Customer Reviews

Everything Must Go

5 star:		(121)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

A mere 3½ years since the release of Two Against Nature, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker return with a new set of tunes, an encouraging sign for any Steely Dan fan.

Any album that these guys release is going to get my business, but as with Nature, this new one doesn't scale the heights of the seminal Aja or the equally impressive Gaucho albums. But that familiar Steely Dan sound, replete with succulent horn sections, twisting guitar licks and seductive background vocals, is here in force. It's the real deal, and it will soothe that certain nerve in a Dan fan that only their music can salve.

Unlike many of their prior albums, this one was recorded with an ensemble of musicians that don't change much from one track to another. Returning from Nature are guitarist Jon Herrington, vocalist Carolyn Leonhart and her trumpeter brother, Michael. Old SD stalwart Hugh McCracken returns to add some crispy guitar licks of his own. Fagen sings all but one track's lead, and is a little more present on keyboards than he was last time. Becker plays all bass, all solo guitar, and sings "Slang Of Ages".

A few of the songs on this disc seem to go back over previously-traveled territory. "Blues Beach", promoted for radio airplay, bears more than a passing resemblance to "Tomorrow's Girls", from Fagen's Kamakiriad album. "Pixeleen" and "Lunch With Gina" evoke memories of "Negative Girl" and "Almost Gothic" from the Nature disc.

The other radio-promoted song, Everything Must Go", has a good beat and you can almost dance to it; but the best song on the 42-minute disc is one that you'll have to hear on your own: with a title like "Godwhacker", it's a safe bet that it won't be filling the airwaves. Yet, it, more than any tune on the disc, will satisfy the thirst for more tunes in the vein of "Peg" or "I Got The News".

Twenty years between Gaucho and Nature, and now only 3½ years until Everything Must Go. At this rate, we should get a new round of Becker and Fagen before the end of 2006. Unless, as the title track of this disc suggests, they're "goin' out of business, everything must go".

When the details surrounding the next Steely Dan album were made public, I had a pair of thoughts: first, that the inclusion among the session players of straight-ahead jazz piano god Bill Charlap (with whom, oddly enough, I share having come into this planet on the same day) harkened the second coming of Aja; and, second, that the title "Everything Must Go" hinted that this release would be their last. Time will tell how my second thought pans out.

And I was way off on the first point -- this is not an overtly jazz-flavored album. This is, instead, probably the hookiest and most melodic album that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have teamed up to craft.

A jazz fan, I don't mean that jazz isn't melodic or reliant upon `hooks.' But as a Dan fan, having learned that what these two gentlemen started out to do was to craft popular music (regardless of how many among the populace were actually listening), I say that if--God-forbid--this actually were to be their last release as Steely Dan, "Everything Must Go" would prove that the boys not only never strayed far from their mission, but that they made sure to emphatically drive the point home before they turned off the lights.

I'd go on to say that the songwriting takes center stage on EMG. Oh sure, the playing offered up by the principals and their studio contributors is spot-on (nothing shy of world-class musicianship every rears its head within a mile of a Steely Dan album after all). But unlike SD offerings so far, missing from the mix here are the jaw dropping riffs and solos by hired guns that characterize much of their previous work. No individual's contribution here sits aside Steve Gadd's outro on `Aja,' or Larry Carleton's (so the story goes) on-the-first-take contribution to `Kid Charlemagne,' or even, more recently, saxophonist Chris Potter's astounding imprint on 2000's "Two Against Nature." And it's fine. Really. Nothing's missing.

So here's a collection of tunes with blues and r&b changes that take the occasional unexpected turn, with lyrics that far transgress the realm of the wry, and with melodic and harmonic content that is infectious enough to crawl into your ear and lay its eggs in your brain.

I'm now old enough to be not cool in a time when it's not cool to be a Steely Dan fan. Bah. Whatever's cool can go pound sand. Long after the current flavor-of-the-month pop trollop has retired from his/her ultimate gig as [a store] greeter, this album will stand as an airtight, rock-solid offering both relevant to its time and true to its creators' roots.

I won't give up the 5th star easily--I'd reserve that for the likes of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy," or for "Aja." That said, this is a super-strong piece of work that fits well among Don's and Walt's thirty (!) years of crafting music. Heck, even the youngsters who are sharp enough to know to question the coolness of what's currently cool may find a treat lurking within.

I have listened to this CD numerous times already through the streaming audio at the steely site and I must tell you that it is really good listening. First of all, I liked SD last CD called 'Two Against Nature' and played it to death, but, I like this release better. Tighter groov, I know that sounds impossible, but even the drums are done better on this recording. not so lifeless.

1. At The Last Mall, very good, very end of the worldish lyrics and a great groove.

2. TIMTM, a great song about reflection, the chorus sticks in your head like all great SD songs.

3. Blues Beach, a funky little piano beginning, this song continues the great groov that this band has on this recording. The line 'things can get a whole lot worse before suddenly falling apart' is funny and depressing all at the same time.

