Manafonistas

„Each new Donald Fagen album is like trading in your old car for a new version of the same model“, Andy Gill writes. Hmm. Sometimes it seems to be nice when things stay the same. Always crashing in the same car, David Bowie once sang. Donald Fagen is never crashing, everything is well-oiled. There is coolness, there is irony, there is sarcasm, there is a constant feel-good groove, there are old lovers and young women. There is only one reason Woody Allen never used a Steely Dan-song for end titles or a theme song: he prefers Dixieland. Within its constraints of good taste and old formulas, „Sunken Condos“ works fine. But, as Paul Simon writes, „pity there’s still too much syrup to wade through (…). Next time, please, less smooth, more rough.“