Two Against Nature

{{Infobox album

| name = Two Against Nature

| type = studio

| artist = Steely Dan

| cover = Steelydan-twoagainstnature.jpg

| alt = A photo of two men's shadows cast onto concrete near grass

| released = {{start date|2000|02|29}}

| recorded = 1997–1999

| venue =

| studio = River Sound (New York City)
Clinton Sound (New York City)
Hyperbolic Sound (Maui)
Electric Lady Studios (New York City)

| genre = * Rock

| length = 51:25

| label = Giant

| producer = * Walter Becker

Donald Fagen

| prev_title = Alive in America

| prev_year = 1995

| next_title = Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party

| next_year = 2000

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Two Against Nature

| type = studio

| single1 = Cousin Dupree (promo)

| single1date = 2000

}}

Two Against Nature is the eighth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan. Their first studio album in 20 years, it was recorded from 1997 to 1999{{cite magazine|last=Tingen|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Tingen|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steely-dan|title=Steely Dan: Recording Everything Must Go|magazine=Sound on Sound|location=Cambridge|date=August 2003|access-date=June 7, 2020}} and released on February 29, 2000, by Giant Records.{{Cite web|title=[ARCHIVE] Steely Dan {{!}} Official News|url=https://sdarchive.com/newspage.html|access-date=2021-12-29|website=sdarchive.com}}

A critical success, Two Against Nature won the group four Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Engineered Album – Non-Classical, and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (for the single "Cousin Dupree"). Commercially, it peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and sold more than one million copies,{{cite news|url=https://www.stltoday.com/two-against-nature-steely-dan/article_cced7c6d-84a6-5677-84ff-a2d26bf9888d.html|title='Two Against Nature,' Steely Dan|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=January 15, 2020|access-date=June 7, 2020}} earning a Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Reception and legacy

{{Music ratings

| MC = 77/100{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/two-against-nature/steely-dan|title=Two Against Nature by Steely Dan Reviews and Tracks|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=September 25, 2021}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/two-against-nature-mw0000257938|title=Two Against Nature – Steely Dan|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=June 21, 2012}}

| rev2 = Robert Christgau

| rev2score = A{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=https://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=11647|title=Steely Dan: Two Against Nature|publisher=robertchristgau.com|access-date=February 11, 2013}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = A{{cite magazine|last=Willman|first=Chris|url=https://ew.com/article/2000/03/06/two-against-nature/|title=Two Against Nature|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|location=New York|date=March 6, 2000|access-date=June 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603220858/https://ew.com/article/2000/03/06/two-against-nature/|archive-date=June 3, 2019|url-status=dead}}

| rev4 = The Guardian

| rev4score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite news|last=Cox|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Cox (writer)|title=Steely Dan: Two Against Nature (Giant)|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|date=February 25, 2000}}

| rev5 = Los Angeles Times

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite news|last=Cromelin|first=Richard|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-27-ca-2993-story.html|title=Rested Steely Dan Reels in '70s on 'Nature'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=February 27, 2000|access-date=June 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928004421/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/feb/27/entertainment/ca-2993|archive-date=September 28, 2014|url-status=live}}

| rev6 = NME

| rev6score = 7/10{{cite magazine|last=Mulvey|first=John|url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/20000302132632.html|title=Steely Dan – Two Against Nature|magazine=NME|location=London|date=March 2, 2000|access-date=June 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000615182639/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/20000302132632.html|archive-date=June 15, 2000|url-status=dead}}

| rev7 = Pitchfork

| rev7score = 1.6/10{{cite web|last=DiCrescenzo|first=Brent|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7486-two-against-nature/|title=Steely Dan: Two Against Nature|website=Pitchfork|date=February 29, 2000|access-date=June 4, 2019}}

| rev8 = Q

| rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Blake|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Blake (writer)|url=http://www.qonline.co.uk/reviews/server.asp?id=18774|title=Steely Dan: Two Against Nature|magazine=Q|location=London|issue=163|date=April 2000|access-date=June 4, 2019|page=94|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001203174300/http://www.qonline.co.uk/reviews/server.asp?id=18774|archive-date=December 3, 2000|url-status=dead}}

| rev9 = Rolling Stone

| rev9score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Wild|first=David|author-link=David Wild|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/two-against-nature-2-255255/|title=Two Against Nature|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=March 16, 2000|access-date=June 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929025750/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/two-against-nature-2-255255/|archive-date=September 29, 2019|url-status=live}}

| rev10 = Uncut

| rev10score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine|last=MacDonald|first=Ian|author-link=Ian MacDonald|title=Steely Dan: Two Against Nature|magazine=Uncut|location=London|issue=34|date=March 2000|page=90}}

