Donald Fagen - Kamakiriad

Posted by: droodzilla on 01 June 2007

Really enjoying this album tonight - the exquisite extended outro to "In the Dunes", the tricksy bass intro to "Snowbound", and the the two wolf howls as the beat kicks in on "Countermoon" - all great stuff.

I find it hard to understand why this album seems to stand in the shadow of "Nightfly", which I rarely play, and is probably my least favourite Fagen album. Any other Kamakiriad lovers out there, or am I the proverbial voice in the wilderness?

I know it's all a matter of taste in the end, but I just had to get that off my chest!

As for Sgt Peppers... I'm not even gonna go there Winker
Posted on: 01 June 2007 by ewemon
I rarely play the Fagen solo discs but once or twice a week play Steely. Can't remember when I last palyed Walters solo disc.
Posted on: 01 June 2007 by kuma
I rarely play that CD now but when it came out I used to put it on a repeat mode for a whole day.

The Nightfly, of course, is great, too with a touch of nostalgia thing thrown in.

I think the musically they are on par, but the underlying theme for the Nightfly, perhaps, make it more interesting for many baby boomers?
Posted on: 02 June 2007 by droodzilla
Steely Dan - almost goes without saying that their CDs are never far from my player. The nice thing is that I've been listening to their songs for nearly 30 years, but hearing them on good hi-fi has revealed layers of detail and complexity I had no idea were there. Consequently, my respect for the musicianship and songwriting of Don & Walt is at an all time high.

Can't wait to see them in Birmingham in July!
Posted on: 02 June 2007 by bishopla
I have been a fan of Steely Dan and Donald Fagen since day one. Over the years I have always used their recordings for sound check any time I made a system tweak. Donald Fagen's solo work is in my rotation at all times. I recently purchased a copy of Kamakiriad that is a 20-bit gold CD with Sony's Super Bit Mapping and the sound is amazing compared to the standard issue CD.

Larry
Posted on: 02 June 2007 by manicatel
I do play parts of this cd sometimes, but I feel that some of the over-tight rigid drum machine sound doesn't appeal to me in the same way as a Dan album with a more fluid, but still tight drummer. Tracks on it like 'the dunes' are more to my taste. The first 3 songs off his latest cd are real killers for me.
Hey, its just my taste.
Matt.
Posted on: 02 June 2007 by Jet Johnson
...I still play Kamakiriad ....an album which as mentioned has always been rather left in the shadow of The Nightfly

..Word has it that Donald was coming out of a long period of writer's block when Kamakiriad was written, he admitted at the time that he saw Kamakiriad as the futuristic sci-fi style follow up to the 50's influenced Nightfly ..The two together can be seen as (almost) a concept double album.

..... Me? ..I prefer The Nightfly (quite possibly the most played album in my whole collection) but Kamakiriad has some wonderful moments .."Snowbound" is simply beautiful (anyone else heard the instrumental version on the CD single?) I wonder if Morph The Cat will stand up in 10 yrs time as much as Donald's first 2 albums?

I have to admit to prefer listening to the DVD-A versions of Nightfly and Kamakiriad rather than the CD versions but I do still love my original vinyl of Nightfly ..The bass The bass!

Last night I even dug out Walter's "11 Track's Of Whack" ..some great playing and a good sound but Walt's vocals ...erm' let's just leave it there eh? ..I wonder what his new one will be like?

And for Steely 12" addicts watch out for the re-release of Gaucho on Japanese 220gm Vinyl - due out Oct 2007 apparently.

Meanwhile here's looking forward to Hammersmith in July.....can't wait!