Elliott Randall’s electric-guitar solo on Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years” is one of those performances that sounds almost impossible to have happened spontaneously. But that’s essentially how it came together: Randall had no solo written, no elaborate rig and no particular plan beyond responding to the track in front of him.
The result became one of the most celebrated guitar solos in rock. Jimmy Page has reportedly called it his favorite solo of all time, while readers of our sister publication, Guitar World, selected it as the 40th greatest guitar solo ever in a poll several years ago.
Written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, “Reelin’ in the Years” appeared on Steely Dan’s 1972 debut album, Can’t Buy a Thrill. Fagen and Becker knew they had a great song, but they were struggling to find the right guitar solo to complete it. So they called on Randall, whom they knew from their days playing in the backing band for Jay and the Americans and who had also played on several of the duo’s pre–Steely Dan demos.
“They were having trouble finding the right ‘flavor’ solo for ‘Reelin,’ and asked me to give it a go,” Randall told Guitar World several years ago. Presumably, Dan’s guitarists Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Denny Dias and Becker himself had given the solo a try without success.
“Most of the song was already complete,” Randall adds, “so I had the good fortune of having a very clear picture of what the solo was laying on top of. They played it for me without much dialog about what I should play.
“It just wasn’t necessary because we did it in one take and nothing was written.”
As Randall explained in a 2007 interview with Guitar Player, the performance heard on the record was, more precisely, his first recorded take. He had done an earlier run-through that several people in the studio felt was even better, but the tape machine hadn’t been armed.
“I never plan a solo in advance,” Randall said. “If I did, it wouldn’t be improvisation, which to me is one of the most exciting things about being a soloist. What you hear on the Steely Dan record is the first recorded take of my response to the track.”
The experience had a lasting effect on Steely Dan’s recording process. “From then on, Katz [Steely Dan’s producer] never let a run-through go by without ensuring that it was being recorded,” Randall recalled.
Randall’s approach was remarkably straightforward. He recorded the solo on his ’63 Fender Stratocaster, which featured a PAF humbucker in the neck position, plugged directly into an Ampeg SVT amp and miked with a single AKG 414.
“The SVT wouldn’t have been my first choice for an amp, or even my fifth choice,” Randall said. “But it was the only amp in the studio that night. My Strat has been my number one axe since 1965.”
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter played the harmony parts, while Randall handled the entire lead performance — intro, answers, main solo and ending — as one continuous take.
The whole solo just came to me, and I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to play it.”
— Elliott Randall
“The whole solo just came to me, and I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to play it,” Randall said.
That spontaneous quality is central to Randall’s view of studio playing. As a longtime producer and session musician, he says his job is to help make the best possible recording while responding to what the artist and producer want from him.
“My job as a studio musician is to facilitate the making of the best possible recording,” he said. “As I’ve also been a producer since the ’60s, I have specific ideas about how to do that, but if I’m not the producer of a session, it behooves me to make my clients happy.
“And if they are asking for ‘classic Randall,’ I have to determine what their concept of that is. Of course, I do love when someone wants me to be ‘collaboratively creative.’”
There is even more Randall on the four-channel quadraphonic mix of “Reelin’ in the Years,” which contains additional lead fills that aren’t heard in the more familiar two-channel stereo version.
Beyond his legendary work with Steely Dan, Randall has performed and recorded with artists ranging from the Doobie Brothers to Asia and James Galway. He has also worked as a producer, teacher, clinician and technological consultant to major musical-instrument manufacturers.
But for many guitarists, it’s those few minutes on “Reelin’ in the Years” — improvised in the studio and captured on tape before anyone had quite decided what the solo should be — that remain his signature.
