text:  The cover of Pretzel Logic is a black-and-white photograph of a pretzel vendor snapped in New York City's Central Park on a cold, slushy winter day. In the Pretzel Logic context of this album, that harsh image is a perfect analog for the paradox of Steely Dan. They were hitmakers who acted like obscure cult artists, creators of crowd-pleasing pleasure with songs about joyless obsessions. What an unlikely great album.