After Steely Dan closed up shop in the early 1980s, Donald Fagen went solo with The Nightfly, an album which became an instant and timeless classic. Now a mere 24 years later he has finished his semi-autobiographical trilogy with the release of Morph The Cat. By Andy Gill The Independent NEW YORK — In the […]
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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 […]
Sad Experiences Still a Theme in Fagen’s Music
By Bradley Bambarger Newhouse News Service NEW YORK — Recording engineer Elliot Scheiner recalls that Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen was once rather obsessed with making records. While recording “The Royal Scam” in 1975, Scheiner expressed dismay that Fagen and Steely Dan partner Walter Becker wanted to work on Christmas Day, engineer in tow. Fagen replied, […]
Still Reelin’ in the Years
On his first solo tour, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen brings something for both jazz snobs and pop fans By LYNN SAXBERG The Ottawa Citizen Donald Fagen makes music for discerning people. In Steely Dan, he and musical partner Walter Becker created some of the most sophisticated rock of the 1970s, music so finely crafted that […]
Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen Explains Quirks
By Steve James Reuters NEW YORK – Somehow the idea of rock musician Donald Fagen working in a Borders book store or teaching high-school literature is about as likely as an unambiguous Steely Dan song lyric. He is, after all, a creative force behind Steely Dan, one of rock music’s most quirky but literate bands. […]
Interview with Donald Fagen
By Chris Rolls MP3.com As the singing half of Steely Dan, Donald Fagen has injected a bohemian intellect into popular music for over 30 years. Back in 1982 Fagen released The Nightfly, a retro-futurist concept album chronicling adolescent fantasies about adult life. After a 10 year hiatus came the second installment in Fagen’s solo career, Kamakiriad, a […]
The cat will see you now
First there was ‘The Nightfly’. Then ‘Kamakiriad’. And now, a mere 24 years on, the trilogy is complete. the London Telegraph’s Robert Sandall meets Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen in New York to discuss the finer points of despair Slumped in a velvet armchair in the gaudily decorated “interview room” at his record label’s Manhattan HQ, […]
Donald Fagen Takes a Solo Shot
By Ken Micallef Boston Phoenix For a rock band who wrote songs about prostitutes, Eastern gurus, pedophilia, heroin, niece lust, Charlie Parker, and a post-apocalyptic world, Steely Dan have always had something akin to the last laugh. The duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker just have a knack for pulling the cultural wool over […]
‘Morph the Cat’ Publicity Piece
From donaldfagen.com in connection with ‘Morph the Cat’ release Donald Fagen’s Morph The Cat is just your average soulful and sexy masterpiece about love, death and homeland defense. “There’s nothing sexier than the Apocalypse,” Fagen explains helpfully. “I suppose you could call this album Apocalypse Wow.” The darkly beautiful third solo effort from Fagen — […]
