Now this is where Donald Fagen comes in. He's a master at wrapping stories weird and sinister in layers of sound that can fool the listener into thinking that all is well.
Morph the Cat is no different. A casual first listen brings the signature funk, soul, jazz, rock, pop, blues thing that Fagen is known for. Ever wonder how (or why) Donald Fagen is able to come up with music that manages to be creative and somewhat homogeneous? In an mp3.com interview, Fagen was asked if he listened to "any contemporary music..."
Not that often. I mean, there's a few things I like if someone brings it to my attention. But I only listen to the same 40 jazz records I had in high school pretty much.
Here, the melodies wind back on themselves, the guitars skank and chop, the vibes plink, the horns spark up some aural shine, Fagen's voice is as good as ever, and the backing vocals are as sultry as all get out.
Comforting? Yes, but things are not what they at first seem. While the protogonist, Morph the Cat, spreads a kind of bliss throughout post-9/11 Manhattan, there are confrontations with death, musings on governments gone wrong, lives gone wrong, intrigue at the airport, and even a conversation with the ghost of Ray Charles.
So Donald Fagen, at 58, turns his creative impulse toward his own mortality. Death. It's been a long way from The Nightfly through Kamakiriad to here. Not comforting. Stuff that I wanted to avoid in my version of the monastic retreat. But, hey, I know that refuge was only temporary. Sooner or later, real life intrudes.
Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
The bane of my existence. Not you, Saleski. Steely Dan. The sound of the voice always bothered me. It did not help that one of the most unpleasant bosses I have ever worked for was also a big fan.
The music was always pretty interesting to me, what little of them I did actually hear. The voice always ruined it for me.
"Bodhisattva" made me laugh, though. I don't know why.
Well done review, Sir Saleski.
2 - Mark Saleski
there is something kind of funny about an uptempo tune with those 'serious' lyrics. but, then again, both Becker and Fagan are known to be smartasses.
3 - DJRadiohead
And I like that about them. If they would have hired a different vocalist I probably would own some of those albums.
4 - Michael J. West
You might try their first album, Can't Buy A Thrill, then, DJR. A singer named David Palmer sings on about half the tracks.
5 - Mark Saleski
i think the must-have is Aja...in fact, i use that particular song when auditioning stereo equipment. there's just SO much going on there.
as far as the voice goes, if ya don't like it..ya don't like it!
6 - DJRadiohead
"Aja" brings back memories.
This is the story and I am not making it up... I was a DJ at a classic rock station in the Florence/Muscle Shoals area. I worked the overnight shift on weekends starting out. Nearly every weekend at some point in the night I would get this phone call:
"Hey, Josh. This is Steve, a retired drummer from Florence. Could you please play ______."
The songs he requested were either "Aja," "Turn the Page," or "Runnin' On Empty." The phone call went like that verbatim. He was a nice older guy. He was always real polite. We all wanted to take up a collection and buy those albums for him because for the years I worked there he requested those songs all the time and had been doing it long before I worked there. I hope he's all right and still doing that now.
Anyway... I would play him the Jackson Browne or Seger because he was nice but I could not make myself play "Aja" because I just couldn't take it. The voice, that is.
7 - Mark Saleski
you shoulda just put "Aja" on and then took a bathroom break. by the time you came back the vocals would have been done and you could have enjoyed the cool instrumentals at the end. ;-)
8 - DJRadiohead
And that did happen occasionally. Or I took a smoke break. That worked, too. Back in the day. When I smoked. Which I don't do now. Very often.
I had a point when this all started.
9 - Mary K. Williams
"Hey - You - Get offa My Grid"
Sorry - I couldn't help myself.
10 - Mark Saleski
i think somebody's has too much coffee.
11 - DJRadiohead
And it was probably Folgers.
12 - Mary K. Williams
i'd make some witty comment - but i have a stomache ache
(no it wasn't folgers)
13 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net Web sites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
14 - Mijo
Yeah. I dig what you're saying. That annoying voice. But somehow if it was a pleasant, easy to listen to voice, would it be as successful a delivery method for the, as Ian Dury put it, “Faded Hipster” to bring forth this persona? I doubt it. He is who he is and I for one wouldn’t have it any other way. Everything around him is so polished, so post-perfect, yet there he is, warts and all. Human. Even his imperfection can be presented as part of the perfection. Sorry Don, you can’t get anything wrong for me.
I love Morph the Cat. I dread the day I finally make myself sick of listening to it and have to go looking for my next hit or DF/WB genius. If there ever was a case for life extending medicine, give it to these guys, please… - mijo
15 - Reggie
I like every song except the title song. I can't make myself like morph the cat. I love fagen's voice and his music.