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Every once in a while, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen pick up the hint that it took Jeff Lynne 15 years to pick up, and resurrect the band that everyone remembers them belonging to. Namely, in Fagen & Becker’s case, that would be Steely Dan.

The only catch here, however, is that Fagen’s solo projects over the past 20 years have sounded more like Steely Dan than what now passes for Steely Dan. I have a bit of a problem with that. In many places, Two Against Nature sounds like Steely Dan; in a couple of places, it’s good Steely Dan, with “Almost Gothic” taking its place in the quasi-group’s pantheon of memorable, hummable tunes with literate, ironic lyrics. “Jack Of Speed” doesn’t quite live up lyrically, while “What A Shame About Me” stacks up lyrically but not musically. It’s almost as if they needed some more time - there are the beginnings of some really good songs on here, but it’s almost like the label told the musicians to wrap it up, because we’ve got to get Product on the store shelves.

I’m not going to dwell on this too long, but I’m not a big fan of the song “Cousin Dupree”. I know they’re trying to play it for laughs, but incest just isn’t funny. End of story. In this part of the country, in my line of work, I see far too much disturbing stuff in our own news along these lines. I’ve also known a handful of families and friends whose lives have been forever changed by it. It’s not pop song material.

I wish I could give this a higher recommendation. I really do like Steely Dan, and really looked forward to this new effort…but it just has the feel of something which wasn’t ready for prime time.

1. Gaslighting Abbie (5:56)
2. What A Shame About Me (5:17)
3. Two Against Nature (6:17)
4. Janie Runaway (4:13)
5. Almost Gothic (4:11)
6. Jack Of Speed (6:21)
7. Cousin Dupree (5:30)
8. Negative Girl (5:35)
9. West Of Hollywood (8:28)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 2000
Total running time: 51:51

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are almost miracle workers in my book. How could they actually make me like that miserably depressing Terry Jack tune “Seasons In The Sun”? By covering it in their own bizarre punk style - they’re all able musicians, the Gimmes, but at times they play the song just badly enough that it’s a redeeming trait. But their latest album - once again clocking in at a measley (and expensive) half-hour only - proves that they can, indeed, play the hell out of something if they so choose. And they’ve once again chosen the oldies, sticking to the 60s and early 70s so familiar to me from my own oldies radio experience. I love the music of this era - and the Gimmes attack it with aplomb, actually delivering well-played and at times almost reverent (note I said “almost”) covers of these tunes.

The highlights include “Elenor” (a Turtles cover), a little Lennon & McCartney tune called “All My Lovin’”, the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B”, and an astonishingly good version of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World”. But not content to sing only those songs originally essayed by men, the Gimmes also have a field day with Petula Clark’s “I Only Want To Be With You”, Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” (which, halfway through the song, becomes “Stand By Your Band”, a tribute to groupies everywhere), and “My Boyfriend’s Back” (in which not one single word is changed, not even to reflect gender). The results are hilarious, but the vocals, performances and production are sharpening quite noticeably. They’re not butchering the songs this time, as was the case with a few of their offerings on the last album, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Are A Drag.

Highly recommended - and they’re touring now! - though I do wish they’d turn out something more along the lines of the length of an actual album.

1. Blowin’ In The Wind (1:44)
2. Sloop John B. (2:09)
3. Wild World (2:30)
4. Who Put The Bomp (2:02)
5. Elenor (2:33)
6. My Boyfriend’s Back (2:26)
7. All My Lovin’ (1:54)
8. Stand By Your Man (2:01)
9. San Francisco (1:47)
10. I Only Want To Be With You (2:12)
11. Runaway (1:59)
12. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (2:07)
13. Different Drum (2:31)
14. You’ve Got A Friend (2:32)

Released by: Fat Wreck Chords
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 30:27

The third effort from one of world music’s most high-profile acts - thanks to their home on Peter Gabriel’s renowned RealWorld label and the attendant promotion they get - truly explains Afro-Celt Sound System’s longevity and their appeal. If anything, this might just be the album that breaks them into the mainstream.

Further In Time features some high-profile guest gigs, with Mr. Gabriel himself taking the vocal duties on “When You’re Falling”, a cheerful, upbeat number, while Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame takes center stage on the mystical “Life Begin Again”, which just has the feel of a Led Zep number. I almost wish he could get Page in there and remake “Kashmir” with the Afro-Celts. Now that would be interesting.

Other highlights of the CD include the hyper-kinetic “Shadowman” (whose appeal is dimmed for me only in that one moment in which one of the vocalists shouts “Whassssuuuuuuup?” - and half the time I just let it slide because I like the rest of the song so much). I could see Shadowman making a dent in the clubs. The gentle vocals of “Go On Through” give that song a great appeal, and I hardly ever notice that the track tops out at just over eight minutes. It’s very relaxing. And “Lagan” just blows my mind, with its orchestral backing - it reminds me of some of the better tracks from Art Of Noise’s Seduction Of Claude Debussy, only more primal and mystic. “Onwards” could soothe just about anybody, no matter the circumstances. And “The Persistence Of Memory” has both the sound - and the shorter length - of a radio-friendly hit. I hope it happens for them this time. They deserve it for this album.