4. Godwhacker, another funky tune, with a nice bass line at the beginning.. and the whole idea of the song is lost on me, but that is no big deal with SD, a lot of their classic songs I have no idea what they are singing about, but swear that I believe it is whatever they are saying....

5. Slang Of Ages, Straight from 14 tracks of Whack is Walter Becker on lead vocals. First time the guitar player co writer of SD sings, and he does a great job.. and if you like his vocals check out his solo cd called 14 tracks of whack. Slang Of Ages is a great soft song with a jazzy chorus, that again, sticks in your head.

6. Green Book ... a tune that you can grab a gal and just dance around to. Has a very distinctive korg organ sound.

7. Pizaleen. THIS SONG IS THE BANGO BANG CLASSIC TUNE FROM THIS CD. It has a sound that only SD can cook up. the chorus and back up singers just hook up big time on this song. Pure candy for the ears.

8. Lunch With gina. Good fun song about, I think, a stalker. Good stuff.

9. Everything must go. Check out the jazzed out beginning. Almost dissonate. then slammo, into groov and the song finishes out the cd with a nice ending. Very strong.

This whole cd is great. No duds at all. will warm my CD player for a long time.

Lots to listen to on this outing.

Buy it, and get one for a friend.

When asked in an interview for Rolling Stone about their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy for best album of the year, Becker and Fagen replied "Things really haven't clicked for us yet." There's something comfortably reassuring about their tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating lyrics, major-chord melodic lines, and white-man's overbite grooves. The two best efforts (as if acknoldeged as such by the artists themselves) bookend the track list - 'The Last Mall' and 'Everything Must Go' - the 'Peg' and 'Deacon Blues' of this album. There's a not-so-subtle homage to Sydney Bristow in 'Pixeleen,' and the patented 'Dan' groove is in full chat for 'Blues Beach.' Some charts work better than others, as has been the case over the years, but like old Coltrane records, the more you listen, the more you get the nuances. There are a couple of especially bad MIDI keyboard patches, which begs the question: why not rely on the piano, Fender-Rhodes and Hammond B3 they (and their session group) are so adept at playing? But that hardly distracts from the otherwise Zappa-esque production quality. Whether this effort will recruit a newer generation to the fold is yet to be seen. As for faithful (and graying) 'Dan' fans, operators are standing by.

If this is a "love it or hate it" album, count me in the hate-it camp. Steely Dan is one of my top 2 or 3 favorite groups; I began listening to their stuff 30 years ago and began playing their songs in jazz and fusion combos 25 years ago. Everything Must Go can't hold a candle to any of their earlier work. With 200+ reviews posted already, you can read plenty of longer discussions of why, so here is the short version: Almost everything about the music -- the vocal melodies, chord progressions, tempos, instrumentation -- has a deathly sameness to it, both across songs and within songs. This is either forgettable background music or, if you work _really hard_ at listening, a professionally crafted platform for still-great lyrics. I don't know why anyone with a Steely Dan collection would play this album rather than any of the earlier ones after the first few listens.

Real instruments. Real drums. Real guitar. Real voices. Real music. Real talent. More than 3 chords. No JLO! Who'd have thunk it was still possible in a world of 21st century machine music?

There is much good to say about this offering. Great lyrics/imagery, some good solos..
But they simply seem to have given up on creating beautiful melodies. What? are they too cool for that? That's part of what made them so good way back when. Deep grooves and interesting textures are not in themselves emotionally moving. And though Walter's guitar playing is impeccable and often delightful, I miss hearing some real fire, which would be available to them from outsiders' contributions in the studio.
Many people are lauding this one and Two Against Nature as their best work.
I just don't get it.
Give me Aja any day.

I am the greatest Steely Dan fan of all time, but "Everything Must Go" is easily my least favorite Steely Dan album out of the gate. You do get a lot of what you expect: squeaky-tight grooves, clever, ironic, humorous lyrical wordplay, horns and guitars, great backup female vocals. And absolutely nothing more. It's as if these one-time outsiders, these antiheroes, have given in, sold out, perfected a calculated formula and consciously decided not to sway from it one millimeter. It's a good product: everything's pleasant in a wine bar background music sort of way.

"Pixeleen" stands out with its strong throwback Dan shuffle and great hooks and vocals, but you won't find one "Aja-esque" breakout tune on this CD. All except "Pixeleen" and the title cut march to the same Funk-Jazz Lite beat, echoing the pace of "Jack of Speed" and "Janie Runaway" from Two Against Nature without the creamy melodies of either. There's nothing like the muscular workout on Two Against Nature's "West of Hollywood." Tracks 1 and 3 are so lightweight that the instant they fade out, they fade from memory. "Lunch With Gina" is hilarious, but doomed by a creaky blue-eyed funk beat that sounds like an bonus track from lead vocalist Donald Fagen's 1990 solo album "The Nightfly" (those riffs worked great 13 years ago). Only the wound-down title cut that closes the album sounds like nothing you've heard from them lately, and its snappy, dynamic instrumentation makes it appear as if it was recorded in one take, no overdubs.

