Walter Becker
Circus Money
5 over 12 Records
Release Date: June 2008
Preview by Allen Bacon
Editor
Bosco
Ok, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you...Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, Steely Dan, and anything remotely related to those three names is musical genius so when I heard recently that Becker was working on a new solo album I had to write something. The album isn't even out yet. They will always get a free pass here.
This much we know: Becker's first solo album since the 1994 release 11 tales of Whack is called Circus Money and is scheduled to hit the stores June 10, 2008...or maybe it's June 2009 or June 2010...uh, you never know with the Steely Dan guys because they don't release their albums until they are totally satisfied and that could be a while.
We also know the new album is not going to be produced by Mr. Fagen who produced the last Becker Solo project. Remember, Becker produced Fagen's solo record Kamikiriad and then Donald Fagen produced 11 tales of Whack so in 1994 you had the rebirth of Steely Dan...sort of. Larry Klein the ex-husband of Joni Mitchell and producer on many of Mitchell's best albums is the producer on this album. Klein has also produced albums for Holly Cole, Herbie Hancock, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Shawn Colvin. This should be an interesting collaboration.
Becker could actually produce this album himself...he wasn't sitting around his house in Hawaii doing nothing during the Steely Dan break of the 80's afterall. He was producing great albums for the likes of Rickie Lee Jones and Rosie Vela (along with Fagen, acutally). But this work with Klein should lend a slightly different sound than the rest of his work.
The only thing I hope Becker does on this album which he did not do on the first solo album is avoid singing all the songs. You know this album is going to be musically and lyrically sound but his singing is an acquired taste. Like Tom Waits or Leon Redbone. There was a reason why Becker didn't sing solo on a Steely Dan album until 2003. But then again a lot of people don't think Donald Fagan is the greatest singer either...but we still love to hear him. I think it would be interesting if Walter Becker recruited some of his friends like Rickie Lee Jones, Rosie Vela, Joni Mitchell, and Michael McDonald to sing some of his songs...not all of his songs...just about half would be great.
On the music side, we already know that great session players like Keith Carlock (drums) and Jon Herrington (guitars) are going to be on this album. For more info as it happens go to www.walterbecker.com and sign up for his newsletter and come back here for more updates on this project.
Photo Credit: Danny Cinch www.walterbecker.com
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