KATY LIED

The Dan bounced back from their sophomore slump with the previous year's Pretzel Logic and now they release the solid Katy Lied to universal praise and playlist favorites "Black Friday", "Bad Sneakers", "Any World (That I'm Welcome to)", "Throw Back the Little Ones", and my favorite, "Dr. Wu." Though stellar guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is now gone and playing for The Doobies, Donald, Walter, and producer-extraordinaire, Gary Katz, have gotten into the routine of enlisting a broad palette of LA studio musicians including soon-to-be regulars Jeff Pocaro (drums), Larry Carlton (guitar), and singer Michael MacDonald. The new style, interestingly, was to in fact bring in a specific lineup of studio musicians for specific songs--a tactic that would be perfected for the Aja album on which no two songs had the same lineup. On Katy Lied it was the guitarists who performed a kind of revolving door according to stylistic preferences and availabilities. Also, Katy Lied illustrates the band's evolving preference for an expanded lineup of jazz-oriented musicians, including full horn section, vibes, and percussionists.

A good solid album, though not great, and, again, where's the prog?