Classic Albums Number Two: "The Nightfly"- Donald Fagen

I first heard this album back in  the late eighties, on a band trip whilst at school. A sax player passed the driver the tape. The optimistic opening chords of  I.G.Y.  resonated  around the bus speakers and I was hooked. I didn’t have a clue who Donald Fagen was, it was only a few years later that  I found out he was one half of Steely Dan, alongside collaborator Walter Becker.  Despite having success since the seventies, Steely Dan split up in 1981, with Fagen pursuing a solo career. The Nightfly was released on the Warner Brothers label on  October 1st 1982 and produced by Gary  Katz.

With its super slick production and arrangements, The Nightfly is a regular go to album for many sound engineers when testing speakers at venues.  The album was one of the first to be fully digitally recorded and makes even the cheapest home sound system sound incredible!  Recorded over eight months between multiple studios in Los Angeles and New York, perfectionist Fagen used over 31 musicians. These included some musicians who had played on Steely Dan records,  including drummer Jeff Poraco and lead guitarist Larry Carlton, who recorded all his parts in just four days. During the recording process, Carlton noticed a strange hum sounding from his amplifier. The source was eventually located;  a large magnet outside  the studio, which formed part of the New York Metro subway  system. With sessions often lasting late into the night, with no doubt multiple takes, Fagen referred to this as “being on the nightrain”.  The Nightfly would take eight months to record and was mixed in ten days.

Above: The electric Rhodes Piano is a defining sound on this album, from the opening chords of I.G.Y to the beginning and ending of Green Flower Street.

If you ever need a feel good album, you won’t go far wrong with The Nightfly. The optimistic songs are highly autobiographical, with Fagen referencing his happy childhood in the more hopeful times of the fifties and sixties. The opener I.G.Y refers to the “International Geophysical Year”, a project which was run by scientists from July 1957 to December 1958. Scientists collaborated on future ideas, such as Solar Powered Cities, permanent space stations and a transatlantic tunnel, which Fagen expresses with such passion and hope in the music, arrangements and lyrics. 

This optimism is also continued on the opening notes Fagen plays on his electric Rhodes Piano on New Frontier. Yet at that time, the Cold War was in full swing. Above the insistent keyboard riff, the lyrics refer to a geeky teenager taking his girlfriend back to the family fallout shelter for a private gathering.The romance continues on the beautiful ballad Maxine,  as Fagen captures the yearning  of a college couple,“We’ve got to hold out til graduation, try to hang on Maxine”. With intricate multi-tracked vocal harmonies, Fagen captures perfectly the harmonies of fifties groups such as The Hi-Los and The Four Freshman.

The only cover on the album is Ruby Baby, a Lieber & Stoller song,  recorded originally by The Drifters. Fagen’s cover is the definite version; he listened to records from the fifties to try and capture the atmosphere of that era in the song. The gorgeous tenor sax solo from Michael Becker is the icing on the cake.

The black and white image of Fagen on the album cover, pictures him as a DJ called Lester The Nightfly, a character he created based on the late night jazz DJS he listened to as a kid in the sixties. Taking calls from sometimes troubled callers, while he himself battled with his own regrets and loneliness, “I’ve got plenty of Java and Chesterfield Kings, but I feel like crying. I wish I had a heart of ice”. 

"An independent station, WJAZ. With jazz and conversation, from the foot of Mount Belzoni"-lyrics from the albums title track.

Despite receiving universal critical acclaim and  seven grammy nominations, including Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year for “I.G.Y.”, Fagen disappeared out of public sight following its release, battling with the panic attacks he had fought against as a child. Crippled throughout the eighties with paranoia and morbid thoughts, he struggled most days on antidepressants. He finally emerged with  Kamakiriad, a slightly underwhelming follow up to The Nightlfly  in 1993 and reunited with Walter Becker on Two Against Nature, a new Steely Dan album in 2000. Two more solo albums, Morph The Cat (2006) and  Human Kudos (2012), have since followed. For me,The Nightfly is still  the one that I tune in the dial and listen to, time and time again. 

Album Link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5cOS6szqlcoqmiSoVTqqe8?si=6ezNuyH-Qy6EQcYWKvjgjg

Suggested Further Listening:

Sunken Condos- Donald Fagen

https://open.spotify.com/album/0dGQr1so9XR6vrdMpNBcXg?si=1EJJPBTQTlWqPP6JIGpQdA

Pretzel Logic-Steely Dan

https://open.spotify.com/album/4XfN871nBIz6obaUDEzZXm?si=Gy91oe_pTpeCRrWA1P0D_A

Suggested Viewing:

New Frontier-Donald Fagen

new frontier donald fagen - YouTube

Reelin’ In The Years-Steely Dan

Reelin' In The Years - Steely Dan | The Midnight Special