Drummer reacts to "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen

[@donaldanderson6604]

I bought this on vinyl in 82 and wore it out. The greatest album Steely Dan never made. Sweet music. Perfection.

[@swarm_ascending4439]

Any track from The Nightfly is bliss (IMHO). Go for it.

[@RandoReport]

The Nightfly was a concept album set in the early 1960s. All the songs reflect a JFK-era mentality, both optimistic about the future and fearful of World War III.

[@garyarnett1220]

And he captured a lot of it. Fun time, but not. "Duck and Cover"

[@joannerichards1750]

Another beautiful track - "Maxine".

[@John_Chu]

One of the most sophisticated jazz pop ballads ever written. The chord progression is just wild. Genius.

[@lla788]

@@John_Chu Absolutely

[@fayesouthall6604]

One of the coolest records ever. My mother bought it and I loved it even as a kid. Appreciate it even more now.

[@kltan7261]

You have the coolest mom...

[@andrewyoung4973]

Kamarkiriad another great solo album.with Walter guestong

[@timcardona9962]

More than just a guest - Walter produced Kamakariad *and* played bass and guitar on every track. He also co-wrote Snowbound; its like their soft comeback before Two Against Nature haha

[@dandare42]

Some background to this album is that obviously, it came a year after the Dan officially split. Becker had begun to abuse drugs in the late 70s and had some tragedies (girlfriend OD'd, hit by a car and in a wheelchair and crutches for a while). So therefore, he was quieter on Gaucho, which took a couple of years to finally get released. They had moved back to NYC from L.A. during this time too and then other legal problems held up Gaucho's release. While almost as successful as Aja commercially, it had more of a mixed critical reaction and the working relationship had suffered throughout the process. Becker decided to move his life to Hawaii to clean out while Fagen cobbled together much of the same musicians and production crew as prior Dan albums. The Nightfly was a triumph that showed what he could do all on his own, but the crazy part is that, aside from some soundtrack contributions and live performances here and there, he spent the next decade in a writer's block holding period. I'm sure part of that was more accepted because he could live off of the big Steely Dan royalties but he felt uninspired and it wasn't until reuniting with Becker to perform live in the early 90s that he decided to write and record a new album. He did one in 1993 and then helped Becker make his solo debut in 1994. After that, Steely Dan was back as a full-time thing and they finally returned to make a studio LP five years later. A long road back but worth the wait!

[@latheofheaven1017]

New Frontier and Ruby Baby are my favourites from this album. Soooo groovy. 😄Oh! And Maxine is the coolest balad ever.

[@lewismaddox4132]

"So you say there's a race of men in the trees, you're for tough legislation. Thanks for calling, l wait all night for calls like these."

[@theivory1]

All his solo albums and magnificent. New Frontier on this album is really good.

[@65alef]

And IGY

[@65alef]

And IGY

[@SeaMark782]

My mate, Jeff Porcaro , the Groovemaster. Purdie shuffle, indeed, Porcaro created his own shuffles borrowing from Purdie. Funny story, The Nightfly was nominated for 7 Grammys in 1983 but lost out to Toto for album of the year. Toto was Jeff Porcaros band with his brothers and school mates. It was a good year for Jeff, I remember it well. Joe Porcaro, Jeff's father, was playing percussion in the Grammy band and watched his kids win a Grammy, very cool. Porcaro played on 4 songs on The Nightfly. Despite not winning album of the year, it's one of the finest albums ever produced and is a sentimental favorite of mine.

[@kwcribb42]

This album is great!!!! one of the best albums to listen to

[@cindyp1033]

New Frontier - the video is awesome ❤

[@scotstevens5263]

Another great entire album play 😊. This song turned me on to purchase this. The New Frontier is my favorite tune.

[@ukiahsguitarsolos3436]

One of my favorite albums of all time.

[@emmanuellevillacroux2769]

Here it is!

[@L33Reacts]

Yup thank the heavens lol the steely dan fans have been eating me alive over it not happening on Sunday 🤣🤣🤣

[@paulweber686]

One of the finest records ever made!

