This year, Every Sunday Evening, Album Rock WXYG, The GOAT will be featuring a full album at 8:00 PM from the halcyon musical days of 1976. 1976 was one of the top Years in Album Rock history. Another year of tough choices every week. So many great ones to choose from. After 52 Weeks of featuring so many of the great albums that debuted in 1975, next Sunday we will be moving on to another amazing year of ALBUM ROCK EXCELLENCE, 1976.
We hope you’ll tune in at 8:00 PM, Next Sunday, February 15, 2026, for “The Royal Scam” the fifth studio album by Steely Dan, released on May 31, 1976, by ABC Records.
Like all of the band's previous albums, it was produced by Gary Katz.
For many fans, this is a favorite Steely Dan album. Becker and Fagen had the formula down to a fine art by now, having proved themselves as being among the best studio musicians and producers. Rather than standing still though, "The Royal Scam" resonates more than any of their previous albums. There is more depth to their sound, with deep bass lines, making for a broader structure that allows for loads of space. The compositions and songwriting are top notch as always. Steely Dan always injected a good dose of acerbic humor into their songs, as they do here on "Don't Take Me Alive" and "Everything You Did". Their jazz-rock craftsmanship comes more to the fore on tracks like "Green Earrings" and the closing track, "The Royal Scam". What makes this a great album is that every track is solid and a worthy representation of what Steely Dan was about: the '70's masters of highly crafted jazz-rock fusion.
When the chips are down and looking through the Seventies rock albums in retrospect, you have to say Royal Scam is one the 70's very best and certainly the Dan's best “rock” album. Every song on Royal Scam is incredibly witty and still sounds fresh and vibrant. Clearly the Eagles were listening as the Dan name checked them in “Everything you Did”. “Caves of Altamira” is a standout track, as is “Haitian Divorce” which did wonders as a single in Europe but seemed to float under the radar in America. Funny that. A near perfect album then from The Dan. The songs all groove out while also rocking very hard. Roger Nichols has got every instrument sounding huge! Just listen to the bass & drums on track 5 "The Fez" they're fat! It's also one of the funkiest grooves ever. This is a great album to get in your car & drive too.
Tune In and Turn On Sunday evening, February 15th, and every Sunday evening at 8:00 PM for The GOAT'S "The Long Play with Al Neff”.
