Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0698268450523
Label: Mailboat Records
Manufacturer: Mailboat Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Mailboat Records
Release Date: 2008-06-10
Studio: Mailboat Records
MPN: 4505

It's been 14 years since Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker's last (and first) solo album was released. Now, at long last, the wait is finally over for the second. Circus Money finds Becker's sardonic sensibility completely intact and each of the album's songs, inflected with jazz, reggae, and rock phrasing, is a masterpiece of musical understatement and lyrical nuance.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Almost like Don Walter
Comment: A lovely album by someone who is, let this be clear before you listen, the main man behind Steely Dan, together with Donald Fagen. The line-up is the same as the Dan studio albums and the road crew I saw last year, so tight, so steady and well educated. Very relaxed, well composed and very very clever. So good to hear the man do this on his own. Walter Becker has clearly been influenced and gave his influences to... and that is what it should be like. I truly love the interaction and the voice of Carolyn Leonhart in particular. Good stuff and the real fan should have it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: phenomenal album
Comment: I was blown away by this album. I enjoyed 11 Tracks of Whack but not as much as Fagen's first two solo efforts. Hence I mistakenly was led to believe that Becker was somehow not as genius as Fagen. This album proved me wrong twice over. Spectacular album. Many have mentioned the originality (or novelty as some more cynically put it) of the songs (reggae) but what has impressed me the most is the quality of the lyrics. Amazing.

My faves: Downtown Canon, Darkling Down, God's Eye View, Bob is Not Your Uncle Anymore

OK songs: Upside Looking Down, Circus Money

If your a SD fan, there should be no need to recommend this album. And if you're not, then you should be.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: ...and now during Fagen's intermission....Walter
Comment: I absolutely love Steely Dan. There has never been a time, nor will there ever be, when I couldn't sit down and listen to any of their albums and immediately take off right where I left off. SD music always sounds current and relevant and...there isn't anything like it. But the Steely Dan sound depends heavily on Fagen's voice and when it's absent, even with the great musicians, arrangements and production, WB just can't carry it off. Walter contributes at least 50% to the Dan songwriting and arranging so you have to give him credit for that but he just doesn't have the pipes to be the up-front guy. It must be tough to be the "other" guy especially when your counterpart is Don Fagen. To be fair though I must say that I've not been exactly blown away with Fagen's latest releases either. There's an unmistakable synergy that's missing in their solo efforts.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Steely Dan
Comment: For all steely Dan fans; starving for new material; this album is for you.
Although it is missing Donald Fagen; there is a Steely Dan sound in every track. Highly recommended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This CD gets better with every listen
Comment:
It has the sounds of the first rate Steely Dan arrangements on it
and Walters voice, the background singers and the reggae groove
make this music distinctive.
A fine effort from the man that is one half of the Steely Dan duo.

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