Pretzel Logic

Pretzel Logic is the third studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released on February 20, 1974, by ABC Records. It was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California, with producer Gary Katz. The album was the last to be made and released by the group while it was still an active touring band, and the last to feature the band's full quintet lineup of Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (who subsequently left to join the Doobie Brothers), though it also features significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians, and consequently the five band members all have reduced roles compared to their previous albums. No individual track on Pretzel Logic uses all five members of Steely Dan, and some only use two or three. A commercial and critical success, the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" helped restore Steely Dan's radio presence after the disappointing performance of its predecessor, and became their biggest hit. The tour accompanying Pretzel Logic's release was extremely stressful for Becker and Fagen, who then retired Steely Dan as a touring act and dissolved the original quintet. Pretzel Logic was reissued on CD in 1987, and remastered in 1999, to retrospective acclaim.