11 Tracks of Whack

Circus Money It's been 14 years since Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker's last (and first) solo album was released. Now, at long last, the wait is finally over for the second. Circus Money finds Becker's sardonic sensibility completely intact and each of the album's songs, inflected with ja...	Kamakiriad Any major dude will tell you that this immaculate jazz-pop collection sounds like it could have been recorded mere months, not 11 years, after The Nightfly. A Steely Dan LP in all but name, Fagen and Walter Becker offer killer horn charts, lite-funk grooves, airy guitar riffs and...	Morph the Cat For all the delight their fans take in parsing their wry and obstinately obscure lyrics, Steely Dan wouldn't command the kind of following they have if they weren't such consummate craftsmen in shaping melodies, layering keyboard and guitar effects and applying sophisticated dos...	Everything Must Go After trading their infamous two-decade hiatus for an armful of Grammies, Steely Dan breezed through the recording of Two Against Nature's follow-up in a year--near record time in the oft-tortuous Becker/Fagan sessionography. Loosening their notoriously anal retentive studio bent...	The Nightfly Donald Fagen's 1982 solo debut extends the sleek, smart pop craft of his work with Steely Dan into the realm of the concept album, taking the Dan's penchant for intricate plotting, evocative narrative voices, and allusive imagery to the logical next step. Fagen's connective threa...
The Royal Scam Ever the primary conceit of mainstays Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, 1976's The Royal Scam marks the first time the Steely Dan duo actually owned up to the fact. Musically, it's their edgiest, most guitar-driven record (thanks to Becker and a murderer's row of session greats tha...	Two Against Nature Never so much a band as the slyly crafted specter of one, Steely Dan's mid-1990s "return" to live performance was as surprising as it was perverse. They'd previously toured only once, round about the era of Watergate, pet rocks, and Shaft. A half-decade after their concert comeba...	Countdown To Ecstasy \N	You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It ... Or You'll Lose That Beat Re-issue of Steely Dan's Greatest Rarity, the "You've Got to Walk it Like You Talk It" Film Soundtrack by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker Recorded in 1971.	Gaucho The multiplatinum success of Aja made Steely Dan, the musical conceit of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, a household name. But that prosperity came bundled with a fateful triple-whammy for rock's dyspeptic duo: unrealistic commercial expectations, a critical backlash spawned by p...

Truthfully, Come On?
First a comment on the other negative reviews you'll find here. I'd be the first to admit that when I like a musical artist or group, I very much dislike finding negative reviews about them. However, sometimes those reviews have saved me from wasting my money. When I see the collection of negative reviews here, and then find that many of the readers voted that these reviews were NOT very helpful, I have to ask were these readers simply do-or-die fans and therefore, if the reviews aren't positive, the reader wouldn't like them. I found the negative reviews here very helpful, especially in that they matched my sense of reality concerning the quality (or lack of it) of the music found in this (Walter Becker) effort. I too am a fan of Steely Dan, but I can hardly stomach the sometimes nauseating sound here. At times, he seems to shift the melody lines of both instruments and vocals to a calculated destination that purposefully causes unrest in the listener, as if to scrape fingernails on a chalkboard, resulting in at least this listener's questions, "Isn't that note out of tune?" and "Wasn't that vocal note flat?" One of the definitions of the word "whack" is: 'a trial or attempt'. Yep, that's what you get here and nothing more; an attempt. I agree with the reviewer that stated his shelf doesn't have room for less than average recordings. I say, "Throw this fish back." What I ask you to do is not appreciate my review, but please appreciate the other reviews which are trying to save you your hard earned cash. Spend it elsewhere.

Ah Becker, you sly dog.
Just what I was hoping for from this man with the wonderful sense of humor and exquisite musical distinction. I enjoy this album whether I'm doing the dishes or going on a road trip. I'm proud to have it as part of my collection.

Dan-Fan Letdown
I made every effort to listen to this as a Walter Becker project rather than a Steely Dan project, in order to give the man an objective appraisal based on his own merits. I have no clue as to what was going on in Becker's life when he made this CD, but the lyrics point to devastating emotional losses, deep depression and general misery. He brings these feelings in full force to an odd and intermittently successful set of tunes that had the overall effect of giving me an anxiety attack with a funky undertone (if that makes any sense). Becker is a very good poet, albeit a cynical and angry one on this record, but he is not much of a composer. His songs lack the harmonic sophistication we expect from Steely Dan. OK, now I'm comparing. It's hard not to. Unlike some who have criticized his singing, I don't mind Becker's voice. In fact, if he weren't so whiny and sad, it would be a very good voice. At times his inflection and phrasing remind me of Jimi Hendrix, who was undoubtedly Becker's guru in the olden days. But the melodies are short-range, monotonous ditties that repeat in a loop (hence, my anxiety). There's also an unusually atonal feeling to the songs, as if they're hovering somewhere between keys, so I couldn't get a clear bearing. Maybe that was a reflection of Becker's emotional state, and if so, at least he succeeded in communicating that effectively. On the plus side, there are many funny, ironic lyrics (Cringemaker; Girlfriend) and some great hooks (Lucky Henry; Junkie Girl; Hard Up Case). Surf and/or Die appears to be a true tale about the death of someone close, and it knocked me out. Perhaps the most emotionally pure song is the closer, about his son. Becker has a soft side, and at least with respect to his offspring, he gives it some breathing room. In the time I've owned this CD it's grown on me a bit. If "Whack" has anything going for it, it's funk. It's not Steely Dan (there I go again), and it's not something I play often or even all the way through in one sitting, but it's worth a listen.

If you love Steely Dan...
If you love Steely Dan than this CD is a must for your collection. Starting off with "Down in the Bottom" you'll hear the classic Steely Dan sound. "Lucky Henry" is a fast paced Jazz romp that will be sure to set the mood. The songs "Junkie Girl" and "Book of Liars" each offer a slice of that classic sound as well. Though Donald Fagen is more well known and has come out with more solo work than Walter Becker, I can't wait until Becker comes out with another CD. FIVE ***** STARS!!!

If you love Walt...
I am a die-hard Steely Dan fan and love most of the solo work I have heard. And even though I am more of a "Walt" guy than a "Don" guy, I found this CD lacking the phenomonal production and performance standards Becker has previously set for himself. Most of it is not bad, but not particularly good. It just is. And I don't have room on the shelf for anything average or below.