The Nightfly

This was really good. Need to listen to this more. 5/5

Was really enjoying until nearer the end where it fell of for me slightly. Funny discovering it’s one of the fuckers from Steely Dan!! Album cover is also fantastic

Woah, the dark sarcasm.

I was listening to Sun Ra (so actual real jazz) right before I refreshed and got this album. I’ve never listened to much Steely Dan but some people really love them and they seem jazz adjacent, so I thought maybe this could turn out to be a pleasant surprise. No. It’s not good. It’s like smooth jazz mixed with some bad 80s pop. I couldn’t wait for this to end so I could go back to listening to Sun Ra again

Every early 80s post punk or UK pop record is met with a chorus of bleats from Americans on here about it hurting their ears or being obscure. But America, if this is the best of the dross you were serving up what do you expect?

Electronic marimbas are the devils creation

On my first listen to Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly, I thought it was okay, maybe even quite good, but I couldn’t really work out why. So I gave it another listen to try and form a proper opinion.

There’s no doubt this is a well-made album. In fact, it might be a little too well made for me. Everything is incredibly polished and slick, but there’s absolutely nothing raw about it. It feels overproduced and almost too clean, as though it’s trying to appeal to everyone without ever really landing with me. It gives me the same sort of feeling I get from modern Coldplay. Technically there’s very little wrong with it, but it all feels a bit safe and generic.

I’m also not a massive fan of mixing jazz with polished pop like this. Rather than making the music more interesting, for me it gives the album a sound that has dated quite quickly. There are nice melodies and some excellent musicianship, but very little that makes me want to come back for another listen.

That said, I didn’t dislike The Nightfly. It’s perfectly enjoyable while it’s playing and there isn’t a bad song here. I can understand why people love it, but it’s just a little too polished and clinical for my tastes.

Favourite track: “New Frontier” was probably the track that stood out most for me.

Least favourite track: Nothing was horrible. Every track was worth a listen, even if nothing really blew me away.

Album artwork: Cool album cover. Simple, stylish and probably more memorable to me than the music.

This was smooth.... really, really smooth.

About as good as Coldplay

I don't care for it, but it's short and sweet and you can bop along to it a little bit and some days that's good enough.

The Nightfly was certainly a solid album but a fair ways short of the other Steely Dan albums i have heard. This album definitely does feel like an extension of the Steely Dan stuff as this album has pretty much all the bells and whistles you would expect and they all sound quite good. But i still really can't deny what Walter Becker added and his absence definitely felt here as the songs here felt more samey than they did in any of the other Steely Dan albums i looked at. I still thought the jazzy vibe that the others had was still very much here and enjoyable to some extent but unfortunately, It pales in comparison to the other Steely Dan albums.
Best Song: The Nightfly
Worst Song: Walk Between Raindrops

Steely Dan is music from the generation my parents are in, and I think a lot of people would prefer it stay back there. Personally, I love the shit. I didn't get into it until my late 20s, and now in my mid 40s, I like it maybe even more. There's just something about the cool presentation I like.

I find this album is every bit as good, if not a bit better than most Steely Dan albums. I need to check my library and make sure this album is in there. Absolutely worth having.

So good, I listened to it twice back to back

⭐⭐⭐⭐.49

This is just dull. ‘Ruby Baby’ does even get close to being the best sing to repeat the name Ruby.
This album is frankly tedious and dated.

I've not had a stellar track record with Steely Dan so far during this project, so lets see what happens when there's only one of them. A stray thoughts review:

- It certainly sounds like a pop album made at the beginning of the 80's, that's for sure.
- He sounds like he has a heavy head cold.
- The first song being nearly 6 minutes did not please me.
- This was nominated for seven Grammys?! Bloody hell.
- I bet my Mum likes this.
- Half way through Maxine I realised I'd stop listening because I was thinking about the Clacton by-election and how well Count Binface was going to do.
- I really don't like the nasally singing.
- Is that a cowbell during New Frontier? It sounds a bit like a dripping tap in my right ear.
- "She loves to limbo, that much is clear" - amazing lyric.
- The Nightfly - more cowbell!
- The Goodbye Look sounds like elevator music at the beginning and reminded me of the Four Rooms main theme tune by Combustible Edison.

It's scraping a 2/5

First listen. This album is ok. There is a fine line with smooth jazz and jazz fusion that I just do not care for. This album falls just on the less desirable side of that line.

Wow

Banging first track, the rest is a okay

Offensively boring easy listening pap. Clunky, not funky.

My God I hated this at the start. It started to grow on me after a few tracks but it’s not one I’ll rush to revisit.

Top Track - The Goodbye Look

I quite enjoyed this musical series of short stories told by drunk uncle Fagan. It was nice.