}}

Two Against Nature was met with both commercial and critical success.{{cite book|editor-last=Larkin|editor-first=Colin|editor-link=Colin Larkin|chapter=Steely Dan|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|publisher=Omnibus Press|edition=concise 5th|year=2011|isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}} At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 77, based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing in March 2000 for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau applauded the music as an excellent "rock comeback" and a "jumpier and snappier, sourer and trickier and less soothing" iteration of the jazz pop featured on Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja, describing it as "postfunk". Thematically, he found it unified by fictitious yet revelatory accounts of "dirty old men" seeking "validation" and "excitement" in their sex lives, which are "full of heady infatuations and random acts of cruelty, self-interest and self-hate, vicious cycles blowing hot and cold", all conveying "the urgency of attraction".{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/steely-00.php|title=Doing It Again|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=March 14, 2000|access-date=June 7, 2020|via=robertchristgau.com}} Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic appreciated the "sharp humor" in the lyrics, but was especially impressed by the music's "depth and character", as he observed "nearly endless permutations within their signature sound". A dissenting view came from Pitchfork reviewer Brent DiCrescenzo, who dismissed the songs as "lengthy, indistinguishable" and "glossy bop-pop" while suggesting Steely Dan lack "soul".

At the 2001 Grammy Awards, Two Against Nature earned Steely Dan won in the categories of Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Engineered Album – Non-Classical, and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (for the single "Cousin Dupree"). For these awards, the band was in competition with younger, more popular recording acts such as NSYNC, Britney Spears, Radiohead, Beck, and Eminem. According to Stereogum writer Zach Schonfeld, Steely Dan's success at the Grammys represented a "revenge of the [baby] boomers" and contributed to resentment among younger listeners toward the band: "[T]he sight of two smug jazz-rock nerds collecting their Grammy from Stevie Wonder as Radiohead and Beck went home nearly empty-handed—helps explain why so many Gen X-ers and old millennials grew up loathing both Steely Dan and the Grammys in equal measure. Needless to say, Steely Dan's elliptical character studies set to yacht rock sleaze didn't speak to disaffected American youth the way, say, The Marshall Mathers LP did."{{cite web|last=Schonfeld|first=Zach|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2074658/steely-dan-two-against-nature-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/|title=Two Against Nature Turns 20|website=Stereogum|date=February 28, 2020|access-date=June 8, 2020}}

Steely Dan's supporting tour of North America, Europe, and Japan was equally successful, encouraging them to record the 2003 album Everything Must Go.

Track listing

{{Track listing

|headline=Two Against Nature track listing

| all_writing = Walter Becker and Donald Fagen

| title1 = Gaslighting Abbie

| length1 = 5:53

| title2 = What a Shame About Me

| length2 = 5:18

| title3 = Two Against Nature

| length3 = 6:18

| title4 = Janie Runaway

| length4 = 4:09

| title5 = Almost Gothic

| length5 = 4:10

| title6 = Jack of Speed

| length6 = 6:17

| title7 = Cousin Dupree

| length7 = 5:29

| title8 = Negative Girl

| length8 = 5:34

| title9 = West of Hollywood

| length9 = 8:22

}}

Personnel

=Steely Dan=

Donald Fagen – lead vocals (all tracks), Fender Rhodes (1–3), Clavinet (1), piano (2, 3,8), Wurlitzer piano (4–7), organ (9)
Walter Becker – bass (2–7), guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 7), lead guitar (3, 9)

=Additional musicians=

Ted Baker – Fender Rhodes (4, 5, 7–9), piano (9)
Jon Herington – rhythm guitar (3, 7–9), acoustic guitar (5)
Hugh McCracken – guitar (5)
Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar (8)
Dean Parks – guitar (8)
Tom Barney – bass (1, 8, 9)
Ricky Lawson – drums (1)
Michael White – drums (2, 6)
Keith Carlock – drums (3)
Leroy Clouden – drums (4, 5, 7)
Vinnie Colaiuta – drums (8)
Sonny Emory – drums (9)
Gordon Gottlieb – percussion (2, 3, 5, 6, 9)
Daniel Sadownick – percussion (3), timbales (3)
Will Lee – percussion (6)
Steve Shapiro – vibraphone (3, 8)
Amy Helm – whistle (7)
Lawrence Feldman – clarinet (1, 5), tenor saxophone (4, 6), alto saxophone (5), saxophone (3)
Roy Hitchcock – clarinet (3)
Lou Marini – alto saxophone (4, 6), tenor saxophone (2)
Chris Potter – tenor saxophone solo (1, 9), alto saxophone solo (4)
David Tofani – tenor saxophone (1) saxophone (3)
Roger Rosenberg – bass clarinet (1, 3–5), baritone saxophone (2, 6)
Michael Leonhart – trumpet (1–6), Wurlitzer (3, 8)
Jim Pugh – trombone (1–3, 5, 6)
Cynthia Calhoun – background vocals (1–3, 6, 8, 9)
Carolyn Leonhart – background vocals (1–5, 7–9)
Michael Harvey – background vocals (1–3, 5, 6, 9)

