New remastering of Steely Dan's Katy Lied review by Fremer

What I’ve read is that DBX noise reduction was to blame, not tape machines, but in the liner notes, FWIW, there are no complaints to back this up.

The DBX problem -- and a crisis at the time -- is well established. There is still some problematic aspects to the original recording as @slaw indicates. A real shame.

In the liner notes, Fagan and Becker do mention "our splendid double Magneplanar monitor. system and newly acquired and fabulously expensive Audio Research D-76 tube power amps", which would reinforce the assertions about Becker at least being an audiophile.

These notes indicate how misguided they all were -- the studio should never have used such equipment for mixing room playback. I mean, really, 1 in 100,000 people have a system like that, so it's a terrible baseline for making a record. If they based their judgments on that system, well, that's just another possible reason everything wound up sounding so mediocre.

@hilde

I will give you the benefit of the doubt on WB because I can’t find anything official about such case, so retract my comment about that.

The question about the lyrics still stands with no proof needed other than to speculate on what the lyrics are referring to. I’ve been a SD fan for a very long time and I suppose as a youth I didn’t pay much attention to such things, but I take a deeper look into the meaning of songs beyond just the artistic contribution these days. Maybe it’s just what we do nowadays?!….
 

@hilde45

There is still some problematic aspects to the original recording...

A shame, indeed. KL is one of my favorite SD albums.

I mean, really, 1 in 100,000 people have a system like that, so it’s a terrible baseline for making a record.

Again, yes. And, hardly the sort of "ruthlessly revealing" gear typically employed in studios. In fact, I bought my Silverline monitors from a guy in NYC who had a recording studio and opted to sell them for this very reason -- he found them too colored. They'd seen very little use -- practically new. His loss was my gain. 

I doubt the Maggies were used to lay down all those multi “ tracks of whack “ ( as an aside a fantastic IMO Walter album )… My understanding is wonky DBX NR was the culprit… I was never a fan of anything they did…

i had briefly the newly remastered Geffen 33 of Katy and agree on most songs it represents improvement. I returned it due to scuffs… but i will certainly replace it…

To the OP and your general ranking of the various SD and DF solo work, i would tend to agree. I need to respin the expensive Gaucho with a very deep pour. Morph the cat has some killer bass….

Great songs that suffer from recording decisions at the time.  Once it’s on tape there’s only do much you can do.  One thing I like about SD reissues is that they are not as compressed as many other recent reissues.  I find I have to crank the volume so it’s loud enough for my old guy ears.  The songs hold up since their arrangements are so great.  I had a great time streaming the 10 songs again last night.