If you listen to China Crisis' "Flaunt the Imperfection" (preferably the two-disc version that came out last year) and then the "Flying Cowboys" abum that WB did with Rickie Lee Jones, the "11 Tracks of Whack" album is the next logical progression in the Walter Becker continuum. For some reason, I think of all three album as Walter Becker albums first--they just happen to have China Crisis and RLJ on them. Why do I think that? I think it's because just like on Steely Dan albums, Walter's prescence is both profound and oblique. Walter's that guy pulling the strings and taking things to a new level while everyone is in the conventional listener mode of focussing on the relatively literal and obvious performance of the lead vocalist and soloists. There's that quote: (sic) "You never know what's going on for sure in a Steely Dan (or WB) song, but whatever it is..." Well, it's Walter who adds that intriguing contrast of both dark and light spirituality that you know is there but can't quite put your finger on, that you can never know for sure. Walter prescense is the primary factor in why Steely Dan tracks in this extra dimension of ever-openendness of infinite meaning that transcends when Donald Fagen might give a more pat response to questions about a song's background or meaning, "This track is about so and so or such and such." Walter uniquely contributes an extra psychological/spiritual dimension of subtle insight that is found in few songs, except perhaps those by Leonard Cohen. That is what I think Donald Fagen was talking about when he recently acknowledged Walter had a unique way of writing lyrics and more. That extra dimension, realm, whatever it is you want to call it but is truely hard to describe in finite terms, is Walter's greatest gift.