Donald Fagen – Kamakiriad

Donald Fagen - KamakiriadIt took eleven years for Fagen to concoct a sequel of sorts to his well-received Nightfly album, and not unlike Alan Parsons, Fagen managed to return to the scene while making it sound as though he’d never vanished in the first place. You’d swear it was recorded a year after The Nightfly was released. Fagen’s concept for this album – to which the songs adhere a bit closer than they did on his previous effort – is a drive through the world in the car of tomorrow. It’s a strange subject handled very oddly, to be sure. By and far, the best song on the album is the melancholy “On The Dunes”, with a very 4 out of 4sparse jazz ensemble instrumentation (piano, drums, bass, and just a little guitar) and a solo vocal lamenting the state of being emotionally washed-up. The singles “Tomorrow’s Girls” and “Countermoon” are catchy numbers, as is the first tune, “Trans-Island Skyway”, a song whose multisyllabic lyrics explain the premise of the album’s rather high concept.

Order this CD

  1. Trans-Island Skyway (6:30)
  2. Countermoon (5:05)
  3. Springtime (5:06)
  4. Snowbound (7:09)
  5. Tomorrow’s Girls (6:17)
  6. Florida Room (6:01)
  7. On the Dunes (8:07)
  8. Teahouse on the Tracks (6:11)

Released by: Reprise
Release date: 1993
Total running time: 50:26