[@ohfour-seven6228]

Oh yes, Fagen's solo work is definitely Steely sound. In fact, Walter Becker produced Fagen's second album, Kamakiriad. Kamakiriad is amazing, check out Trans Island Skyway to get a taste. The Nightfly is my favorite song from the first solo album, what an amazing song!

[@KevinRCarr]

I was selling high end home stereo equipment when this was released, and it was one of my favorite albums to use in doing demos of speakers and of turntable/phono-cartridge combinations. The production and dynamic range made it perfect for showing off good equipment.

[@louise_rose]

Marcus Miller is superb here, so groovy...and a perfect fit with Jeff Porcaro. It's such a tight album and many of the songs sound effortless - at first sight you'd think any of them had been recorded in a day or two, knocked off in the studio, but Fagen was determined to get a flawless sound and most of the instruments were overdubbed separately. It's one of the first pop/rock albums that were fully digitally recorded (they had tried to do some digital recording for "Gaucho") and Fagen got the sound he was after: there's almost no natural reverb in there, very little ambient sound and the whole thing feels like the instruments were painted with watercolour on glass. Ace sound quality and it was an album he couldn't really follow up in the same vein but which inspired so many other people.

[@WilliamTheMovieFan]

New Frontier is also good from this album. Check out Steely Dan’s song Third World Man, from the Gaucho album.

[@teelurizzo8542]

This whole album is a gem, you're gonna dig it. But I gotta say this title track might be my favorite off the album.

[@hampyonce]

I think Fagen was the overall idea guy and Becker was the how and with who guy. The dish and the specific elements and spices and cook times.

[@dandare42]

They sort of led on to what each brought to the table in interviews years later. Fagen without Becker is a lot smoother and more jazz-oriented, whereas Becker likes the bluesier and rock aspects a bit more. The harder edged jazz is more his thing than the cool that Fagen seemed to prefer. Pre-Aja Steely Dan was less smooth and a lot more hard edged and hell, when they had "Skunk" in the band there were even some California rock and country rock aspects through the first few albums. That became less pronounced as they became a studio only group for sure and while guitar solos were still a central thing, they became jazzier and less grungy sounding. It was something both wanted to explore but Fagen especially. To each their own though. Gaucho is very much like an introduction to solo Fagen because Becker only co-wrote a couple of the songs and was limited to some bass and guitar contributions thanks to a drug-addled decline. When they reunited they became more of a funky group with a drier and tighter sound.

[@sirsuse]

This is a great album. ❤

[@Chase57Tx]

This album started me on my venture into Jazz, etc. It's alp good.

[@jamespaivapaiva4460]

Solo or Steely, the studio-rats always shine!

[@irgounemeth4645]

The whole album "Morph The Cat" by Donald Fagen released in 2006 is also awesome: drummer Keith Carlock, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, bassist Freddie Washington, and guitarists Frank Vignola, Jon Herington, Wayne Krantz, and Hugh McCracken. Thanks for listening...

[@stevenblock9712]

If you ever hear Fagan's Morph the Cat album, considered to be a "post 9/11" album, in its entirety, it will blow your mind. Promise.

[@johncampbell756]

I see you did Lingus by Snarky Puppy. You need to do more ftom that album like "What About Me". One of the best drummers around.

[@65alef]

Bella reaction. Adoro questo album che è stata la Colonna sonora dell'inizio della relazione nel 1985 con la persona che poi ho sposato e con la quale vivo da 37 anni. I primi incontri e la musicassetta di questo album nell'autoradio ...che stupendi ricordi !😍

[@YellowJello57]

Great song, perfect reaction. It's about a late night radio DJ with a call-in show. He responds to callers - Respect the 7 second delay we use, So you say there's a race of men in the trees?, You're for tough legislation, thanks for calling, I wait all night for calls like these. He reads ads, he misses some woman - typical beat-generation hipster/noir cliche but done right. BTW, Michael Omartian's surname is pronounced Oh-mar-tea-an. Check out Rick Beato's recent interview with him. In my opinion, you're right to say that Fagen is the greater part of Steely Dan. Put it this way - to me, Fagen's solo work sounds a lot more like Steely Dan than Walter's. The whole Nightfly album is basically Steely Dan in many people's estimation. A truly magnificent album up there with Gaucho and Aja. Check out IGY and New Frontier.

