This album in its tone and subject matter is a sort of dedication to the time period between the 1950s and '60s in which a Nightfly, a late night jazz DJ spins tales through music. It's brilliant.

@sonnyhenriksen284

Жыл бұрын

1957-58, to be specific. THAT was the International Geophysical Year. ( I.G.Y. )

@nozzlevelocity

Жыл бұрын

This is such a brilliant, perfect album. Fagen told Musician Magazine that Thelonius Monk was the alien in his suburban bedroom, not E.T. That's him on the back cover, upstairs at night listening to jazz radio and fantasizing about a girlfriend in his bomb shelter, a vacation in Miami, a girlfriend in Chinatown, being in the Caribbean during a Communist revolution, even being Lester the DJ himself, all cynical & broken hearted. It's one of the best concept albums ever and the Brothers zeroed in on the cohesiveness of the sound. Great reaction.

@petergiffes1239

Жыл бұрын

In the 70’s, one of the most popular DJ’s was Alison Steele of WNEW. She was known as the Nightbird. I spent many of my nights with her as she played all the best and newest Classic and Progressive rock. She died fairly young. But the Nightfly as an album makes me think of her.

@kenperkins7921

11 ай бұрын

​@@sonnyhenriksen284 the SUPER 70S TOOK AHEAVY BLOW BLOW HEN WALTER BECKER SAID SOLONG TOHIS PARTNERS IN CRIME FPR SO LONG HANG IN THERE,DONALD. HIS ,MUSICAL BUDDY

@kenperkins7921

11 ай бұрын

You kno walter died a few years after the split,

the genius of Donald Fagen

The last album I bought on vinyl and the first on CD. Still fresh half a century later. Some of the best musicians ever. Larry Carlton, Anthony Jackson, Michael Omartian etc

@mikeloomis687

Жыл бұрын

Me too! First CD I ever bought after buying a stereo system. My future wife (now of 26 years) had this on vinyl while we were dating. Needless to say, I was impressed and knew I had a winner.

I could listen to the fadeout all day, just the way the instruments drop out, dreamy.

Wait till you hear Maxine and Walk between the Raindrops. I never tire of this album

It helps if your old enough to remember the early '60s which was the era that the lyrics are about.

What a Groove!!! What a song!!!! What a Masterpiece album!!! Great reaction!!!!

I love this tune. The lyrics paint such a vivid picture. "Confess your passion, your secret fear - Prepare to meet the challenge of the new frontier". I have always thought that had a double meaning......

YESSS!! Glad to see you back to The Nightfly. Fagen actually did a video to this song which got a lot of play on the then fairly new MTV. The song was a fairly big radio hit. The video will give you more of a clue of what the song is talking about. The phrase "New Frontier" is what John F Kennedy called his vision for America in his campaign and used it specifically in his iconic Inauguration Address in 1961. Of course this was a time where tensions were high with the Soviet Union, and there was the Berlin Wall airlift, and later the Cuban Missile Crisis where the Soviets attempted to put nuclear missiles 90 miles away from Miami (young JFK backed down the older blustery Soviet premier by calling his bluff). All that amped up fears of Nuclear War. This was Fagen as a teenager living through the school nuke drills (stop, drop and roll, duck and cover), and families building fall out shelters. Key lines right away in the first verse: Yes we're gonna have a wingding A summer smoker underground It's just a dugout that my dad built In case the reds decide to push the button down We've got provisions and lots of beer The key word is survival on the new frontier ........... Let's pretend that it's the real thing And stay together all night long And when I really get to know you We'll open up the doors and climb into the dawn Confess your passion, your secret fear Prepare to meet the challenge of the new frontier He's treating the very real possibility of a nuke war typically snarky and satiric, dreaming or thinking of a woman he thinks looks like Tuesday Weld (blonde movie actress) could party with him in this fall out shelter, listen to Dave Brubeck, and then hopefully come back out together to that greater world of the New Frontier. Another great smooth Fagen look at life (the whole album is about his memories growing up in the late 50s/early 60s).

@jacqueline4514

Жыл бұрын

Wonderful synopsis! I typically describe Fagen/Steely Dan lyrics as snarky as well ❤

@marthagrinnan6155

6 ай бұрын

Anyone who grew up during that era knows exactly what this album is about. It was the best of times, etc. ❤️ Donald Fagen, genius!

My favorite Donald Fagen song. This whole album has a late 50s, early 60s post-war America flavor to it. Love it!

