My housemate and officemates have been "tortured" (their descriptor, not mine) for a week now with my Steely Dan collection and exuberance over the release of the new album. They reminded me that I was  treading a thin line of expecting too much and that the album could never  live up to what I imagined. Really, it's everything I imagined. In an age  of pop where sonic clutter is thought of as an asset - but which can mask a  shallow depth of music - Two Against Nature is a wondrous achievement. The  clean compositional lines, the attention to craft, the melding of multiple  instrument and vocal overlays into a beautiful whole, the introductions to  unique and fleshed-out characters - all marks of a typical Steely Dan  outing, but a rarity in today's pop marketplace. And yes, it certainly is a  nod to their past, building on the jazz structures of Aja and the cool,  detached production of Gaucho. Some might say that this is a pattern mired  in safety, playing it safe. But the album is truly a logical musical  progression (with some nostalgic nods), as well as a very welcome return.