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Fagen has crafted some true works of art on this, his 3rd solo album. The best track on the album is definitely H Gang with it's heavily jazz influenced rock sound. It's like a jazz jam session gone horribly (read to mean wonderfully) wrong. The title track is nothing special. What I Do, Brite Nitegown, and Mars Shut The Garden Door are also truly inventive and enjoyable treks in to the jazz/rock world of Fagen's creation. The remaining tracks, The Great Pagoda of Funn, Security Joan, and The Night Belongs to Moana are certainly enjoyable but don't spark any great chord with me. Still, as a life-long Dan-fan, I am happy to hear anything that Fagen puts down and can only hope for more of the same. This was not a classic like Fagen's debut, The Nightfly, but it is a good album with moments of brilliance.Read full review
This album isn't bad, just plain ordinary. The lyrics are, of course, brilliant. But to make his lyrics work, Donald really needs to collaborate with a musician who has an ear for a tune. The jazz influenced tracks blur into one another. The music goes nowhere, just meanders aimlessly around. Once or twice the music shows a bit of promise but, just as the sea recedes from the shoreline, Donald's tune disappears before it has begun. It is all superbly played, of course, but that is all. Don't get me wrong. I loved Steely Dan and Donald's The Nightfly was the best album of the 1980's. I'm a real fan - and have been since Can't Buy A Thrill. So I understand the brilliance that Donald Fagen was once capable of. But everything since The Nightfly has been so disappointing, no matter how hard you try and like it and no matter how often you play it. So if you read this Donald, please collaborate with a tunesmith before you bother to record more of the same. What you do now is not good, and I suspect that you know it. 10/10 for lyrical content, yes. 10/10 for instrumental accomplishment, yes. 2/10 for any tuneful input - and that is being generous. This is, sorry to say, a musically aimless CD and if you can't buy it for 99cents then don't bother.Read full review
After listening to this CD a few times, it is clear that this is not a breakthrough CD for Fagen. That's ok, he's already done that with his solo work as well as with Becker in Steely Dan many times over. Some of the tunes here have the same feel as the Nightfly album, and the fuller arrangements seem connected to some well-produced early-day Dan tunes. There is a good mix of styles here, from jazz to progressive, to hip-hop and even some pop sounds. Best of all, the listener can choose to enjoy the music on any of many levels, from listening to just the lyrics as editorial poetry, appreciating the superior musicianship, or just kicking back and enjoying the sounds and rhythms. The bass line in title track and reprise, with their smoky jazz-club sound, may be the catchiest part of the CD, although the material overall here is flat in comparison to some earlier solo and collaborative works. Regardless, this is an essential CD for die-hard fans as well as those new to Fagen.Read full review
All I can say is if you have any perverse tendency to like Steely Dan or Donald Fagen buy it now! My band's keyboard player had this CD, and we played it during band breaks. Normally I would have one or two inquiries wanting to know who recorded the tracks. I began to really love the CD and purchased it. I don't want to sound prejudiced, but if one black person comments that our band sounds good, that is better than 100 white people saying the same thing. I played this during a break one night, and a beautiful black lady sat down in front of a main speaker stack abd sat for 20 minutes listening to Morph. As I came up and got the band ready to start the set, she walked up to me and said, "I am sorry I have to run, but I could listen to that music all night." I only wish she would have said she wanted to listen to our band's music all night. If you like GOOD MUSIC NO MATTER THE STYLE, do not have reservations and buy this now. It is really that good, and the liner notes are even better, quit downloading and spend $15 bucks for a lifetime of enjoyment, thank you Donald for another masterpiece in catchy chord changes, horn arrangements, and very hip styling.Read full review
As a long time fan of de Dan and both pieces thereof, I regret not for a nanosecond acquiring this brilliant new work. It sounds soooo good in both my technicolor motor home and my Kamikiri, not to mention (am about to) my home, fully equipped with Bose 601's and smaller JBL's of vintage variety in my cats tree house scratching trunks. I wish all can find the pleasure I did, and carry on through the rest of this particular trip to Earth. Recordings like this make it a pleasure. 2 years later,...STILL sweet! :)
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