The Royal Scam is the first Steely Dan record that doesn't exhibit significant musical progress from its predecessor, but that doesn't mean the album is any less interesting. The cynicism that was suppressed on Katy Lied comes roaring to the surface on The Royal Scam -- not only are the lyrics bitter and snide, but the music is terse, broken, and weary. Not so coincidentally, the album is comprised of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's weakest set of songs since Can't Buy a Thrill. Alternating between mean-spirited bluesy vamps like "Green Earrings" and "The Fez" and jazzy soft rock numbers like "The Caves of Altamira," there's nothing particularly bad on the album, yet there are fewer standouts than before. Nevertheless, the best songs on The Royal Scam, like the sneering "Kid Charlemagne" and "Sign in Stranger," rank as genuine Steely Dan classics. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Donald Fagen (Keyboards), Donald Fagen (Vocals), Donald Fagen (Vocals (Background)), Donald Fagen (Liner Notes), Donald Fagen (Horn Arrangements), Michael McDonald (Vocals), Michael McDonald (Vocals (Background)), Steely Dan (Main Performer), Larry Carlton (Guitar), Victor Feldman (Percussion), Victor Feldman (Drums), Victor Feldman (Keyboards), Don Grolnick (Keyboards), Plas Johnson (Horn), Plas Johnson (Saxophone), John Klemmer (Horn), Chuck Rainey (Bass), Clydie King (Vocals), Clydie King (Vocals (Background)), Elliott Randall (Guitar), Walter Becker (Bass), Walter Becker (Guitar), Walter Becker (Vocals), Walter Becker (Liner Notes), Walter Becker (Horn Arrangements), Ed Caraeff (Art Direction), Ed Caraeff (Design), Gary Coleman (Percussion), Gary Coleman (Drums), Denny Diaz (Guitar), Venetta Fields (Horn), Venetta Fields (Vocals), Venetta Fields (Vocals (Background)), Bob Findley (Horn), Chuck Findley (Horn), Chuck Findley (Horn Arrangements), Paul Griffin (Keyboards), Paul Griffin (Vocals), Jim Horn (Horn), Jim Horn (Saxophone), Richard Hyde (Trombone), Gary Katz (Producer), Rick Marotta (Drums), Hugh McCracken (Guitar), Roger Nichols (Engineer), Roger Nichols (Mixing), Roger Nichols (Digital Remastering), Dean Parks (Guitar), Barney Perkins (Mixing), Barney Perkins (Mixdown Engineer), Bernard "Pretty" Purdie (Drums), Elliot Scheiner (Engineer), Timothy B. Schmit (Bass), Timothy B. Schmit (Vocals), Timothy B. Schmit (Vocals (Background)), Zox (Cover Art), Denny Dias (Guitar), Dick Hyde (Horn), Slyde Hyde (Horn), Roger Nicholas (Engineer), Elliott Shiner (Engineer), Vartan (Reissue Art Director), Michael Diehl (Reissue Design), Tom Nikosey (Design), Tom Nikosey (Typography), Tom Nikosey (Cover Art), Dinky Dawson (Sound Consultant), Beth Stempel (Reissue Coordination), Karen Stanley (Nursery Rhyme), Stuart Dinky Dawson (Graphic Editing), Sherlie Matthews (Vocals), Sherlie Matthews (Vocals (Background)), Elliot Randall (Guitar)
With irony-laden verses about drug dealers, safe sex, extra maritial affairs 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.
The album cover, which shows a somewhat well-dressed, possibly homeless, man sleeping underneath (or perhaps dreaming of) images of mutating skyscrapers, is a satirical take on the American Dream. The drawing and painting of the skyscrapers topped with various animal heads (snake, etc.), was considered dark, eerie, gothic, and very much ahead of its time. The cover was designed by Larry Zox, and at least a portion was originally created for a Van Morrison album from 1974-75 that was never released. 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)."
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[1], 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[2], the Grateful Dead, and The Beatles.
^ The lyrics, written in first person on the theme of art, follow in typically abstruse fashion the story of a young boy who would avoid society by entering a cave and admiring cave paintings on its walls
^ the highest UK chart position for a Steely Dan single
