Walter Becker & Donald Fagen - Any World That I'm Welcome To (2003)

The band Steely Dan - in essence the musicianship and songwriting team of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen - has long divided the critics : some have marvelled at a highly imaginative blend of intelligent, "literary" lyrics and a carefully crafted influence of jazz and Latin rhythms within the rock template, whilst others have detected a certain coldness in the work, due perhaps to over-elaboration and perfectionism. Of course, deciding to name your b.nd after a dildo in William Burroughs's cult novel Th Naked Lunch will invite criticism , but none of those who questioned Steely Dan's Status at the top of the tree of 70s rock could ever seriously dispute the immaculate execution of their vision.

The duo both grew up in New York, Becker in Queens and Fagen in New Jersey, and this background doubtless he ped to-give them that inevitable element of cynicism in their worldview which a childhood in that unique city seems to breed almost automatically. They met at Bard College, New York State, in 1967, with shared interests in jazz, serious contemporary writing and, in rock, the songs of Bob Dylan; a musical |fusion of these three elements does not immediately suggest startling commercial success and this proved to be the case at first. They made some jazzy, experimental demos, played’in Oldies group Jay & The Americans and tried to sell their songs to the Brill Building's Hit Factory, but these were clearly not the right avenues for them. In 1971, they got a break to compose the soundtrack for the film You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It starring comedian Richard Pryor arid the following year producer Gary Katz rescued them by taking them to Los Angeles to write for ABC/Dunhill and also to make their first album Can't Buy A Thrill. As displaced East Coasters transplanted to California, the pair's estimable intelligence was straightaway stimulated and gave both their writing and their music a heightened sense of distance and diversity. The album drew rave reviews and the single Do It Again scored strongly in both the U.S. and the U.K., as popularity took them out of the "cult band" ghetto almost instantaneously...