PositiveHouston ChronicleThe book is structured by each album’s epoch, kicking off first with a review, followed by an essay and/or interview. After the band’s extended hiatus began in 1981, the solo albums from Fagen and Becker become the touchstones. Major Dudes finishes with a musical obit — one that is fittingly unemotional — for Becker, who died in 2017 at the age of 67 ... Perhaps the best parts of the compilation are the interview pieces. Becker and Fagen were notoriously tough interview subjects, and didn’t grant audiences often, so Hoskyns has managed to corral the best of the best. The pair’s biting humor comes across in the finest moments, and fortunately none of the journalists comes across as clueless victims ... As a bonus, this book is also a treat for students of music writing — as you go reelin’ through Steely Dan’s years, Major Dudes is also a study in how music writing has changed over the years. You get some of the self-conscious, \'aren’t I hip?\' style popular in the 1970s, as music writers fancied themselves the Grade-B spawn of Lester Bangs. If I was teaching a class in writing about popular music, this would be one of the required textbooks.
