DONALD FAGEN : SUNKEN CONDOS

 

  1. Slinky Thing
  2. I'm Not the Same Without You
  3. Memorabilia
  4. Weather in My Head
  5. The New Breed
  6. Out of the Ghetto
  7. Miss Marlene
  8. Good Stuff
  9. Planet d'Rhonda

Label : Reprise Records

Release Year : 2012

Length : 44:07

Review (AllMusic) : Morph the Cat wrapped up an alleged trilogy in 2006 - a trilogy that only became apparent when Donald Fagen's three solo albums were boxed in a set called The Nightfly Trilogy in 2007 - and Fagen then busied himself with live performances, something he avoided at the peak of his popularity in the '70s and '80s. With Walter Becker, he took several classic Steely Dan albums on tour, he became a frequent fixture at Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles, and, in 2010, he became the ringleader of the Dukes of September, a superstar blue-eyed soul revue featuring Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. All this high-octane rhythm can be heard on Sunken Condos, Fagen's 2012 album and easily the liveliest solo album he's released since The Nightfly in 1982. Much of that is due to a pronounced emphasis on rhythm. Sunken Condos doesn't ease on its groove, the way the otherwise excellent Morph the Cat did. Sunken Condos crackles with energy even when things are smooth; witness how "Memorabilia" and "Weather in My Head," jazzy funk numbers both, never succumb to lite comfortable grooves, as Fagen and his peerless band keep pushing at the contours of their rhythms, letting the music breathe. And that addition of space is a marked difference from much of Fagen's work since Gaucho, when he began to place an emphasis on precision over feel. Certainly, Sunken Condos boasts an immaculate production and there is not a note out of place but it is unmistakably a feel album, one where it's a pleasure to hear the band play and to hear Fagen play with his delivery, sculpting his phrases with an impish glee. That Sunken Condos also contains his sharpest songwriting in a long time - whether they percolate like "I'm Not the Same Without You" or sweetly sigh like "Miss Marlene," the tunes are immediate the way the songs on Steely Dan's 2000 comeback, Two Against Nature, were - is no coincidence. Long a master of obfuscation, Fagen plays it straight on Sunken Condos, tightening his songwriting and letting his music swing, and the results are an absolute joy.

Review (Rolling Stone Magazine): On "Memorabilia," a polished-up nugget of jazzy, Sanford & Son funk, Donald Fagen calls the title trappings "souvenirs of perfect doom." And if this Steely Dan-style set is proudly retro in sound, nostalgia remains suspect at best to the 64-year-old. "Slinky Thing" snarks at "a burned-out hippie clown," and a cover of the Isaac Hayes deep cut "Out of the Ghetto" gets down with a wink. The band, especially guitarist Jon Herington, is predictably hot and smooth, Fagen's voice oily-sweet as ever. On "New Breed," the singer is dismissed as "Jurassic Park" compared to a dot-commie competitor. Maybe, but to this day, no one does booby-trapped boutique pop better.

Review (Ultimate Classic Rock) : It took Donald Fagen nearly a quarter century to release his Nightfly Trilogy, which started with 1982's 'The Nightfly' and wrapped up with 2006's 'Morph the Cat.' 'Sunken Condos,' the fourth solo album by the Steely Dan singer, is a slightly looser record than its predecessors, with more emphasis on groove this time around. And it sounds like it could be the next chapter in the solo odyssey Fagen started 30 years ago. Maybe it has something to do with his recent tour with the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue, which included soulful old friends Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs, or maybe it has to do with the 64-year-old Fagen settling into his AARP years, but he doesn't sound so uptight here. And let's face it: Steely Dan were one of the '70s fussiest bands, so obsessed with getting every single detail right in their songs that they quit touring in the middle of their peak decade (they finally hit the road again in support of Fagen's 1993 album 'Kamakiriad' and Steely Dan's 2000 comeback LP 'Two Against Nature'). Either way, 'Sunken Condos' is jazzy, bluesy and as musically precise as anything Fagen has recorded, with or without Steely Dan. No surprise, since many of the musicians have played with him in one form or another over the years. And he still doesn't take the short way around. Most of the nine songs make room for efficient solos, tasteful backing vocals and the cleanest production this side of the late 1970s. The aptly titled 'Slinky Thing' serves as both album opener and mission statement. 'I'm Not the Same Without You' packs a slithering disco beat straight outta Fagen's best years. And the cover of Isaac Hayes' 'Out of the Ghetto,' while sort of an odd choice, manages to be funky in a Los-Angeles-session-musicians kinda way. Still, Fagen sounds distanced from 'Sunken Condos,' which isn't so surprising given Steely Dan's sardonic treatment of everything from the coked-out L.A. music scene they helped forge to their own faceless fame. It would be nice if his view of the people and places he observes here wasn't so telescopic. Making a connection once in a while actually might do this perpetual smartass some good. But that's never been Fagen's thing. Just because he's getting older doesn't mean he has to brighten his outlook.