Steely Dan’s unfashionable co-founder catches a New York where things changed forever By James Hunter Village Voice Morph the Cat Reprise Donald Fagen’s new album, the Steely Dan co-founder’s first since 1993’s Kamakiriad, is a funky suite devoted to post–9-11 conundrums. His song cycle is framed by “Morph the Cat,” a lazy-gaited pop-jazz groove that […]
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Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat
Originally published in March, 2006. By Mike Chadwick Jazzfm “Eagerly anticipated,” bellows the press release about this the new album from Donald Fagen. OK, as a long suffering Steely Dan/Donald Fagen fan I must be grateful for this recent bout of creativity. I mean, two Steely Dan albums and a Donald Fagen solo album in […]
Fagen’s smooth ‘Morph’
By Tom Sinclair Entertainment Weekly What makes great music great? The late Clash singer Joe Strummer once offered a theory about what doesn’t: ”It ain’t about playing the right f—ing chord, for a start,” quoth Saint Joe, making the point that passion trumps technical perfection. He was right, of course, but that doesn’t mean that […]
Donald Fagen – ‘Morph the Cat’
By Paul Woloszyn MusicOMH.com At a time when sounding a bit rough around the edges is not a bad thing there are still some artists who are not swayed by changes in style, none more so than Donald Fagen. One half of Steely Dan, he has been making the same classy brand of jazzy pop […]
Black Days
With his new solo album, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen leaves behind imaginary landscapes to face his mortality in the uneasy air of post-9/11 New York. By James Adams Toronto Globe TORONTO — No, Donald Fagen says, he’s not on the line from the foot of Mount Belzoni, nor is he high in the Custerdome. This […]
Fagen on New Disc, Steely Dan Return
By Jane Stevenson Toronto Sun Donald Fagen’s “day job” has been as one-half of jazz-rock outfit Steely Dan with partner Walter Becker since 1972. Yes, there was that 20-year break between the group’s 1980 effort Gaucho and 2000’s Two Against Nature, a best album Grammy winner. But the singer-keyboardist can be forgiven for never having […]
‘Morph the Cat’
By John Kelman Allaboutjazz.com Sometimes tight-knit teams like Donald Fagen and Walter Becker — better known as Steely Dan — make it difficult to determine what each individual brings to the table. It’s no secret that Becker and Fagen have strong jazz sensibilities, not to mention an affection for Tin Pan Alley, having started out […]
‘Morph the Cat’
By Edna Gundersen USA Today Morph the Cat (* * *) Donald Fagen Fagen’s third solo album, and first in 13 years, completes an informal trilogy that includes the frisky ambitions of 1981’s Nightfly and the midlife inventory of 1993’s Kamakiriad. This time the Steely Dan co-founder dwells on mortality and various impending doom scenarios, […]
Review of ‘Morph the Cat’
By Richard Cromelin Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — The taller half of Steely Dan returns from a 13-year break from solo albums as a sort of hipster Dr. Seuss. In the title song, a protoplasmic feline form permeates Manhattan, casting an inexplicable but welcome spell of well-being on Gotham. Less cartoon-like but similarly whimsical, […]
One Cool Cat
By Jane Stevenson Toronto Sun TORONTO – Donald Fagen, one half of smart, sarcastic, ’70s jazz-rockers Steely Dan, had a serious case of writers block in the ’80s. But lately the 58-year-old New Jersey-born, Manhattan-based singer-keyboardist-songwriter has been experiencing his most creative period. After two Steely Dan albums — 2000’s Two Against Nature and 2003’s […]
