Circus Money
| Circus Money | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 June 2008 | |||
| Studio | Avatar Studios and BC Studio (New York City, New York)
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| Genre | Jazz rock | |||
| Length | 59:59 | |||
| Label | 5 Over 12 Mailboat Sonic360 | |||
| Producer | Larry Klein | |||
| Walter Becker chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Guardian | |
| The Independent | |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| Mojo | |
| MusicOMH | |
| PopMatters | |
| Record Collector | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Uncut | |
Circus Money is the second and final solo album by Walter Becker, released on June 10, 2008, through the 5 Over 12 label (an imprint of Mailboat Records), and on July 14, 2008, through Sonic360, outside North America. Unlike Becker's previous solo release, this album does not have the participation of Becker's fellow Steely Dan founder and bandmate Donald Fagen.
The cover artwork features graphic work inspired by a photograph of a Yup'ik mask, reproduced in Ann Fienup-Riordan's The Living Tradition of Yup'Ik Masks. Becker wrote that after obtaining the rights to re-use the photograph (from Fienup-Riordan as well as the book's publisher and the original photographer), the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (where the mask is held) was notified of the intended use of the photograph. The museum attempted to block the use of the photograph, citing cultural sensitivity and the sacred nature of the mask. Following legal advice, it was deemed the museum had no legal basis for blocking the photograph's use.