Steely Dan: Two Against Nature

TWO AGAINST NATURE could have been horrible, as so many of these returns by grizzled ’70s vets are; as it was, the album was merely slicker and colder than we confirmed Danheads might have hoped. And most of that had to do with the sound, which was just too clipped and clinical to let the record’s wry ruminations breathe. Even Gaucho, one of the most numbed and glacial albums over, was – texturally, at least – warmer than these nine tracks.