Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Steely Dan
Label: Revolution Records
Release: 2000
Length: 51:25
Rating: 4/5
Never say never again is that golden rule that even His Scottish Highness Sean Connery once heeded, already in his gray years, with his unexpected return as James Bond. After a years-long break, the inseparable songwriting and instrumental duo of vocalist/keyboardist Donald Fagen and guitarist/bassist Walter Becker got their own big comeback moment too. With “Two Against Nature,” twenty years after their last Steely Dan album “Gaucho” (1980), they came back in grand style and proved that despite thoroughly graying hair, they’re nowhere near ready for the scrap heap. Under the Steely Dan name, the two perfectionists made a string of nothing but top-shelf albums in the seventies, boasting a highly refined fusion of jazz, progressive rock and pop rock, all dressed up in peerless production courtesy of Gary Katz, so it’s no surprise that expectations for what the new joint effort would bring after all that time were sky-high.
They took the first steps toward reviving the legendary name back in 1993, on the tour supporting Fagen’s solo album “Kamakiriad” (1993), which marked one of the artistic peaks of his career but also turned out to be a pretty serious commercial flop. After hiring a lead guitarist, an extra keyboardist, a bassist, backing singers and a horn section, they hit the road for an enormously successful tour. It peaked with the first official Steely Dan live album, “Alive in America” (1995). It feels kind of ironic that two musicians who shunned live shows for most of their Steely Dan career, especially in the second half of the seventies, turned into such live-gig enthusiasts in their later years. It was precisely the incredible crowd response to those shows that tipped the scales toward heading back into the studio after all those years and squeezing out their very best.
And they did pull it off on “Two Against Nature,” even though they didn’t manage to craft yet another gem in the series of sophisticated Steely Dan masterpieces, and for the first time in their career showed a bit of songwriting vulnerability. In many ways “Two Against Nature” continues the successful stylistic recipe that made them famous in the seventies, which is to say the compositions are marked by a refined form of jazz rock fusion, with plenty of pop rock sensibility in the mix, as well as shorter experimental bits to warm the soul of every prog rock nerd out there. The individual songs are a touch less eclectic and rhythmically varied than before, while traditional jazz finesse is here in spades. This time around they mostly stick to lighter, slower rhythms, so it’s no surprise that “Two Agianst Nature” is rhythmically their most “sleepy” album.
It also doesn’t help that Fagen has lost a bit of his chameleon-like vocal range over the years, but he’s still the good old master of lyrical sarcasm, and charisma never runs out on him easily. Becker, meanwhile, has only improved as a guitarist by this stage of his career and played most of the best solos. Of course, this time too they gathered an army of top-notch session players, among whom the legendary drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and guitarist Hugh McCracken stand out. The horn arrangements and layered harmonies on keyboards and guitars are, as usual, at an enviable level, and on that front there’s nothing to fault the album for. For the first time, they handled the production themselves, proving they’d learned a thing or two over the years from Gary Katz about how to serve up refined sonic sophistication.
Most of the songs once again feature Fagen’s indispensable lyrical cynicism aimed at American society. A fine example of this kind of social mockery is the opener “Gaslightning Abbie,” which tells the story of a “faithful” husband who, with the help of a mistress, tries in a most unusual way to drive his woman to the edge of her nerves. A light melody on horns and keys is elegantly carried over witty funk rhythm patterns. On “What a Shame About Me,” with the help of varied horn wisecracking and female backing vocals, they carry on with their trademark sonic recipe. The title track is another solid jazz pop rocker with plenty of solo spots, while the same central melody and rhythm hold throughout. “Janie Runaway” is a typical Fagen poetic jab that opens up like a seemingly naive and happy love song about two lovebirds. Then we gradually figure out that the female half of this “ideal” couple, Janie that is, is anything but a faithful and innocent girl, since she secretly indulges in various sexual orgies whenever her “darling” isn’t home.
The dreamy “Almost Gothic” is a colorful blend of outstanding vocal romanticism and horn arrangements from the best tradition of bar jazz. “Jack of Speed” is among the album’s standout creations, with an incredibly spirited horn section and erotically charged singing, helped along by excellent female harmonies in the chorus, which makes it a perfect fit for the car stereo. The funky rhythmic romp “Cousin Dupree” is yet another uncompromising reckoning with false American morality, featuring a “respectable” young man who nurtures a whole lot of sexual fantasies about his young cousin. Fagen’s cheeky vocals, positively bursting with cynicism, are of course not in short supply here.
You don’t have to be a genius to pick up on the mocking story of a thoroughly confused girl who feels a bit too sorry for herself in “Negative Girl,” either. The closing “West of Hollywood,” at over eight minutes, is a veritable jazz prog rock fusion epic and definitely the best creation on the album, as well as one of the best achievements of their career, proving they’ve still got plenty of imagination in stock for making technically demanding pieces with lots of unpredictable twists. They deftly wove a seductive pop rock chorus into multi-part jazz harmonies and spirited rhythmic turnarounds.
With “Two Against Nature,” the two old cats proved that even two decades after their last studio release, they can successfully defy nature’s toll on their sensorimotor skills and deliver a fresh, challenging album. As a whole the album is very good, though not at the polished level of their seventies output, since the years took a certain toll on their songwriting imagination and Fagen’s singing abilities too. Still, this is one of the best comebacks in the history of popular music. The biggest surprise, though, was the album’s incredible commercial success, which they surely never expected even in their wildest dreams. In an era when musical unoriginality and plasticity were being celebrated en masse, they pulled off a real miracle by completely flattening the competition at the prestigious Grammy Awards and taking home four of them, including Album of the Year, which was effectively a somewhat belated lifetime achievement award. And so the two old wolves went from eternal antiheroes to genuine heroes, saving the honor of good music and landing a hefty slap on the lord of unmusical abomination Eminem, who was considered the big favorite.
Lineup
Donald Fagen – vocals, keyboards
Walter Becker – guitar, bass guitar
Tom Barney – bass guitar
Ted Baker – keyboards
Jon Herington – guitar
Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar
Hugh McCracken – guitar
Dean Parks – guitar
Lawrence Feldman – clarinet, tenor saxophone
Amy Helm – whistle
Michael Hitchcock – trumpet
Michael Leonhart – trumpet, conductor, wurlitzer
Lou Marini – alto saxophone
Chris Potter – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Jim Pugh – trombone
Roger Rosenberg – bass clarinet, baritone saxophone
David Tofani – saxophone
Keith Carlock – drums
Leroy Clouden – drums
Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
Sonny Emory – drums
Ricky Lawson – drums
Michael White – drums
Gordon Gottlieb – percussion
Will Lee – percussion
Daniel Sadownick – percussion, cymbals
David Schenk – vibraphone
Steve Shapiro – vibraphone
Cynthia Calhoun – backing vocals
Mike Harvey – backing vocals
Carolyn Leonhart – backing vocals
Production
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker
Track list
1. Gaslighting Abbie
2. What A Shame About Me
3. Two Against Nature
4. Janie Runaway
5. Almost Gothic
6. Jack Of Speed
7. Cousin Dupree
8. Negative Girl
9. West Of Hollywood
