17-10-2012, 13:13
online listen
certainly has the Steely sound
more jazzy than most of theirs
some funk thrown in
just misses my list
1.6 from me and a converted 2.7 from the pros at allmusic
from the album - I'm Not The Same Without You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLDLRSzip8
released Oct 16th, 2012
![[Image: 220px-Donald_Fagen_-_Sunken_Condos.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e8/Donald_Fagen_-_Sunken_Condos.jpg/220px-Donald_Fagen_-_Sunken_Condos.jpg)
Bio - from allmusic
Donald Fagen was one of the two masterminds behind Steely Dan, the seminal jazz-pop band of the '70s. Fagen's solo
work has been a continuation of the band's work of the early '80s -- carefully constructed and arranged, intricately
detailed pop songs that are more substantial than their stylish surface may indicate. His 1982 solo debut, The
Nightfly, was the best album he had made in years; it covered the same ground as the last two Steely Dan albums, yet
surpassed them in terms of ambition and achievement.
After the success of The Nightfly, Fagen suffered a case of writer's block; for the rest of the decade he
contributed music to the occasional film and briefly wrote a column for Premiere magazine in the mid-'80s. In the
early '90s, he toured with the New York Rock and Soul Revue as he finished the material for his second album. With
his former Steely Dan partner Walter Becker producing, 1993's Kamakiriad sounded like Aja recorded with '90s
technology. It had some success on the adult contemporary charts, but it was overshadowed by the duo's decision to
re-form Steely Dan and tour for the first time in nearly 20 years; the tour was a massive success. One more album --
2003's Everything Must Go -- came out of the reunion before Fagen decided to begin work on his third solo album.
With death as its main theme, Morph the Cat appeared in March 2006. Soon after the album's release, Fagen embarked
on his first solo tour. It was the beginning of an extended period of live performances for Fagen. Steely Dan toured
several of their classic albums in 2009, by which time Fagen had become a regular at Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles
in Woodstock, New York. In 2010, Fagen formed the touring blue-eyed soul revue the Dukes of September with Michael
McDonald and Boz Scaggs. The group had a second tour in 2012, and after its conclusion, Fagen released the lively
Sunken Condos, his first album since Morph the Cat.
Album Review - from allmusic
Morph the Cat wrapped up an alleged trilogy in 2006 -- a trilogy that only became apparent when Donald Fagen's three
solo albums were boxed in a set called The Nightfly Trilogy in 2007 -- and Fagen then busied himself with live
performances, something he avoided at the peak of his popularity in the '70s and '80s. With Walter Becker, he took
several classic Steely Dan albums on tour, he became a frequent fixture at Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles, and, in
2010, he became the ringleader of the Dukes of September, a superstar blue-eyed soul revue featuring Michael
McDonald and Boz Scaggs. All this high-octane rhythm can be heard on Sunken Condos, Fagen's 2012 album and easily
the liveliest solo album he's released since The Nightfly in 1982. Much of that is due to a pronounced emphasis on
rhythm. Sunken Condos doesn't ease on its groove, the way the otherwise excellent Morph the Cat did. Sunken Condos
crackles with energy even when things are smooth; witness how "Memorabilia" and "Weather in My Head," jazzy funk
numbers both, never succumb to lite comfortable grooves, as Fagen and his peerless band keep pushing at the contours
of their rhythms, letting the music breathe. And that addition of space is a marked difference from much of Fagen's
work since Gaucho, when he began to place an emphasis on precision over feel. Certainly, Sunken Condos boasts an
immaculate production and there is not a note out of place but it is unmistakably a feel album, one where it's a
pleasure to hear the band play and to hear Fagen play with his delivery, sculpting his phrases with an impish glee.
That Sunken Condos also contains his sharpest songwriting in a long time -- whether they percolate like "I'm Not the
Same Without You" or sweetly sigh like "Miss Marlene," the tunes are immediate the way the songs on Steely Dan's
2000 comeback, Two Against Nature, were -- is no coincidence. Long a master of obfuscation, Fagen plays it straight
on Sunken Condos, tightening his songwriting and letting his music swing, and the results are an absolute joy.
