Everything Must Go (Steely Dan album)

Everything Must Go is the ninth studio album by American rock group Steely Dan. It was released on June 10, 2003, by Reprise Records, and was the band's second album following their 20-year studio hiatus spanning 1980 through 2000, when they released Two Against Nature. Everything Must Go is the last studio album with founding member Walter Becker before his death in 2017 and the most recent album to date.

Everything Must Go
Studio album by Steely Dan
Released	June 10, 2003
Recorded	2001 - 2003; at Sear Sound (NYC), Skyline Studios (NYC), River Sound (NYC), Hyperbolic Sound (Maui), Bearsville Studios (Bearsville); mixed at Presence Studios (Weston, CT);[1] mastered at Sony Music[2]
Genre	Jazz rock
Length	42:24
Label	Reprise
Producer	Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Steely Dan chronology
Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party (2000) Everything Must Go (2003)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	71/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
BBC Music	(positive)[5]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[7]
The Guardian	[8]
Mojo	[9]
The New York Times	(positive)[10]
PopMatters	[11]
Q	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Slate	(positive)[14]
Sputnikmusic	[15]
Uncut	[16]

Background

"Godwhacker" developed from a blasphemous lyric Fagen wrote a few days after his mother died of Alzheimer's. "It's about an elite squad of assassins whose sole assignment is to find a way into heaven and take out God", he later explained. "If the Deity actually existed, what sane person wouldn't consider this to be justifiable homicide?"[17]

Reviews

Everything Must Go received mixed reviews upon release. During a concert at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre on July 8, 2011, Donald Fagen said that he felt the album was "underrated".[18]

Releases

Everything Must Go was also released as a DVD-audio disc with a multi-channel mix.[19]

A special two-disc edition of Everything Must Go (one CD, one DVD) was released. The DVD, 'Steely Dan Confessions', follows Becker and Fagen touring Las Vegas after hours in a taxi promoting the album in a special version of the cult HBO cable show Taxicab Confessions, hosted by cabbie Rita.[20][21]

Track listing

All songs written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Last Mall"	3:36
2.	"Things I Miss the Most"	3:59
3.	"Blues Beach"	4:29
4.	"Godwhacker"	4:57
5.	"Slang of Ages"	4:15
6.	"Green Book"	5:55
7.	"Pixeleen"	4:01
8.	"Lunch with Gina"	4:27
9.	"Everything Must Go"	6:45

Personnel

Steely Dan

• Donald Fagen – lead vocals (all tracks except 5), organ (3, 5-7), synthesizer (5), piano (3), Hohner Clavinet (9), Fender Rhodes (1, 2, 5-7, 9) & Wurlitzer (1, 4, 8), solo synth (4, 6, 8), percussion (6, 9)
• Walter Becker – bass (all tracks), solo guitar (1-4, 6), lead vocals (5), percussion (9)

Additional musicians

• Ted Baker – piano (1-3, 6, 9), Fender Rhodes (8), Wurlitzer (5)
• Bill Charlap – piano (7), Fender Rhodes (4)
• Jon Herington – guitar (all tracks)
• Hugh McCracken – guitar (all tracks)
• Keith Carlock – drums (all tracks)
• Gordon Gottlieb – percussion (2, 3, 5, 7, 8)
• Ken Hitchcock – clarinet (7)
• Walt Weiskopf – alto saxophone (1), tenor saxophone (2, 5, 7, 9)
• Chris Potter – tenor saxophone (8)
• Roger Rosenberg – baritone saxophone (1, 7)
• Tony Kadleck – trumpet (1)
• Michael Leonhart – trumpet (2, 5, 7, 8)
• Jim Pugh – trombone (1, 7)
• Tawatha Agee – background vocals (4, 5, 9)
• Ada Dyer – background vocals (5)
• Michael Harvey - background vocals (5, 7, 8)
• Carolyn Leonhart – background vocals (2, 3, 5, 6), featured background vocal (7)
• Cindy Mizelle – background vocals (1, 6)
• Catherine Russell – background vocals (1, 4, 5, 6)
• Brenda White-King – background vocals (9)

Production

• Producers: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
• Engineers: Tom Doherty, Roger Nichols, Dave Russell, Elliot Scheiner
• Assistant engineers: Suzy Barrows, Tom Doherty, Steve Mazur, Keith Nelson, Todd Parker, Matt Scheiner
• Mixing: Elliot Scheiner
• Mixing assistant: Joe Peccerillo
• Mastering: Darcy Proper
• Editing: Larry Alexander
• Arrangers: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
• Horn arrangements: Donald Fagen
• Technician: Sam Berd
• Drum technician: Art Smith
• Piano tuner: Sam Berd

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2003	Billboard 200	9
2003	Top Internet Albums	7
2003	UK Album Chart	21

References

1. Presence Studios - Clients Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
2. discogs.com - Steely Dan Everything Must Go
3. Everything Must Go at Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
4. "Everything Must Go". Allmusic. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
5. BBC Music review Chris Jones, 2003-05-30
6. "CG: Steely Dan". Robert Christgau. n.d. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
7. "Everything Must Go".
8. Williams, Richard (13 June 2003). "CD: Steely Dan: Everything Must Go". the Guardian.
9. Mojo, June 2003, p.95
10. Pareles, Jon. "CRITIC'S CHOICE/New CD's; Tried and True or Being New".
11. "Steely Dan: Everything Must Go". 24 June 2003.
12. Q, July 2003, p.113
13. Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
14. Kaplan, Fred (18 June 2003). "Steely Dan Is Getting Old" – via Slate.
15. "Steely Dan - Everything Must Go (album review ) - Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com.
16. "Face Value - Uncut". Uncut.
17. Fagen, Donald (22 October 2013). "Eminent Hipsters". Penguin – via Google Books.
18. "Steely Dan at the Greek Theater: Concert Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
19. "Steely Dan - Everything Must Go". Discogs.
20. discogs - Everything Must Go CD/DVD Special Edition (Europe)
21. discogs - Everything Must Go CD/DVD (US)

External links

• Complete lyrics
• Interview with Fagen and Becker in Sound on Sound - Article by Paul Tingen about the making of Everything Must Go