Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2139 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
If pop is the music of youth, it's odd to reflect that Everything Must Go sustains the second incarnation of a band that was already feeling its age when it slipped into retirement with Gaucho 23 years ago. When Donald Fagen sang "she thinks I'm crazy but I'm just growing old" on that album's "Hey Nineteen" it seemed like an era was ending.

Indeed there are moments in this successor to 2001's Two Against Nature, the first Steely Dan studio album in 20 years, when Fagen and Walter Becker seem to be going through the motions, when familiar routines from earlier albums seem to have been slotted in to produce mix 'n' match productions rather than organically new compositions. In addition, the duo's stylistic range has narrowed, the lusciously saturated and varied arrangements of the 1970s (and Fagen's own 1983 album The Nightfly) mostly superseded by leaner, bluesier frameworks. Also, despite good solos from tenorists Walt Weiskopf and Chris Potter, the all-star line-ups of old are absent. Nevertheless, the clarity, detail and musical ambition are still here and in a musical climate that, more than ever, values style over content, another Steely Dan album is a positive blessing, a reminder of high musical values jettisoned in the primitivist purge that began sweeping through popular music in the late 1980s.

Given Steely Dan's distinguished track record, new classics may be hard to come by, but three pieces here compare favourably with the masterpieces of the 70s: "Slang of Ages" introduces Becker's first vocal in Steely Dan's three-decade history and the combination of funky blues shuffle and blooming, lyrical middle-seven (that's right) is a perfect illustration of the transmutation of the blues that lies at the root of many Becker and Fagen songs. "Green Book" has a five-foot deep groove dominated by a vinegary, menacing chord cluster and punctuated by a delicious Headhunters-type unison blues refrain, and "Lunch with Gina" develops a bouncing shuffle vamp into a bright 20-bar blues sequence with a surprisingly sinewy Fagen synth solo.

The successful rebirth of Steely Dan may, at least in part, be a symptom of the retrospective environment that has nurtured numerous revivals since pop went seriously post-modern in the late 80s. One difference in the case of Steely Dan is that although it's second time around, they're still way ahead of their time. --Mark Gilbert

CD Description
Ninth studio album from jazz fusion maestros Walter Becker and Donald Fagen comes three years after 2000's comeback album 'Two Against Nature'. Continuing in much the same vein asthat album, this sacrifices none of their finely honed songcraft but introduces a looser, more live feel into their tasteful jazz-funk and features a lead vocal from Becker for the very first time.

Customer Reviews

Not classic SD, but classic NEW SD.
First up, this is definitely a slow-burner, and to those who still don't appreciate it after 30+ listens, I expect it's a case of heightened expectations - especially if you're one of the loyal Steely Dan fans.

I initially played it twice a day for 3 solid weeks, got pretty fed up with it, gave it a rest for a week and then found myself pining deeply for it. It's now superglued into my deck and I'm humming the indelibly burned tunes and lyrics all day long.

As regards heightened expectations, it's difficult not to expect a stormer from the boys after relatively so long. They've certainly delivered, but it's a vastly different tack. We've just got to get used to it. Don't get me wrong - I can't begin to tell you how much I miss the session pro guitar solos and fills. Walter's nebulous noodling doesn't really come close. More drum dynamics coupled with more vocal doubling for Donald would also be good. He's not as clear or strong as he once was. I guess that's 'Nature Against One'...

But listen to me! What am I saying? This album obliterates anything else made in the last twenty years (including their previous album 'Two Against Nature') It's a masterpiece!

Each song has a story and the beauty of them is that the poetically hip lines leave you guessing as to the actual meaning. Hey presto - a different story every time. The music never wears out, complete with the intensely polymorphic imagery.

I guess jazz lovers like me will gravitate to numbers like 'Green Book'. This is as close to old Dan stuff that I've heard since Aja. Simply superb. Check out the imagery as he cruises through 'this dirty city': "The festive icons along the way, the boardwalk, the lovers, the house on fire".
Get out the lyric sheet and read what the female backing singer is singing in 'Pixeleen'. It's a complete story in itself.
'Lunch With Gina' is a really funky number about someone desperately avoiding a stalker that finally ends up with them having lunch together. The resigned protagonist then complains that the 'waiter never comes' and how the 'service could be better'.

If you're a fan and you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having bought but not liking this album, I just know you're secretly delighted by this new offering. In years to come you'll dig it out and cry 'What planet was I on? - this is classic!'.

If you're not a fan - buy it and find yourself slowly but inextricably drawn into Donald and Walter's alter-world.

A return to form (partial)
As a dedicated Dan fan, I was both overjoyed and slightly apprehensive to receive my copy in the post. The last album, Two Against Nature, was good, but compared with the 70's classics it was a tad lacking in catchy hooks. They got the Grammys, but I suspect people were just glad to see them again. It was a good album (compared to most other stuff, it was a work of genius) but hardly their best. (Donald Fagen suffered writer's block after The Nightfly, and still seemed to have it with Kamakiriad. And while the Becker solo effort was truly excellent, TAN seemed more in the Kamakiriad mould.)

But I can say that they seem to have their juices flowing once more, with some really grooving tracks and great lyrics ("I'm building the Andria Doria out of balsa wood" cracks me up every time as a witty summation of the dumped male's desparation, especially with the twist Fagen puts on it while singing the line in The Things I Miss The Most).

The feel is a bit more like one of their earlier 70's albums, such as Katy Lied or The Royal Scam, with most of the songs fairly short and sweet rather than sprawling out like some of their later works. And the tunes have returned, although they are perhaps a bit twistier than they used to be. The best tracks are probably Blues Beach, Pixeleen and Everything Must Go, with Green Book and Godwhacker coming up close (although it's a matter of personal taste - as with all Steely Dan albums, some songs are better than others, it's just that the really good ones are better than everybody else's).

So why just 4 stars? One of the joys for me of the earlier albums was the sheer quality of the instumental work, especially some of the tastiest solos (Reelin' In the Years, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Kid Charlemagne, Peg, Deacon Blues) I ever heard. Becker and Fagen now basically do the solos and, well, they are ok, but hardly god-like. And I think that is the ingredient which this effort (and also the previous) lacks. The musicianship is excellent - but it doesn't blow you away in the same fashion that the old stuff used to. And I miss that a bit.

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON....................
'Everything Must Go' is a brilliant in everywhere and if had been produced by some scuzz metal band from an obscure town, they would be hailed as the saviours of grown up music. Thing is that nobody younger than middle aged, could ever produce an album like this. Sure it's laid back with a jaded, some might say cynical slant on life, but it's also great fun and a pleasure on the old aural facilities. This is great, in the same way that Seniors Golf is regarded as great by some sports fans. It may not have the energy and full on enthusiasm of the younger man's game, but it has a wealth of experience, skill and wry humour, which is often lacking from the work of mainstream players. They cannot need the money, so this must be two guys doing something, solely because they love it. Boy does it sound like it. If you're still hesitating dont'; dive in and soak it up! Can't wait for the next album- probably be jazz tango or something!