[@genecase9464]

This was my very first 5.1 DVD-Audio disc. Opened up a whole new world of sound for me. His remake of "Ruby Baby" is so smoooooth! But a fantastic album all the way around.

[@L33Reacts]

Oooo I bet this sounded realllll nice back then. Still does. But I bet it was a revelation with that whole new sound

[@genecase9464]

@@L33Reacts I bought my first dvd player (Philips 5-disk carosel player-$200) in 2000 and figured "I have 5 speakers and a subwoofer...I want my music coming out of all of them! In 2002 I saw The Nightfly on DVD-A at Frys Electronics and thought "this is what I've been waiting for!" But as good as DVD-A and SACD sound, I wish more music was available on BluRay, which sounds phenominal on studio and live concert recordings. On the other hand, two channel stereo is still the standard all others are judged against. But you really need to give Ruby baby a listen. It gives the album that 50's feel that Fagen was looking for.

[@kathybwell]

Sounds so much like the Dan, so another words this is great!

[@ReggieandMiloTheCat]

Listen to the whole album. Maxine is smoky a ballad, one of Donald’s best vocals, IMO. New Frontier has mad bounce and a dark theme. Goodbye Look is a tropical samba party tune. Not your usual “Dan” stuff.

[@stevelubbehusen5842]

Great album... you will like many songs on this!!! New Frontier, Greenflower Street, Ruby Bay....etc. Check out FM by Steely Dan.

[@baronofgreymatter14]

Ive got plenty of java and chesterfield kings!

[@louise_rose]

The crank call taken by the late-night DJ at 2:11 is the coolest bit of lyrics in the entire song, and Fagen brings out the veiled exasperation of the DJ with suave ease :)

[@masapell]

Marcus Miller wrote a ton of tunes for the incomparable David Sanborn who sadly passed away a few days ago. Their songs together are classics. You should check out Sanborn who has a deep catalog and played in a horn section on Gaucho. You have probably heard his soloing in your listening adventures as he created many a memorable solo . In fact, I believe Rick Marotta (drummer in Peg) played on his early recordings. Start with “Maputo” and then dive deep….

[@robmoffat70]

The Nightfly is such a fantastic audio experience, in no small part once again down to Roger ‘The Immortal’ Nichols’ flawless engineering. I would recommend “Snowbound” from DF’s second solo outing “Kamakiriad”. A track produced and co-written by Walter. It’s a sonic atmospheric masterpiece.

[@garyarnett1220]

I.G.Y. from the same album, PLEASE.

[@Saab901]

Love love love this album. Pianists: highly recommend the piano book/ sheet music. Reflecting Becker’s absence, this is a keys-forward sound fest.

[@ccollins2890]

"An independent station, WJAZ, Jazz and conversation..." (Your comment "At least it just ended" made me do a spit-take laugh. I won't lie; once in a while it's nice when the outro of a Dan song isn't as long as the song itself. :)

[@yes_head]

I remember as a kid growing up in SoCal the star of jazz radio DJs was Chuck Niles at KJAZ (very similar to these lyrics). I always think of him when I hear this song. When it came to smooth jazzy pop circa 1982 this was the shit, along with The Doobie Brothers. But then Michael Jackson and Madonna came along and stuff like this was swept aside. At least until Sting embarked on his solo career and people like Sade kept it going. But yeah, this album (the entire thing is good) pretty much confirmed that Donald was the main creative force in Steely Dan.

[@L33Reacts]

Someone else mentioned the song writing process for Donald and Walter in another comment and yeah, you are spot on.

