Everything Must Go
STEELY DAN
Reprise
It's an improvement, at least. Steely Dan's 2000 return to studio recording, after a 20-year absence, yielded Two Against Nature, an antiseptic effort that was just north of abysmal, yet still won the Grammy for best album. On Everything Must Go, they haven't exactly regained form, but at least Becker and Fagan are making music with some heart and commitment. In all, though, 21st century Dan lacks the heft of the duo's brilliant '70s material. Largely gone is the sly and sardonic sound; the darkness, the sadness, the edge that permeated the music, all caressed by pristine production and jazzy chords. Everything Must Go is mostly spunkier, cuter and less ambitious. Too many of the songs are built on breezy funk grooves and R&B riffs, bereft of the harmonic complexity and mindfuck arrangements that marked the group's best work.
One major improvement is the Dan's use of a core band and live-in-the-studio tracking. The music breathes and swings far better than the stilted Two Against Nature. Fagan and Becker have also re-instituted sax solos and lush female background vocals.
Everything Must Go improves significantly in its latter half. After light ditties like "The Last Mall" and the forgettable "Blues Beach" — and after Becker croaks through a lead vocal in the barely listenable "Slang of Ages" — the duo delivers four tunes worthy of the Dan canon. They're cast in shadier hues, with coy, subversive stories that are rich in language.
The title song — the disc's last and best track — takes us into the offices of a failed business. You can feel the pain, the resignation, the relief amid these temporary losers as the groove creeps along and tenor sax wends its mournful lines. And there's the implied social commentary about precarious times in the corporate world.
These bankrupt suits are down but not beaten, though, and not averse to salvaging a little kinky fun. "Tell me can you dig it Miss Fugazy/ Now it's gone from late to later/ Frankly I could use a little face time/ In the service elevator/ And if Dave from Acquisitions/ Wants to get in on the action/ With his Handicam in tow/ Well we're going out of business/ Everything must go."
This is damn near prime Steely Dan, but it's going to take a lot more of it until Becker and Fagan can regain the excellence of their past. 
—Eric Snider
The Thorns
THE THORNS
Aware/Columbia
The Thorns: three middle-echelon singer/songwriters who got together and discovered that their voices naturally created sublime harmonies, that their writing sensibilities meshed nicely, and that they could indeed collaborate to form an ad hoc band. Fans of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles — perk up those ears. Matthew Sweet, Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge — The Thorns — make the kind of gorgeously melodic pop rock that thrived through most of the '70s. The trio, which makes no pretense toward anything "alt-," creates music that's more timeless than retro. Rock producer Brendan O'Brien approached this commercial pop project with a deft touch, allowing the three principals to play most of the instruments (anchored by veteran drum ace Jim Keltner), organically mixing acoustic and electric instruments. The Thorns most often uphold the quality of vintage CSN, but sometimes the music slides into trite areas more associated with Seals & Crofts. The opening track, "Runaway Feeling," is a winner, a power-pop workout that grooves on a lazy backbeat. But its bookend, "Long, Sweet Summer Night," comes off as cloying wimp-rock. Ultimately, The Thorns pile on too much of a good thing. They're so infatuated with their vocal chemistry that nearly all of it is sung in three-part harmony (verses, choruses, bridges, etc.). Adding more solo lead vocals to the blend would have given the project a better textural range and make the ensemble singing all the more special. —Eric Snider
Last Day of Summer
BARELY PINK
Not Lame Recordings
Venerable St. Pete power-pop institution Barely Pink's third release finds its most enduring lineup by writing what they know and branching out a bit. While there are still plenty of major-key bar chords, upbeat rhythms and falsetto woo-hoo-hoos, the Pink adeptly sidesteps their avowed style's limitations with some fluid basslines, ELO/Beatles-inspired psychedelia and lots and lots of tasty guitar ebullience. The aptly named Last Day of Summer is exactly what you'd expect from a power-pop disc, a breezy end-of-freedom romp, equal parts melancholy and libidinous fun. But it dodges insubstantiality because of the band's adventurousness — the epic, bouncy "Do What You Like," wistful, acoustic "Mercury Girl" and throbbing, trippy "Firebug" aren't exactly traditional power-pop fare. Still, the quartet are at their best when laying down the straightforward, infectious rave-ups, as in "Girl in the Crowd," "Sixteen's Gone" and "Mood Meter Maid." The uninitiated may find some of the genre's traditional elements — the self-conscious preciousness, the unrelenting sugar high — a bit overbearing at first, but Last Day of Summer is solid, fun — and by no means for diehard power-pop aficionados only. (www.notlame.com) —Scott Harrell
Kill Them With Kindness
THE JEALOUS SOUND
Better Looking
After the 2000 release of a five-song debut EP, The Jealous Sound (featuring former members of Knapsack) was signed to Mojo Records. Anticipation ran high for the forthcoming full-length. Mojo's ensuing financial woes left the group in limbo, however, and Kill Them With Kindness is just now seeing the light of day on upstart indie Better Looking Records. The good news is that the disc lives up to all expectations. The band's guitar-driven melancholy pop mastery remains intact and is rendered all the more lush and ambitious by the touch of veteran producer Tim O'Heir (Superdrag, Sebadoh, All American Rejects, Dinosaur Jr.). The Jealous Sound combines the straightforward hooks of power-pop with tasteful, expansive guitar and keyboard augmentation — a bit like Jimmy Eat World's marvelous Clarity-era dynamics. They also have an astounding talent for evocative, harmony-laden songcraft. The first half of Kill Them With Kindness kicks out excellent tune after excellent tune with relentless compulsion — and their fondness for moody New Wave-isms only adds to the engagement. The bad news is … well, there really isn't any bad news if you dig the first five tracks, because that's pretty much what the rest of the disc has in store. Fans of eclecticism and creative sequencing may find their attention wandering, however, from "Does That Make Sense" until the huge closer "Above The Waves" again raises the bar. The Jealous Sound's only possible drawback is their reliance upon a few variations on a single theme, but luckily, they do what they do better than just about anybody else. (www.betterlookingrecords.com) —Scott Harrell
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2003.