“Everything Must Go” was Steely Dan’s second album after their 20-year Studio-Pause from 1980 to 2000, when “Two Against Nature” was released. “Everything Must Go” is the last Studio album with founding member Walter Becker before his death in 2017 and his last album.
Founded by the core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the popularity of Steely Dan rose in the late 1970s, and its seven albums in this period mixed elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B and pop. Steely Dan created an elaborate, unchanging sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures and a love for the recording studio. Gemeinsam mit dem Produzenten Gary Katz wandelten Becker und Fagen Steely Dan allmählich von einer Live-Band in ein Studioprojekt um und engagierten Session-Musiker, um ihre Kompositionen aufzunehme. Zwischen 1974 und 1993 trat das Duo nicht mehr live auf. Nevertheless, their popularity grew in the 70s, when their albums were loved by critics and their singles became part of adult-oriented radio and pop radio stations.
