Walter Becker – 11 Tracks Of Whack

this album is ripe for an RSD vinyl issue... or preferably a full standard release. somebody? please?

By no means am I going to try and tell you that Walter Becker had a difficult life … he drove headlong down the road he chose, often with the headlights off, pouring everything he saw along the way into his music, both here and with his life long foil Donald Fagen, where these two eternal hipsters not only danced the light fantastic, but set fires across the world with their penchant for jazz infused masterpieces, made up of Becker’s love of blues and rock that was balanced by Fagen’s relentless reworking of classic soul.

A timeline of sorts: Sometime around 1981 Steely Dan slipped into darkness, and like some pulp novel, Becker caught a midnight flight to Hawaii to lay low from the long arm of the law, drugs and other rumored reasons. While little is known of his time there, he did do some work with Rickie Lee Jones, Michael Franks and China Crisis. While still not back in each others arms, in 1992 he produced Fagen’s brilliant album Nightfly, even providing some guitar work. Fagan would then release the second of his four solo albums Kamakiriad in 1993 with Becker co-writing the stand out track “Snowbound,” which opened the door for their acclaimed reunion with Two Against Nature some seven years or so later.

It seemed odd that Becker should have released 11 Tracks Of Whack, as the man wasn’t really noted for his vocal range. What he was known for, and what comes across here, is his wordplay, his love of the blues, and his wise ass dime-store banter. That being said, this is certainly not the classically constructed mainstream rock album one might have expected, nor in the same breath is it so far off the wall that it’s unlistenable. If anything, 11 Tracks Of Whack is constructed around a strange encompassing sophistication, one complete with medieval incantations, bass clarinet solos, lyrics that are so obscure and cryptic that it takes a driven and astute listener to be able to pocket the stories he’s laying down … songs that were about cheating lovers, a suicidal couch potato, a space alien, a spoiled son, the constant reincarnation of a hobo, depressed emotionally crippled loners, middle age, shrinking horizons, and squandered squared off opportunities that no longer fit comfortably into a round hole. Most notable is that while Steely Dan kept their cast of characters at arms length, Becker embraces them fully, owns them, and bestows a sense of empathy.

While far from lifting the styles of other artists, Becker does flick on notable light switches, theres “Surf And/Go Die” where he nearly recites the lyrics in a David Byrne ah-la Talking Heads manner, then he turns a corner with the sparse and folkish “Junkie Girl” bringing out shades of Neil Young, though most surprising is when Hall & Oates step out of the shadows on “Girlfriend,” making it more than obvious that Becker is reaching deeply into all that Steely Dan where in order to find his own voice and take on his private personal experiences, yet retaining that gamesmanship Steely Dan was most known for.

There are those who would call this risk taking, while others would suggest that he’s gambling with his reputation, though I would suggest that Becker was very much in and of the moment here. No, he wasn’t attempting to create an album that would stand the test of time, after all there are many aspects such as the synth sounds on several songs that come off, dare I say, sounding cheesy and worn, while on a whole, the compression of these early compact discs does cause the album to suffer entirely as a whole.

Most strange of all is that I never considered that Steely Dan were attempting to be hipster cool, I always thought that they just were, that the attitude and persona were invented around them, but here Becker sheds that skin, and while still smart clever and witty, comes off as being totally uncool, or at least not worrying about how he’s envisioned by others.

While 11 Tracks Of Whack isn’t something I’ve listened to in a very long time, I am happy, but wishing that there was a vinyl copy sitting comfortably in my collection, waiting on the spirit of Walter Becker to move me.

*** The Fun Facts: Becker substitutes the word ‘wax’ for ‘whack’, with ‘whack’ having several meanings, the first being to strike forcefully with a sharp blow, though here, Walter is using the the translation of an attempt, or to try.

And of course there are twelve tracks found on this album, not the eleven on would have expected from the title.

Review by Jenell Kesler