Steely Dan - Two Against Nature
Performance 
Production
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Steely Dan - Two Against Nature
Performance |
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Walter Becker and Donald Fagen teamed up once again to release the first Steely Dan studio album in 19 some-odd years. That has to be some kind of record. This DVD, that soon followed, was recorded live at Sony Studios, in New York, and has the current version of the band running through five new songs from the Two Against Nature album, as well as nine other Steely Dan classics. Although they are performing live, this is hardly a "concert". They are performing on a soundstage, and the light, scattered applause you hear between songs probably comes from a small group of fans and friends that were lucky enough to be invited to this performance. This is another one of those DVD concerts that was nearly ruined by the production. The worst offender is the interview footage stuck in between each and EVERY song performance. Most of the interviews were quite interesting and funny, since it is so rare to see anything from the reclusive Fagen and Becker, but for God's sake why could they not put them all in the special features section, or at least give you the option to skip them - and I'm not talking about sitting on the fast-forward button. When the DVD first starts, give the following options: "With Interviews" or "Without Interviews" - its that simple! The camera work also detracted from the performances. I think the director was trying to be a little too "artsy". Everything was shot much too close up. Almost all you see is either hands playing instruments, or musician's faces. Do we really need so many close-ups of Donald Fagen's snaggle-toothed face? Fagen makes Ringo Starr seem pleasant to look at, for crying out loud. Pull that camera back some and show the entire band playing! I'll be generous and only subtract two stars from the production rating since the rest was so good. The actual song performances were fantastic. The group of musicians they have assembled are first rate as always. Fagen's singing sounds excellent - exactly like you hear on the albums, and Becker is impressive on the guitar. The band is about as tight and meticulous as you can get. Each arrangement is fairly faithful to the original, with some improvisation thrown in to showcase each musician's talents. The song selection wasn't the greatest, but you could never satisfy every Steely Dan fan, considering their great catalogue of tunes. The five new songs they performed were all good, but I found myself more anxious to get to the next classic song. I would have preferred to hear some of my favorite Steely Dan songs, like "Do It Again", "Reelin' In The Years", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", and "Deacon Blues", but there were no songs that they did play that I would have replaced. The audio and video quality on this DVD were both phenomenal. The DTS surround, in particular, was very impressive. Everything sounded very crisp and clear and there was great separation between the instruments - horn blast to the left-rear, guitar solo in the right-front, Hammond organ in the left-front, etc. - all melded together to form an excellent soundstage. The video was very sharp and clear, if only the camera work was better. I saw Steely Dan on their 1995 tour, and they did a lot of different arrangements of some of their songs, as you might notice on their Alive In America CD. I think that a concert DVD recorded from one of these shows, or from the Two Against Nature tour would be much more satisfying than this DVD. Lets only hope they have been doing some filming. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - July 2004 |
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Technical Details |
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Audio Transfer |
Video Transfer |
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Set List |
Performers |
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Running Time: 102 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - June 2000 |