I can’t recommend this one highly enough. I’ve enjoyed the Afro-Celts’ previous efforts, but their third time is the proverbial charm, raising the bar for their future efforts - and giving the uninitiated an excellent reason to check them out. Do pick this one up.

1. North (6:49)
2. North 2 (3:01)
3. When You’re Falling featuring Peter Gabriel (5:14)
4. Colossus (6:44)
5. Lagan (4:04)
6. Shadowman (6:36)
7. Life Begin Again (vocals: Robert Plant) (6:22)
8. Further In Time (6:32)
9. Go On Through (8:03)
10. Persistence Of Memory (4:29)
11. The Silken Whip (7:18)
12. Onwards (5:29)

Released by: RealWorld
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 70:41

Poor Tim. Seems like he languishes permanently in the shadow of younger sibling Neil Finn (of Crowded House fame) these days - at the time Feeding The Gods was released, I had heard more news about what B-sides would be on Neil’s next single, and had no idea whatsoever that Tim was working on a follow-up to 2000’s excellent Say It Is So. Go figure.

Feeding The Gods, as it turns out, is both a direct follow-up to Say It Is So and that album’s opposite number. Say It Is So was recorded during Finn’s pilgrimage to Nashville, featuring members of Wilco in the session band, whereas Feeding The Gods saw Finn importing his newfound American friends to home base in New Zealand, where much of the same sound was recreated - with a few new elements.

By and large, the same rough-edged, modern alt-rock flavor was retained from Say It Is So, with the addition of a little bit of horn work (though it sounded a bit sampled to me) on “Dead Man” (reminding me a little bit of Midnight Oil’s “Beds Are Burning”). Tim’s wife Marie continues to back him up on vocals, offering a sweet counterpoint to his increasingly throat-thrashing vocal style.

That voice gets a workout on rockers like “Say It Is So” (bit confusing and Jason Falknerish of him to put a song with the title from his last album on his new collection, isn’t it?), “Party Was You”, “What You’ve Done” and “Songline”. But the real gems on Feeding The Gods are the ballads. “Subway Dreaming”, “Waiting For Your Moment” and “Sawdust And Splinters” are highlights, as is the surprising “Commonplace”, which seems to amble along at a nice quiet pace until the chorus suddenly hangs a sharp right into an angst-filled thrash - it’s possibly the most musically challenging song on Feeding The Gods, and one of my favorites.

It’s also interesting to note that while one song title here refers back to the previous album, a lyric on that album also anticipates the title of the current release - the song “Some Dumb Reason” (from Say It Is So) contained the lyric “together we can feed the gods.”

Also included are the four music videos from Say It Is So - “Big Wave Rider”, “Twinkle”, “Underwater Mountain” and “Death Of A Popular Song” - in QuickTime form. This is a very cool feature which a lot of Finn fans will appreciate, especially since quite a few of us live on continents where poor old Tim doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting into the MTV or VH1 rotation (on those rare occasions in which those purported music video channels actually hearken back to their original mandate of showing music videos, that is). “Underwater Mountain” turned out to be my favorite, a nifty little slice of Chiodo Brothers-style animation, while “Big Wave Rider”’s unexpected, I-can’t-believe-they-showed-that spoof of Hollywood car chases and horror flicks gave me a big belly laugh while also making me slightly sick to my stomach. The clip for “Death Of A Popular Song” also spoofs horror movies, with Night Of The Living Dead and especially the Raimi brothers’ Evil Dead films springing instantly to mind, as Tim - after suffering a Peckinpah-style death by shootout - rises from the grave and starts singing, scaring off the people attending his funeral and gradually decomposing throughout the song (!). The videos, bereft of big budgets and effects, joyously recall the early/mid 80s music video aesthetic which has sadly been lost from that form of entertainment. It reminded me of how much I really used to enjoy videos.

Overall, I can recommend Feeding The Gods for both Finn fans and the uninitiated. Either way, prepare to have some of your conventional notions of pop song structure challenged - but challenged in a good way.

1. Songline (3:20)
2. I’ll Never Know (4:58)
3. Subway Dreaming (4:16)
4. Say It Is So (2:44)
5. What You’ve Done (3:43)
6. Sawdust And Splinters (4:00)
7. Dead Man (4:00)
8. Commonplace (4:57)
9. Waiting For Your Moment (2:46)
10. Party Was You (3:15)
11. Incognito In California (3:44)

Released by: Sonny’s Pop
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 41:43