Album: Walter Becker, Circus Money (Sonic 360)

"Jazz-reggae-rock" doesn't quite describe it, but it's as near you can get in four syllables. Here's the skinny: the less edgy member of Steely Dan has spent the past three years listening to high-end Jamaican music, as you do.

But he's a Steely Dan guy so the music he's now making is a mellow jazzy rock hybrid founded in the motions of Seventies reggae. The songs are dry as a bone and the atmosphere pretty sleepy (the man sings like the rest of us stifle a yawn), but there are plenty of smarts to enjoy from the comfort of a supine position. Hell, even driving west on Sunset.