The Nightfly Donald Fagen

• 1 I.G.Y. 06:04
• 2 Green Flower Street 03:49
• 3 Ruby Baby 05:39
• 4 Maxine 03:50
• 5 New Frontier 06:22
• 6 The Nightfly 05:46
• 7 The Goodbye Look 04:50
• 8 Walk Between Raindrops 02:40
• Total Runtime 39:00

Info for The Nightfly

Donald Fagen's 1982 solo debut extends the sleek, smart pop craft of his work with Steely Dan into the realm of the concept album, taking the Dan's penchant for intricate plotting, evocative narrative voices, and allusive imagery to the logical next step. Fagen's connective thread is futurist nostalgia for the 'New Frontier' as anticipated from the prosperous vantage point of late-'50s America. He romanticizes a brave new world of technology in the sultry diorama of 'I.G.Y.,' celebrating the coming glories of the Atomic Age. He then filters that view through his own suburban adolescence--a would-be seduction in a fallout shelter, the siren song of a graveyard-shift jazz DJ, a not-quite-hard-boiled noir adventure ('The Goodbye Look') that borrows its title from an early '60s Ross MacDonald mystery. Song for song, the set's a stunner and stands apart from Steely Dan thanks to a unique, poignant romanticism embodied in Fagen's yearning 'Maxine' and a creamy update of Dion & the Belmonts' 'Ruby Baby.' (Sam Sutherland)

'Everyone does play 'I.G.Y.' It's become the 'Freebird' of pro audio - visit a linecheck at a major concert venue or a speaker demo at AES or InfoComm, and those familiar strains will turn up sooner or later. It's a well-recorded song, to be sure, which is why it's always used to illustrate a system's 'tight low end' or 'crystal-clear mids' or, to be honest, any other detail they want to point out.' (Clive Young, Pro Sound News)

'Continuing in the smooth pop-jazz mode favored on the final Steely Dan records, The Nightfly is lush and shimmering, produced with cinematic flair by Gary Katz; romanticized but never sentimental, the songs are slices of suburbanite soap opera, tales of space-age hopes (the hit 'I.G.Y.') and Cold War fears (the wonderful 'The New Frontier,' a memoir of fallout-shelter love) crafted with impeccable style and sophistication.' (Jason Ankeny, allmusic.com)

Donald Fagen, organ, synthesizer, harmonica, horn, keyboards, electric piano, vocals, background vocals, synthesizer harp
Dave Bargeron, trombone, euphonium, horn, background vocals
Michael Brecker, tenor saxophone
Randy Brecker, trumpet, flugelhorn
Larry Carlton, guitar
Dean Parks, guitar
Steve Khan, acoustic guitar
Hugh McCracken, guitar, harmonica
Ronnie Cuber, horn, baritone saxophone
Rick Derringer, guitar
Anthony Jackson, bass
Marcus Miller, bass
Chuck Rainey, bass
Will Lee, bass
Abraham Laboriel, bass
Jeff Porcaro, drums
Steve Jordan, drums
James Gadson, drums
Ed Greene, drums
Rob Mounsey, synthesizer, horn, keyboards
Roger Nichols, percussion, special effects
Michael Omartian, piano, keyboards, electric piano
Greg Phillinganes, synthesizer, piano, keyboards, electric piano, clavinet, synthesizer bass
Daniel Lazerus, background vocals
Frank “Harmonica Frank” Floyd, background vocals
Gordon Grody, vocals, background vocals
Zachary Sanders, vocals, background vocals
Valerie Simpson, vocals, background vocals
Leslie Miller, vocals, background vocals
David Tofani, horn, alto saxophone
Starz Vanderlocket, percussion, background vocals Paul Shaffer, organ

Produced by Gary Katz
Mastered by (Original Mastering) Bob Ludwig
Engineered by Roger Nichols
Tracking and mixed by Elliot Scheiner
Recorded and mixed entirely on 3M digital 32 track and 4 track machines at Soundworks Digital Audio/Video Recording Studios, N.Y., Village Recorders, L.A. and Automated Sound, N.Y.
Sequencing, Percussion, Special Effects: WENDEL II
Original Mastering: at Masterdisk, N.Y.C.

Digitally remastered

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