Steely Dan-Two Against Nature (2000)

 

Artist: Steely Dan

Title: Two Against Nature 

Label: Giant Records/Reprise

Format: CD

Cat #: 9 24719-2

Year of Release: 2000

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 10/28/21

Sell Price: $3.99

Discogs Last Sold: 9/27/21 $2.00

Low: $0.95

Median: $2.00

Average: $3.06

High:$8.95

Current low price: $1.00

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 51

Have/Want: 1340/95

Where Sold: Graham, NC

Time it took to sell: 10 years

Where and When Bought: mail order end of 2000

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

The canon of Steely Dan has been reassessed so many times that you might as well just give everything an A.  Well, Everything Must Go from 2003 hasn't had a peep of notoriety and that is the last one with Walter Becker. The initial sniffing trajectory was there was a decline starting with The Royal Scam, but I noticed in a NY Times review when they came back to the stage in the mid-90's that that title track was lauded as an apropos return song after 20 years away.  Aja of course was the Stereo Review Hi-Fi audio connoisseurs choice.  Gaucho had the infamous 1 1/2 star rating in Rolling Stone upon release, but now that is deemed as good as anything else.  Now the 2000 Grammy Album Of The Year comeback Two Against Nature is having it's day in the sun due to it's recent Record Store Day reissue a few months back.  Some people were blathering that it is the ONLY RSD release they wanted, which gave me a mental note of Why? Why would a 54 minute album from the aughts recorded in the digital era be so sought after on vinyl?  Wouldn't cramming it on two sides obliterate the beloved engineering standard?   Well, I did check into that and I did see they made it a 3-sided release with a blank 4th side etching.  I knew they wouldn't go the 2 double ep route.

I bought Two Against Nature on CD at the end of 2000 on the web catching up with the year end critic records that year.  It got played but I can't remember actively listening to it.  Steely Dan albums require a few listens to assess.  For this reason, when The Nightfly, the first Donald Fagan solo album sold a half a year ago, I listened a few times and still had nothing to say about it and I let that writeup get buried by the sands of time.  A conversation over drinks the other night where one person was railing in anger at what Michael McDonald did to his beloved early Doobie Brothers was countered by another maniac defending McD's vocal effort mimicking a horn track for the Dan.  This codified that it was time to deep dive into this record that I listened to about 3/4 of the way before I left for the night.

Well, 21 years later I'm glad I did.  This needed 3 headphone listens to even scratch the surface and there is alot going on.  They call it jazz rock and the McDonald hater that loves technical Jazz Vocals with proper held notes will find alot to be excited about.  Liking Dylan for his vocals,  that is not my bag and maybe why I had a difficulty with the smooth sailing for many many years.  "Negative Girl" jumps out as something that follows this path. 

The Dan is like is a suburban home with a dungeon in the basement.  There always seems to be something more than meets the eye.  "Cousin Dupree" is the best example of this, even the vocals sound dirty in this ode to familial lust. "How about a kiss for your Cousin Dupree?" Fagan lisps ever so slightly in his late middle years.  That you can hear musical echoes of Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" is a nod that I don't know is a subliminal connection or not.   

Sometimes you hear a melody like Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" buried in "What A Shame About Me" that makes you wonder is this the CD they are listening to in the conversation, or am I just reading something into this that isn't there at all.  

Probably the later, but who cares, it's my listen and after-the-fact assessment, not someone elses.