STEELY DAN - TWO AGAINST NATURE (ANALOGUE PRODUCTIONS) (2LP/180GM/45RPM) VINYL

Two Against Nature — Steely Dan's Grammy winner for Album of the Year! The brilliance of Steely Dan remastered and reissued by Analogue Productions! Recorded to a multi-track analog tape, mixed to 24/96 and mastered and cut by Scott Hull at Masterdisk. Hull won a Grammy for the mastering of the original Two Against Nature LP.

180-gram 45 RPM double LP pressed by Quality Record Pressings in Tip-on old style gatefold jacket by Stoughton Printing.

“’Everything’ appeared on vinyl in Europe shortly after its release, and Rhino put out a 2LP ‘Two Against Nature’ (with the fourth side blank) for Record Store Day in 2021. I haven’t heard the Euro pressing, but I have the Rhino. The Acoustic Sounds reissue is pressed from the same digital master (by Scott Hull), so its only distinctions are the QRP pressing and 45 RPM speed, but that makes a big difference. Fagen’s voice is clearer, the guitars are pluckier, the horns are brassier, the drums are more eye-blinkingly smacked, and the rhythm is more coherent. The improvement isn’t huge, but it’s obvious. (The improvement over the CD is fairly large.) The Rhino LP package is out of print and sells on Discogs for hundreds of dollars, so the Acoustic Sounds package, at $60, is a relative bargain. Everything Must Go was released on vinyl in Europe, and while it too is better than the CD (I have both), the Analogue Productions reissue, which is mastered by Bernie Grundman, is much better still. Here, too, comparisons are academic, as the Euro LP is out of print and selling for three-digit prices on the secondary markets. Both albums are also among AP’s handsomest productions, with a Tip-on gatefold jacket, lush color reproduction, and dead-quiet 180-gram virgin vinyl. If you missed these albums when they came out, at the start of the century, it’s time to catch up, since the times have caught up with them. There’s never been a better way to do so.” — Fred Kaplan, Revinylization, for Stereophile, September 2022. Order both albums here.

Two Against Nature brought Steely Dan renewed commercial and critical success. Their first studio album after a 20-year hiatus, the album was released on February 29, 2000, and subsequently won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

The album's nine tracks reveal Steely Dan's signature sound, blending elements of jazz, rock, and R&B. Each showcases the band's instrumental arrangements, clever lyrics and unique vocal stylings. The opening track, "Gaslighting Abbie," sets the tone with its bluesy guitar riffs and sly lyrics, while "What a Shame About Me" features a catchy melody and witty wordplay.

Other standout tracks include "Jack of Speed," a funky groove with a memorable chorus, and "Cousin Dupree," a humorous tale of an infatuated family member. The album's title track, "Two Against Nature," is a jazzy instrumental with intricate keyboard and guitar solos.

At Metacritic.com, which assigns a rating on a scale of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album drew a "generally favorable" average score of 77, based on 13 reviews.

Lyrically, the album explores themes of love, betrayal, and the human condition, often with a sardonic wit.

Writing in March 2000 for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau applauded the music as an excellent "rock comeback" and a "jumpier and snappier, sourer and trickier and less soothing" iteration of the jazz pop featured on Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja, describing it as "postfunk." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic appreciated the "sharp humor" in the lyrics, but was especially impressed by the music's "depth and character," as he observed "nearly endless permutations within their signature sound."

Analogue Productions is honored to reissue these Steely Dan albums in a way that best shares the group's unmistakable sound with decades of devoted fans. This reissue is newly remastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk and cut at 45 RPM.  The dead-quiet double-LP, with the music spread over four sides of vinyl, reduces distortion and high frequency loss as the wider-spaced grooves let your stereo cartridge track more accurately. The result is more sonic punch and more expression is captured. The Quality Record Pressings 180-gram vinyl ensures a virtually silent playing surface.

Founded by core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan's popularity rose throughout the late 1970s on, and their seven albums over that period of time blended elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Steely Dan created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures, and a devotion to the recording studio. Becker and Fagen, with producer Gary Katz, gradually changed Steely Dan from a performing band to a studio project, hiring session musicians to record their compositions. The duo didn't perform live between 1974 and 1993. But their popularity nevertheless grew throughout the '70s as their albums became critical favorites and their singles became staples of Adult Oriented Radio and pop radio stations.

Becker (bass) and Fagen (vocals, keyboards) were the core members of Steely Dan throughout its incarnations. Since reuniting in 1993, Steely Dan has toured steadily and released two albums of new material, the first of which, Two Against Nature (2000) earned a Grammy Award at the 2001 ceremony for Album of the Year as well as three other Grammys: Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Engineered Album — Non-Classical, and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for the single "Cousin Dupree"). Commercially, it peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and sold more than 1 million copies, earning a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

After a brief battle with esophageal cancer, Walter Becker died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 67. Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. VH1 ranked Steely Dan at No. 82 on their list of the 100 Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 15 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

Overall, Two Against Nature is a superb album that showcases Steely Dan's unique musical style and masterful songwriting. It's a must-listen for fans of jazz-rock fusion and sophisticated pop music alike.