By Steve Persall
St. Petersburg Times
TAMPA — The knock occasionally raised against Steely Dan is that everything, especially the band’s latest release, “Everything Must Go,” sounds exactly the same.
Same as what? Its own uniqueness? No other band has mastered such intricate neogenre arrangements, so deceptively peppy for the cryptic lyrics they’re wrapped around, without being branded as imitators. If that sound was nailed in the studio, getting musicians to emulate the dense brew on tour was unlikely.
The only two perpetually ironic dudes doing it — Donald Fagen and Walter Becker — brought Steely Dan’s revue of rock, soul and something ultimately undefinable to 6,193 fans Tuesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Steely Dan is the antithesis of today’s chart-toppers. But, as Fagen sings, everything must go, at least for one night in Tampa when Santa Ana winds seemed to blow through the venue with each swooning brass section riff, with dead-on harmony and bizarrely logical themes sneaking through the lyrics.
Dan fanatics have waited years between new albums and tours, so a 17-minute delay Tuesday was tolerable. Sound glitches during the 2 hour and 40 minute concert were regrettable, but overall, the acoustics handled the layered melodies well enough to easily fill in the aural blanks.
An eight-piece backing band limbered up with a cover of Ray Bryant’s “Cubano Chant” before Becker and Fagen began “Aja,” with Fagen stretching out odd lyrics of banyan trees and dime dancing more soulfully than ever. Cornelius Bumpus’ saxophone earned the first of many ovations admiring familiar studio-burnished riffs.
The audience was obviously familiar with the playlist. Many could name a tune like “Black Cow” in a single guitar ping, or “Babylon Sisters” in two thumping notes. On the other hand, Fagen lured many into sticking around for Becker’s first singing turn — a notorious lobby break on past tours — with a piano feint for “Slang of Ages” that could have gone anywhere.
The second half opened with the unrecorded, self-mocking “Steely Dan Show.” Then came “Janie Runaway,” a hero “down in Tampa (where) the future looked desperate and dark,” drawing a provincial cheer. “Hey 19” was the night’s biggest chart (and singalong) hit, since “Do It Again” and “Reelin’ in the Years” were dropped from the playlist.
Two from “Everything Must Go,” the post-recession title track (another Bumpus triumph), and “Lunch with Gina” brought fresh arrangements for veterans of past tours to savor. “Josie,” “Kid Charlemagne” and “Don’t Take Me Alive” were aggressive showcases for guitarist Jon Herington and drummer Keith Carlock, as breathtaking as encores of “My Old School” and “FM” were predictable, staples since the band resumed touring nine years ago.
That’s a long time to keep anything the same, but when sameness is so sublime, who can blame Fagen, Becker or an audience that won’t let them go? Most bands of this vintage are content to roll out the hits, just dealing in the years. Steely Dan is still vital, vibrant and imitative of nobody except itself.
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