Agreed.Originally Posted by chalkpie
Meh. Some good songs but I liked Kamakiriad better... Morph the Cat even more so.What's everyone's opinion on this album?
Agreed.
Meh. Some good songs but I liked Kamakiriad better... Morph the Cat even more so.What's everyone's opinion on this album?
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
As much as Steely Dan was a gateway into jazz for a lot of people The Nightfly was that for me.
I always thought Pixeline was about the heroine from a video game ala Laura Kroft. Steely Dan sure likes them some "barely legal".
It was a digital recording. As far as the music, I like it, but haven't heard it in a while.
It's not you. I got the same impression.
I gave The Nightfly a fresh spin tonight. I was pleasantly surprised. It didn't sound especially "digital" to me. The mix is a bit thin, the bass could be a lot louder, but it isn't terrible from a production perspective. The songs are OK, at times great. To me, they lack the guitar solos and subtleties of groove that make the earlier stuff stand out, but the compositions are not as faceless as I'd remembered. It could have been way better, but it's not a bad record. I can see why I've kept it, and my wife dug it as well. I'd put it far ahead of the post Gaucho SD albums, which I really didn't like at all.
Bill
Love it , there is a great mid 90s WB special vinyl reissue that sounds awesome. I have the first Roches record in the same series. They are still quite easy to find
Maybe a little bit thin in the production sound, I guess owing to the digital recording of the time -- but still a great album IMO. Nothing "meh" about it at all to me.
It's still my favorite of his solo records, with Kamakiriad a close 2nd.
"what's better, peanut butter or g-sharp minor?"
- Sturgeon's Lawyer, 2021
I have Nightfly on vinyl and CD. It doesn't have the funky bass of Morph or Slinky Condos, but Kamakiriad sounds more clinical and cold. Nightfly has some solid classics, "IGY", "New Frontier", the title track, and "Walk Between the Raindrops". A couple years ago I got the Fagen box to have all of the solo stuff on CD and to get that great bonus disc. "Blue Lou" is the ultimate "sipping Scotch in a dark room" track.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
I don't remember ever being bothered by the thinness of the production, though I might be if I went back to it now because the idea's been put into my head. If anything I remember being more bothered by the dry sterile '90s drum sound on Kamakiriad. That album felt a bit more dated to me soundwise than Nightfly, though not enough to block my enjoying it. And yes, lovely album. It has the character sketching, narrative quality and eye for detail of classic Dan but with a warmer, more affectionate mood and a unified concept coming from the Cold War period detail. The relative smallness of the songs and arrangements is a nice change after the last couple Dan albums.
Listen to my music at https://electricbrainelectricshadow.bandcamp.com/
I remember in the 80's when CDs came out The Nightly had a reputation as a demonstration disc, along with Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits. Different attitudes these days.
Adore Nightfly. It contains my all time favorite song by anyone, “Maxine,” for one thing, but at the time I was buoyed by its warmth and compositional generosity after having felt somewhat let down by what seemed like cold stinginess of spirit on the Gaucho album (which I actually love now, but had issues with at the time). But The Nightfly felt stuffed with invention to me then, and still does now. (And yes it was a very early digital recording, but I never had issues with its sound on vinyl. I’ve heard reports that people have difficulties with the CD audio but it’s fine for me.) Kamakiriad’s treasures are more subtle and that one took me some time, but I love it now also. Morph I loved from the get-go.m and still do. Feels like I’m still getting to know Sunken Condos after ten years, and I don’t feel the same love for it yet as the others but am super grateful it exists.
Late-years SD: Two Against Nature is fucking brilliant from start to finish, loved it from listen one. I got it while I was on the road with Steve Vai and excitedly loaned it to him to get his response. He didn’t dig it and I quit the band shortly thereafter :-) Fave tune: “Almost Gothic,” a perfect song.
Everything Must Go didn’t and doesn’t move me in the same way, but I’m very grateful for the beautiful “Pixeleen.” Just a gorgeous song.
I bought Kamakiriad but didn't find much there I wanted to hear a second time, so I got off the train and never was convinced by the handful of songs I've heard since then. Now that everything is a few mouse or phone clicks away I may give those albums another chance eventually.
Thanks Mike....now you've convinced me to revisit Two Against Nature again. Funny that Steve didn't dig it...he seems like a very open-minded cat. Ill report back. I just did side two of Gaucho - just wow. I adore that album. My Rival and Third World Man, both amazing!
How about Denny Dias' solo on Your Gold Teeth II? Like rock bebop! Just wonderful. Jeff Porcaro on that album too, oh my what killer feel.
Interesting article about Fagen's "Mu" chord voicing
https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/steely-dan-chords/
Is that boxed set one of the cheapo ones (which might be just fine) or something nicer?
It's called Cheap Xmas: Donald Fagen Complete. It's now OOP but there wasn't much to the packaging over than the discs in album sleeves and liner notes/lyrics.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
An un-fondleable box set in post number 666. Coincidence?
I think not.
Dude have you ever heard THIS: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6R8TuV...ture=emb_title
In-the-studio recording of Fagen doing a vocal overdub on “Your Gold Teeth II” and hearing Dias’ guitar solo for the first time, evidently. “Holy fuck!! That’s great!!!” It’s one of the best pieces of tape ever, it makes me happy to hear DF so joyous.
Vai IS an open-minded guy, very much so, but he told me he thought there was too much reliance on trumpet for his tastes. Can’t blame someone for not digging trumpet so much I suppose. I still love him and we’re still buds :-)
That is awesome! Big grins. Thanks for sharing!
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
Absolutely! Amazing in so many ways! Cheers Mike.
The other really interesting thing about this is you can hear the absolute clarity of the recording before they had the trouble with the DBX noise reduction (or whatever that was). The difference between this outtake and the final mixed/mastered album version is pretty big. I can kind of see why Don and Walt were upset upon hearing this clip.
Having said that Katy Lied still sounds quite good but it definitely has a layer over it...not necessarily a heavy blanket but maybe a few bed linens.
This was fantastic and this channel has some really cool gems for the Dan fanatic.
Here's another random thought that just popped in my head: Mike, I remember seeing Beer for Dolphins in NYC at either Irving Plaza or the Knitting Factory (must have been late 90s or early 2000s), and I seem to recall hearing you say that you were playing keys(?) in a Steely Dan cover band either the next night or very soon thereafter. Am I dreaming this or did that actually happen?
I got a huge kick out of that, thanks for sharing! And honestly I don't know if I'd fully appreciated how great that solo is until now.
Listen to my music at https://electricbrainelectricshadow.bandcamp.com/
I remember Keneally mentioned playing in a group called The Steely Damned.
Jeff Porcaro talked once about recording the track for "Your Gold Teeth II" with Michael Omartian (piano) and Chuck Rainey (bass). It took several tries over different sessions (of course) and I remember he said Fagen played Charles Mingus records to get a sense of the groove they wanted.
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