Title: Wooden Daniel
Product review: The lamely deadened, 20-years-waiting comeback disc finds the once challenging, jazz-influenced rock elitists settling into a more modern lull. Steely Dan's signature lyrical humor and melodic grooves are overhauled and placed neatly into spaces that all too often feel corny and restrictive. The production is too shiny and only elaborates some horribly implemented musical ideas, particularly in the forced vocals. If the title track were a poor example of the album's feel, we would be in good shape. Sadly Two Against Nature remains one of the stiff disc's only mildly engaging (ie naturalistic) tracks amongst rare glimpses of songwriting talent. When they do strain for musically rewarding passages, it is apparent they have become bloated on their own questionable mythology, confusing the interchanging of a bunch of snazzy jazz chords with thought out transitioning..a veritable comatose caricature of what once was.
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