@hegotreborn

Жыл бұрын

I think it has the most elaborate and rewarding outro of all fagen songs. It gives me the feeling he(Donald) enjoyed it very much too

@bkshields76

10 ай бұрын

It was always my favorite too. Until I started jamming to Donald's song from the Sunken Condos album, Weather In My Head. Now it's my jam.

That’s Hugh McCracken on the harmonica and legend Larry Carlton providing that tasteful guitar throughout. Classic Fagen. 🔥

I love you guys. So much fun watching you go down the SD/Fagen rabbit hole. Maxine is my favourite track on Nightfly. The Michael Brecker tenor sax solo is perfection IMHO. Coming 11 yrs later in 1993, the more optimistic Kamakiriad is quite solid too (nominated for Album Of The Year), and is produced by Walter Becker! Florida Room is particularly groovy, but the album is a linear journey from start to finish. The 3rd in the trilogy, Morph The Cat came in 2006, with H Gang the standout single, won a Grammy for Best Sound.

@Wendyficent1

8 ай бұрын

Maxine is my favorite too. Oddly it makes me cry. I love this man, DF. He's so talented. It's criminal.

I am a 64 year old Army Vet, with classic rock being my wheelhouse, and I must say I thoroughly enjoy your channel, and especially the respect you give to this music, Fagan, Floyd, Steely Dan, et al...thank you for a great channel...Rock On!!

@Greg-io1ip

Жыл бұрын

We lived through spoiled times musically. There was so much new GREAT MUSIC WEEKLY we could stay in our niches. Looking back, we can widen that range.

@gandalf679

Жыл бұрын

@@Greg-io1ip Greg, we definitely were spoiled, but we also knew that alot of the music we listened to was "Great" Pink Floyd to serve as reference, and many others, 40, even 50+ years on, and people are just finding out about "our" tunes...but I love watching these reactions, I get to relive the first time, over again...ROck ON brother!!

@SkeevyBrother

7 ай бұрын

We had no idea we were growing up in the golden age of music. I used to fall asleep listening to this album while I was working 60 day stints fishing in the Bering Sea, 80-84. Everything was going to be OK, it still has the same effect.

The video to this is amazing

Great choice, great reaction. Thanks guys. IMO, The Nightfly is right up there with the Dan's very best albums, and a masterpiece. Fagen paints a warm, nostalgic picture of his youthful world, beliefs, and dreams. Well worth a complete listen.

This track is so funny. They take the new frontier which John F Kennedy spoke about the United States having a challenge in front of it. But this young man has a different challenge and a different new frontier. He's got a girl down in the fallout shelter that is dad built and he's got to figure out how to get to his new frontier if you know what I mean! It's such a double meaning to the song. Peace!

@kenperkins7921

11 ай бұрын

I liked NEXT YEARS GIRLS..

@jhamptonjr

11 ай бұрын

@@kenperkins7921 do you mean tomorrow girls from the Kamikiriad album?

This is one of my favorite albums. Have been listening to it for over 40 years. Beautiful.

This was my go to when it came out. A whole host of session musicians of the time. The album is total vibe in itself.

This whole album is just so smooth! Thanks guys. Peace!

Finally got to it! You guys are too young to remember Tuesday Weld (a blonde movie hottie in the 60’s….Ambush was a perfume in the day). A lot of regular people actually built fallout shelters….in case the Reds decide to push the button down! This tune follows..

@cptight88

Жыл бұрын

She looked 12, which is probably why Fagen was into her. 😮

@richardhatter3624

Жыл бұрын

I was going to mention Tuesday Weld also. I was absolutely in love with her lol! A great performance in Who'll Stop The Rain. I'm loving the "Dan" train you guys are riding!

@debrabrabenec

Жыл бұрын

Yep. My older sisters wore Ambush- a sweet smelling inexpensive perfume, and sometimes wore their hair in French Twists!

@ubilo

Жыл бұрын

Ever since Dobie Gillis, I have been crazy about Tuesday Weld.

@deaniegarcia5694

9 ай бұрын

@@ubilo wonder if anyone but us remembers that show lol

First CD I ever bought after buying a stereo system. My future wife (now of 26 years) had this on vinyl while we were dating. Needless to say, I was impressed and knew I had a winner.

