By Paul Zollo American Songwriter On the occasion of Donald Fagen’s latest non-Steely Dan effort, Sunken Condos, we sat down to talk about this new classic, and the previous ones. You and Walter Becker are among the few songwriters to extend the vocabulary of chords. Back in the days when they wrote standards, a lot of composers were […]
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Steely Dan Co-Capt. Finds Freedom on ‘Condos’
By Russell Hall Music and Musicians Two years ago Donald Fagen decided to wipe the slate clean. His first three solo albums –1982’s The Nightfly, 1993’sKamakiriad and 2006’s Morph the Cat –had been tied together by unified themes, based on stages of Fagen’s life. For his new record, Sunken Condos, Fagen cast aside such constraints. “Those first three albums, which […]
Donald Fagen interview
By Bruce Pollack Songfacts.com At the keyboards, Donald Fagen was the smoky voice and songwriting co-conspirator (with Walter Becker) on all of Steely Dan’s classic hits, from “Reelin’ In The Years” to “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” to “Peg” and “Deacon Blues” and “Hey Nineteen.” Carving perverse lyrics into cryptic and sardonic story lines, wound […]
A Conversation With Fagen & Leonhart
By Mike Ragogna Huffington Post Michael Ragogna: Guys, the new album Sunken Condos seems like a funk-based new beginning for Donald Fagen’s music. Can you go into what your approach was coming into this creatively? Donald Fagen: Well, I think the first three albums I did, which appeared at ten-year intervals, more or less ended […]
Donald Fagen Mulling Solo Tour To Support ‘Sunken Condos’ Album
By Gary Graff Billboard After a three interconnected solo albums, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen wanted his upcoming “Sunken Condos” to stand on its own. “(2006’s) ‘Morph the Cat’ concluded what was a sort of autobiographical trilogy, although it didn’t start out to be that, so this is kind of new,” Fagen tells Billboard. “I just […]
Donald Fagen’s Stealth Pop
The Steely Dan vet mulls his savvy new solo album, the state of the art and his weakness for smart, funny, neurotic characters Originally published on Oct. 9, 2012 By Mark Brown Special to MSN Music For Donald Fagen fans, it’s an early Christmas. He’s back with a new solo album, a mere half-decade after […]
Rock’s Reluctant Front Man
By MARC MYERS Wall Street Journal Just days before the start of Steely Dan’s “Shuffle Diplomacy” tour last Saturday, Donald Fagen was holed up in a New York rehearsal studio. Mr. Fagen, who co-founded the rock band in 1972, has just completed his fourth solo album — though he won’t have time to mix it until […]
Quintessential Studio Act Becomes a Well-Honed Touring Machine
By Joan K. Smith Huffington Post This weekend, Steely Dan, that indefinable and technically sophisticated bundle of rock, jazz, and whatever else strikes the fancy of principals Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, kicked off the “Shuffle Diplomacy” tour, their seventh U.S. tour since 2000, with a group of band veterans who are as well known […]
Interview with Walter Becker
By Time Out New York Editors No matter how well-balanced an artistic partnership is, someone always gets more of the glory. In the case of Steely Dan, that someone is Donald Fagen, the group’s longtime keyboardist-frontman. But his songwriting partner, guitarist-bassist Walter Becker, has just as much to do with the group’s signature combination of […]
Fagen On Dukes’ Hot New Tour
By Kevin O’Donnell Rolling Stone In the early ’90s, when Steely Dan were on hiatus, Donald Fagen rounded up some session musician pals (including Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs) to form the New York Rock and Roll Soul Revue. The band gave intimate performances featuring classic R&B tunes (Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” Etta James’ […]
