By Brian Q. Newcomb
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
It’s taken Donald Fagen and Walter Becker 20 years to make another Steely Dan studio album, and two decades notwithstanding, it’s as if they haven’t skipped a beat. Amid the band’s trademark pristine jazz-influenced pop formulations, it’s not surprising to find lyrics that suggest the state of their art.
“The original classic thing — more of the same,” Fagen sings in “Negative Girl,” in “Gaslighting Abbie” he describes “the work itself, a mix of elegance and function.”
Reforming to tour and release a live album over five years ago, Becker and Fagen haven’t succumbed to the temptation to attempt a trend-driven effort.
In the sophisticated pop vein of “Aja,” the band’s strongest jazzy effort. “Two Against Nature” emphasizes the duo’s soulful R&B smarts and crisp instrumental exchanges. Becker’s guitar solos sparkle and shine, while Fagen drips cool in his biting vocal delivery.
As in the past, they find support in some of the best horn players and studio hounds in the business, all performing with a moving, soulful presence. Check out the amazing tenor sax solo by Chris Potter on “West of Hollywood.”
People with the usual rough crowd — the dangerous woman of “Almost Gothic,” the girl in danger of “Janie Runaway,” the druggie of “Jack of Speed,” and the incestuous “Cousin Dupree” — Steely Dan’s cast of narcissists and philanderers are not to be pitied. They’re best recognized by sight and avoided. Lacking the timelessness of “Deacon Blues” and “Peg,” and the poetic genius of “Home At Last,” Fagen and Becker fail to match the power of “Aja,” but overcome the limp listlessness that dominated “Gaucho.”
Still cool, but not too frosty, Steely Dan is resuscitated and vital again on “Two Against Nature.”
(Thanks to Jim “Hoops” McKay for unearthing and transcribing the following article. Visit his site at http://www.dandom.com.)
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