Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Steely Dan
Label: Reprise Records
Release: 2003
Length: 42:24
Rating: 4/5
Those two old music foxes, keyboardist and vocalist Donald Fagen and guitarist/occasional bassist Walter Becker, who as Steely Dan have spent a career now stretching past thirty-five years turning jazz rock sophistication into a household concept, didn’t exactly sit on their hands after the big comeback album “Two Against Nature” (2000), which bagged them the Grammy for Album of the Year and a whole pile of other awards. They followed up that unexpectedly huge return to the music scene with “Everyting Must Go”, an album written to their classic, trademark jazz rock recipe, still rhythmically unpredictable, but it came nowhere near the commercial success of its predecessor. So far it remains the only Steely Dan album that never went gold on the charts, though of course the two didn’t lose much sleep over that, having won pretty much everything there was to win in their rich career. With seeming effortlessness, and with the traditional help of a lineup of superb hired-gun players, they crafted yet another excellent album that doesn’t trail far behind their past masterpieces, pairing their knack for songs that look compact on the surface but are structurally and lyrically challenging with modern production.
This time the inseparable duo went for a somewhat looser approach, aiming to capture a sound as live as possible, almost like a concert, and they pulled it off nicely, since the album boasts a remarkably organic, flowing feel. Thick funk bass lines tie together the refined, artfully layered horn and keyboard arrangements, and right in the middle of it all Becker’s mostly mischievous guitar riffs wander about. After a long time, Becker played most of the bass parts himself again, and he does a great job. Of course there’s also plenty of soul and R&B backing vocals from the women, adding an extra pinch of eroticism and cheekiness to their songwriting creations. The powerful horn section and Fagen’s piano flights keep bringing in that traditional, dreamy jazz element that creates a real bar-room atmosphere. Subtle melodicism is the main factor marking most of the compositions, something both music gourmets and listeners who mostly go for easily digestible radio hits can drool over, even though none of the songs actually made it onto the radio as a hit.
In Fagen’s best lyrical tradition, the album is packed with sarcastic, enigmatic lyrics that don’t just poke at the less pleasant sides of American society, which was usually his main source of inspiration in earlier years, but at modern society in general. Among other things, he intelligently and subtly mocks capitalist consumerism, prostitution, virtual reality, the West’s sudden obsession with assorted New Age religions, the poor treatment of immigrants in the so-called developed world, and exploitative corporations. Every now and then he also tackles more basic lyrical themes in his own way, like loneliness and infidelity.
Most of the songs on the album follow their trademark songwriting and lyrical formula, which is already a guarantee of success in itself, though this time it doesn’t deliver anything wildly spectacular, so there’s no song you could really call a Steely Dan classic, even if every one of them is at least solid. A good chunk of them move at a mid-tempo, like the opener “The Last Mall”, where Becker’s drawn-out guitar phrases add a pinch of blues while Fagen mocks excessive consumerism in his typical biting way. In the background they’ve laid down the horn sections and female harmonies in an exceptionally refined manner, holding up a simple but addictive melody. One of the album’s main strengths is that it gets better minute by minute, which you can already tell on the next track, “Things I Miss the Most”, which, with its funk rhythm lines and an almost shamelessly mocking chorus at the expense of romantic disillusionment, seriously recalls some of their seventies gems. “Blues Beach”, steeped in the lyrical problem of prostitution, with seductive female harmonies and “Hawaiian” rhythms, has very little to do with the blues despite the title, apart from a few shy guitar passages from Becker.
The funk-soaked “Godwhacker”, in which Fagen pokes fun at modern religious preachers and the West’s New Age mania, is practically a Steely Dan archetype with a string of striking solo excursions, especially Becker’s superb guitar solo. The bass breaks in between are brilliant too, cutting through the instrumental passages with incredible precision. The excellent “Slang of Ages” has gone down in the annals of Steely Dan history as the only song where Walter Becker takes over as lead vocalist. The legendary guitarist handled his unusual role with surprising conviction, strongly backed by the R&B female vocals. Fagen’s flights on Rhodes and organ and the spirited horn bits are what bring in a generous dose of jazz rock refinement. On “Green Book”, Fagen, backed by the women, dissects the delusions of virtual reality in an especially juicy way, while a mysterious motif is carried by a combination of grooving bass lines and light passages on guitar and keyboards.
Of everything on the album, “Pixeleen”, with its seductive, downright erotic “soul” chorus, is undoubtedly the one with the most hit potential. The “blame” goes to a subtle combination of playful horn parts that steer the song from an enigmatic opening atmosphere toward an unbelievably seductive chorus, ruled by fantastic vocal harmony between Fagen and his “companions”. The lyrics are anything but romantic, though, telling of the exploits of an Indian immigrant named Abuja and some stuck-up, spoiled floozy. “Lunch With Gina”, in which Fagen pokes fun at an unfulfilled date at a restaurant that exists only in one person’s head, could also be counted among the album’s highlights. In the middle section the legendary keyboardist treats himself to a short synth solo that ranks among the best instrumental moments. The album closes with the title track, which is also the longest and most ambitious piece on it. An instrumental opening appetizer is followed by an excellent tenor sax solo (another one turns up near the end of the song), which carries the composition through crafty rhythmic meanders toward a dreamy chorus in which Fagen takes a jab at the rise and fall of a corrupt corporation. It’s one of those especially reflective songs lyrically, and I warmly recommend it to anyone who’s had their fill of the likes of Bavčar and Šrot.
With “Eveything Must Go”, the legendary Steely Dan duo, as expected, didn’t fan the flames of any particular artistic innovation, but used their tried-and-tested songwriting formula to create yet another album for the new century that runs along the finest lines of jazz rock sophistication. With a record whose standout traits are its remarkably live-sounding production and its consistency, the two old foxes have proven once again that even in the 21st century they’re still the undisputed masters of jazz rock subtlety and infectious melodies laced with biting humor. Their impressive streak of back-to-back masterpieces wrapped up more than two decades ago, but even though “Everything Must Go” isn’t quite the incarnation of jazz rock perfection that spoiled music gourmets rotten in years past, it follows that grand tradition nicely.
Lineup
Donald Fagen – vocals, organ, synthesizer, percussion, piano, clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer
Walter Becker – guitar, bass guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Ted Baker – keyboards
Bill Charlap – keyboards
Jon Herington – guitar
Hugh McCracken – guitar
Kenneth Hitchcock – clarinet
Tony Kadleck – trumpet
Michael Leonhart – trumpet
Chris Potter – tenor saxophone
Jim Pugh – trombone
Roger Rosenberg – baritone saxophone
Walt Weiskopf – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Keith Carlock – drums
Gordon Gottlieb – percussion
Ada Dyer – backing vocals
Tawatha Agee – backing vocals
Carolyn Leonhart – backing vocals
Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals
Catherine Russell – backing vocals
Brenda White-King – backing vocals
Production
Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Track list
1. The Last Mall
2. Things I Miss The Most
3. Blues Beach
4. Godwhacker
5. Slang Of Ages
6. Green Book
7. Pixeleen
8. Lunch With Gina
9. Everything Must Go
