Richard Williams, the Guardian,
13 June 2003
Unique among contemporary musicians, the post-comeback Steely Dan make records that are more fun to read than to listen to. Like this: ‘Now did you say that you were from the Netherlands/Or was that Netherworld?’ But in all other respects, this new set of songs fails to live up to such assured invention.
Thirty years on from their debut, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have reduced the musical content of their compositions to a series of beautifully machined gestures, virtually devoid of the bright hooks and bold flourishes that gave them such a vital role in the wasteland of the 1970s and sent fans skipping down the street humming snatches of ‘Barrytown’ or ‘Deacon Blues’.
Time spent with the lyric sheet of Everything Must Go will not be wasted, but only the hard-bop horns on ‘Things I Miss the Most’, the slick guitar lick of ‘Godwhacker’ and the laconic strut of ‘Pixeleen’ rise above the mood of well-heeled world-weariness.