Steely Dan: Two against Nature

BY DAN FEDER

On that date, though, Steely Dan emerged with Two Against Nature, an album that wouldn't be at all out of place had it been released immediately after its last studio album, 1980's Gaucho. Listening to Two Against Nature makes one wonder if Walter Becker and Donald Fagen might have gotten the Austin Powers treatment after Gaucho and missed everything from Madonna to Limp Bizkit.

But the fact that Steely Dan hasn't changed its sound in 20 years might be beside the point. Here Fagen and Becker seem to be eschewing originality and maturation for a tried and true formula: funky beats, solid musicianship, and slightly trippy lyrics. And it works. "Cousin Dupree" is a southern-fried song about incest, "Janie Runaway" is about just that, and album opener "Gaslighting Abbie" is about doing nothing for an entire summer; all are genuinely enjoyable songs.

Still, it's hard not to suspect that Steely Dan went into the studio simply because it was tired of playing decades-old songs over and over again on tour. The album has no urgency, no reason for being, and it certainly doesn't provide any clues as to where those 20 years went.

Which is what makes the album's Grammy nomination so puzzling. The Academy already had its "comeback" artist in Paul Simon, and there were plenty of discs that got entirely overlooked this year, from Pearl Jam's Binaural to Jurassic 5's Quality Control to BT's Movement in Still Life. Is Two Against Nature worth your 16 bucks? Definitely. Is it the album of the year? Hardly. (Giant)

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