
• Mixdown engineer: Barney Perkins
• Sound Consultant: Dinky Dawson
• Horn arrangements: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, Chuck Findley
• Art direction: Ed Caraeff
• Cover art: Zox
• Typography: Tom Nikosey

Charts

Album

Singles

External link

• Complete lyrics