Gaucho
The multiplatinum success ofAjamade Steely Dan, the musical conceit ofWalter BeckerandDonald Fagen, a household name. But that prosperity came bundled with a fateful triple-whammy for rock's dyspeptic duo: unrealistic commercial expectations, a critical backlash spawned by punk's nascent mewling, and the long-simmering meltdown of their artistic partnership. But the cool, perfect sheen of 1980'sGauchotipped its hand to none of it. Ironically, those fashion victims who sniffed up their sleeves at Don and Walt's decadence-tinged Me Decade manifesto couldn't have had a clue that just maybeGaucho's typically oblique protagonists had uncomfortably blurred from the third-person to the first this time 'round. At least that's what Becker and Fagen hint at in their smart-assed notes to this digitally remastered, definitive edition (all original artwork and printed lyrics restored) of the final album before their 20-year hiatus. Pristine and sonically polished (three years and seven studios worth), time has servedGauchowell. Even its sense of laconic detachment now seems but a logical bridge to the two-decade removed Dan ofTwo Against Nature. To their credit, Becker and Fagen didn't trash the first half of Steely Dan's legacy onGaucho, they simply burnished it to oblivion.-Jerry McCulley