since the first time i heard Black Cow this has been one of my favorite albums. but the back half is lacking. Home at Last, I Got the News, and Josie are all too weak to compare to Black Cow, Aja, Deacon Blues, or Peg.
in the front half of the album the song writing, the pacing, the musicianship, the vocals are all perfect. there are no flaws. according to bennett, steely dan spent a massive amount of resources working to make this album as close to perfect as possible. also according to him, they worked with a large number of studio musicians to ensure that each piece of each song was exactly as they envisioned it. and it works: the first four tracks feel unmatched in their quality of performance, the cohesion of the vision and execution. i would be hard pressed to name a better song than Aja, let alone an 8 minute song with 3 solos.
but then home at last hits and you can feel it begin to dip. i got the news almost stumbles through the door, and josie, despite being one of the lead singles on the album, finishes it off with a whimper, by far the weakest track on the album.
i am worried that this sounds harsh so i want to be clear: on a rating out of 100 i would give this album somewhere around 95. but each point deduction comes from those last 3 tracks.
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