Morph the Cat

My order from Amazon of this CD finally arrived today, played it twice already. It's a well-produced album without sounding over-produced -- quite refreshing for Fagen or Steely Dan for that matter.

Musically it's a synthesis of the first two solo albums -- the lyrical mastery of The Nightfly and the groove of Kamakiriad. After burning out post-Nightfly and ending up with a ten-year writer's block, Fagen made the rhythm section pre-eminent in Kamakiriad. Thankfully, in Morph Fagen brings back a heavy dose of the Steely Dan melodic and chord sophistication while keeping the beat. The bass lines, specially in the opening track, are superb while the falsetto in Brite Nightgown reminds one of the funk of Prince. The other tracks could easily belong to any Dan album sans the guitar work of W Becker, though Jon Herington does a great job here. Here is an artist who has found his voice and his groove.

Message-wise, it gives voice to the current New York state of mind. Unfortunately, concerns about personal betrayals and farces exposed in Dr. Wu and Haitian Divorce have given way to even bigger betrayals and farces in the larger society expressed eloquently in Morph the Cat and Mary Shut the Garden Door. Yet, despite some imagined encounters with the grim reaper, Fagen manages to find some tongue-in-cheek respite in a frisky encounter with Security Joan and make a heartfelt tribute to Ray Charles (What I Do). This makes it more upbeat than Dan's last album Everything Must Go but more sober than Two Against Nature.

Fagen has moved on from the Dan of the 80's and the Fagen of the 90's -- and is reaching out to his audience, even writing one liner summaries of each song -- and if his audience has moved on with him, they will find this album fully satisfying.