Both the new releases were kind of what I call "stealth albums" for me, in that they didn't really grab me at first, but then I was surprised to find that various tunes were getting stuck in my head, and eventually I found that I liked them both just fine.

I really dig the polyrhythms on the title track of TvN--it's quite Steely and still distinctly different from anything they've done before. And while Cousin Dupree seems to be a relatively simple song compared to Becker and Fagen's usual stuff, it's got a bassline/groove that just won't quit--especially apparent when they perform it live, but even on the recording there's a neat tone to the bass that I just love. I also dig Gaslighting Abbie--that's the most bebop-y melodic line they've come up with yet.

On Everything Must Go, I think my favorite cut is Pixeleen. That song just cruises along so lushly with the female backup vocal in counterpoint--and as a big anime fan, I found their take on the subject of perky action-grrl video heroines very entertaining. Also enjoyed The Green Book for similar reasons--why do I get the feeling that one or the other of The Guyz had been fucking around (so to speak) with some of the more risque add-on packs to the Sims? :-) And I enjoy the title track, espeically the totally jazzer intro (I heard somewhere or other that the intro may be yet another homage to some classic jazz cut, but I'm still too ignorant of jazz to know or remember what it was supposed to resemble).

I really like all the songs on both albums, and feel they hold up very well in comparison to the earlier stuff--these are just my impresions of my faves at the moment.

oh and one more thing...

from skimming some of the posts in this forum, I imagine that I can't offer ANY new knowledge :) but this is new to me.

Doctor Wu was a real doctor who helped Fagen overcome a nasty bit of drug addiction. Call me naive, but...Steely Dan? Drugs???!! The two have met before? NAH. Sounds like heresy to me.