Walter Becker and Donald Fagen made a grand total of three solo albums for almost fourteen years, from 1981 to 1994. They produced some albums for other folks but one of the most productive songwriting teams of the '70s released just 26 songs during that period. However, those solo albums revealed who contributed what to the Steely Dan partnership. Fagen's The Nightfly proved that he had the voice, the melodies, and the idealism. On the other hand, Becker's 11 Tracks of Whack showed that it’s the one who gave the acerbic edge to the lyrics and the unpredictable shiftiness to the chord changes. Becker's style of voice is a real barrier to appreciating these songs, but if you can get past that handicap, the songs are quite good, unsettling portraits of a Junkie Girl, This Moody Bastard, and other suicidal characters on society’s margins. It was the first Becker-Fagen co-production since 1980, and the tracks gleamed. The gifted artist, Becker, is also recognized as the co-creator of the children’s album Mose the Fireman. In addition, he together with John Beasley composed the ragtime and Dixieland music and led the quartet that played it behind Michael Keaton's narration about a mythical New York fireman. The music is then repeated without the narration. You will also see albums attributed to Becker and Fagen; songwriting demos before the two finally landed their Steely Dan deal. Moreover, fewer than thirty songs are involved; some of them were later recreated by Steely Dan, but most were not. The songs were creatively done and were made with more than convincing lyrics. By 2005, Walter released Tempus Fugit that was really liked by their listeners and others who’re not really familiar of them.
Walter Becker is indeed a great artist. He knows how to nurture his talents and how to share those talents with others as well. His albums are as follows:
You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It ... Or You'll Lose That Beat
Release Date: 2006
1. Dog Eat Dog
2. Red Giant/Green Dwarf
3. You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It
4. If It Rains
5. Flotsam & Jetsam
6. Roll Back the Meaning
7. War & Peace
8. You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It (Reprise)
Come Back Baby
Release Date: 2003
1. Come Back Baby
2. Brain Tap Shuffle
3. Android Warehouse
4. Charlie Freak
5. More to Come
6. Parker's Band
7. The Old Regime
8. Roaring of the Lamb
9. Brooklyn
10. Sun Mountain
11. Any World That I'm Welcome To
12. I Can't Function
13. Mock Turtle Song
14. Yellow Peril
15. Stone Piano
16. You Go Where I Go
Walter Becker & Donald Fagan
Release Date: 2001
1. Come Back Baby
2. Brain Tap Shuffle
3. Android Warehouse
4. Charlie Freak
5. More to Come
6. Parker's Band
7. The Old Regime
8. Roaring of the Lamb
9. Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)
10. Sun Mountain
11. Any World (That I'm Welcome To)
12. I Can't Function
13. Mock Turtle Song
14. Yellow Peril
15. Stone Piano
16. You Go Where I Go
11 Tracks of Whack
Release Date: 1994
1. Down in the Bottom
2. Junkie Girl
3. Surf and/Or Die
4. Book of Liars
5. Lucky Henry
6. Hard up Case
7. Cringemaker
8. Girlfriend
9. My Waterloo
10. This Moody Bastard
11. Hat Too Flat
12. Little Kawai
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