Love this album. Donald is one slick and exacting musician, writer and producer. It’s all chill badass groovin. Growing up back then, music was a mind expanding influence like no other art form. Your reactions are spot on guys. Your all over it. 👈😉 🍻

Fagen, Florida Room, you guys are Awesome

It’s a joy sitting back and using my listening ears on songs I never otherwise would have checked out.

I'm not a Steely Dan expert, but I am familiar with most of their albums, including the last two (before the reformation), and I'd say the biggest difference between Gaucho and The Nightfly is HEART. By the end of Steely Dan, their music was so *immaculate* that it lacks much in the way of soul and humanity, with the lyrics often impenetrable and unengaging. The Nightfly, by contrast, is overflowing with humour and warmth. That's why I love it so much. The musicianship we can take for granted, here we get something for the heart as well as the head.

Great album and another great reaction.

Great ears as always...there is definitely a similarity with regards to the keyboard sounds. phrases and beats throughout this album. There are a few songs that you havent gotten to yet where they do switch things up so that'll be a nice surprise

La and Che. It is amazing how you can pick up on the keyboard and sounding like Happy Birthday from Stevie Wonder. As always fellas great reaction. Much appreciated 🙏

Great choice guys, love the shuffling rhythm and layered harmonies for an overall pleasing effect. You're right on about the Stevie Wonder feel to the smooth drive of the tune. Back in the 50s/60s, we had Fallout Shelters in case of nuclear war, which we teens turned into makeout spots. (laugh). Even us old dawgs were players using all the tricks.

I bought the vinyl album in 1983 after hearing this single "New Frontier". Wow! I'd stumbled upon a hidden gem. I then worked back into Steely Dan, many years later, because I couldn't get into them in the early to mid 70s. Yes, Pink Floyd, Hawkweed, Wishbone Ash, The Who, and Tangerine Dream occupied my attention. And as I said before, I brought my kids up on this album and my son is still a huge fan (being strapped into the back of the car and having to endure Dad's taste in music couldn't harmed that process!). This album is a MUST for every "muso". And one of the first, if not the first fully digitally recorded albums!

The music on this album gives the impression of driving: wheels moving, forward motion. Some of the lyrics support this as well. A second impression is of guitar notes suggesting an angry, buzzing fly, especially on the album title track.

This album was a New Frontier in itself as it was one of the first all-digital recordings. An album based on life in the 50’s but with (at the time) futuristic technologies. The liner lists 31 musicians and I think every single one of them fits perfectly on this album (along with the engineers and production team). Hell, the engineer even invented and built an entirely new drum machine just for this album! The outro for New Frontier is mint, with so much heart and feeling played into it (without being cheesy or overstated), and must be played at high volume in the car. Pure audio perfection.

The keys do sound like Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On, Reggae Woman,” only a little more up tempo. Good catch! I can’t think of too many albums as consistently genius as this one. Every. Single. Track. I hope you’ll do “Maxine” next!

@Greg-io1ip

Жыл бұрын

Just enough for the city is the tempo I was getting from this. "Just Enough, For The City, yeah yeah..." Spin that Stevie Wonder and Superstition.

@esdel1955

Жыл бұрын

@@Greg-io1ip hmm, could actually work for several Stevie songs 🤔

I wondered when we would get to Nightfly ! Amazing production on this one. This cd stayed in the box for at least 5 years, I couldn't listen to anything else

"Introduce me to that big blonde...she's got a touch of Tuesday Weld." Nobody writes lyrics like Fagen does...

Great song, and one of the best covers ever.

So great to see you two discover some of the best music from the seventies and eighties

@mikeloomis687

6 ай бұрын

Plato Skouras, maybe??

Best Steely Dan breakdowns ever. Good job guys.

You guys are fun. I love watching young guys enjoying and discussing the music I listened to at the same age. You make me think of the music in new ways by your reactions. And expertise.

The Nightfly is such a polished, classy record. Never dates.

A great song, awesome sound! 🎶🎶🎶👍

Brings back memories of 60's elementary school where we practiced duck and cover. We never had a dug out bomb shelter. 😂

@olly8

Жыл бұрын

Duck and cover! To protect us from bomb radiation-OMG! I remember Tuesday Weld. We had a basement with an apartment built for WW2. But knew where there were 'Fallout shelters' around city. I don't recall this song. Like the beat+tempo. Sounds almost new to me. Thanks for info in comment section 👍🏻

@kbrewski1

Жыл бұрын

You must have been born circa 1955....

