Walter Becker: Circus Money

Elly Roberts reviews

Walter Becker: Circus Money
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Sonic360Cover

  • Released: July 2008
  • Rating: 4/10
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Steely Dan’s Walter Becker doesn’t rush his solo albums – his last was 14 years ago! Now we know why.

However much he and his cohort Donald Fagan try, the SD template isn’t too faraway. Even the song titles have a SD ring to them.

Anyway, as ‘The Dan’, Fagan takes charge of the singing, and it’s easy to seewhy, because Becker is no singer. His paper-thin voice barely breaks loose, whereasFagan has plenty of curl. Amazingly, his early efforts – Door Number Twoand limp Downtown Canon are pretty, well, dull.

A massive improvement comes with reggae-infused Bob Is Not….and the coolbass-line is foot-tappingly infectious, though again his singing lets him down. He really isn’t comfortable taking the lead and it shows at everylevel, but as we’d all expect, the jazzy numbers and slick production help himget by. By the time he’s got to Upside Looking Down he’s got into hisstride and the song is baring all the confidence of a Fagan song, curiously,but lacking any stardust.


The laidback Paging Audrey ambles along to a steady beat and has somenifty sax breaks courtesy Chris Hooper, but, you get the feeling this wouldhave been a Dan reject. He improves again, well, a bit, on the quasi-scientificconcept of the Selfish Gene, but annoyingly neither he (or Fagan cometo that) fail to let their past develop into something really different, whichshows their insecurity as artists, and too (artistically) joined at the hipof Steely Dan.

Skipping the next two for snooze value reasons, Becker perks up on the delightfulDarkling Down: the chunky groove is really cool, despite the negativityof the lyrics. Quickly passing by God’s Eye View (something to do withexperimental psychology terminology…yawn…yawn), I reach the American Songbookquality, well, the start at least, of Three Picture Deal. Its really ‘Dan-tight’and definitely the albums best track, real quality stuff and by far the mostadventurous (and interesting) but too long overdue.

File under: Can live without it.

Weblink:walterbecker.com


The full list of tracks included are :

1. Door Number Two
2. Downtown Canon
3. Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore
4. Upside Looking Down
5. Paging Audrey
6. Circus Money
7. Selfish Gene
8. Do You Remember The Name
9. Somebody’s Saturday Night
10. Darkling Down
11. God’s Eye View
12. Three Picture Deal

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