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Creative differences

Marcus Berkmann

Wednesday, 3rd September 2008

Marcus Berkmann on Walter Becker's new album

It’s true. He does. Donald is the singer, the frontman, always an advantage. His solo albums sound exactly like Steely Dan albums. He also seems to be possessed by a work ethic, or maybe a compulsion to work, that makes him record solo albums when the group is in recess. Walter Becker, by contrast, prefers to sit around at home on the Hawaiian island of Maui and do nothing very much. Public perception can be cruel, but even dedicated Danoraks have come to suspect that Donald is indeed the talented one.

I think it’s the way people assess creative partnerships. We can never let them be a marriage of equals, and we struggle with the idea that the whole could ever exceed the sum of its parts. Jagger and Richards? Page and Plant? Cannon and Ball? One must be the presiding genius, so the other must be the Andrew Ridgeley. But what seems to keep all such partnerships going, as well as creative compatibility, is a certain rivalry. Walter Becker’s Circus Money wouldn’t exist otherwise. Somehow he has managed to overcome his habitual idleness to record an album that sounds, well, exactly like Steely Dan, but in a different way to Donald’s. Donald has the wonderful chord structures, the amazing production sheen, the tendency to blandness that has sometimes characterised their recent records. Walter has the musical adventurousness — the nasty sax solos, a new taste for reggae — the barbed lyrics and a real need to prove himself. His record has all the stuff I hadn’t previously noticed was missing from Donald’s releases. It’s fascinating, if and only if you happen to like Steely Dan. Go on, Mitch, order it today. You know you want to really.

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Stan Wolarz

September 5th, 2008 9:50pm

As a devotee since their 1st single "Reelin'In The Years",the balance of the partnership puzzled me too.It only became obvious to me after Becker's 1st solo album,prison-fuelled,angry and ironic,listen to the pop sensibility of the changes on "Junkie Girl",it's memorable to the point of whistleablity, notwithstanding its utter unsuitability for top-40 radio, through subject matter and vocabulary employed (and yes,I do think the album is their best since "Royal Scam"too!) Although Fagen was the clever one, with a distinct,and as you say "blander"style,Becker was the guts and cutting edge of the partnership. I'd love to know who did what on those Becker/Fagen credited tunes on their Steely Dan albums.