Back in 82 and for a few years afterwards stereo salesmen used this album/CD to demonstrate the audio quality of their sound systems. The quality is so pristine it sounds like it was produced yesterday

The guy can paint a picture 😊

such a great vibe!

One of my favorites!!

Love this one, something a little different.... Can't wait for you to do Steely "Night By Night"...!

Nightfly..all about growing up in the Kennedy years....

@kbrewski1

Жыл бұрын

The album wasn't just about the Kennedy years. Late 50s/early 60s, Fagen as a kid. THIS song was more about JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I love to listen to this album when I am working outside.

He said this was his most personal album, so tough to do. He almost scrapped it when done. Then he went into major writer’s block for a decade.

Timeless.....

This album is about the early 60s. I was a child then but I clearly remember when backyard bomb shelters were being sold in today's equivalent of an RV show. Not kidding.

@markcosenza3274

Жыл бұрын

Duck under your desk and cover!😂

@markburnham7512

Жыл бұрын

@@markcosenza3274 And face away from the windows and you'll be OK.

@markcosenza3274

Жыл бұрын

@@markburnham7512 don't want to be injured by fly glass during a nuclear bomb attack!

@olly8

Жыл бұрын

​@@markcosenza3274 or the radiation, lol.✌🏼

@markburnham7512

Жыл бұрын

@@olly8 So glad we are all alive to laugh about it today. Truly. But this is the real shit our generation dealt with, and it's not for nothing.

This is the album. I have more copies of this than I even know, across all formats. I just buy them when I see them.

@kbrewski1

Жыл бұрын

I bought the Japanese hybrid SACD about 6 months ago. Fantastic!

This whole album is great

Stevie Wonder ~ "LIVIN FOR THE CITY"....!!!

My favorite of his solo albums- ah, 50s childhood (which I missed but I know what he was exposed to). I like Brubeck too.

Love the country-blues tinged harmonica. Very tasty addition.

Takes me right back to the days of the first couple of years of the JFK administration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, people turning their basements into bomb shelters and yes, I wouldn't mind chatting up a girl with a touch of Tuesday Weld one little bit. You guys are too young to remember her. She was quite something when I was 12. This song and I.G.Y. really paint the picture for me. The whole album is very early 1960s remembrances which I think is what he had in mind.

@briangray00

Жыл бұрын

I agree the LP is definitely anchored between 1955-63 approx. The International Geophysical Year was 1959.

@terenzo50

Жыл бұрын

@@briangray00 The IGY dates were 01 July 1957 - 31 December 1958.

@briangray00

Жыл бұрын

@@terenzo50 ta. (I *did* look it up, obviously somewhere different 🙂)

"I hear you're mad about [Dave] Brubeck. I like your eyes; I like him, too." Check out Brubeck's "Take Five," a famous jazz number.

Be Very well done, gentlemen…

All stitched together by the master Larry Carlton. He brings iy all into the same place.

You should check out the video for this...brings the concept together.

And I would add that the "harmonica" is a melodica.

❤

That ridge part is musically deep

Happy Birthday by Stevie had a Linn drum machine triggering a Moog Vocoder into a Prophet 10 for the chug a lug sound. Don't know what these guys used but the effect is the same.

Now we're talkin'! A classic story and song. Very boppy.

Love these reviews guys love your channel keep up the great works and tunes!

Florida room by Fagen is the jam.Check it ...

Sipping a margarita by the pool, Fagan and the Dan keeping me company. ❤

As a SD nut you two are welcome to come to attend any BBQ at mine at any time. Bring the slapping hand please. I've derived a lot of pleasure watching your reactions. Dead right about the instruments, there's much more synth stuff involved 2 years later. That said there's a lot of nods on the LP to DF growing up in late 50s/early 60s. Informs his love of jazz, big bands and beautiful vocals. Don was a big fan of Henry Mancini. Stevie liked Steely. I'd be flabbergasted if there wasn't mutual respect.

Abraham Laboriel on the bass.

Optimistic view of the future in IGY, Cuban missile crisis overshadowing teens here, this is his ‘youth’ album in the trilogy

Missed this. I love this. Also surprised you didn't get blocked on this. Other channels I follow have been blocked. To Dan fans this album was like a drink of water in the desert because they had broke up and weren't sure if we would ever hear Don again. He does tickle the ivories on this record on Maxine. As you have said the songs are complex and need to be listened to minimum 5× lol. Great stuff..