[@kevingrady8736]

I believe this song is the sequel to Steely Dan's song "FM" You might want to check that song out. It's GREAT.

[@michaelbadyna1715]

HIGHLY RECOMMEND DONALDS SOLO LP SUNKIN CONDOS,WEATHER IN MY HEAD MISS MARLINE AND SLINKY THING STAND OUT.

[@PogueMahone1]

Now that you've reached the half-way point in your Dan🐇Hole Dive, don't let folks shit ya -- they got better post-Gaucho, though less prolific. Seriously, everything Fagen and/or Becker ever did is gold, even shit they left on the cutting room floor. Your next upload should be the MTV video of "New Frontier" -- the first of three Fagen vids released during the Great Dan Hiatus.

[@dalemcmillan7231]

❤ 👍

[@roundtownKen]

After 40 year listening to SD and Donald F. it is clear to me that Donald was the heavy lifter in regards to writing and melodic composition. The intricate and complex chord progressions, the harmonic and melodic choices, and the bottomless bag of blues, soul, jazz, latin/island, rock, etc. musical DNA building blocks... go on and on even in Walter Becker's (RIP) absence. This does not mean that W.B. had no impact on their song writing. Lee, Don's contribution to pop music will "e-vent-u-ally" (...Western World) be recognized as equal to Ray Charles, Miles, & Brubecks' contributions. Try "Haitian Divorce" from Royal Scam. You're ready now.

[@iliumboy]

It's Larry Carlton playing lead guitar.

[@nicksylvester426]

More Donald Fagen would be nice . Maybe "Bright Nightgown " from morph the cat.

[@thescrewfly]

I think maybe the difference with SD is that the whole album deliberately references a specific kind of "sophisticated" jazz which was very much mainstream in the 50s (and still around in 60s TV nostalgia).

[@L33Reacts]

Aka "elevator" music. What an annoying term. Those folks who call it that have no idea how hard it is to compose and perform that stuff.

[@franciscialini7489]

😊

[@franksullivan1873]

Essentially Steely Dan.

[@L33Reacts]

Yup. Absolutely. I said this on patreon but not on here so I can use it again. Ahem. You got this Lee. "This is more Dan then some Dan I've heard." Nailed it.

[@ccollins2890]

I jokingly say "all this album is missing is Walter Becker." It's a fantastic album tho, and showcases all the ways Fagen was a driving force in Steely Dan.

[@TheLastOilMan]

Drummer? oh yes back cap !

[@RandoReport]

Walter's girlfriend died of a drug overdose in early 1980 and he was having issues himself, so the Steely Dan you hear on Gaucho was more Donald Fagen and than anything, that's why the record doesn't sound like Aja as much. Fagen's next solo album, Kamakiriad, from 1993, has more of a sci-fi futurism angle. Together with his third solo album from 2006, Morph the Cat, they form what's called The Nightfly Trilogy. That name doesn't necessarily mean anything, though, since the album and songs are more traditional and don't seem to adhere to any particular concept or theme. Sunken Condos, from 2012, is much the same. He also contributed songs to the 1981 Heavy Metal and 1988 Bright Lights, Big City movie soundtracks.

[@lla788]

Donald listed to Jazz w/conversation type radio stations when he was a teen in New Jersey. Walter Becker was in New York listening to the same kind of stuff. They bonded on that when they met in college. IMO, the best song on this phenomenal album (or my fave) is called Maxine. The harmonies are gorgeous and the lyrics are so good. Yes, this song sounds similar to some Steely Dan songs. I heard an interview with Donald and he was asked who wrote the music and who wrote the lyrics. He replied that he composed the music, played it for Walter, and if Walter didn't like the whole song or part of it-it was out.The interviewer asked if it bothered him when Walter didn't care for a song. Donald said not at all--he trusted Walter completely.. I think he said they collaborated on lyrics.

[@chitownlee]

I know it's not technically SD but you won't see the difference.

[@Ibanezed210]

Did you get blocked with respect to Steely Dan?