It's insulting that in this day of 76-minute, 17-song CDs that are still way too outrageously priced ..., Steely Dan has the nerve to limp to market with a miserly nine-song effort that wheezes in at less than 43 minutes. They almost could have packaged both of the last two albums as one CD. We wait another three years for this? And it's one thing to rip your customers off with half a CD, but another to actually have the cajones to pad the thing. One song is wasted on Walter Becker taking the lead vocals. The beat is tight, but Walter is virtually unlistenable. It reminds me of the one cut on every Police album when you had to listen to Stewart Copeland's caterwauling. Another cut, called "Godwhacker," is about an assassin attempting to whack God's "almighty a--." The juxtaposition of the grown-up music and the juvenile lyrics is jarring and off-putting.

While you get the familiar tight arrangements, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen continue the practice, started with Two Against Nature, of handling virtually all the solos and major chops themselves. Walter can play his unambitious, blues-inflected licks competently, but he's no Elliot Randall, Dean Parks, or Denny Dias-and Donald will never be mistaken for Victor Feldman or Joe Sample. I guarantee you won't be air-playing any of these solos. For those who miss the musical adventurousness of Katy Lied or Aja, this outing won't help. The drumming stays in the pocket for the whole album, song after song in lockstep, until a small, out-of-place workout before the last cut. The horn arrangements, also handled by Fagen, totally lack the sophistication and complexity of Tom Scott's "Aja" arrangements. Musically, all the former kings have been downsized; here, you get Steely Dan on a budget. No Wayne Shorter, no Steve Gadd-not one guest star with any unrestrained chops whatsoever to break the monotony. The band, famous for the cleanest engineering in pop, doesn't even take advantage of the improved dynamic range and bass extension available to them with modern recording and playback equipment. The thing sounds mixed for LPs from the early '80s.

Hopefully, I'm wrong, and someday Everything Must Go's modesty and uncomplicated nature will be hailed as genius, ahead of its time, like so many of their others. But I don't think so.

Being a longtime Steely Dan fan I have to admit that their comeback album Two Against Nature kind of disappointed me; there was a lack of memorable melodies for the most part and it sounded too sterile and forced as a whole. A mere three years later there is the follow-up Everything Must Go, which more than makes up for the flaws of the earlier album (by the way: it was released here in the Netherlands on 6 June, D(an)-Day!): it becomes clear from the first notes that this is the real Dan! The album has a tremendous groove from start to finish (drummer Keith Carlock deserves special mentioning for doing a fantastic job on all tracks), like a rollercoaster ride, and overall it has good and memorable songs on it. "Lunch With Gina" is a perfect example of the enormous groove that the band gets into, further enhanced by another smart Steely Dan trademark horn arrangement. Donald Fagen sounds really inspired through the whole album and even Walter Becker sounds right on his only vocal performance "Slang Of Ages" ("Now did you say you were from the Netherlands?"). The fact that the album has a more loose close to live feel only contributes positively and lets the music flow effortlessly, unlike its predecessor. In jazz terms: this album SWINGS! The album reaches its climax right at the end with the epic title song, which evokes memories of "Gaucho", opening with a Coltrane-inspired free blowing tenor sax solo by jazzmaster Walt Weiskopf (hopefully people will start checking out his jazz albums as well) and then getting into another infectious groove which will get you humming the melody long after the the album has ended and that will have you reaching for the repeat button right away! Great to hear these legendary guys back in such good form!

I have listened to Steely Dan since their beginning and I own all of their albums. The band has gone through several stylistic strata over the years. Unfortunately, some percentage of their fans have remained stuck at each level along the way. I suspect that many of the negative reviews of "Everything Must Go" come from these poor people yearning for their lost youth.

The criticism of the album is unjustified. Yes, the tunes are catchy but the lyrics are as harsh or harsher than ever. Yes, "Two Against Nature" was a good album but it feels downright cold next to this more mature, alive and edgy one. Yes, the album may not seem great on the first listening but it seems wonderful on the fifth one.

To me, the people who don't see this are paying the ultimate tribute to the band. They have been fooled by the illusion of conformity and conventionality that always hides the raw joy and despair of the human experience in a Steely Dan album. In addition, they must remember that, like themselves, Donald and Walter have aged. Nothing good can stay the same and nothing that stays the same is good. Nostalgia was originally classified as a mental illness.

Buy this album. Give it a chance. You won't be sorry.