Track Listing
1. Slinky Thing
2. I'm Not the Same Without You
3. Memorabilia
4. Weather in My Head
5. The New Breed
6. Out of the Ghetto
7. Miss Marlene
8. Good Stuff
9. Planet d'Rhonda
certainly has the Steely sound
more jazzy than most of theirs
some funk thrown in
just misses my list
1.6 from me and a converted 2.7 from the pros at allmusic
from the album - I'm Not The Same Without You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLDLRSzip8
released Oct 16th, 2012
Bio - from allmusic
Donald Fagen was one of the two masterminds behind Steely Dan, the seminal jazz-pop band of the '70s. Fagen's solo
work has been a continuation of the band's work of the early '80s -- carefully constructed and arranged, intricately
detailed pop songs that are more substantial than their stylish surface may indicate. His 1982 solo debut, The
Nightfly, was the best album he had made in years; it covered the same ground as the last two Steely Dan albums, yet
surpassed them in terms of ambition and achievement.
After the success of The Nightfly, Fagen suffered a case of writer's block; for the rest of the decade he
contributed music to the occasional film and briefly wrote a column for Premiere magazine in the mid-'80s. In the
early '90s, he toured with the New York Rock and Soul Revue as he finished the material for his second album. With
his former Steely Dan partner Walter Becker producing, 1993's Kamakiriad sounded like Aja recorded with '90s
technology. It had some success on the adult contemporary charts, but it was overshadowed by the duo's decision to
re-form Steely Dan and tour for the first time in nearly 20 years; the tour was a massive success. One more album --
2003's Everything Must Go -- came out of the reunion before Fagen decided to begin work on his third solo album.
With death as its main theme, Morph the Cat appeared in March 2006. Soon after the album's release, Fagen embarked
on his first solo tour. It was the beginning of an extended period of live performances for Fagen. Steely Dan toured
several of their classic albums in 2009, by which time Fagen had become a regular at Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles
in Woodstock, New York. In 2010, Fagen formed the touring blue-eyed soul revue the Dukes of September with Michael
McDonald and Boz Scaggs. The group had a second tour in 2012, and after its conclusion, Fagen released the lively
Sunken Condos, his first album since Morph the Cat.
Album Review - from allmusic
Morph the Cat wrapped up an alleged trilogy in 2006 -- a trilogy that only became apparent when Donald Fagen's three
solo albums were boxed in a set called The Nightfly Trilogy in 2007 -- and Fagen then busied himself with live
performances, something he avoided at the peak of his popularity in the '70s and '80s. With Walter Becker, he took
several classic Steely Dan albums on tour, he became a frequent fixture at Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles, and, in
2010, he became the ringleader of the Dukes of September, a superstar blue-eyed soul revue featuring Michael
McDonald and Boz Scaggs. All this high-octane rhythm can be heard on Sunken Condos, Fagen's 2012 album and easily
the liveliest solo album he's released since The Nightfly in 1982. Much of that is due to a pronounced emphasis on
rhythm. Sunken Condos doesn't ease on its groove, the way the otherwise excellent Morph the Cat did. Sunken Condos
crackles with energy even when things are smooth; witness how "Memorabilia" and "Weather in My Head," jazzy funk
numbers both, never succumb to lite comfortable grooves, as Fagen and his peerless band keep pushing at the contours
of their rhythms, letting the music breathe. And that addition of space is a marked difference from much of Fagen's
work since Gaucho, when he began to place an emphasis on precision over feel. Certainly, Sunken Condos boasts an
immaculate production and there is not a note out of place but it is unmistakably a feel album, one where it's a
pleasure to hear the band play and to hear Fagen play with his delivery, sculpting his phrases with an impish glee.
That Sunken Condos also contains his sharpest songwriting in a long time -- whether they percolate like "I'm Not the
Same Without You" or sweetly sigh like "Miss Marlene," the tunes are immediate the way the songs on Steely Dan's
2000 comeback, Two Against Nature, were -- is no coincidence. Long a master of obfuscation, Fagen plays it straight
on Sunken Condos, tightening his songwriting and letting his music swing, and the results are an absolute joy.
Track Listing
1. Slinky Thing
2. I'm Not the Same Without You
3. Memorabilia
4. Weather in My Head
5. The New Breed
6. Out of the Ghetto
7. Miss Marlene
8. Good Stuff
9. Planet d'Rhonda