=Production=

Producers: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Executive engineer: Roger Nichols
Engineers: Phil Burnett, Per-Christian Nielsen, Johan Edlund, Anthony Gorman, Roger Nichols, Ken Ross, Dave Russell, Jay A. Ryan, Elliot Scheiner, Peter Scriba
Mixing: Roger Nichols, Dave Russell
Mastering: Scott Hull
Assistants: Suzy Barrows, Reaann Zschokke
Technician: Roger Nichols
Editing: Jan Folkson
Horn arrangements: Walter Becker (1), Donald Fagen (1, 2, 4–6), Michael Leonhart (1, 3)
Project manager: Jill Dell'Abate
Project coordinator: Suzana Haugh
Consultant: Michael Leonhart
Piano tuner: Sam Berd
Electric piano technician: Edd Kolakowski
Design: Carol Bobolts
Photography: Michael Northrup/Jason Fulford
Copyist: Michael Leonhart

Charts

=Weekly charts=

scope="row"\| Australian Albums (ARIA){{cite Ryan\|page=266}} \|style="text-align:center;"\| 51
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" \|+ Weekly chart performance for Two Against Nature ! Chart (2000) ! Peak position
{{Album chart\|Flanders\|16\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Canada\|6\|chartid=9752\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Netherlands\|19\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Finland\|22\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Germany4\|11\|id=17935\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Ireland2\|17\|artist=Steely Dan\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
scope="row"\| Japanese Albums (Oricon){{cite web\|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/94683/products/music/54129/1/\|title=トゥ・アゲインスト・ネイチャースティーリー・ダン\|publisher=Oricon\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|language=ja\|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130625120044/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/94683/products/music/54129/1/\|archive-date=June 25, 2013\|url-status=dead}} \| style="text-align:center;"\| 24
{{Album chart\|New Zealand\|39\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Norway\|7\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Scotland\|19\|date=20000305\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Sweden\|17\|artist=Steely Dan\|album=Two Against Nature\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|UK2\|11\|date=20000305\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}
{{Album chart\|Billboard200\|6\|artist=Steely Dan\|access-date=June 30, 2020\|rowheader=true}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" \|+ Year-end chart performance for Two Against Nature ! Chart (2000) ! Position
scope="row"\| US Billboard 200{{cite web\|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2000/top-billboard-200-albums\|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2000\|work=Billboard\|access-date=October 20, 2020}} \| 127

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Year-end chart performance for Two Against Nature

! Chart (2000)

! Position

scope="row"| US Billboard 200{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2000/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2000|work=Billboard|access-date=October 20, 2020}}

| 127

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Two Against Nature}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Two Against Nature|type=album|artist=Steely Dan|relyear=2000|region=Canada|award=Gold|certyear=2001|access-date=June 30, 2020}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Two Against Nature|type=album|artist=Steely Dan|relyear=2000|region=United Kingdom|award=Silver|certyear=2013|certmonth=07|id=12426-1004-2|access-date=June 30, 2020}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Two Against Nature|type=album|artist=Steely Dan|relyear=2000|region=United States|award=Platinum|certyear=2001|access-date=June 30, 2020|refname="RIAA"}}

Awards

2001 Grammy Awards

class="wikitable"
align="left"\|Winner !align="left"\|Category
align="left"\|"Cousin Dupree" \|align="left"\|Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
align="left"\|Two Against Nature \|align="left"\|Album of the Year
align="left"\|Two Against Nature \|align="left"\|Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical
align="left"\|Two Against Nature \|align="left"\|Best Pop Vocal Album

class="wikitable"

align="left"|Winner

!align="left"|Category

align="left"|"Cousin Dupree"

|align="left"|Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

align="left"|Two Against Nature

|align="left"|Album of the Year

align="left"|Two Against Nature

|align="left"|Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical

align="left"|Two Against Nature

|align="left"|Best Pop Vocal Album

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090415183741/http://www.steelydan.com/2vn.html Official site]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090330144237/http://steelydan.com/2vntracks.html Complete lyrics]
{{Discogs master|type=album|17120}}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Two Against Nature

|titlestyle = background: lightblue

|list1 =

}}

Category:2000 albums

Category:Giant Records (Warner) albums

Category:Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album

Category:Grammy Award for Album of the Year

Category:Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

Category:Steely Dan albums

Category:Albums produced by Donald Fagen