8:00 I’d say the same about Ace Frehleys , Frehleys Comet closest thing too a KISS record I’d say quality is right there which is sayin something I call KISS the Steely Dan of rock cuz every song is great and they had allot of guest studio musicians on their records Try Something Moved but every song is dope

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

@loupi4bama

Жыл бұрын

Becker stepped outside that box. Just sayin.

If Tuesday Weld had married Fredrick March II, she would have been Tuesday March the Second.... a real hot date.

Fagen crammed a whole lot of personal and autobiographical stuff into this first solo album - as well as just about everything he'd learned about using the studio as a musical instrument. I loved it instantly. And now It occurs to me how much this song in particular would be a fun ironical soundtrack choice if someone ever made a movie out of Fallout 4. 😀

Upbeat song about nuclear war. Fantastic 😂

Funny how people follow how others, with no clue as to the references in the lyrics, comment on this or that song. Yes - the New Frontier indeed!

I'm loving your Mookie shirt!!

somehow Donald Fagen makes even a cow bell sound good 😎

I think the Stevie Wonder song you're thinking of is "Go Home" from In Square Circle. Will say if anyone tries to turn off Steely Dan in my presence, they get The Brothers Johnson treatment: Oops! Upside your head, said oops upside your head.

This is the promise of JFK's America see from the vision of a young boy. That's the "New Fronteer". The sky was the limit.

Hello to you ,I love the reactions your analysis of the tracks is always is spot on, I am enjoying your zappa journey, so cool try the track city of tiny lights. have you ever listened to Ian Dury and the Blockheads ?? 70's / part punk part rock part funk part jazz , and Ian had such (pre rap ) lyrical flow he was like an unofficial poet laureate . tracks like ..... what a waste, ... reasons to be cheerful ,...... sex and drugs and rock and roll , ...... Ht Me With Your Rhythm Stick, ..... Clever Trevor..... any of the tracks mentioned are right up your street . hope you get a chance to play some. all my best to you and yours from Liverpool

@niallnom

Жыл бұрын

Agreed any/all of those would be great for these guys to react to - definitely have a rap vibe - especially “reasons to be cheerful’

Bomb shelter groove. I hear something’s going very wrong at the Bay of Pigs.

Gents, you outta look up the video of this,..really cool.

3:40 sounds like they did it all in one nite

One of my fav things they did on this is take the instruments away one by one instead of fading it or ending it conventionally

This song is full of imagery from the late 50s and early 60s. The term New Frontier was taken from a Pres. John F. Kennedy speech

I want to enjoy you reacting to all of this album. I'm with you all the way, but, I still can't wait for your reactions to the Kamakyriad album. But, one thing at a time. Nice reaction brothers.

@kbrewski1

Жыл бұрын

Let them get through the rest of Nightfly man. Chillax.

Don't Forget to move your next reaction to YES album, "Going For The One, released in 1977....It is another one of their masterpiece albums!!! It is so beautiful and very spiritual theme to the album.....you will think that you guys are entering Heaven!!! I'm serious. Excellent Production. Masterpiece!!!! And don't forget the Masterpiece album "Physical Graffiti" by Led Zeppelin.

He wrote/writes stiff that just has its own lane. Yes there are definitely influences, but the writing & composition is just DIFFERENT!!!!

You've got it backwards, the rest of the album sounds like this. One of his best.

The great Abraham Laboriel on bass

Album is a masterpiece... Who don't like a big blond and Tuesday Wells.

@jimbo4110

Жыл бұрын

Tuesday Weld.

Thanks for the reaction, men. 👍🏻 You should investigate the "concept" Fagen is building with this album. I like what you’re doing, but you’re missing things in these songs because neither of you is a child of the ‘60s like Fagen is. Don’t hesitate to get coached up on what’s happening on _The Nightfly_ before you react to more of the cuts. It will enrich your experience.

Two years after Gaucho......many of the musicians are the same!

You guys need to listen to some Rickie Lee Jones, and specifically "Flying Cowboys," the album Walter Becker produced. Not a bad track on it.

I had a thought while listening to your reaction here, as well as just the track itself. Go back to Aja and compare this track to 'I got the News.' Stylistically, at least, this track (New Frontier) is more similar to 'I got the News' (but in a faster time signature) than it is to Stevie. Jmo, but go back and forth between the two and see if you agree. Also, I'm not sure if its the signature itself or if this one is just played faster than the earlier track, especially the 'backing' instruments/beat. The piano itself is where the similarities show up to my ear