On this episode of Cosmic America, we tackle the midway point of Steely Dan's primary studio phase — 1975's Katy Lied. Once described as "an epic bardic saga" on some message board that I read in the late 90's, this album captures the Dan as they transitioned fully from a touring outfit to a pure-studio outfit. The army of session musicians who would come to dominate later albums had started to assemble on this one, and the album ended up hosting some lesser-known but incredibly important songs in the band's canon. Musical cleverness and lyrical obliqueness fully on display throughout this one.
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