Donald Fagan - Morph the Cat

I got a copy of MTC 2 weeks ago. I've had 3 plays so far. Having scanned through the prior posts I have to agree with much of it. Yes it's well recorded, yes the bass is stand-out but it's not exactly hairs on the back of the neck tackle. I have The Nightfly on vinyl and this falls into the same category also. I think someone described MTC as cafe bar muzzak - bit strong perhaps but close enough. Hearing MTC you'd have to be mad not to realise it's DF. Some more of the same, however impeccably recorded. Time for a change then.

General point here. I do have an appetite for new music and buy cd's by the dozen, often on spec. As I get older, it's only the music from those growing up years, when emotions were more vivid, perhaps, that get the neck hairs tingling. Music, with in-built, associated emotions seems more powerful than new as there are no memory triggers. Is this just me or is everyone else locked in the past?

Dave

I'll always fondly remember the music I listened to (at full volume) as a teenager, even though I couldn't listen to most of it now if you paid me. You're right, its often the emotions and memories that are associated with music that contributes to your affection for a particular song, band etc... (which is why IMO Sgt. Pepper is so highly regarded).
There is plenty of newly discovered music that gets my juices flowing. I loved the Dan as a kid, however, and still do. Yes, Morph is not terribly different from Nightfly but then, you only get an album from Don about every fourteen years.
Still no news on any U.K. dates I notice.

I've just listened to MTC for the first time and it was nice. Think I'm going to need to spin it a few more times to really see if it grabs me.

Does anyone have the Citizen Steely Dan collection ? Does it have much in the way of extras ? I've got the remastered CDs and was thinking of the box set as well, if its worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by AlanM:

Does anyone have the Citizen Steely Dan collection ? Does it have much in the way of extras ? I've got the remastered CDs and was thinking of the box set as well, if its worth it.

If I recall there is only one rarity on Citizen Steely Dan the rest is on the normal release albums I think. I'll check with Jet Johnson, he is a font of Dan knowledge.

Diccus

Citizen box set has a live Boddhisatva, a ropey demo of Everyone's Gone To The Movies, Here At The Western World, previously available on the vinyl double greatest hits, and F.M., formerly only available on the FM soundtrack.
No great surprises for hard core Dan freaks but its worth buying as a handy collection of all the official releases.
Don says there are no more unreleased rarities. Yeah, right Don. Where the hell is Dallas and Sail The waterway?

Strictly speaking Dallas/Sail the Waterway have been released ....as part of a 4 track 12" single released in 1977 (other 2 tracks were Do It Again + Haitian Divorce)I have a copy.

Dallas was Steely's 1st single but sunk without a trace - although some people say it was maybe only released as a radio promo.

Yeah, but would it have been too much trouble to include these on the box set? They are unavailable elsewhere, unlike F.M and Here At The western World.

I've just seen MTC in cdwow for €9.99 and thought I had better read this thread I had seen to see if it is worth a punt.

Strange as it may seem to the contributors to this thread (and I'll whisper) "I have no Dan".

This thread is making me think perhaps I should.

I seem to be asking this a lot lately but if one had to pick two (or 3) Dan (or diaspora) albums for a Dan virgin, what would they be?


Thanks
John



SJB

quote:

Originally posted by Sloop John B:
I've just seen MTC in cdwow for €9.99 and thought I had better read this thread I had seen to see if it is worth a punt.

Yes, it is. It's a great record.

quote:

Strange as it may seem to the contributors to this thread (and I'll whisper) "I have no Dan".

That doesn't seem strange, it seems perverse!

quote:

I seem to be asking this a lot lately but if one had to pick two (or 3) Dan (or diaspora) albums for a Dan virgin, what would they be?

Two facts to take on board: 1) the Dan never made a bad record (not even a bad individual track, the worst they ever managed was so-so, ands those are few and far between), and (2) there aren't that many albums (only 9!) and they're all a reasonable price, so just cut to the chase and buy them all...

If I had to choose 3 they'd be Aja, Countdown to Ecstasy and, ummmm, one of the others, but you really can't miss.

Pete.

Pete is totally correct - not a duff moment IMO.

Aja gives you the most jazz funky '70's west coast vibe.

The Royal Scam is more rock based and contains fantastic guitar work.

Katy Lied is more of a piano driven album.

Gaucho is highly polished, stripped back and intentionally 'cold'.

The first three (can't buy a thrill, Countdown, Pretzel Logic) are all brilliant and have more of an early seventies 'loon pants' feel to them if you get my drift, although still hugely varied in terms of musical styles from track to track. Big singles like Rikki don't lose that number, do it again and Reelin in the years can be found during this period.

Everything must go and two against nature are the new two and I love them. Having said that I would recommend you start with the Royal scam. It is the album I normally reach for when I am trying to ease a non believer in!

FANTASTIC SONGWRITING, FANTASTIC LYRICS, FANTASTIC PERFORMANCES< FANTASTIC RECORDING, FANTASTIC MUSIC.

No way you can pick three, just rush out and buy them all (there's only seven). Leave 'Two Against Nature' and 'Everything Must Go' till later but snap up Don's solo stuff, The Nightfly is as good as anything he ever did with Walt. I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near Walt's Eleven Tracks Of Whack.
Go out and buy them NOW. You have lived too long without Dan in your life.

quote:

Leave 'Two Against Nature' and 'Everything Must Go' till later but snap up Don's solo stuff, The Nightfly is as good as anything he ever did with Walt. I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near Walt's Eleven Tracks Of Whack.

Not too much later! - the last two are great albums IMO. Regards 11TOW - although below standard compared to any Dan stuff there are still three tracks which do it for me.

Slop John B - try to get at least three or four listens to which ever album you buy before coming to any conclusions. Dan stuff is deceptively deep and only starts to reveal itself after repeated listens. There is a tremendous amount of detail, rythmic and harmonic complexity to their music. It is like a big melting pot of blues, funk, soul, rock, pop, jazz etc etc. It is a million miles from the 'muzak' label that the casual listener may try to pin it with. A case in point is the lyrics which often act to counterpoint the upbeat music with dark and sordid tales of misfits and losers.

Music for the head and heart.

Just found out that Chevy Chase, the actor, was the first drummer of a college jazz outfit that consisted of Becker & Fagan, so essentially the grounding of Steely Dan. Not only that, his best mate is Paul Simon and he has perfect pitch.
Useless fact for a Monday.

They were called 'The leather canary'.

Steve Gadd, Burnard Purdey and Jeff Pocaro, although all less funny, seemed to offer up better drumming alternatives in the longer run!

I just got Morph yesterday and it is quite good, but I admit to being a Dan fan since Aja came out on LP. The DVD-A sounds fantastic on the McCormack UDP-1; way beyond Red Book CD. Too bad DVD-A is going nowhere. Like Betamax, the DVD-A has better technical grounding, but is way behind SACD in adoption by the buying public and may very well die before it gets a chance to be heard widely.

Norman